Lyr Add: Red Neck Love Poem

Subject: ADD: RED NECK LOVE POEM
From: red_clay
Date: 22 Oct 04 - 11:51 AM

Redneck Love Poem

Susie Lee done fell in love;
She planned to marry Joe.
She was so happy 'bout it all
She told her pappy so.

Pappy told her, Susie gal,
You'll have to find another.
I'd just as soon yo' ma don't know,
But Joe is yo' half brother.

So Susie put aside her Joe,
And planned to marry Will,
But after telling Pappy this,
He said, "there's trouble still.

“You can't marry Will, my gal,
And please don't tell ya mother,
But Will and Joe, and several mo'
I know is yo' half brother.”

But Mama knew and said, “My child.
Just do what makes yo' happy.
Marry Will or marry Joe.
You ain't no kin to Pappy......”

Subject: RE: BS: RED NECK LOVE POEM
From: Amergin
Date: 22 Oct 04 - 11:55 AM

isn't this an old song?

Subject: RE: BS: RED NECK LOVE POEM
From: Nerd
Date: 22 Oct 04 - 05:16 PM

It's an old folktale in several traditions: most recently, Isaac Levy and Rosemary Levy Zumwalt reported it from Sephardic (Jewish) tradition in Greece. But Buffy Ste. Marie wrote "Johnny Be Fair" based on it back in the 60s. It also turned up as a joke in the 1990s with Chelsea Clinton as the girl with all the half-brothers.

That said, it's a nice version, red clay! Did you write it or find it?

Subject: RE: BS: RED NECK LOVE POEM
From: Peace
Date: 22 Oct 04 - 07:07 PM

Never saw it before. Neat poem/song.

Subject: RE: BS: RED NECK LOVE POEM
From: Nerd
Date: 22 Oct 04 - 09:25 PM

Turns out it's just old recycled internet lore...

Subject: RE: RED NECK LOVE POEM
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Oct 04 - 12:19 PM

Well, it's much older than the Internet, but we still haven't been able to trace it to a source earlier than 1940. Jimmy Driftwood wrote a song and Robert W. Service wrote a poem on the subject about that time. It's a puzzle some of us have been working on for a long time. I moved this to the music section and crosslinked it with the other threads.
Can anybody document an earlier date for this story?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Neck Love Poem
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Apr 13 - 05:08 PM

My father has sung and played this song on his guitar for as long as I can remember. He is 85 and doesn't remember where he learned it. I will ask relatives in KY if they know.