All arrangements by
The Red Clay Ramblers.
Original material ©
Flying Fish Music, BMI
1.
Fourth of July at a Country Fair 2:37
(from the Georgia Yellow
Hammers)
On the Fourth of July at
a Country Fair a man went up in a balloon
He was to go right up through
the clouds and take a circle around the moon
But when he got up about
ten miles high the gas in his balloon went out
He came down without a parachute
and he was heard so very loud to shout:
“I ain’t got no feather bed
to land on land when I fall
I may dive in the river,
my land on the city hall
But the best of all that
I’ll ever land on will be a house up our street
Any old haystack that I
land on will be home sweet home to me.”
Now I’ll tell you of a tramp
that never works the road
He never pays no railroad
fare and does life as a joke
All the bar hoppin’ of his
life, his nose was painted red
“All I want is a friend’s
back door and a big hand out” he said
“I don’t stop at no swell
hotels, weather means nothing to me
My boarding house is a big
box car, my name’s on the water tank
Just give to me a big saloon
where the lunching is warm and free
Any old saloon that I hang
in is home sweet home to me.”
My brother Bill to Texas
went, it breaks my heart to sing
These cowboys caught him
dead to right with his neighbor’s horse one day
The village committee they
caught him up and put a rope around his neck
Before they done that loop
de loop my brother Bill did say:
“I ain’t got no bigger limb
to hang on when I swing
You told me I could have
my choice I only ask one thing
I’d like to be hung on a
gooseberry bush
You know what my fate would
be
Any old limb that you hang
me on’ll be home sweet home to me.”
Jim
lead vocal and guitar
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to top
2.
Thoroughly African Man 3:59
(Mike Craver/Flying Fish
Music, BMI)
I got that ole blue feeling,
staring at the ceiling
Peeling in my Boston bungaloo
(bungaloo, bungaloo)
I got the craziest notion
to swim across the ocean
Ask Rio Rita the reason
why I’m blue (Go to Madagascar and ask her)
My name is Wayne I sell
records at Zayre
I’m just another corny accordion
player
I’m gonna buy me a Rand
MacNally, try to find a way outa Tin Pan Alley
Gonna march to Pretoria,
slip down ole Sudan
Bungle in the jungle with
a funky African band
I’ll polish the stars and
put ’em in jars on the top of Kilimanjaro
My heart’s in Capetown ridin’
range
My butt’s in Boston makin’
change
My head says “No you can’t”
My feet say “Bechuanaland”
Lighter than air, if you
want me I’ll be somewhere
O’er the rainbow shaking
down a palm
Or playing with that congo
band
Forward my correspondence
in care of Africa Land
I wonder how it feels to
be without heels
Would a Bushman like my
Cushman?
He might shake it – He might
take it
(He might break it)
He won’t break it
Since I was a child I’ve
wanted to run wild
Wash the western world outa
my hair
(You can make it kid, just
like Albert Schweitzer did)
I wanna hit that blue note,
stop playing the polka
Back up Rio Rita on the
road to Upper Volta
We’re gonna make that heart
of darkness
Shine with phosphorescent
starkness
Marching to Pretoria, slippin’
down ole Sudan
I’m gonna wet my paws in
Victoria Falls,
be a thoroughly African
Man
I’ll polish the stars and
put ’em in jars on the top of Kilimanjaro
My heart’s in Kenya ridin’
range
My butt’s in Boston makin’
change
My head says “No you can’t!”
My feets in Bechuanaland
Wayne and Rita bear the newest
riff
Where it all began
Adam and Eve, what’s the
diff?
Both put together African
bands
Thoroughly African Man
Mike
lead vocal
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to top
3.
Cabin Home 4:32
(from the Golden Melody
Boys, second verse by Bill Hicks)
When I was a little lad
Left my mother home and
dad
In search of wealth for
years I traveled land and sea
But I hunted all in vain
Now I’m going back again
To the place that memory
holds so dear to me
Chorus:
I’m going back to the shack
To the place where I was
born
I hear the call of my old
cabin home
There’s mother dear, waiting
there
In her old familiar chair
I know she’ll miss me more
each day that I roam
She’ll be glad when I’m
there
In answer to her prayer
She’ll tell me all the changes
made since I’ve been gone
Oft times I wake from my
dreams
And hear her calling me
it seems
It’s a call from my ole
Cabin Home
When I’m headed out this
way
On the A & T and the
Santa Fe
I can still see those green
hills I left behind
But the train keeps rolling
on
Two thousand miles away
from home
And I wonder if those hills
again I’ll find
Chorus
Tommy
lead vocal and tenor guitar
Jack
guitar
Mike
bass
back
to top
4.
