Lyr Req: Four Wet Pigs (Greg Brown)

Subject: 4 Wet Pigs
From: Pixie
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 10:34 AM

I have this song on a well-used (and poor quality)cassette. I would like to know more about Brian Bowers, in addition to filling in some missing words on the song. Also looking for words to a couple other tunes he does:

Stately Mansion Bad Boy

Thanks to anyone who can give me some info on Brian Bowers and on the lyrics!

Pixie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 4 Wet Pigs
From: Pene Azul
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 10:44 AM

The lyrics to "Four Wet Pigs" are here (click) in the Digitrad.

PA

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 4 Wet Pigs
From: Pene Azul
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 10:47 AM

Here's a page about Bryan Bowers.

PA

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 4 Wet Pigs
From: Pene Azul
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 10:51 AM

Here's another one.

PA

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 4 Wet Pigs
From: harpgirl
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 10:52 AM

...the harp in the picture was made by George Orthy of Pennsylvania...

Subject: Lyr Add: FOUR WET PIGS and BAD BOY
From: GUEST,Ketil
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 01:30 PM

FOUR WET PIGS

Here's a little song about four wet pigs
Here's a little song about four wet pigs
Two of em little and two of em big
They danced all night at the pigtown jig

The two that were little were just half-grown
The two that were big were big as a barn
Big as a barn, tall as a tree
Take em on down to the factory

Slice em into bacon, chop em into ham
Cut em into pork chops, squeeze em into spam
Throw their little eyes out in the rain
Pickle their feet and scramble their brains

Here's a little song about two wet pigs
Standin' by the slop trough smokin' their cigs
Hopin' to God that they never get big
They danced all night at the pig town jig

---

BAD BOY

Bad boy was headed for work, well he wasn't where he wanted to be
He was takin' a little shortcut, when he saw that money tree
Bad boy braked to a halt and he dug in his pockets for change
He called in sick and told the boss that the flu had him doubled in pain

Chorus:
Oh bad boy you are bad
You're so low down that you lie to old ladies
Oh bad boy you are bad
There's sunshine on the grass where for years it was shady

Bad boy looked that tree up and down and he went up and rang the bell
Swore to the lady at the door if the tree fell it'd be hell
Bad boy told her "it's dangerous, but you're lucky that I'm so nice"
"Cause I'll cut it down for you cheap" then he doubled the normal price

Oh bad boy you are bad
You're so low down that you lie to old ladies
Oh bad boy you are bad
There's sunshine on the grass where for years it was shady

Bad boy cut that tree on down, told the lady it was no good to burn
Said for an extra hundred it'd be gone when she returned
Bad boy took that walnut tree in eight-foot lengths to the mill
He cut it up and sold it all and he's laughin' about it still

Oh bad boy you are bad
You're so low down that you lie to old ladies
Oh bad boy you are bad
There's sunshine on the grass where for years it was shady
There's sunshine on the grass where for years it was shady

Subject: Lyr Add: STATELY MANSION and VIEW FROM HOME
From: GUEST,Ketil again lol
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 01:45 PM

STATELY MANSION

I was once a stately mansion
Back around Civil War times
Hard times they have fallen on me
And now I am past my prime

That day the owner left for war
It seemed as if my world was reelin'
The South lost, though Lord knows she tried
And now my paint is cracked and peeling

Now my boards are bare, and who's to care
My yard is overgrown, my roof is old
To children I am haunted, to myself I am tired
I'm just an old wood house down the road

I'm just an old wood house down the road

---

And a bonus :)

VIEW FROM HOME
Black crow sittin' on a red roof house on the hill
Old yellow truck in the driveway, got some miles on it still
Out front, the pavements buckled where the roots have taken hold
To the south lies the mountain, a glory to behold

Out on the lake, countless boats are sailing
Up on the shoreline a single figure runs
Off in the distance the Cascades rise aspiring
Bathed in gold by the setting sun

To the North lies Alaska, our last true frontier
To the West lies the ocean, and Olympia so dear
Back East lies madness, say what you will
Say I'm a maniac singin' on a hill

Out on the road, we tell all the turkeys
Yes it's always raining and the sun never shines
But all the natives know when the mountain lifts her skirts
The view from home will flat out melt you mind

Black crow sittin' etc. ...

Hope that helps :)
Ketil

Line Breaks <br> added.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 4 Wet Pigs
From: GUEST,Ketil
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 01:47 PM

Well, that didnt format right lol Oh well

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 4 Wet Pigs
From: Bill D
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 06:31 PM

at a Getaway once about 7-8 years ago, there was a workshop on "Songs of Dismemberment"....I treated them to 'Four Wet Pigs' and 'Lucy Wan'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 4 Wet Pigs
From: SINSULL
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 10:11 PM

Pixie,
Bryan Bowers' new CD "Friend for Life" is a joy! He says he chose the songs because each one reminds him of a person and place. Who else could take "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and turn it into pure magic? 22 cuts. Each one a gem. My only complaint is that his playing is so amazing that I feel totally frustrated with my own autoharp. Poor thing sits in the corner and listens to Bowers and his friends along with me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 4 Wet Pigs
From: raredance
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 11:10 PM

I love Bryan Bowers and it seems like it has been an eternity since his last album. I feared he had given up music.

