Origin: They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around

Subject: RE: Origin: They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dawg Aroun'
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jan 12 - 01:45 PM

Those are the words to "They Gotta Quit Kickin My Dog Around" ' two versions on You Tube, one by the Skillet Lickers in 1926 with my distant (great?)cousin Clayton McMichen on the fiddle. Guess it isn't known who originally wrote it? if you know let me know-Thanks
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Subject: RE: Origin: They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dawg Aroun'
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Apr 13 - 03:18 AM

The New Christy Minstrels version



I had an old dog and his name was Jake
I found him out in the old canebrake
I figured he'd make a real good hound
As soon as he learned his way around

What's that son what have you got
He's blueticked gwat* and Lord knows what
Pretty soon word got spread around
Billy Joe's found the Lord knows now

Ooooh
Every time I go to town
The boys keep kickin' my dog around
Makes no difference if he is a hound
They gotta quit kickin' my dog around

So I took Jake out and schooled him hard,
but he chased Ma's ducks all around the yard
He chased her chickens and a rabbit and a deer
and he chewed on the neighbor's milking cows ear

We took Jake to run a racoon,
but he lead us straight to the town saloon
While the Sheriff sat there in tremblin' fear
Jake chewed his star and he drank his beer

Ooooh
Every time I go to town
The boys keep kickin' my dog around
Makes no difference if he is a hound
You gotta quit kickin' my dog around

So Jake I said your my best friend
We'll stick together till the end
When under the window where Ma had sat
We spotted the practice of a mountain cat

Jake took off to doggy scare
He bellered that cat from here to there
When all of them fellows showed up from town
To hear that cat and that crazy hound

My Jake he had that critter treed
The boys all looked and smiled at me
Away up high on the limb he sat
My mother's precious calico cat

Ooooooh
Every time I go to town
The boys keep kickin' my dog around
Makes no difference if he is a hound
You gotta quit kickin' my dog around (Come on you guys)

Every time I go to town



The boys keep kickin' my dog around
Makes no difference if he is a hound
You gotta stop kickin' my dog around (You hear what I tell ya)

Every time I go to town
The boys keep kickin' my dog around
Makes no difference if he is a hound
You gotta stop kickin' my dog around

*Though there are other definitions for this word, the definition that makes sense in this context is this:
The mythological gwat is a large furry red haired rodent that slinks behind pubs and is often associated with hay bales. Mostly active towards sunset, these highly polygynous creatures have an eary call that most closely resembles a gurgling pump.

Subject: RE: Origin: They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Apr 17 - 07:54 PM

Am I dreaming or did the Byrds do this song too? Of course if it was on the "Golden Ring" record I heard it and still have it, but I distinctly remember it being (briefly) on top 40 radio when the Byrds were big.

Subject: RE: Origin: They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around
From: GUEST,Bill Salter
Date: 03 Jan 18 - 09:07 PM

‘Quit Kickin My Dog’ Around, was performed by The Seaway Singers in Canada in 1964 on the CTV. “Let’s Sing Out” show hosted by Oscar Brand.
Al Cromwell & The Brothers Four we’re also on the show.
This version was arranged by the Seaway Singers, with the addition of a chorus.

Subject: RE: Origin: They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around
From: GUEST,Bill Salter
Date: 03 Jan 18 - 09:12 PM

Chorus:

“Well you can lock me up in the County jail,
Tear my stillhouse down;
You can steal my wife, you can take my life...
But you gott quit kickin my dog around...”

Subject: RE: Origin: They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around
From: GUEST,Chuck Sears
Date: 14 Jan 18 - 02:15 AM

We had this song on a 78 RPM record in the late 1920s. Don't remember who performed it or what label the record was, or what was on the other side. But that particular recording was mostly instrumental. Especially fiddle and Jew's harp. I think the only lyrics sung on that recording were: "Every time I come to town, you boys go to kickin' my dog aroun'. It makes no diff'rence if he is a houn'. You gotta quit kickin' my dog aroun'". As I recall, that was sung twice, with instrumental in between, before, and after. It's interesting to learn from the commenters here that there were a lot of other lyrics and a real story behind it. It wasn't one of my favorite records, but I played it a lot because the fiddle and Jew's harp music were pretty unique.

Subject: RE: Origin: They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around
From: GUEST,Truman Price
Date: 02 Feb 23 - 11:54 AM

When I used to hang around some with Miriam Stafford and with the Crabgrass Family in Berkeley in the early 60's they sang the song; I made a couple of verses that seemed to work, my fav was
"Every night, just about dark,
My dog goes out and he starts to bark;
Raises more ruckus than Noah's ark,
he sure has fun when he starts to bark!"
   -- these days, I sometimes sing it, with fiddle, for Nick the Newfie. He lives it (tells the coyotes to shut up, and they do).

