Lyr Req/Add: Old Brown Pants

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Old Brown Pants
From: GUEST,Sherry
Date: 31 Mar 10 - 10:41 PM

My great uncle used to sing this to us kids whenever we would beg for it. I remember how hard we laughed when it cames his time to gaf cause they found it in his old brown pants. OK, couldn't help but ryhme a bit but seriously, I miss Uncle Elbert a great deal and hope he is happier now. He was a veteran of WWII and his job was to make sure that the enemey dead were dead no matter how dead they were. I need not explain further. He blinked a lot and grandma said it was because he had been snow blinded. I've never looked up the symptoms of snow blindness, I, like many of my age, just took her word for it. There are some thing your're just thankful for knowing and/or experiencing.

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Old Brown Pants
From: GUEST,mjm
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 11:33 PM

hello all. I left my link to old brown pants on the gramma s old chair in error. please check out this original version

Subject: RE: req/ADD: Old Brown Pants
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 31 Oct 07 - 07:46 PM

This page says that Cousin Alvin sang MY GRANDFATHER LEFT ME HIS OLD BROWN PANTS on an early TV program called "The Old American Barn Dance" in 1953.

A reference book called "Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921-1942," by Tony Russell and Bob Pinson, lists a song called THE OLD BROWN PANTS, recorded by Frank Morris.

Here's a fragment that I pieced together from various "snippet views" of The Southern Folklore Quarterly:

GRANDFATHER'S OLD BROWN PANTS

1. * * *

CHORUS: How they did giggle! How they did yell!
Even my sister and my dear Isabelle.
How they did laugh whene'er they had a chance
'Cause grandfather willed to me his old brown pants!

2. One day my brother Bill went down to Grimes' old mill,
Took off his clothes and in the river went to swim.
Along came a billy goat, chewed the buttons off his coat,
Ate up his pants ('twas summer—they were thin!).
Now Bill was in a plight, had to stay there all the night;
I took his gal Mariah to the dance.
And as we passed him by, just to sympathize, said I:
"Don't you wish you had them old brown pants?"

3. Bill and Mariah wed, and the boys and girls all said,
"We'll surprise them with an old rag carpet bee."
Collars they were in demand, and the old pants came to hand;
While they ripped and cut, the jokes went round in glee.
My Isabelle the waistband tore; something rolled out on the floor;
"It's a thousand-dollar bill!" said sister Nance….

Subject: RE: Old brown pants
From: GUEST,F. Sheehan
Date: 18 Mar 05 - 01:31 PM

My father's version begins the same, but has the boys going for a swim. The one who inherited the summer suit had bad luck, for, "A neighbors's billy goat chewed the buttons off his coat and ate his pants, 'twas summer they were thin"

Subject: RE: Old brown pants
From: rich r
Date: 08 Oct 98 - 09:11 PM

Mike Cross has a version of the "unknown treasure" tale in which the cash was stashed in a big pile of old milk cartons in grandma's attic

rich r

Subject: Lyr Add: OLD BROWN PANTS^^
From: Garry H.
Date: 08 Oct 98 - 05:51 PM

This version is from the singing of 9-year-old Ann Purcell of Mt. Vernon, IL, rec. 1956 by Wilma Barnard Boswell, her teacher:

OLD BROWN PANTS

My grandfather, he, at the age of eighty three
Got disgusted and made up his mind to die
Of course he left a will, and to my brother, Bill
He left a house that in the town did lie

And to my sister Jane, he left a watch and chain
A house and lot he left to sister Nance
But how it made me swear when the lawyer did declare
That grandfather left to me his old brown pants

Ch: How they did giggle, how they did yell
Even to my sister and my dear Isabel
How they did laugh, whene'er they had a chance
Cause grandfather left to me his old brown pants

Now Bill and Moriah wed, and the boys and girls all said
Let's surprise them with an old rag carpet bee
The colors were in demand, and the old pants came to hand
As they ripped and cut the jokes went 'round on me.

My Isabel the waistband tore, something rolled out on the floor
"It's a thousand dollar bill", said sister Nance
Said sister Jane to Bill, "That wasn't in the will."
Says I, "Don't you wish you had the old brown pants?"

Ch: How I did giggle...

From southern Illinois, an area rich in folk music tradition, I have a number of versions of "The Old Arm Chair", which I believe to be the parent of the above song. The story is the same, but the treasure reveals itself when the bottom of the chair falls out one night. Also, the loot is in pounds, rather than dollars in this version, supporting the chronology
^^

Subject: Old brown pants
From:
Date: 08 Oct 98 - 03:00 PM

Does anyone know the lyrics or otherinformation about a song called "Those Old Brown Pants"? (Not sure of exact title.) Believed to be from about 1900. Story line concerns a father who died and left one child a pair of old brown pants. Thanks. Anna