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16 Feb 99 - 04:31 PM (#58868) Subject: Burl Ives songs From: Bill Butcher, McLean, VA Can you help me with the words to "One Meat Ball" and other Burl Ives songs?? |
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16 Feb 99 - 04:37 PM (#58869) Subject: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Bill Butcher Can you help me with the words to One Meat Ball and other Burl Ives songs?? |
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16 Feb 99 - 05:20 PM (#58875) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Bruce O. See 'LONE FISH-BALL', 1855, (use bibliographical search) in the Levy sheet music collection (Mudcat's Links) |
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16 Feb 99 - 05:36 PM (#58877) Subject: Lyr Add: ONE MEATBALL (Burl Ives)^^ From: harpgirl Here it is Bill B, I learned it from my dear friend, the late Marty Schuman. I always wondered where he heard it...harpgirl One Meatball A little man walked round and round he found an eatin place in town he looked the menu through and through to see what fifteen cents could do one meatball one meatball he could afford but one meatball He told the waiter near at hand a simple dinner he had planned the waiter hollered down the hall this here gent wants one meatball one meatball one meatball this here gent wants one meatball This little man felt ill at ease he said some bread sir if you please the guests were startled one and all to hear that waiter loudly call one meatball one meatball you get no bread with one meatball this little man felt very sad one meatball was all he had and in his dreams he hears that call you get no bread with one meatball one meatball one meatball you get no bread with one meatball and in his dreams he heard that call you get no bread with one meatball one meatball one meatball you get no bread with one meatball ^^ |
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16 Feb 99 - 07:56 PM (#58888) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Roger in Baltimore This was also a signature tune for Josh White (click here). Roger in Baltimore |
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16 Feb 99 - 08:27 PM (#58891) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: rich r This subject came up about 2 years ago. Interestingly there is still not a version of it in the DT. Go to Forum Search and type in "meatball". Two threads of most immediate interest (words, variations, historical background etc) are the one beginning on Dec 25, 1996 and a second one from May 7, 1997 rich r |
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17 Feb 99 - 09:21 AM (#58955) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Ferrara How about starting a new thread asking for some of the other Burl Ives songs you're interested in? I think I have a B.I. songbook, and Bill says he has several records and books. |
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30 May 99 - 03:59 AM (#82825) Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: THE LONE FISH-BALL From: Joe Offer I think this may be earlier than the "One Meatball" we're familiar with. -Joe Offer- (JRO)
The Lone Fish-Ball MIDI file: ONEFIS~1.MID Timebase: 192 Name: The Lone Fish-Ball This program is worth the effort of learning it. To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here ABC format: X:1
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30 May 99 - 08:10 AM (#82853) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Roger in Baltimore Ah, the folk-process. Big RiB |
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09 Jun 99 - 11:22 AM (#85179) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Easy Rider Dave Van Ronk did a great version of this song, on an old record I have. My father used to sing it. He probably learned it off a Burl Ives record. I'll transcribe the words, if they are different from what is here alredy. Does anybody have guitar TAB? EZR |
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09 Jun 99 - 09:10 PM (#85359) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: woody homespun has a recent video by Josh White Jr. one of the songs included is His dad"s version of "one meatball".You can find at www.homespun.com. |
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09 Jun 99 - 09:14 PM (#85361) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: woody Sorry Bill , that should have been www.homespuntapes.com |
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10 Jun 99 - 07:56 AM (#85483) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: murray@mpce.mq.edu.au I think I remember the Andrew Sisters singing it in the 40s. Murray |
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26 Feb 01 - 10:33 PM (#406923) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: GUEST,thasting1@home.com Please help me with the lyrics to Big Rock Candy Mountain sond from childhood and recently the movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou? E-Mail reply sent -Joe Offer- |
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27 Feb 01 - 02:32 AM (#407009) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: GUEST,Bruce O. For "Big Rock Candy Mountain" and its history see Hal Ramel's 'Nowhere in America, and Other Comic Utopias'. Compare with the 17th century "An Invitation to Lubberland" in the Scarce Songs 1 file on my website. That seems to be where the rock candy mountain first apeared. |
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27 Feb 01 - 03:48 AM (#407029) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: GUEST,fox4zero The most popular rendition of One Meatball was undoubtedly Louis Prima....prob 1940's or 50's Larry Parish |
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27 Feb 01 - 01:15 PM (#407274) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: GUEST,Roll&Go-C Joe and others seem to have covered almost anything I could add about one meatball and one fishball, except a parody verse of "After the Ball was Over" from READ 'EM AND WEEP: After the ball is over, Mary takes out her glass eye, Puts her false teeth in cold water, corks up her bottle of dye, Throws her cork leg in the corner, hangs up her wig on the wall, Then what is left goes to by-low, after the ball. |
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27 Feb 01 - 06:26 PM (#407552) Subject: Chords Add: ONE MEATBALL From: Tiger There are different versions, tempos, etc. for this song. The C7 (I guess that's what you'd call it) is played in same formation as B7 (first position), but one fret up. You could also play it in A7 formation on the fifth fret. One Meatball (Josh White/Dave Van Ronk combined version)
INTRO (2x)
A [Em]little man walked [B7]up and down,
[Em]one meat-[D]ball, [C7] [B7] [B7]He could afford but [Em]one meat-[D]ball. [C7] [B7] |
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01 Apr 01 - 12:53 PM (#430599) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Tiger Just noticed - that last line should be:
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01 Apr 01 - 02:31 PM (#430662) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Mudlark I don't remember the rest of it but the version that I heard as a kid had the chorus line One meatball...calls for another and the vague recollection that it might have been an early nat king cole recording...
