HANK THOMPSON
DANCE RANCH SONGS FOR ROUNDERS
(Capitol T-1246)
August/1959
Produced by Ken Nelson
Merle Travis, Billy Gray - guitar
Bobbie White - steel
Pete Burke - bass
Gwin Nichols - drums
Billy Armstrong, Bob White - fiddle
Henry Boatman - fiddle/sax
Joe Losciuto - piano
Dubert Dobson - trumpet
Stamps Quartet - vocals
Recorded:
Dec 16-17/1958, Capitol Records Studio, Hollywood
1.
THREE TIMES SEVEN
(Merle Travis - Cliffie Stone)
« © '46 Unichappell Music, BMI »
I'm three times seven baby I do as I doggone please
There ain't nobody this sign of heaven gonna get me on my knees
I'm a three times seven aby I'm gonna have my fun
Well I just won't tame I'm gonna be the same till I'm three times twenty-one
I'm the big duck in a puddle don't you try to push me around
Cause I don't come in like no lion just to go out like a lamb
I'm three times seven baby that makes twenty-one
Well I love on sight and I fly by night I'm a no good son of a gun
[ guitar ]
I'm rough and ready baby and I really feel my oaths
Now I ain't scared of no livin' man or any gun he totes
I'm a triflin' troublemaker and I'm really full of fun
Wild and wooly full of please I'm a no good son of a gun
Way I make my livin' loafin' I never did work a day
Workin' to me just don't agree cause I ain't built that way
I'm a rootin' tootin' rounder gals and don't you think that I ain't
Well I might get around to paint the town but I never did like to paint
I'm three times seven baby I do as I doggone please
There ain't nobody this sign of heaven gonna get me on my knees
I'm a three times seven baby and I'm gonna have my fun
Well I just won't tame I'm gonna be the same till I'm three times twenty-one
**********
2.
I'LL BE A BACHELOR TILL I DIE
(Hank Williams)
« © '40 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »
I'll take you to the picture show and babe I'll hold your hand
I'll sit up in your parlor let you cool me with your fan
I'll listen to your troubles and pet you when you cry
But get that marrying out of your head I'll be a bachelor till I die
I done my honky tonkin' round and had a lot of fun
But somehow I can't understand how one and one makes one
I like to cuddle near you and listen to you lie
But get that marrying out of your head I'll be a bachelor till I die
[ fiddle - steel ]
Now if you want a help mate you're just wasting lots of time
Cause I'm afraid of church bells how they scare me when they chime
I've seen those married people just up and say goodbye
So keep that marrying out of your head I'll be a bachelor till I die
This freedom's mighty precious in this land of liberty
I've seen what matrimony's done to better men than me
I don't mind keeping comp'ny with the apple of my eye
But keep that marrying out of your head I'll be a bachelor till I die
**********
3.
DRUNKARD'S BLUES
(Hank Thompson)
« © '58 Songs Of PolyGram, BMI »
Walking slow to the graveyard I've lost everything I could lose
Now I've even lost my baby I guess I've got the drunker's blues
It was down at Big Joe's barroom on the corner beyond the square
Everybody drinkin' good liquor the regular crowd was there
So I strolled out on the sidewalk began to look around
Looking everywhere for my baby but that sweet woman can't be found
It was down at St James in morgue I found my baby there
Stretched out on a long white table so cold so plain so bare
So I strolled back down to the barroom to get another drink of gin
The next thing you know I'm reeling rocking and drunk again
Sixteen coal black horses all hitched up in a line
In that pretty buggy she's ridin' goodbye ol' gal of mine
Walking slow to the graveyard I've lost everything I could lose
Now I've even lost my baby I guess I've got the drunker's blues
**********
4.
TEACH 'EM HOW TO SWIM
(Orville Proctor - William Penix)
« © '58 Songs Of PolyGram, BMI »
Babe you got me up a tree a way out on a limb
You told me lies you let me on then turned me down for him
You took my heart tore it all apart and then threw it away
And now that it's all over babe here's all I can say
Oh take my glass fill it up fill it to the brim
If I can't drown my troubles babe I'll teach 'em how to swim
If I can't teach 'em how to swim I'll teach 'em how to float
So please just pass one more glass to please my dusty throat
Grandpa's swallowed his first drink when he was only eight
The doctor warned him then and there to stop before it was too late
But grandpa was a real strong man he wouldn't heed the plea
Now he's done drink hisself to death he died at ninety-three
So since my grandpa lived so long I want to be like him
If I can't drown my troubles babe I'll teach 'em how to swim
So here I sit in this old bar my future's looking dim
If I can't drown my troubles babe I'll teach 'em how to swim
Oh take my glass fill it up...
