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Lyr Req: Give Me Back My Fifteen Cents

18 Jun 97 - 11:00 AM (#7031)
Subject: lyrics needed: Give Me Back My 15 Cents
From: Ben

I am looking for the lyrics to an old-time song with the refrain "Give Me Back My 15 Cents". I have a recording of it, but I recently heard a live performance of it that included some funny verses left out of the recording. If anyone has the words, please send them to me at bat@jax.org Thanks, Ben


18 Jun 97 - 12:02 PM (#7035)
Subject: RE: lyrics needed: Give Me Back My 15 Cents
From:

Did it ever occur to you to post what you do have for others to enjoy?


18 Jun 97 - 03:14 PM (#7043)
Subject: Lyr Add: GIMME BACK MY FIFTEEN CENTS
From: Mountain Dog

Dear Ben,

Here are the lyrics from Doc and Merle Watson's rendition of GIMME BACK MY FIFTEEN CENTS. I came across it during my days as a DJ in West Virginia. The recording is on an LP from the early 80s. (The record label was "Sugar Hill," if memory serves, though I don't recall any other specifics apart from a hand-tinted photo of an old country store on the cover.)

I'd be very interested in seeing any other verses you may have picked up from the live performance. This is a fun tune to play and usually garners a smile from the happily married as well as the nuptially challenged.
Thanks for bringing it back to mind!

1. I left my home in Tennessee. Thought I'd learn to travel
And then I met a pretty little girl and soon we played the Devil.
I loved that gal and she loved me and I thought we'd live together,
But then we tied that fatal knot and now I'm gone forever

CHORUS: Gimme back my fifteen cents.
Gimme back my money.
Gimme back my fifteen cents
And I'll go home t' mammy!

2. 'Twas fifteen cents for the preacher man and a dollar for the paper.
Then dear old mother-in-law moved in and, Lordy, what a caper!
I fiddled a tune for her one day. She called me a joker.
Then that old sow got mad at me and hit me with a poker. CHORUS

3. I worked in town and I worked on the farm but there's no way t' suit 'em.
There both so dad-burn mean t' me, somebody oughta shoot 'em.
I'm tired o' lookin' at my mother-in-law. I'd like t' see my Granny.
Gonna leave the state of Arkansas an' go back home t' mammy. CHORUS


24 Jun 97 - 11:00 AM (#7327)
Subject: RE: lyrics needed: Give Me Back My 15 Cents
From: Ben

Hi Mountain Dog, Many thanks for providing the lyrics. They sound like the ones I recently heard. The recording I have is from Mud Acres: Music Among Friends (probably Rounder). Their words seem to be politically correct ! They even include the line, I want to see my mother-in law! -Ben


13 Aug 97 - 06:32 AM (#10316)
Subject: Give me back my fifteen cents LYRICS?
From: Cathy Brady

What are the words to the song sung by Doc Watson that has a chorus that ends with I'm going back to Mammy at the end? Also, do you know of any other recorded versions of this? I'd like to find a version that has harmony sung with it. Thank all.


13 Aug 97 - 07:59 AM (#10318)
Subject: RE: Give me back my fifteen cents LYRICS?
From: Mountain Dog

Dear Cathy,

I posted the lyrics to this forum on April 10, 1997. Choose "365 days" as your time frame in the Show Threads box and scroll down to that date. See you there under almost exactly the same heading as you used for this thread.

It's a favorite tune, but I'm not aware of other recorded versions of it.

Good luck!


14 Aug 97 - 08:40 PM (#10459)
Subject: RE: Give me back my fifteen cents LYRICS?
From: Nathan (nsarvis@tenet.edu)

It's included on the 1972 album "Mud Acres" on Rounder Records (a great album with lots of obscure gem - don't know if it's currently available on CD). It's performed by John Herald, Bill Keith, Tony Brown, Eric Kaz, Happy Traum, etc.