For the record "Four Wet Pigs" was written by Greg Brown and is found on two of his recordings, "Iowa Waltz" (1981) and "Bathtub Blues" (1993). The latter is a kids album.

rich r

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 4 Wet Pigs
From: SINSULL
Date: 19 Aug 00 - 11:56 PM

Rich,
It is strange that you should say that. I can't explain it but this new CD has a real feeling of "Goodbye. It's been fun." about it.
Mary

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 4 Wet Pigs
From: Pixie
Date: 20 Aug 00 - 09:40 AM

Thanks everyone for the information.....I wish I had stumbled upon Brian Bowers a whole lot earlier....the new cd sounds like a "must have"!

Pixie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 4 Wet Pigs
From: harpgirl
Date: 20 Aug 00 - 10:22 AM

Sinsull...what songs are on the new CD? I must order it!...Bryan's SO is teaching yoga at Winfield this year, I hear...cool huh? PS Are you on the cyberpluckers discussion list? harpgirl

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 4 Wet Pigs
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Aug 00 - 01:06 PM

SINSULL...don't worry about doing what Bowers does...*smile*...just play the harp...you'll know after awhile if you want to work THAT hard...I do a MUCH simpler picking style, and have LOTS of fun...

(BTW...I have the distinction of having been the guy who first told Bryan about Winfield..about 1974, in Wash DC...he asked his agent to look into it, and a year later he was there...(not that he wouldn't have found it anyway, but..)...the first year he was there he did a workshop, and we spent, I'll swear, 45 minutes trying to TUNE all the harps. A year or two later, I watched Ron Wahl step up to the mic in the 'harp workshop, while Bryan & Mike Seeger squatted behind him, leaning on a barn, their jaws dropping.*grin*...after Ron played, Bryan walked to the mic and said..."Boy, I'm sure glad I got into this when I did."..Winfild sure was fun back then

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 4 Wet Pigs
From: GUEST,Bob Pitman
Date: 16 Sep 10 - 03:04 PM

Thank yo so much for posting the lyrics to Stately Mansion. I've been trying to get the lyrics to that song for such a long time.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Four Wet Pigs (Greg Brown)
From: autoharpbob
Date: 17 Sep 10 - 07:40 AM

My hero - of course! I was so sorry that he didn't actually make it over here last year to teach at Sore Fingers - work permit problems apparently. Hope one day - soon - to be able to meet him in the USA. Though others have now caught up with his playing, there is nobody better that I have heard in performing a song with the autoharp.

And "Four Wet Pigs" is a good song - I love the way it lulls you into a false sense of security in the first two verses, thinking it is a kids song, then hits you with verse three and twists the knife in verse four!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Four Wet Pigs (Greg Brown)
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Feb 18 - 01:05 AM

Reflux

Subject: Lyr Add: FOUR WET PIGS (Greg Brown)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Feb 18 - 02:48 AM

The version in the DT is considerably different from what Greg Brown actually sings. I have boldfaced the differences:


FOUR WET PIGS
As recorded by Greg Brown on "The Iowa Waltz" (1981)

Here's a little song about four wet pigs,
Just a little song about four wet pigs.
Two are little; two are big.
They're all dancin' at the Mudtown Jig.

Two that are little, little as an ear o' corn.
Two that are big are bigger than a barn,
Bigger than a barn, taller than a tree.
Away they go to the factory.

Cut 'em into bacon; slice 'em into ham.
Chop 'em into hot dogs; squeeze 'em into Spam.
Throw their little eyes out in the rain.
Throw their little eyes out in the rain.
Throw their beady little piggy eyes out into the rain.
Pickle their feet and pickle their brains. Ugh!*

Here's a little song about two wet pigs,
Standin' at the slop trough, smokin' their cigs,
Wishin' to God they'd never get big,
Dancin' out their hearts,
Dancin' out their hearts,
Dancin' out their hearts at the Mudtown Jig.
Dance, little piggy!

[* "Ugh!" doesn't quite do justice to the indescribable triphthong he utters at this point—more like "yeughiy!"]

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb4bGvkfW0I

Studio version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJqKSADGw7I

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Four Wet Pigs (Greg Brown)
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 19 Feb 18 - 04:21 AM

The version in the DT is very close to what Bryan Bowers recorded.