Lyr Req: The Old Grey Mare (She Ain't What She...)

Subject: Old Gray Mare - She Ain't What She Used to Be
From:
Date: 22 Nov 97 - 08:11 PM

My father-in-law is looking for the complete lyrics to "The Old Gray Mare - She Ain't What She Used to Be..." for a family re-union.

Does anyone know them... especially if there are other verses than the main one.

Thanks for your help

Nathanael

Subject: Lyr Add: THE OLD GREY MARE
From: rastrelnikov
Date: 23 Nov 97 - 04:19 PM

Hmmm. Only verses I can find are:

THE OLD GREY MARE

The old grey mare, she ain't what she used to be
Ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be
The old grey mare, she ain't what she used to be
Many long years ago
Many long years ago
The old grey mare she ain't what she used to be
Many long years ago

The old grey mare, she kicked on the whiffletree
Kicked on the whiffletree, kicked on the whiffletree
The old grey mare she kicked on the whiffletree
Many long years ago
Many long years ago
The old grey mare she kicked on the whiffletree
Many long years ago

When I was a kid, I always got this song mixed up with A HORSE NAMED BILL which has many more verses.

Subject: RE: Old Gray Mare - She Ain't What She Used to Be
From:
Date: 23 Nov 97 - 07:08 PM

The Prairie Home Companion song book has a version. The one my dad taught me goes:

The old grey mare she pfhtt [Bronx cheer] on the whiffletree, which, as a teamster, I would say is more accurate than kicking.

Richard

Subject: RE: Old Gray Mare - She Ain't What She Used to Be
From: Jon W.
Date: 24 Nov 97 - 11:53 AM

I posted this verse in the "naughty kids greatest hits" threads back in September, but here goes again:

The old gray mare went floating down the Delaware
looking for her underware
couldn't find them anywhere
The old gray mare she had to buy another pair
Many long years ago

Subject: RE: Old Gray Mare - She Ain't What She Used to Be
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Nov 97 - 06:41 PM

from the same thread in Sept.--

Many years ago, there was a bill in Congress to allow the addition of horse meat to some human foods...the late Senator Everett Dirkson, he of the greatest gravelly voice in recorded history, got up on the floor of the Senate, and sang

"The old grey mare, she ain't what she used to be "Out of the stable now, onto the table now.. "The old grey mare, she ain't what she used to be, "A Blue Plate Platter soon!"

the bill was defeated.....

Subject: RE: Old Gray Mare - She Ain't What She Used to Be
From:
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 06:47 PM

Anyone know where I could find the written tune so we can make dulcimer tab

Subject: RE: Old Gray Mare - She Ain't What She Used to Be
From: Stewart
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 07:01 PM

See Carl Sandburg's "The American Songbag"

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Old Gray Mare - She Ain't What She Used to Be
From: Stewie
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 07:35 PM

Part of the song appears in the wonderful 'Horsie Keep Your Tail Up'. Joe Offer tidied up Sandy Paton's 'definitive' transcription from Lew Childre (Yazoo CD 2051)and posted it here:

Horsie Keep Your Tail Up

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Old Gray Mare - She Ain't What She Used to Be
From: John Hindsill
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 08:20 PM

She ain't what she used to be...so who is? I ain't.

Subject: RE: Old Gray Mare - She Ain't What She Used to Be
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 08:59 PM

I think she's off with, not Bill, but that mule ho, hold that mule I say, aint' got time to kiss you now, the mule has run away!

Subject: RE: Old Gray Mare - She Ain't What She Used to Be
From: Snuffy
Date: 16 Jan 01 - 09:02 PM

It doesn't appear to be in the DT. Serious omission!

Subject: RE: Old Gray Mare - She Ain't What She Used to Be
From: aussiebloke
Date: 17 Jan 01 - 02:36 AM

Learned this bawdy verse in the school yard as a small boy...

The old gray mare said let's have anothery
Down behind the shrubbery
I'll supply the rubbery
The big black bull said:
You can go to buggery
I ain't gonna do it no more!

apologies to the delicate...

aussiebloke

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Grey Mare (She Ain't What She...)
From: GUEST,RJM
Date: 15 Mar 11 - 03:01 AM

Sorry you couldn"t come up with the version I remember only parts:
such as:
She may be old and lean but she doesn't need gasoline
She flicks her tail at the Ford and the Pontiac
Looks better than the Cadillac
...........?
and parts of another verse..

A car goes roaring past
Going mighty fast
A mile further on it runs out of gas
And the Old Mare pulls it Home.
..........?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Grey Mare (She Ain't What She...)
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 15 Mar 11 - 07:32 AM

The early country version had other verses, like Earl Johnson's (c. 1929?)

The old grey mare went tearin' out the wilderness,
Tearin' out the wilderness, tearin' out the wilderness,
The old grey mare went tearin' out the wilderness,
Many long years ago.

OR as I think I remember Johnson sang the last line:

Down in Rockingham.

The song is a secularization of the brush arbor hymn "Ain't I glad I got out the wilderness," so at least this verse, and perhaps others adapted from that hymn may have crossed over to become part of the earlier versions of the song.

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Grey Mare (She Ain't What She...)
From: GUEST,Tig
Date: 03 May 12 - 05:49 PM

The old grey mare
went sailin' down the Delaware
pulled down her underwear
to see what was under there...

The old grey mare chit on a single tree,
chit on a single tree,
chit on a single tree
The old grey mare chit on a single tree...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Grey Mare (She Ain't What She...)
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 04 May 12 - 08:11 AM

And the sequel:

The old grey mare is back where she used to be etc.
Didn't this get posted some time ago? Too lazy to look.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Old Grey Mare (She Ain't What She...)
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Jul 16 - 04:15 PM

I have an old 78 record of The Old Grey Mare by Collins and Harlan