Lyr Req: The First Covered Wagon (Jimmie Driftwood

Subject: The mightiest covered wagon that
From: Pete & MAggie BAnjo players
Date: 20 Aug 98 - 03:46 PM

Lyrics required to "The mightiest Covered Wagon that ever did travel from the Gulf of Mississipi to the CAlifornia Gravel etc...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The mightiest covered wagon that ever did
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 07:45 PM

It's actually THE FIRST COVERED WAGON by Jimmie Driftwood.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The mightiest covered wagon that ever did
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 08:27 PM

Chris O'Hanlon has given chords and his lyrics here:
http://www.tabguitarlessons.com/D/Driftwood_jimmie/the_first_covered_wagon.crd.htm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The mightiest covered wagon that ever did
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 08:29 PM

Correction to title in "Subject" would be appreciated.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FIRST COVERED WAGON (Jimmie Driftwood
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Nov 11 - 07:48 AM

Here's my transcription. I heard the song on Spotify. A few words are different from the O'Hanlon version. It's a great song that deserves to be better known.


THE FIRST COVERED WAGON
Words and music by Jimmie Driftwood
As sung by Jimmie Driftwood on the album "Tennessee Stud – The Best of" (2011).*

Oh, the first covered wagon that ever did travel
From the mighty Mississippi to the California gravel
Was loaded with a pair of Yankee-doodle hinges
To swing that Golden Gate.

[When] they left St. Louis, the roosters were a-crowin'.
When they topped the Rocky Mountains, the sun was still a-showin',
And the old ox team kept puffin' and a-blowin'
Till they reached that Golden Gate.

The driver of the team was mighty bad to stutter
And the Indian chiefs thought he really was a cutter
When he milked a buffalo and made a big jug o' butter
And greased his wagon and ate.

The first covered wagon that ever did travel
From the mighty Mississippi to the California gravel
Was loaded with a pair of Yankee-doodle hinges
To swing that Golden Gate.

Oh, about midnight when the earth began to quiver,
He took a dose o' pills, for he thought it was his liver,
Then he dreamed of the girls on the Mississippi River
And he dreamed of the Golden Gate.

The lightning flashed; the thunder kept a-braggin',
And the old ox team started pushin' on the wagon.
A wheel came off and the axle started draggin'
In the mud on the Golden Gate.

The driver of the team got a mighty clever notion,
Jumped in the water and he made a big commotion,
Drove his nails in the bottom of the ocean,
And he swung that Golden Gate.

The first covered wagon that ever did travel
From the mighty Mississippi to the California gravel
Was loaded with a pair of Yankee-doodle hinges
To swing that Golden Gate.


[* Allmusic.com says it's also on "Wilderness Road" (1959) and "Americana" (1991).]