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Lyr Req/Add: Box of Candy (Bob Gibson/Tom Paxton)

08 Dec 00 - 10:21 AM (#353649)
Subject: Box of Candy
From: GUEST,magera.mark@mayo.edu

Can anyone out there send me the lyrics to a song I heard Bob Gibson sing called Box of Candy (and a Piece of Fruit). It's a christmas tune about guys in jail. Thanks

08 Dec 00 - 11:30 PM (#354017)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Box of Candy
From: campfire

I have this song on a tape called "Folked Again" - which I just looked for to answer this post and can't find! :( I can't remember who performes it on this tape. When I find it (and I'd better, because I'm sure its irreplacable) I will post the lyrics. It is a funny song.

campfire

09 Dec 00 - 12:18 AM (#354026)
Subject: Lyr Add: BOX OF CANDY AND A PIECE OF FRUIT
From: campfire

Hey, looked one more place, found the tape, and here are the lyrics. It is Bob Gibson performing, but he had help from Tom Paxton writing it:

BOX OF CANDY AND A PIECE OF FRUIT
Bob Gibson and Tom Paxton

No Christmas gift I've ever come by,
Whether trains or homemade socks,
Has haunted me like one sweet orange
And some candy in a box.
Several years ago at Christmas
I remember it so well
I spent a very lonely Christmas
Inside a lonely prison cell.
I'd been workin' in Toronto
In a Folk Song Coffee Shop.
It was hot and it was smokey
I just didn't know how hot!
I had a run-in with the Mounties,
R-C-M-P was their name.
They didn't look like Sargeant Preston
And they didn't act the same.
They had a stack of wants and warrants
Big enough to make a book
And they were mad about my smokin'
And some other stuff I took.
And so the Magistrate presided
And he set a monstrous bail.
I said "Judge, I stand here busted."
I got hustled off to jail.
The next four months were quite a party,
Lots of time to meditate (Ommm).
It's a different world in prison,
It's a different kind of wait.
It was early in November
I first heard them tell the tale
About the Sally Army's visit
Every Christmas time in jail.
A great annual occasion,
A great Yuletide salute.
Silent Night and (CD) Santa, (???Seedy Santa???)
A Box of candy and a piece of fruit.
Yes a box of Christmas candy
And a naval orange, to boot.
I heard the old cons talk about it,
Box of candy and a piece of fruit.
Til I could almost taste the candy,
I could almost smell the fruit.
Every day a little closer,
Box of candy and a piece of fruit.
Til I had a great misfortune
Worse than all my time in jail.
Twenty third day of December
That lousy judge lowered my bail!
He did it in the Christmas Spirit.
My friends and family raised the loot,
Never knowing I'd be losing
My Box of candy and piece of fruit.
So, Virginia, there's a Santa.
And if Santa ain't too mean
He owes me a box of candy
And a fuckin' tangerine!

sorry about the one line - I can't be sure what CD Santa is...

campfire

09 Dec 00 - 12:27 AM (#354029)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Box of Candy
From: Sorcha

Well, you did better than I did.....absolutely nothing on the search engines. And our boy got ot of jail just before Christmas, too.

09 Dec 00 - 01:05 AM (#354036)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Box of Candy
From: campfire

I'm just glad MY "search engine" found the tape, because my very favorite Tom Paxton tune is on it, too, Bad Old Days. I'd miss this one. It's also got Gamble Rogers, Jim Post, Jim Kweskin, and Steve Goodman on it (among others).

campfire

09 Dec 00 - 01:18 AM (#354038)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Box of Candy
From: Sorcha

Does your "search engine" involve lemon oil and dust rags? Or vacum cleaners? I was afraid it did....LOL!

09 Dec 00 - 08:24 AM (#354057)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Box of Candy
From: campfire

LOL - No, it involved moving the stereo cabinet because the cat likes to knock things off it!

campfire

09 Dec 00 - 05:18 PM (#354164)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Box of Candy
From: GUEST,Sarah

I may be all wrong, but somewhere I heard that "Box of Candy" was written by Shel Silverstein....?

Sarah

09 Dec 00 - 06:58 PM (#354190)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Box of Candy
From: campfire

Sorry, Guest Sarah, but the liner notes on the cassette claim it's written by Bob Gibson and Tom Paxton.

campfire

10 Dec 00 - 02:59 PM (#354533)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Box of Candy
From: GUEST,Sarah

Campfire,

Well, probably so -- one would presume they'd look it up before publishing...Must correct my incorrect source. Thanks.

