Lou, Lou, skip to my Lou
Lou, Lou, skip to my Lou
Lou, Lou, skip to my Lou
Skip to my Lou my darling
Lost my partner what'll I do
Lost my partner what'll I do
Lost my partner what'll I do
Skip to my Lou my darling
Lou, Lou, skip to my Lou...
I'll get another one prettier than you...
Lou, Lou, skip to my Lou...
Gone again skip to my Lou...
Lou, Lou, skip to my Lou...
Fly's in the buttermilk, shoo fly shoo...
Lou, Lou, skip to my Lou...
A little red wagon, painted blue
A little red wagon, painted blue
A little red wagon, painted blue
Skip to my Lou my darling
Lou, Lou, skip to my Lou
Lou, Lou, skip to my Lou
Lou, Lou, skip to my Lou
Skip to my Lou my darling
On the Grand Canyon Line I was riding along
On the Grand Canyon Line I was singing no song
On the Grand Canyon Line I was riding along
Couldn't go back to Texas, 'cos I knowed I'd done wrong
I passed by the bank and no money I had
It wasn't that I really had meant to be bad
But I robbed the State Bank with a trembling hand
With my pistol and my money through the big doors I ran
On the Grand Canyon Line...
Sitting alone in a box car forlorn
Because of the brigand the rich man's woe
I thought of my sweetheart - began to cry
When I am caught, by my neck I will die
On the Grand Canyon Line...
The box car flew open and the Posse walked in
The Sheriff said, Grab him boys, I think that is him
They took me to the jailhouse, and now I must die
Five hours to live, boys, how the time does fly
On the Grand Canyon Line I was riding along
On the Grand Canyon Line I was singing no song
On the Grand Canyon Line I was riding along
Couldn't go back to Texas, 'cos I knowed I'd done wrong
What's the use of wearing braces
Hats and spats and boots with laces?
All the things you buy in places
Down the Brompton Road
What's the use of shirts of cotton
Studs that always get forgotten?
These affairs are simply rotten
Better far is woad
Woad's the stuff to show men
Woad to scare your foemen
Boil it to a brilliant blue
And rub it on your back and your abdomen
Ancient Britain never hit on
Anything as good as woad to fit on
Neck or knees or where you sit on
Tailors you be blowed.
Romans came across the channel
All wrapped up in tin and flannel
Half a pint of woad per man'll
Clothe us more than these
Saxons you can waste your stitches
Building beds for bugs in breeches
We have woad to clothe us which is
Not a nest for fleas
Romans keep your armours
Saxons your pyjamas
Hairy coats were meant for goats
Gorillas, Yaks, retriever dogs and Llamas
Tramp up Snowdon, with your woad on
Never mind if you get rained or blowed on
Never want a button sewed on
Go it, ancient B's
I belong to a family, the biggest on earth
A thousand every day are coming to birth
Our name isn't Dallas, or Hasted, or Jones
It's a name that every man should be proud he owns
It's the Family of Man, keeps growing
The Family of Man, keeps sowing
The seeds of a new life every day
I've got a sister in Melbourne, a brother in Paris
The whole wide world is brother and sister to me
Wherever you go, you'll find my kin
Whatever his creed or the colour of his skin
It's the Family of Man...
The miner in Rhondda, the coolie in Peking
Men across the world who reap and sew and spin
They've all got a life and others to share it
Let's bridge the ocean and declare it
It's the Family of Man..
From the North Pole ice to the snow of the other
There isn't a man who I wouldn't call brother
But I haven't much time, I've had my fill
Of men of war, who want to kill
It's the Family of Man..
Some people say the world is a horrible place
But it's just as good or bad as the human race
Dirt and Misery or health and joy
Man can build or Man can destroy
It's the Family of Man, keeps growing
The Family of Man, keeps sowing
The seeds of a new life every day
Fred ‘Karl’ Dallas
Have you heard of a ship called the good Reuben James
Manned by hard fighting men both of honour and fame?
She flew the Stars and Stripes of the land of the free
But tonight she's in her grave at the bottom of the sea
Tell me what were their names, tell me what were their names?
Tell me what were their names, tell me what were their names?
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?
It was there in the dark of that uncertain night
That we watched for the U-boat and waited for the fight
Came a whine and a rock, and the great explosion roar
And they laid the Reuben James on the cold ocean floor
Tell me what were their names...
One hundred men went down to that dark watery grave
When the good ship went down only forty-four were saved
It was the last day of October that they saved the forty-four
In the cold icy waters by the cold ocean shore
Tell me what were their names...
Now tonight there are lights in our country, so bright
In the farms and in the cities, they are telling of that fight
And now our mighty battleships will steam the bounding main
And remember the name of the good Reuben James
Tell me what were their names...
Well, many years have passed since those brave men were gone
And these cold icy waters are now still and are calm
Many years have passed, but I still wonder why
The worst of men must fight and the best of men must die
Tell me what were their names, tell me what were their names?
Tell me what were their names, tell me what were their names?
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?
