Lyr Req: There's a long long nail a winding

Subject: Lyr Req: There's a long long nail a winding
From: GUEST,Diana S.
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 06:28 AM

Hello. I'm trying to find the lyrics to an old song that my Dad used to sing. It started this way: "There's a long long nail a winding into the sole of my shoe. And it's found its way right in my foot a mile or two." And it ends with something like this: ... "until the time that I can sit right down and pull that old nail out."

I would greatly appreciate having all the lyrics to the song and a title would be great to have, too!

Thank you for your help. I'm new to this forum and may not find my way back here anytime soon. If you could email me directly, that would be wonderful.

Diana
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: There's a long long nail a winding
From: GUEST,Diana S.
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 06:40 AM

I'm going to go ahead and ask about two more songs that I'm trying to find lyrics for. The first one I'm guessing the experts here won't have any trouble with. It starts out: "I like to go swimming with bow-legged women and swim between their knees..."

The second song may be a tougher case. It's a little narrative about a forest ranger who saves a young woman from a bear (I think) and they fall in love. It starts out, "There was a forest ranger who lived out in the woods..."

Many thanks for the help.

Diana

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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: There's a long long nail a winding
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 07:50 AM

The first one of course would be a parody of There's a long long trail - but then you probably know that anyway.

It sounds as if it's probably a soldier's version. Or possibly Scouts.

Subject: Add: There's a long long nail a winding
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 08:06 AM

Found Here

THE LONG, LONG NAIL
Tune: Long, Long Trail
Heart of America Council


There's a long, long nail a grinding
Up through the sole of my shoe
For it's ground its way into my foot
For a whole mile or two
There's a long, long hill before me
And what I'm dreaming about
Is the time when I can sit down
And pull that long, long nail out.

NP

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: There's a long long nail a winding
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 08:14 AM

Bow Legged Women thread inconclusive, but some info.
Reference to M*A*S*H* takes us to This page which only gives the same excerpt as in the earlier thread, possibly just a snippet written for that scene?

Nigel

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: There's a long long nail a winding
From: GUEST,Diana Sedenquist
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 04:14 PM

Thank you very much for the help. I'm going to have to work on my Dad to come up with the rest of the lyrics to the bow-legged women song. I'll post them here (or actually to the thread that you referred me to).

If anyone comes up with knowledge of -- or lyrics to -- the Forest Ranger song, that would be wonderful.

Appreciate the great information.

Diana

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: There's a long long nail a winding
From: GUEST,Carl Drews
Date: 01 Aug 05 - 05:57 PM

My father used to sing it just a little differently:

There's a long, long nail a-winding
into the sole of my shoe;
and it's worked its way into my foot
a mile or two.
There's a long, long road before me
and what I'm thinking about,
is the time when I can sit right down
and pull that darn nail out!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: There's a long long nail a winding
From: Peace
Date: 01 Aug 05 - 06:17 PM

The bowlegged women rhyme was used in the movie, "Jaws".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: There's a long long nail a winding
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 01 Aug 05 - 07:02 PM

In the 1930s we sang:
"I'm Popeye the Sailor Man
I live in a garbage can
I likes to go swimmin' with bow-legged women
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man (toot! toot!)

Subject: ADD: The Lucky Ranger (P.S. Lovejoy)
From: GUEST,Brian V.
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 10:09 AM

I think I found your Forest Ranger song Diana


The Lucky Ranger
(P.S. Lovejoy)
[tune: Johnnie and Frankie]

O once there was a ranger / Who always did his best
He wore the Service uniform / And a badge upon his vest
He had no interest / Save in his forest.

He had his breakfast early / Two hours before daylight
He hit the trail at sun-up / And kept it up till night
And half the night / He'd read and write.

O he was in demand / When trouble was in sight
For he could run a Whizzer / And he could also fight
Hell or high water / It was all right.

His pride was that he knew / His work from A to Z
From Abies to zylem / The Manual and sub E
And every part / He knew by heart

His mind was automatic / He never liked debate
He never hesitated / And never was too late
He could not make / A mistake.

He thought the world was skookum / But asked two things from life
That he should own a forest / And that he find a wife
For to marry / Was necessary.

One day a tourist's daughter / Got lost out in the brush
The 'phoned in to the Ranger / And he was there with a rush
They needn't worry / For he would hurry.

He tracked her down a canyon / And up a mountain side
And if he hadn't found her / She certainly would have died
But she was plucky / And that was lucky.

For when the ranger saw her / A great big grizzly bear
Had run her up on a pile of rocks / And he was a-keeping her there
And now the Ranger / Was in great danger.

But the Ranger ran right up / And pulled his forty-five
And the air turned blue with the smoke of it / But the bear was still alive
The fighting / Was exciting.

The Ranger's guns were empty / So he pulled his Bowie knife
For the bear was coming for him / And he had to save his life
And for a fight / That was all right.

But the Ranger he was losing / For he didn't have the weight
The girl saw things were desperate And she was most too late
But she was coming / And coming running.

