Lyr Req: Old Grey Mule (from Pete Seeger)

Subject: Old grey mule
From: GUEST,Marc Vayssières
Date: 15 May 01 - 01:26 AM

Could anyone provide the lyrics of the old grey mule. I heard the song on the "Birds, beasts, bugs and fishes (little and big)" recording by Pete Seeger. Thanks, Marc

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old grey mule
From: Stewie
Date: 15 May 01 - 02:12 AM

I don't know about 'old grey mule' but, if you are after 'old grey mare', you will find the lyrics in this thread:

Click Here

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old grey mule
From: catspaw49
Date: 15 May 01 - 02:25 AM

I can't remember the lyrics for this one but I've tried all the bits I know and I can't locate it on the net. I had it years ago on a "Skillet Licker's" .... Johnson's Old Gray Mule.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old grey mule
From: Stewie
Date: 15 May 01 - 02:49 AM

Marc, sorry about the misdirection to 'Old Grey Mare'.

Spaw, I had a listen to the sound clip on CDNow site and it doesn't sound like the Skillet Licker's 'Johnson's Old Gray Mule'. Sounds more like a variant of 'Whoa Mule'. There are a couple of threads in the forum on that. No doubt, someone will have the Seeger record and be able to help out.

--Stewie.

Subject: ADD: Old Grey Mule ^^
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 May 01 - 03:26 AM

Well, hello, Marc - sorry I haven't been able to sing with you lately. I fell in love with a woman who has Wednesdays off.
The song is a version of "Whoa Mule" - you can find out about that song in this thread (click).
Hope to see you soon, Marc.
-Joe Offer-

---

OLD GREY MULE

My uncle had a old grey mule,
His name was Simon Slick,
About anything you ever did see
Was how that mule could kick.

Refrain: Whoa! Mule, whoa!
Whoa that mule I say,
Keep your seat, Miss Liza
Ain't got long to stay.

I went to feed that mule one day,
He met me with a smile,
He backed one ear, winked one eye
And kicked me half a mile.

Now this mule was a big one,
He weighed ten thousand pounds,
Every tooth he had in his head,
Was eighteen inches round.

I took him to the blacksmith shop
To get his mouth made small,
He opened his mouth, took a yawn
Swallowed blacksmith shop and all.

from Pete Seeger's CD, Birds, Beasts, Bugs & Fishes

See "Whoa Mule"

@animal
filename[ GREYMULE
JRO
Apr01^^

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old grey mule
From: catspaw49
Date: 15 May 01 - 07:12 AM

Far out!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old grey mule
From: Louie Roy
Date: 15 May 01 - 10:51 AM

Marc,Maybe you're looking for Thompson's Old Grey Mule. This tune was written about an old junk dealer in Lewiston Idaho in 1901 an was a great Banjo tune.If this is the tune you are looking for I can supply the Lyrics.Louie Roy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old grey mule
From: catspaw49
Date: 15 May 01 - 11:00 AM

Geez, we seem to have a lot of mules kickin' around here..........

Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old grey mule
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 May 01 - 02:00 PM

Note the connection to Bile Them Cabbage Down - Marc, Anne Bressler sings "Cabbage" with her banjo.
Louie, please post the lyrics to "Thompson's Old Grey Mule" here in this thread, so Marc can see the difference.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: THOMPSON'S OLD GREY MULE
From: Louie Roy
Date: 16 May 01 - 10:01 AM

Thompson's Old Grey Mule was written about an old junk dealer by the name of Randy Thompson in Lewiston Idaho in 1901 and was on an old Edison record. I can't find the artist name right now but when I do I will post it. In the chorus it refers to Lissa Jane and a Lissa Jane was a raised foot rest on the front end of the Carts, Hacks, Sleighs, Wagons, Shays and Buckboards the mode of transportation in that era. In the winter time we used to heat rocks in the wood heaters, wrap them in a towel and place them under the Lissa Jane to keep our feet warm

Thompson had an old grey mule
He drove him around in a cart
he loved that mule that mule loved him
With all his mulees heart
Chorus
Whoa dem muley whoa,whoa
Whoa dem mule I say
Keep both feet on the Lissa Jane
And hold fast to the shay
Chorus
Thompson knows when the rooster crows
That the dawn was a going to break
He'd hold that mule by the leg of a stool
And comb him down with a rake
Chorus
Thompson had an old grey mule
His ears were four feet long
It took the teamsters forty days
To get the harness on
Chorus
Thompson's mule could lick a ton of brick
And both his hind feet were loose
He let them fly at Big Lipped Jack
And cooked his royal goose
Chorus
One day while roving in the street
He found an old hoop skirt
He went to work at once and made a meal
Of old rusty nails and dirt
Chorus
That night he took an awful colic
That settled in his feet
And before the dawn that mule was gone to
To walk the golden street
Chorus

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old grey mule
From: Stewie
Date: 16 May 01 - 07:15 PM

Louie, thanks for posting the song. The 'Lissa Jane' perhaps explains the 'Liza Janes' in later mule songs. Has the Edison recording been reissued anywhere? Evidently, the Pickard Family also recorded the song in the 1920s for the obscure New York City label QRS. No one knows what QRS stood for - 78 record collectors thought it should stand for 'Quite Rarely Seen'.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old grey mule
From: Louie Roy
Date: 16 May 01 - 08:32 PM

Stewie,as far as I know this song on the old Edison records has never been reissued,but I was looking through some old record companies that I still contact occasionally and they were reproducing some Edison records.I never had heard of the QRS record CO.but in the 1920s and early 1930s there was a record about twice as thick as the Edison,maybe this was the QRS??? Louie Roy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old grey mule
From: Stewie
Date: 16 May 01 - 08:53 PM

Louie, thanks for that. A Canadian bloke has put on the net a listing of QRS releases - an interesting mixture:

QFRS

Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old grey mule
From: Louie Roy
Date: 16 May 01 - 11:59 PM

Stewie, that is quite a collection of rare records.The old Phonograph we had was a Victorola with a turning head to play the Edison records and it took a gold needle to play them and they were quite expensive.There was one record we had about a guy who died and went to heaven and while he was talking to Saint Peter he asked him how long a second was in Heaven and it was over a million years.He then asked how much a penny was worth in Heaven and it was over a million Dollars.So he asked Saint Peter if he would loan him a penny and Saint Peter said he would in a second.Does anyone else remember this tune Louie Roy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old grey mule
From: GUEST,Marc Vayssières
Date: 18 May 01 - 01:32 AM

Thank you all, for the lyrics and the threads!

It would seem that these mules named Liza or Lissa Jane were related. Where can you find mules that "could lick a ton of brick" or "swallow a blacksmith shop and all" these days.

Although, maybe we could sing...

Now this SUV was a big one,
He weighed ten million pounds,
Every one of its twenty cylinders,
Was eighteen inches round.

Refrain: Whoa! SUV, whoa!
Whoa that SUV I say,
Keep pumping gas, Miss Liza
It does not run on hay.

Marc.