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28 Jun 04 - 11:03 PM (#1215927) Subject: Lyr Add: Tocowa From: harpgirl Tocowa I started for Arkansas one early morn in June; I landed in Sulpher Springs one Saturday afternoon. Up stepped a walking skeleton, presentin me his paw, Inviting me to his hotel, "the best in Tocowa." I rose next morning early to meet an early train. He said "Young man, you'd better stay. I have some land to drain. I'll give you a dollar and a half a day, your board and washing all. You'll find you are a different man when you leave Tocowa." He fed me corn dodgers as hard as any rock. Untill my knees began to shake, my teeth began to knock. I got so thin on sassafras tear I could hide behind a straw. Indeed I was a different man when I left Tocowa. Text secured by Mr. Sanford R. Hughston from a pupil in the Courtland (Mississippi) High School. First published in AP Hudson "Ballads and Songs from Mississippi," Journal, XXXIX, 161 with a note to the effect that Mr. Hughston thought the song originated in Panola County. This is a variant of The State of Arkansas mentioned elsewhere but I didn't find text, so included it. harpy See Cox's "Arkansas Traveleer" No 52; Finger's Sailor Chanties and Cowboy Songs, pp. 52-54 and Lomax's "The State of Arkansas" Folksongs of Mississippi, AP Hudson |