**********
5.
DRY BREAD
(Merle Travis)
« © '50 Unichappell Music, BMI »
Well she spent all my money throwed me out on my nose
Then have the nerve to ask me what a matchbox hold my clothes
Dry bread it ain't greasy hard work it sure ain't easy
Dry bread and hard work is always coming my way
Well I been to Nashville New Orleans
Been to Chattanooga been to Bowling Green
I been lotsa places spent lotsa time
There's one thing for certain that a poor boy gonna find
Dry bread it ain't greasy hard work it sure ain't easy
Dry bread and hard work is always coming my way
[ guitar ]
Well I'll roost with the chickens wrap with the hogs
Graze with the cattles run rabbits with the dogs
Declare to my goodness I'd rather die
Than to have no gravy when my bread is dry
Dry bread it ain't greasy hard work it sure ain't easy
Dry bread and hard work is always coming my way
**********
6.
COCAINE BLUES
(T.J. Arnall)
« © '58 Unichappell Music, BMI »
Early one mornin' while makin' the rounds
I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down
Went right home and I went to bed
I stuck that lovin' 44 beneath my head
Woke up next mornin' grabbed that gun
Took a shot of cocaine and away I run
I made a good run but I went too slow
They overtook me down in Juarez Mexico
Late in the hot joints smokin' the pill
In walked the sheriff from Jericho Hill
He said Willy Lee your name is not Jack Brown
You're the dirty hack that shot your woman down
[ piano ]
Yes oh yes my name is Willy Lee
If you've got the warrant just read it to me
Shot her cold cause she made me sore
I thought I was her daddy but she had five more
Put me on the train I was dressed in black
Came the sherriff and he brought me back
Had no one for to go my bail
They slapped my dried up carcass in that country jail
And next morning along about nine
I spied the sheriff coming down the line
Ah and he coughed as he cleared his throat
He said come on you dirty hack into that district court
[ steel ]
Into the courtroom trial began
Where I was handled by twelve honest men
Just before the jury started out
I saw the little judge commence to look about
In about five minutes in walked the man
Holding the verdict in his right hand
The verdict read in the first degree
I hollered Lowdy Lowdy have a mercy on me
Judge he smiled as he picked up his ben
Ninety-nine years in that old San Quentin pen
Ninety-nine years underneath that ground
I can't forget the day I shot my woman down
Come all you hots and listen unto me
Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be
**********
7.
DEEP ELM BLUES
(Bob Attlesey - Joe Attlesey)
« © '58 Songs Of PolyGram, BMI »
When you go down to Deep Elem just to have a little fun
Better have your fifteen dollars when the policeman comes
Oh sweet mama papa got them Deep Elem blues
Oh sweet mama papa got them Deep Elem blues
Now once I knew a preacher Preached the Bible through and through
He went down to Deep Elem now his preachin' days are through
Oh sweet mama papa got them Deep Elem blues
Oh sweet mama papa got them Deep Elem blues
[ sax ]
When you go down to Deep Elem put your money in your pants
The women in Deep Elem they don't give a man a chance
Oh sweet mama papa got them Deep Elem blues
Oh sweet mama papa got them Deep Elem blues
[ guitar ]
If you go down to Deep Elem, put your money in your shoes
Them gals down in Deep Elem got them Deep Elem blues
Oh sweet mama papa got them Deep Elem blues
Oh sweet mama papa got them Deep Elem blues
**********
8.
BUMMIN' AROUND
(Pete Graves)
« © '53 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »
Got an old slauch hat got my roll on my shoulder
I'm as free as the breeze and I'll do as I please just a bummin' around
I've got a million friends don't feel any older
I've got nothin' to lose not even the blues just a bummin' around
Whenever troubles start to bothering me
I grab my coat my old slauch hat and hit the road you see
I ain't got a dime don't care where I'm goin'
I'm as free as the breeze and I'll do as I please just a bummin' around
[ piano - fiddle ]
I've got an old slatch hat...