Subject: RE: Origin: They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around
From: GUEST,The Og
Date: 02 Feb 23 - 01:06 PM

Learned it from Bill Salter & the Quarrymen (a Canadian 60s group. Their version (as tweaked by me) was...

Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around (D)

1                   6m             1                5                1
Every time I go to town, boys keep kickin' my dog around,
                                     6m                         1               5                1
Makes no difference if he’s a hound, they gotta quit kickin' my dog around.

                            1                            4          1
        Well you kin lock me up in the county jail,
                                          5
        Tear my still house down,_
                     1                                  4          1                        
            You kin take my wife, you kin take my life,
                                       5                1
        But you gotta quit kickin' my dog around.


Well, me 'n Lem Briggs 'n ol' Bill Brown, we took a load of corn to town,
My ol' Jim dog, bein' an orn'ry ol' cuss, well, he just natcherly followed us.

As we drift' past that Johnson store, a passle o' yaps came out the door,
Ol' Jim, he scooted behind a box, when all them fellas started throwin' rocks. Well…
------------------------------

They tied a can around his tail, ‘n run him past that county jail,
Well, that just nacherly made me sore, ol’ Lem, he cussed and Bill he swore.

Well, me 'n Lem Briggs 'n ol' Bill Brown, we lost no time in gettin' on down,
Whupped them fellas on the ground, for kickin' my ol' dog Jim around. Well…
-------------------------------

Ol' Jim, he seen his duty then, he lit right into them gentlemen,
He shore messed up that courthouse square, with rags, 'n meat, 'n hide, n' hair. Well…

Subject: RE: Origin: They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Sep 23 - 09:28 PM

SO funny...I dunno how many years its been since your post, but I have an obnoxious German Shepard I play this song for.... I tell her I'm plaaying her song, and she jumps on me and starts grabbing my arms until I come play. THe New Christy Minstrel version. That is the song I mean. THe old variations...I don't even care for.

Subject: RE: Origin: They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around
From: Lighter
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 09:01 AM

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (March 24, 1912):

"It was out in New Mexico [said John H. Curran, former immigration commissioner] some 20 years ago. I was with some fellows on a ranch, and one of them, who was from Missouri, was the life of the party. He played the banjo and sang ‘Dinah Had a Wooden Leg,’ and as sure as you live, the tune he sang it to was the was the very tune of the dog song. And sometimes at the end of the ‘Dinah’ verse, he would sing this line, repeated two or three times:

                  Boys all kick my dog aroun’.

“And then, with the final twang of his banjo strings, he would end with:

                 Better quit kickin’ my dog around’.

...[The dog song] goes with ‘Sally Gooden,’ ‘Sugar in de Gourd,’ ‘Old Tom Wilson,’ and ‘Turkey and [sic] de Straw.’”


"Dinah Had a Wooden Leg" (like "Sal's Got a Meat Skin") is one more name for the tune "Sally Ann."

Subject: RE: Origin: They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Sep 23 - 09:28 PM

SO funny...I dunno how many years its been since your post, but I have an obnoxious German Shepard I play this song for.... I tell her I'm plaaying her song, and she jumps on me and starts grabbing my arms until I come play. THe New Christy Minstrel version. That is the song I mean. THe old variations...I don't even care for.

Subject: RE: Origin: They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around
From: Lighter
Date: 09 Sep 23 - 09:01 AM

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (March 24, 1912):

"It was out in New Mexico [said John H. Curran, former immigration commissioner] some 20 years ago. I was with some fellows on a ranch, and one of them, who was from Missouri, was the life of the party. He played the banjo and sang ‘Dinah Had a Wooden Leg,’ and as sure as you live, the tune he sang it to was the was the very tune of the dog song. And sometimes at the end of the ‘Dinah’ verse, he would sing this line, repeated two or three times:

                  Boys all kick my dog aroun’.

“And then, with the final twang of his banjo strings, he would end with:

                 Better quit kickin’ my dog around’.

...[The dog song] goes with ‘Sally Gooden,’ ‘Sugar in de Gourd,’ ‘Old Tom Wilson,’ and ‘Turkey and [sic] de Straw.’”


"Dinah Had a Wooden Leg" (like "Sal's Got a Meat Skin") is one more name for the tune "Sally Ann."