I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist

Subject: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicologist
From: BSondahl
Date: 01 Oct 98 - 12:17 AM

I ain't no ethnofolkmusicologist,
I ain't no ethnofolkmusicologist's son,
But I can digress on a song's etymology,
Till the folkethnomusicologist come.

http://www.camasnet.com/~asondahl/bradindex.html
burma shave

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Oct 98 - 12:12 PM

as can we ALL, Brad, old fellow...

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: Pam S.
Date: 01 Oct 98 - 02:06 PM

I think I'm in love with you, BSondahl.

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: Ewan McV
Date: 01 Oct 98 - 02:50 PM

Your address reminds me of the WWII front trench signs I read about

Be careful as you walk about
Or you'll be picking shrapnel out
Of Burma Shave

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Oct 98 - 03:13 PM

Brad - that sounds like it's supposed to be a verse to a song I'm supposed to know. Trouble is, my feeble mind can't figure out what song it's supposed to be. Can you tell me the song, before I get seriously frustrated? Is your verse original, or am I right in thinking I've heard it somewhere else before? Sounds like it could be somebody taking a poke at Pete Seeger or John & Alan Lomax.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: Barbara
Date: 01 Oct 98 - 04:56 PM

There's one in the DT, Joe. I searched [ain't no doctor] and got If the River Were Whiskey.
Might be more. Seems like I remember a trade song, that plugs in tons of different professions, each with a double entendre on the end (ain't no mailman; ain't no mailman's son, but I can put it in the box till the mailman comes) and the like. Might be another version of Hesitation Blues. That sounds right.
Blessings
Barbara

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: Roger Himler
Date: 01 Oct 98 - 05:30 PM

Barbara,

How about:

Gather 'round people, 'bout to sing this song,
Goin' to St. Louis and it won't be long.

CHO:
I'm wild about my lovin', I like to have my fun.
If you wanna be a woman of mine,
You've got to bring it with you when you come.

Hello Central, what's a'matter with that line?
I want to talk to that Molly Brown of mine.

Don't want no sugar, in my tea,
'Cause the girl I love is sweet enough for me.

A'int no fireman, I ain't no fireman's son,
But I can keep you warm 'til the fireman comes.

Ain't no doctor, I ain't no doctor's son,
But I can make you feel good, 'til the doctor comes.

Words from memory of 60's or 70's jug band recording. Perhaps I can find it later.

However, the thread may be referring to a Smother's Brothers song/routine. Is this it, Joe?

My old man's a sailor, now whaddya think about that?
He wears a sailor's collar, he wears a sailor's hat.
He wears a sailor's raincoat, he wears a sailor's shoes.

And every Saturday evening, he reads the Sunday news.

CHO:
And some day, if I can,
I'm gonna be a sailor, just like my old man.

They move through occupations to "Cotton pickin', finger lickin', chicken plucker." e.g.

My old man's a cotton pickin', finger lickin', chicken plucker, Now whaddya think about that?

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 02 Oct 98 - 11:14 AM

Barbara,

I think you pegged it as a variation (mayhap a wryly pedantic one?) of them ol' Hesitation Blues.

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: Brad Sondahl
Date: 02 Oct 98 - 11:41 AM

The lyrics were original, been percolating in my brain for years. it's based on the pattern of Hootchie Cootchie Man, which of course is Muddy Waters rendering of the Willie Dixon standard which falls in the the genre of "I ain't no" lyrics: I ain't no miller, ain't no miller's son, But I can do your grinding till the miller come etc. blah blah blah. But I digress.

It's not intended to rip anybody-- just years ago I heard some fellow folk junky with a degree described as an ethnofolkmusicologist.

And to Pam S: Sorry, I'm spoken for...

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Oct 98 - 01:08 PM

Roger, that Smothers Brothers routine sounds familiar, but it's not on the one Smothers CD I have and my memory doesn't go back that far very well these days. Sure does ring a bell, though. I always liked the Brothers Smothers. I was kind of proud of the Smothers routine I used to do as a camp counselor.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: Rockaday Johnny
Date: 03 Oct 98 - 10:26 AM

Roger - that '70's jugband tune you thought of was Jim Kweskin's recording of "Wild about my Lovin" (Geof Muldaur did the vocals) it was based on Jim Jackson's 1928 version --

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: Dani
Date: 03 Oct 98 - 07:55 PM

BSondahl, I needed a chuckle tonight~ thanks!