Just a bummin' around
**********
9.
LITTLE BLOSSOM
(Hank Thompson)
« © '58 Songs Of PolyGram, BMI »
Oh dear I'm so tired and so lonely I wonder why mommy don't come
She told me to close my pretty blue eyes and when I awoke she'd be home
I guess I'll go down and find daddy I think he went down to the store
That big long room filled with bottles I wish that he'd go there no more
Sometimes he's so sick when he come from he staggers and falls on the ground
One night when came in the parlor he kicked my poor dolly around
But I love him and I guess I'll go find him I know he would gladly come home
Then it won't be so dark and so lonesome while waiting for money to come
His red eyes gazed wild when she found him her sweet smiling face was still fair
But too late the demon possessed him for he grapped at the back of a chair
In a moment the whole thing was over the work of the beast was complete
And a poor little innocent blossom lay dying at her daddy's knees
**********
10.
ROVING GAMBLER
(Elie Seigmaister)
« © '55 Universal Music, ASCAP »
I am a roving gambler I've gambled all around
Whenever I meet with the deck of cards I lay my money down
I lay my money down I lay my money down
I had not been in Dallas many more weeks than three
Till I fell in love with a pretty little girl she fell in love with me
Fell in love with me fell in love with me
She took me in her parlor she cooled me with her fan
And she whispered low in mother's ear I love this gambling man
I love this gambling man I love this gambling man
Oh daughter oh dear daughter how could you treat me so
And leave your dear old mother and with the gambler go
Qith the gambler go with the gambler go
Oh mother oh dear mother you know I love you well
But the love I have for the gambling man no human tongue can tell
No human tongue can tell no human tongue can tell
[ guitar ]
I've left that gal in Dallas I wound up in Maine
I'ce met up with a gambling man we got in a poker game
Got in a poker game got in a poker game
He put his money in the pot and dealt the cards around
I saw him get a jack on the bottom of the pack so I shot tham gambler down
Shot tham gambler down shot tham gambler down
Well now I'm down in prison I got a number for my name
The warden said as he locked the door you gambled your last game
Gambled your last game gambled your last game
Gambled your last game gambled your last game
**********
11.
LEFT MY GAL IN THE MOUNTAINS
(Carson J. Robison)
« © '59 Peer International, BMI »
I left my gal in the mountains I left her standing in the rain
I went down to the depot caught myself a midnight train
Made my way down to Georgia land it in a gambling town
Got myself in trouble cause I shot a county sheriff down
The jury read my verdict murder in the first degree
The judge said take that prisoner to the penitentiary
They put the handcuffs on me put me on the pullman train
Took me to Atlanta tied me to a ball and chain
[ piano - steel ]
I left my gal in the mountains I left her standing all alone
Last night I dreamed I got a letter saying baby won't you please come home
She told me that she loved me said that she loved me true
Then I dreamed I wrote a letter saying I'm a coming home to you
Then I awoke up this morning lyin' in Atlanta jail
No one here to love me no one to go my bail
Prison bars all around me the guard walking by my door
I'm so sad and lonely cause I'll never see my gal no more
I'll never see my gal no more
**********
12.
MAY I SLEEP IN YOUR BARN TONIGHT MISTER
(Hank Thompson)
« © '58 Songs Of PolyGram, BMI »
One night it was dark and it was storming when along came a tramp in the rain
He was making his way to some station to catch a long distance train
May I sleep in your barn Mister it is cold lying out on the ground
And the cold north wind is whistling and I have no place to lie down
Now I have no tobacco nor matches and I'm sure I can cause you no harm
I will tell you my story kind Mister for it runs through my heart like a storm
It was three years ago just last summer I shall never forget that sad day
When a stranger came out from the city and said that he wanted to stay
Now the stranger was fair tall and handsome and he looked like a man who had wealth
And he wanted to stay in the country said he wanted to stop for his health
One night as I came from my workshop I was whistling and singing with joy
I expected a kind hearty welcome from my sweet loving wife and my boy
But what did I find but a letter it was placed in my room on the stand
And the moment my eyes fell upon it I picked it right up in my hand
Now this note said my wife and the stranger had left and had taken my son
Oh I wonder if God up in heaven only knows what this stranger has done
May I sleep in your barn Mister it is cold lying out on the ground
And the cold north wind is a whistling and I have no place to lie down
**********