Sarah

12 Dec 06 - 04:47 AM (#1907206)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Box of Candy
From: GUEST,Sandy Andina

Well, it was originally recorded on "The Perfect High," a Bob Gibson album of songs co-authored with Shel Silverstein. (I have the vinyl somewhere). It was a live duet performance at the Earl with Paxton. I think the first time I heard it, though, was live on WFMT from Chicagofest at Navy Pier (same broadcast that had Michael Cooney doing Andy Breckman's "Railroad Bill" and Art Thieme singing Bob Franke's "Thanksgiving Eve"); IIRC, they self-bleeped the "f-word" in the last line, with a live sound effect instead.

12 Dec 06 - 09:30 PM (#1907977)
Subject: RE: Req/ADD: Box of Candy (Bob Gibson/Tom Paxton)
From: Joe_F

FWIW: It's "Seedy Santa" in the copy (of forgotten origin) in my file.      
Google reveals "Seedy Santa" to be a character in a movie called _Look Who's Talking Now_ and to be a name used in Britain & Australia (& thus, perhaps, in Canada) for purveyors of cut-rate counterfeit or illegal goods to Christmas shoppers.

13 Dec 06 - 10:47 AM (#1908444)
Subject: RE: Req/ADD: Box of Candy (Bob Gibson/Tom Paxton)
From: Chris in Portland

another Gibson-Paxton connection - I once posted the lyrics and the chords I do for "And Lovin' You" - which they wrote together - it's a great song, and any suggestions for other chords would be greatly appreciated. Both Paxton (with Gibson) and Gibson (with Anne Hills) recorded it.
Chris in Portland

03 Jan 10 - 08:01 PM (#2802566)
Subject: RE: Req/ADD: Box of Candy (Bob Gibson/Tom Paxton)
From: GUEST,Mike in Milwaukee

I've spent all day scouring the interwebs for chords, tabulature or a songbook for sale featuring this song in particular. Here's hoping someone still checks this thread and is feeling helpful.

:)

Mike.

03 Jan 10 - 08:21 PM (#2802574)
Subject: RE: Req/ADD: Box of Candy (Bob Gibson/Tom Paxton)
From: GUEST,999

Mike--I think you can hear the song performed on YOUTUBE at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGuBa2QUzCY

25 Apr 16 - 04:29 PM (#3787103)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Box of Candy (Bob Gibson/Tom Paxton)
From: Jason Xion Wang

Sandy - a small correction: Tom and Bob's duet of this song, later released on The Perfect High album, was not recorded at the Earl, but at Charlotte's Web in Rockford, on 1st August 1979. The full concert containing the song is at Snapshotmusic website. The night was a double bill Bob and Tom:

Bob Gibson 1st Set

Cuckoo Again
A Gallon of Gas
Heavenly Choir
Just a Thing I Do (Kathy O'Grady's Song)
Mendocino Desperados
Rock Me Sweet Jesus
Bein' on the Road
Army of Children [with Anne Hills]
Leaving for the Last Time [with Anne Hills]
The Perfect High (Baba Fats)
Piece of Ass

Tom Paxton 1st Set

Life
I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound
Gas Line Romance
When Annie Took Me Home
Has Annie Been in Tonight?
Hand Me Down My Jogging Shoes
Hush Old Man
The Love of Loving You
Bad Old Days
All Clear in Harrisburg
Feed the Children
My Favourite Spring
Let the Sunshine [with Jim Post]
Don't Forget Your Waitress
The Last Thing on My Mind [with Jim Post]

Bob Gibson 2nd Set

I Like Your Song
Easy Now
I'd Love to Love You (But Your Time Is Just a Little Off)
Heavenly Choir
Bein' on the Road
What You Gonna Do About Love [with Anne Hills]
Army of Children [with Anne Hills]
Leaving for the Last Time [with Anne Hills]
Cuckoo Again

Bob Gibson and Tom Paxton

Outlaw
Box of Candy and a Piece of Fruit

Tom Paxton 2nd Set

Saturday Night
That's The Way It Seems to Me
Home to Me Is Anywhere You Are
A Golf Ball Often Has a Mind of Its Own
Bad Old Days
Did You Hear John Hurt?
My Favourite Spring
When Annie Took Me Home
Ramblin' Boy