Hot Buttered Rum 3:02
(Charles William Thompson/Southern
Melody Publishing Company, BMI)
When chimney smoke hangs
still and low
Across the stubble — fields
of snow
And angry skies reach down
to seize
The sorry blackened bones
of trees
In the dead of winter
When the silent snowbirds
come
You’re my sweet maple sugar,
honey
Hot buttered rum
When dreary Christmas decorations
Line the streets and filling
stations
And dimestore Santas can’t
disguise
Their empty hands and empty
eyes
In the dead of winter
When the tinsel angels come
You’re my sweet maple sugar,
honey
Hot buttered rum
When gloves and boots and
woolen parkas
Bring cold comfort to the
heart
And bitter memories freeze
the tongue
And songs of love are left
unsung
In the dead of winter
When those cold feelings
come
You’re my sweet maple sugar,
honey
Hot buttered rum
Tommy
lead vocal and guitar
Mike
guitar
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5.
Three Bells Road 2:36
(Bill Hicks/Flying Fish
Music, BMI)
6.
Baby Grand 3:31
(Bland Simpson-C.W. Thompson/Queen’s
Council Music,
ASCAP-Southern Melody Publishing
Company, BMI)
There’s a millionaire in
the Brooklyn jail
He don’t care, he could
go his bail
Said: “You could put me
away, but I’ll never pay
Another cent of alimony”
A fat man comes on Christmas
Eve
In a bowler hat and a gartered
sleeve
The fat man’s in a pickle
’cause he’s never sent a nickel
To his former matrimonial
spouse
Millionaire says “Fat man,
Tell me what’s your line?”
Fat man says “I play the
piano
When I ain’t doin’ time”
The tycoon smiles and scratches
his chin, he laughs
“Ain’t you Fats Waller?
Come on in!
Let’s see if you and me
can live in harmony!”
Across the Harlem River the
boys were feelin’ low
Took up a pay collection
The fat man’s bail to go
They grabbed their hats
at the Cotton Club
They took the Third Avenue
El
Brooklyn Bridge down to
Flatbush
They were standin’ at the
fat man’s cell
Well the boys could not believe
their eyes
The jail cell looked like
Paradise
Some swell was handin’ out
cigars
And Fats was grinnin’ through
the bars
Pounding on a baby grand
He said “Boys meet Mr. Hennessy
Reponsible for all you see
Hennessy’s been good to
me
And I could stay indefinitely
Pounding on a baby grand
So Fats stayed in jail for
the Christmas holidays
He sent his friends away
They heard the tycoon say
as they were leaving
“Two can live as cheap as
one
Don’t time fly when you’re
havin’ fun
Keepin’ house in the can
Pounding on a baby grand
We’ll be happy as a clam
Pounding on a baby grand”
Mike
vocal
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to top
7.
Play “Rocky Top” 2:42
(Bill Hicks/Flying Fish
Music, BMI)
Now I come down to this bar
every evening
I get here just about ten
I been tryin’ to get a little
lovin’
Can’t remember how long
it’s been
So if you’ll just do me
a favor
Play that song for me
I’ll fix your car next Thursday
Throw in the lube and the
oil for free
Chorus:
Play “Rocky Top”
For the lady at the bar
With the long red fingernails
I been tryin’ all night
to get that girl
Ole “Rocky Top” it never
fails
I can’t play no music
I ain’t got no hundred dollar
bill
But if you’ll just play
old “Rocky Top”
I know that lady will
Now some people think that
I’m stupid
That’s all right with me
Somc people can think about
anything they want
Just as long as they let
me be
I ain’t got no education
and I don’t know how to spell
But I know what a good dried
song sounds like
And I know how to raise
some hell
Chorus
Well the money keeps getting
smaller
And the rent keeps going
up
I got me a little house
trailer
And a brand new blue tick
pup
I can’t afford no regular
woman
So this is what I’ll do
You play “Rocky Top” for
me
And I’ll sing this song
for you
Bill
lead vocal and guitar
Jim
bass
back
to top
8.
