I got a flu shot that protects against all varieties except the one going around. The TV news is seriously infected with SARS, chicken flu, ebola, and HIV, all diseases which experts think were originally given to us from other animals. That reminded me of this song.
This version was recorded in 1929 by Walter "Kid" Smith and Norman Woodlief. Both were from the musically fertile area where Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee meet. Smith quit his millhand job to aggressively pursue a career as a professional musician. According to Jon Pankake's Old Time Herald review of Document Records' Smith reissue, he was mainly a singer, relying on others to play the instruments. From the 1920s to the 1960s, he recorded with lots of different musicians; toured as a tent show comedian with a red wig and blacked-out teeth; formed a family band with his daughters; and performed on radio, stage and TV with his guitarist wife and a yodeling dog. Less than a third of his recordings used his real name. He'd sign an exclusive record contract with each company, then go to the next one and record under a new name. This song, for example, was performed by "Jerry Jordan."
Much of the writing about African-American musical influence on white southern performers concentrates on personal relationships: how Bill Monroe learned from Arnold Schultz, A.P. Carter from Leslie Riddle, or Dock Boggs from Jim White. Actually, most of the influence was from recordings. Many of the white musicians bought "race records" and learned from them. Smith learned this song from a 1925 Paramount recording by Papa Charlie Jackson, modifying it for stringband compatibility. Jackson, of New Orleans, made records that were a prime source for many other musicians, both black and white.
I have no idea where Jackson got the song. Most likely, he cobbled it together. I've been told that the title line is in an old British sea chantey. That's only a springboard, however. The song itself, in an older blues format, uses commonplace verses on a well-worn theme. As with most blues-influenced songs, you have to squeeze together some of the words to get them all in. And I'm not responsible for any verbal or physical attacks if you sing this in public without first delivering a 10-minute lecture on the history and context of gender politics.
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Complete Lyrics:
1. Oh, the cat's got the measles,
And the dog got the whoopin' cough, doggone.
Oh, the cat's got the measles,
And the dog got the whoopin' cough.
Doggone a man
Who'd let a woman be his boss,
Doggone my time.
2. Thought I heard a rockin'
Deep down in the ground, doggone.
I thought I heard a rockin'
Deep down in the ground.
It must have been the devil
A-chainin' my good gal down,
Doggone my time.
3. I ain't good lookin'
And my teeth don't shine like pearls, doggone.
I ain't good lookin'
And my teeth don't shine like pearls,
But I've got what it takes
To carry me through this cockeyed world,
Doggone my time.
4. (Repeat verse 1).
5. I ain't no devil,
Just borned in a lion's den, doggone.
I ain't no devil,
Just borned in a lion's den.
And my chief occupation's
Takin' women from the monkey men,
Doggone my time.
6. Some men don't like me
Just because I keep my pride, doggone.
Some men don't like me
Just because I keep my pride,
But the women cry "Poppa,"
Say they want to be my bride,
Doggone my time.
7. (Repeat verse 1)