Fare thee well to you my Dinah
A thousand times adieu
For we're going away from the Holy Ground
And the girls we love so true
We will sail the salt seas over
And then return to shore
To see again the girls we love
And the Holy Ground once more
Fine girl you are
You're the girl I do adore
And still I live in hope to see
The Holy Ground once more
And now the storm is raging
And we are far from the shore
And the good old ship is tossing about
And the rigging is all torn
And the secret of my mind, my love
You're the girl I do adore
And still we live in hope to see
The Holy Ground once more
Fine girl you are
You're the girl I do adore
And still I live in hope to see
The Holy Ground once more
And now the storm is over
And we are safe and well
We will go into a public house
And we'll sit and drink our fill
We'll drink strong ale and porter
And make the rafters roar
And when our money is all spent
We'll go to sea once more
Fine girl you are
You're the girl I do adore
And still I live in hope to see
The Holy Ground once more
Put your arms around me like a circle round the sun,
You know I love you Mama, like your easy rider done
You don't believe I love you, look what a fool I've been
You don't believe I'm sinking, look what a hole I'm in
'Cause I'm stealin, stealin, pretty mama don't you tell on me
'Cause I'm a-stealin back to my same old used to be
The woman I'm a-lovin', she's my size and height,
She's a married woman, so you know she treats me right
You don't believe I love you, look what a fool I've been
You don't believe I'm sinking, look what a hole I'm in
'Cause I'm stealin, stealin, pretty mama don't you tell on me
'Cause I'm a-stealin back to my same old used to be
The woman I love, she's so far away,
But the woman I hate, why I see her every day
You don't believe I love you, look what a fool I've been
You don't believe I'm sinking, look what a hole I'm in
'Cause I'm stealin, stealin, pretty mama don't you tell on me
'Cause I'm a-stealin back to my same old used to be
Come a little closer honey to my breast
And tell me that I am the one you really love the best
You don't believe I love you, look what a fool I've been
You don't believe I'm sinking, look what a hole I'm in
'Cause I'm stealin, stealin, pretty mama don't you tell on me
'Cause I'm a-stealin back to my same old used to be
Gus Cannon
Notes on Stealin’
Stealin’ (or Stealin’, Stealin’) was written by Gus Cannon, who was born in 1883 in Marshall County Mississippi. His parents were share croppers – his father had been born a slave. Gus was the youngest of 10 brothers. When Gus was 12 he began work in the cotton fields but loved music and learned songs from local musicians. He made his first banjo himself from a bread tin fixed to a guitar neck. By the time he was 19 Gus (sometimes known as Banjo Joe) was working as a musician although he was earning his living as a railroad worker. He eventually formed his own band, one of the popular “jug bands” playing a mixture of early jazz, country and ragtime. The musicians would blow into jugs or whisky bottles in lieu of brass instruments, hence the name. Another staple was the “bullfiddle”, a double bass made from a dustbin, a broom handle and string.
Gus’s own band, Cannon’s Jug Stompers, never recorded Stealin’, but it was recorded in 1928 by another Memphis jug band, the Memphis Jug Stompers.
Many artists – including Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Donovan, Arloe Guthrie, Uriah Heep and the Grateful Dead – have re-recorded the song during the last eighty years and some have adapted it or added their own verses. Janis Joplin included the verse:
With good whiskey you stay drunk all the time,
Stay drunk baby 'cause it eases my mind
While the Grateful Dead added:
Well I'm going up North, gonna see my girl
Sweetest thing in the whole wide world
FSC has done its own adapting by adding:
Come a little closer honey to my breast
And tell me that I'm the one you really love the best
And you don't have to worry 'bout any of the rest
Cause everything's gonna be fine
This (or something very like it) is actually the last verse of Everything’s Fine Right Now by the Incredible String Band and doesn’t appear in any other version of Stealin’ that I was able to locate. The original goes:
Come a little closer to my breast
I'll tell you that you are the one I really love the best
And you don't have to worry 'bout any of the rest
Everything's fine right now!
You can find a huge amount of information about southern jug bands on websites devoted to The Grateful Dead, who numbered them among their influences: most of my information here is from articles by Randy Jackson on www.taco.com and Chris Smith on www.mustrad.org.uk
Now it's gentlemen left to the corner you must go
Grand right and left around the outside row
Meet your honey and promenade her home
There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight
* First couple out to the right and circle four hands round
Pick up two and circle six hands round
Take two more and circle eight hands round
There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight
Allemande left with the lady on the left
Allemande right with the lady on the right
Allemande left with the lady on the left
And a grand old right and left around the ring
Meet your honey with a do-si-do
Take her in your arms and around and around you go
Promenade with sweetest girl you know
There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight
Repeat from * for each couple in turn
Tu we tu we
Barhima tu we tu we
Tu we tu we
Barhima tu we tu we
Ambassado, amado, do
Barhima tu we we
Barhima tu we tu we
As I was a-walking one morning last autumn
I overheard some noble fox-hunting.
Between some noble men and the Duke of Wellington
So early before the day was dawning.
There was Dido, Bendigo, Gentry, he was there-o
Traveller, he never looked behind him,
There was Countess, Rover, Bonny Lass and Jover,
These are the hounds that would find him
Well, the first fox being young and his trials just beginning
He made straight away for the cover,
He's run up yon highest hill, and run down yon lowest ghyll,
Thinking that he'd find his freedom there for ever.
Now, the next fox being old, and his trials past a-dawning
He's made straight away for the river
The fox he has jumped in, and an `ound jumped after him
It was Traveller, a-striding on for ever.
Well, they've run across the plain, but they'll soon return again,
The fox nor the hounds never failing.
It's been just one month today since I heard the Squire say,
"Oh, forward then me brave hounds for ever."