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01 Apr 01 - 05:40 PM (#430790) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: GUEST,Roll&Go-C Please! Let this thread die! I've always HATED this song. And what's worse than warmed up "Meatball", grumble, grumble? |
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01 Apr 01 - 06:53 PM (#430840) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Stewie I dunno, Roy Book Binder warmed it over very nicely on his 'The Hillbilly Blues Cats' album, sauced by some very tasty blues harp from someone rejoicing in the monicker of Rock Bottom - plus dolorous vocal from Roy and nice bass from Billy Ochoa. --Stewie. |
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01 Apr 01 - 09:51 PM (#430891) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: simon-pierre I like the song - I know it by Dave Van Ronk. A big thanks for the chords, Tiger. |
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14 Dec 01 - 07:35 PM (#610064) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Joe_F IIRC, this song has the honor of having been translated into Italian by no less a person than Francis James Child. I suppose that makes it a Child ballad, at least in Italy. |
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15 Dec 01 - 12:31 PM (#610443) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: RoyH (Burl) So far as I know Burl Ives never sang this song. But Josh White certainly did. He had something of a hit with it. Others followed with their versions, but it remains a Josh White song to me. Burl Ives? I don't think so. |
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15 Dec 01 - 05:19 PM (#610597) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Ned Ludd The meat ball song I remember from childhood was sung to 'On top of old Smokey' and began 'on top of Sphagetti' Anyone remember that? |
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15 Dec 01 - 11:52 PM (#610797) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Susan of DT dick greenhaus here J. Francis Child's opus was no mere translation--it was a full light opera, called Il Pescabello! |
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16 Dec 01 - 04:23 AM (#610875) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Green Man I have a Ry Cooder version of this |
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16 Dec 01 - 09:13 AM (#610930) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Herga Kitty Ned Ludd Something on the lines of .... On top of spaghetti/ All covered with cheese / I lost my poor meatball / When somebody sneezed It rolled off the table / And onto the floor / And then my poor meatball / Rolled out of the door It rolled in the garden / And under a bush / And then my poor meatball / Was nothing but mush (Must be from north of Watford to rhyme bush and mush.) Kitty |
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16 Dec 01 - 07:25 PM (#611237) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Lin in Kansas This comes from The Josh White Songbook, Quadrangle Books, Chicago (1963): "The tragicomic song of a man without enough money to buy the meal he wanted. This version was adapted and composed by Hy Zaret and Lou Singer in 1944, and thereafter Josh was the chief popularizer of the song. According to the folklorist Kenneth S. Goldstein, a Latin Professor at Harvard had written a ditty in 1850 called 'The Lay of One Fishball.' Twelve years later, Francis James Child, the great authority on British ballads, composed a burlesque operetta in Italian on the song, called 'Il Pesceballo.' The 'mock operetta' was translated into English by James Russell Lowell, the famous poet, and performed in Cambridge for the benefit of Union soldiers in the Civil War. The song and opera then dropped into obscurity, until 1944." --Commentary by Robert Shelton _______________ This is one of the "tunes wanted." I've sent a Noteworthy file to MMario for eventual inclusion in the DT. Lin |
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16 Dec 01 - 07:48 PM (#611256) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Joe Offer Tom Glaser's On Top of Spaghetti is in the Digital Tradition. I've heard two tunes for "One Meat Ball." One is the "Fishball" tune I posted above, which sounds kind of like an Italian opera parody to me. The other is Josh White's bluesy tune, which I like much better but can't sing. I do not have a credible blues voice. Too nice a guy, I guess. I leave that sort of thing to Max. I can picture Burl Ives singing the Italian-style tune, but not the Josh White version - haven't found any evidence that Ives recorded either version. -Joe Offer- |
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16 Dec 01 - 08:05 PM (#611274) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Deda The "On top of Spaghetti" lyrics were covered in an earlier thread about songs you sang as a child. Probably a series of threads. I grew up listening to Burl Ives, and I still have a bunch of old LPs, scratchy and beloved: BI sings songs of Ireland, songs of the Sea (or maybe the title is Down to the Sea in Ships), songs for and about men, plus a couple of children's LPs -- songs about whales, ducks, etc. I also have the in memoriam CD which includes Goober peas and a few other notables of his. He was a great popularizer of many, many folk songs, of all kinds -- but when I saw "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" the older "original" (?) lyrics to Big Rock Candy Mountain were a revelation, since I'd grown up on Burl Ives' version. |
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23 Oct 02 - 09:35 AM (#809198) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - blues version From: GUEST,pramsden.lockjaw@ntlworld.com does anybody out there have the piano music. cheers pramsden |