Joe, don't you remember the pheasant plucker and his son?? I'm pretty sure it was discussed ad nauseum here sometime.

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: gargoyle
Date: 04 Oct 98 - 03:06 AM

I first heard it in 1960, from a bar-owner's daughter....it is a tongue-twister. Try saying it three times.

I'm not a sheet slitter
I'm a sheet slitter's son,
But I will slit your sheets
Till the sheet slitter comes.

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Oct 98 - 03:32 AM

Ohhhh, the Pheasant Plucker (click here) thread. I forgot....
Gee, It's even in the database (click here).
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: Barry Finn
Date: 05 Oct 98 - 04:21 PM

Rockaday, I believe that's the same version covered by John Sebastian, what I still have from memory goes, maybe like this.

Hello central what's the matter with the line
I gotta talk to that high flying gal of mine

CH: Cause I'm wild about my loving,
I like to have some fun
If you want to be a girl of mine
You got to bring it with you when you come.

Hello Mr. Chief of Police,
women round here won't let me see no peace.

I think there was more but the fog is to thick. Barry

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: northfolk
Date: 05 Oct 98 - 06:25 PM

just went through quickly, so maybe the answer is already here. the reference to the smothers b's, was close. The show included a series of poems, I think, by Mason williams? called "Them Poems". Them Moose Goosers was more widely known than them Pheasant pluckers....

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: Joe Offer
Date: 05 Oct 98 - 06:55 PM

I'm not sure if there's a connection to ethnofolkmusicologists, but click here and you'll find the refreshing, entertaining, and strangely satisfying thread we had on Mason Williams and the Moose Goosers and such.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: HESITATIN' BLUES
From: Barbara
Date: 05 Oct 98 - 07:29 PM

Gee, it's good to be back. About 25, 30 years ago someone gave me a copy of Hesitatin' Blues with about a zillion verses. I just found it, but the top page -- with the music and the info about whose version it was -- is gone. Here's the words:
HESITATIN' BLUES

Hesitatin' stockings, hesitatin' shoes
Hesitatin' mama's got the hesitatin' blues,
CHORUS
Tell me, how long do I have to wait?
Can I get you now, or must I hesitate?

If the river was whiskey, and I was a duck
I dive to the bottom and never come up (drink my way up)
A nickel is a nickel, a dime is a dime
Gonna get a new gal, and she won't mind.
(Got a houseful of children and one of them mine)

Well, I'm standin' on a corner, dollar in my hand,
Lookin' for a woman who's lookin' for a man

Well you hesitate by one, and you hesitate by two
Angels up in heaven sing the hesitatin' blues

I was born in Alabama, I was raised in Tennessee,
If you don't like my peaches don't shake my tree.

I looked down the rroad just as far as I could see
Man had my woman and the blues had me.

I ain't no doctor, ain't no doctor's son,
But I can do it till the doctor comes.

Well the eagle on the dollar say "In God we trust"
Women wants a man, wants to see a dollar first.

Pussy ain't nothin' but meat on a bone,
You can *** it, you can **** it, you can leave it alone.

Ain't no fireman, ain't no fireman's son,
But I can keep your boiler hot till your fireman comes.

Ain't no iceman, ain't no iceman's son,.
But I can cool your fever till your iceman comes

Ain't no postman, ain't no postman's son,.
But I can stick it in your slot till your postman comes

Ain't no chimney sweeper, ain't no chimney sweeper's son,.
But I can haul your ashes till your chimney sweeper comes

Ain't no garage mechanic, ain't no garage mechanic's son,.
But I can grease your axle till your garage mechanic comes

Ain't no Good Humor man, ain't no Good Humor man's son,
But there's good lickin' at my popsicle till your Good Humor man comes

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: GUEST,Joseph Scott
Date: 22 Jan 17 - 05:45 PM

The familiar "I ain't no plumber..." stuff is at least as old as 1916, because it was used in this:

http://www.worldcat.org/title/german-blues-its-neutral/oclc/24261434?referer=di&ht=edition

Lurtey was born in Kentucky in about 1887. _Billboard_ wrote on 10/28/1916 that "The German Blues: It's Neutral" was the "[b]est burlesque song on the boards" and on 5/26/1917 that it was "[m]aking a great hit everywhere."

Subject: RE: I ain't no ethnofolkmusicoligist
From: GUEST,Joseph Scott
Date: 22 Jan 17 - 05:59 PM

P.S. "The German Blues: It's Neutral" had AAB lyrics, unlike "Hesitating Blues."