Santa Anna’s March/Fine Times at Our House/Donegal Reel 2:59
(from Frank George/John
Summers/Francis O’Neill)
9.
Aragon Mill 3:42
(Si Kahn/Joe Hill Music,
ASCAP)
At the east end of town at
the foot of the hill
Stands a chimney so tall
that says Aragon Mill
But there’s no smoke at
all coming out of the stack
For the mill has shut down
and it ain’t coming back
Chorus:
And the only tune I hear
Is the sound of the wind
As it blows through the
town
Weave and spin, weave and
spin
There’s no children at all
in the narrow empty streets
All the looms have shut
down it’s so quiet I can’t sleep
Chorus
Now I’m too old to work and
I’m too young to die
And there’s no place to
go for my woman and I
For the mill has shut down
it’s the only life I know
Tell me where shall I go
tell me where shall I go
Jim
lead vocal
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to top
10.Wahoo,Wahoo,Wahoo
3:08
(from Bill Boyd and His
Cowboy Ramblers)
Give me a horse, a great
big horse, and give me a buckaroo
and let me wahoo wahoo wahoo
Give me a ranch and a big
pair of pants, and give me a Stetson too
and let me wahoo wahoo wahoo
Give me those wide open
spaces
I’m just like a prairie
flower growin’ wilder every hour
Give me a turkey and a hunk
of beef jerky
And dish up the dogie stew
and I’ll go wahoo wahoo
wahoo
I never could sing a high-class
thing
Good music I never knew
But I can wahoo wahoo wahoo
I never could dance ’cause
when I dance
I ruin the ladies’ shoes
But I can wahoo wahoo wahoo
It’s just a gift from the
prairie
You shout it when a bad
man jigs
It’s mighty good for callin’
pigs
I never could speak a word
of Greek
I never could Shoobedoobedoo
But I can wahoo wahoo wahoo
What did ole Cleopatra say
to Antony when they met
She hollered wahoo wahoo
wahoo
What did the roving Romeo
sigh to his Juliet
He sighed wahoo wahoo wahoo
It started way back in Eden
Eve was the cause and that’s
no fib
She wahooed Adam for a rib
Now what did ole Pocahontas
say to John Smith when they met
She hollered wahoo wahoo
wahoo
Those Hollywood queens that
grace the screen
Acquired the habit too
They want to wahoo wahoo
wahoo
This is no con they learned
it on
The horses they’re contract
to
They want to wahoo wahoo
wahoo
Give me those wide open
spaces
I wanna be there with those
frails
I wanna ride those hills
and dales
Lay me to rest out in the
West but make it a Mae West view
and let me wahoo wahoo wahoo
Why did the wildcat get so
wild he didn’t know what to do
He couldn’t wahoo wahoo
wahoo
Why did the Zulu warrior
lose the battle of Timbuktu
He couldn’t wahoo wahoo
wahoo
The world has wahooed for
ages
Some like to wahoo soft
and low
Others like to let it go
Why did the ole Chief Sitting
Bull Sit around feeling blue
He couldn’t wahoo wahoo
wahoo
Jack
and Bill lead vocals
back
to top
11.
Tilly Take Your Time 3:41
(from Bessie Smith)
Tilly Brown was a dancin’
fool
Spent her time in a dancin’
school
When the band would play
Tilly would start right
in to sway
First one out on the ballroom
floor
Never got enough she just
prayed for more
When the band would play
All the girls and boys would
say
Oh Tilly take your time
Oh Tilly take your time
Ain’t no use to hurry cause
you wanna prance
Look out there Tilly, you
got all night to do that dance
Oh Tilly lay ’em down
Oh Tilly Tilly Brown
You don’t know what you
shake
When you shake
What you break
Oh Tilly take your time
Bill
lead vocal
Jim
bass
back
to top
12.
Paddy Won’t You Drink Some Cider 3:02
(from Lowe Stokes et. al.)
Paddy won’t you drink some
Paddy won’t you drink some
Paddy won’t you drink some
good ole cider
Had a little cider last night
Little night before sir
Going out tomorrow night
to get a little more sir
You be the horse and I’ll
be the rider
Going to Paddy Watson’s
to get a little cider
Jim
and Tommy vocals
back
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