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31 Oct 02 - 02:21 PM (#815377) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: GUEST,charles.benson@ntlworld.com The last message is the crucial one. I also am looking for the tune/piano music. The chords are all very well but, unless one has the record to hand, which I do not, they are not too helpful. Keep looking in your piano stools, guys. |
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31 Oct 02 - 08:02 PM (#815591) Subject: RE: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: Joe Offer We have a tune for The Lone Fish Ball (click) in Mudcat MIDIs. I don't know if Ives used that tune for his "Meatball," but the Josh White tune is certainly different. If anybody wants to e-mail me a tune, I'll post it. -Joe Offer (click to e-mail)- |
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04 Jul 04 - 01:11 AM (#1219125) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: GUEST,Clamoring for one meatball Does anyone have a downloadable recording of this song? |
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25 Aug 04 - 01:38 PM (#1256507) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: GUEST,russellk@gte.net I had a recording of this when I was a kid (60s). It was on an album with other funny old songs, including "A Tisket, A Tasket', "Big Noise Blew in from Winnetka", "Open the Door, Richard", "Cement Mixer". It was definitely a different version than the one I have heard by Josh White, but the same tune. Russell |
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07 Mar 05 - 12:04 PM (#1428910) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: GUEST,MARTY H. In fifth grade in about 1944 we had a talent contest. I sang "As Time Goes By" if memory serves. I was used to winning. A new kid to our school named Morton sang "One Meat Ball" and won the contest. His version of the lyrics were burned into my brain. Here they are. After all these years I still remember, the agony of defeat. A little man walked up and down, to see what he could see in town. He walked into a friendly place and sat him down with manly grace. He looked into the bill of fare to see what six odd pence could do him there. He looked into the bill of fare to see what six odd pence could do him there. He called the waiter down the hall and said, "Please, sir, just one meat ball." He called the waiter down the hall and said, "Please, sir, just one meat ball." The waiter roared it down the hall: "Dis guy here wants one meat ball!" The waiter roared it down the hall: "Dis guy here wants one meat ball!" The little man, now ill at ease: "A slice of bread, sir, if you please." The little man, now ill at ease: "A slice of bread, sir, if you please." The waiter roared it down the hall: "You gets no bread with one meat ball!" The waiter roared it down the hall: "You gets no bread with one meat ball!" And so the moral of it all: you gets no bread with one meat ball. And so the moral of it all: you gets no bread with one meat ball.
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30 Jun 05 - 09:57 AM (#1513301) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: GUEST,Cindy P. My uncle sang this song when I was a child...I didn't remember all the lyrics, but I strongly remember the last lines of his version, which aren't quoted above: The little man then went outside, And shot himself, and so he died [something something something something] You get no bread with one meatball. As you might guess, waiter-humiliation-enduced suicide was very striking to a young child, and thus this stanza stuck in my head! Does anyone know the source of that version? Or maybe my uncle just made it up... |
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01 Jul 05 - 04:14 AM (#1513547) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: GUEST,Paul Burke My dad used to sing that, the missing line is "there is a moral to it all". The tune was vaguely similar to Lily the Pink. No idea where he got it, he sang everything from sea shanties to opera via army and rugby songs and Irish stage weepies. |
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02 Jun 11 - 09:27 PM (#3164487) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: GUEST,Bernard Samstag, ex-Pittsburgher When this song was in vogue, and I was in the Third Grade, I was surprised to see that song in amongst all the other boring stuff we had to learn at St. George Catholic Grade School in Pittsburgh, PA. It probably was the original, since the last line read: "The waiter doth roar it through the hall, Thou gets no bread with one meatball." Burl Ives, or nobody else, ever sang those words, but we Third Graders did. |
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03 Jun 11 - 05:20 AM (#3164621) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Meat Ball - Burl Ives From: GUEST,Ralphie Talk about serendipity! Having just logged on, I see this thread, whilst listening to a demo of Threadbare Consorts version recorded in 1976! For those who don't know, TC were a 4 part harmony band in the UK. Really popular in the 70's/80's. Plans are afoot to put them back together after 30 odd years, And Meatballs are on the menu! |
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05 Mar 15 - 06:04 AM (#3691635) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: One Meat Ball (Burl Ives) From: GUEST,GUEST Manuel For me, the story ist put into a rather strange context: In the seventies (last century),an american friend grew rather angry, when we (in Tübingen, germany) railed over MacDonalds as rainforest-destroyers etc. Not knowing the song, she argued: "At least, you can have a meat ball with bread, a real meal for not so much money!" Well, a few jears later, she was "assimilated" in Germany and railed the harder over this special way of life. This thread has been attacked so heavily by spammers that it is temporarily closed. If you wish to post here, ask a moderator to open it for you. ---mudelf |