The bear was bleeding badly / But the Ranger was all in
When the bear hit him an awful smash / And it looked just like a win
But in a clem / Cherche la femme.

The bear reached for the Ranger / Who had fainted with the shock
When the girl ran a hairpin down his ear / And beaned him with a rock
The with the knife / She took his life.

The Ranger's leg was broken / But they had to get outside
So the girl she carried him fifteen miles / And all the way she cried
For she was sad / And also glad.

She nursed the ranger well / And then one moonlight night
He said, "My dear, I love you / You certainly can fight
You saved my life / Please be my wife."

"O yes indeed", she answered / "But you certainly were slow
I'd rather marry a Ranger / Than any man I know
And I'd rather marry you / Than carry you."

"But we will have to wait, dear / For a while at least I fear
For I have no Ranger Station / And it may take me a year
The Supervisor / Is a miser."

"No! I can't wait so long / And anyway don't you care
We will get married tomorrow / For Pa is a millionaire
Pick out your forest / And get the best."

Well he thought of the old Uinta / And the Routt and the Medicine Bow
The Blackfeet and the Coeur d'Alene / The Crook and the Durango
But they all had / Too blamed much snow.

He thought of the Uncompahgre / The Gila and the Kern
The Modoc and the Klamath / But he was afraid they'd burn
And also / The Ochoco.

He wanted to make certain / There should be no mistake
So he took a trip to the Kootenai / And then to the Fishlake
And the Lolo / And the Mono.

The Leadville was too high / The Kansas was too low
So he passed up all of District Two / And still was on the go
To look still more / Became a chore.

But he said, "I am a Ranger / And the forest is my home
I must find one that suits me / And until then I must roam
It will be fun / To own one."

He went to the Pacific / And climbed up Mount Ranier
He looked around all Puget Sound / And then he said "I fear
That each is rainier / Than Ranier."

The Datil was too dry / The Chelan was too wet
The Inyo was awful dry / The Chugach wetter yet
In melancholy / He slipped his trolley.

Year after year he wandered / Till he forgot his wife
To find a perfect forest / He gave up all his life
He never knew that / He could not do that.

(pitch in minor)

Out in the scaler's cabins / Nights when the wind is high
The Scalers tell each other / "There's that Ranger goin' by
Poor cuss / Worse off than us."

Days when the fires are working / And there isn't any sky
And there is no grub or water / They here him goin' by
"Poor cuss / Worse off than us."

Noons when the crew finds water / And the cigaretts are made
They damn their job and the party chief / But they do not want to trade
"Poor cuss / Worse off than us."

Up at the Lookout Station / With his heliograph and phone
The Lookout talks to the Guards below / And they say "He's all alone
Poor cuss / He envies us."

"When the Beartrap District Ranger / Meets up with the one below
They damn the Supervisor / But they let the other know
"Poor cuss / Worse off than us."

When the Utah Supervisor / Meets one from District Three
They damn the District Foresters / But in this they agree
"Poor cuss / Worse off than us."

When the District Heads foregather / To hear the Big Chief tell
What they have next to tend to / They all think "Go to hell
But the poor cuss / He's worse off than us"

(back to major)

The Swartzwald suits the German / The Zielwald suits the Swiss
The Brittish like the Punjab / And it all comes down to this
"Poor cuss / Worse off than us."

And some folks like the hardwoods / And some prefer the pine
and some folks like the mixed woods / And I like spruce in mine
"My forest / Is always best."

And some folks like forests level / And some prefer them rough
And some want a little and some want lots / And each is good enough
"My forest / Is always best.

Jack Sprat could eat no fat / Far fields are always green
The other fellow has a snap / The Boss is always mean
O hell / It's just as well.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: There's a long long nail a winding
From: Genie
Date: 30 Sep 08 - 03:28 PM

This is the version of the Long, Long Trail parody that my mother learned when she was a kid:

THE LONG, LONG NAIL
Tune: Long, Long Trail

There's a long, long nail a-grinding
Into the sole of my shoe,
And it feels as though it is stuck in
About a mile or two.
And when this march is over
I will give one glad shout
And sit beside the road and I will
Pull that long nail out.

G

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: There's a long long nail a winding
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Feb 12 - 12:36 PM

I used to sing both of these songs in the 50's with my brothers. I am glad that the lyrics haven't been forgotten. They are part of our American history! I still sing "Bill Brogan's Goat" with my kids and "I Went to the Animal Fair" and "You Remember Grandma's Lye Soap, Good For Everything in the Home"...awesome songs!! Don't forget "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep" [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: There's a long long nail a winding
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Feb 12 - 09:43 AM

A version we sang in the scouts

There's a lon long worm a crawling across the roof of my tent
I can hear the whistle blowing and it,s time I went
There,s some cold cold cold water awaiting my dip
And when I get home in the Evening that worm will be on my pillowslip.

Joe Nicholson

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: There's a long long nail a winding
From: Joe Nicholson
Date: 14 Feb 12 - 09:48 AM

Cookie reset

Joe N