Crawdad- Version 4

Crawdad; See also Baby Mine songs 

Traditional Old-Time Breakdown and Song. USA; Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana.

ARTIST: Recorded by Harry Belafonte on: 7" : VLP-2449; LP: LSP-2449

CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes. DATE: Family of songs dates back to 1800s; 1909 Perrow; 1917 Sharp; 1928 Recording

OTHER NAMES: “You Get A Line and I’ll Get a Pole;” “What Kin' O Pants Does the Gambler Wear;” “The Crow-Fish Man;” “Sweet Thing;” "Honey;" “Honey Babe;” "The Crawdad Song;" Alice Brown; I'm Going Back To Jenco (Mexico); How Many Biscuits Can You Eat; Gambler's Song; Governor Al Smith; Sweet Child; What You Gonna Do?

SOURCES: Lomax-FSUSA 34, "Sweet Thing/Crawdad Song/Sugar Babe". Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 72-73. Randolph 443, "Sweet Thing;" Sharp/Karpeles-80E 62, "The Crow-Fish Man;" Sandburg, p. 240, "What Kin' o Pants Does the Gambler Wear;" Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 896, "Crawdad;" PSeeger-AFB, p. 86, "Crawdad;" Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 271, "Crawdad;" Silber-FSWB, p. 23, "Crawdad" p. 235, "Sweet Thing;" Mellin, Norman. Devil's Box, Devil's Box DB, Ser (196?), 24/4, p46b; Wilson, Mrs.. Eighty English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, MIT Press, Sof (1968), p 83 (Crow-Fish Man); Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;

SAME MELODY: Back to Mexico ; I Wish I Was

RELATES TO: “Back to Jericho”; "New River Train""Going Around the World (Banjo Pickin' Girl, Baby Mine)" "This Mornin', This Evenin', Right Now;" "Otho's Song;" "Wagon;"

NOTES: "A Major. AEAE. One part tune." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc). “Crawdad” or the “Crawdad Song” is a “white blues” with three repeating lines and one answering line with the tag “honey babe/sweet child of mine”. This 16 measure “blues” form is widely known and used in many variants.

LYRICS: 

You get a line and I’ll get a pole, oh baby
You get a line and I’ll get a pole, oh babe
You get a line and I’ll get a pole
An’ I’ll met you down by the crawdad hole
Oh well a yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah baby mine

A well you don’t miss water’ til the well runs dry
You don’t miss the water ‘til the well runs dry
Don’t miss the water ‘til the well runs dry
An’ you don’t miss your man ‘til he says good bye
Oh well a yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah baby mine

So when you see me coming hoist your windows high
When you see me coming hoist your windows high
When you see me coming hoist your windows high
When you see me leavin’ hang your head and cry
Oh well a yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah baby mine

Watcha gonna do when your chair gives out, my sweet thing
Watcha gonna do when your chair gives out, my babe
When you got no liquor, no chair, no shoes
Well you lay ‘cross the bed with your head in the blues
Oh well a yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah baby mine

Oh well I dance all night with a bottle in my hand, oh baby
Dance all night with a bottle in my hand, oh babe
Dance all night with a bottle in my hand
I’m looking for a woman ain’t got no man
Oh well a yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah baby mine

Wonder what Satan’s grumbling ‘bout, oh baby
Wonder whet Satan’s grumbling ‘bout, oh babe
Wonder what Satan’s grumbling ‘bout
Oh well he’s chained down in hell and can’t get out
Oh well a yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah baby mine

Wake up old man, you slept too late this mornin’
Wake up old man, you slept too late this evenin’
Wake up old man, you slept too late
The crawdad wagon done passed your gate
Oh well a yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah baby mine

You get a line and I’ll get a pole, oh baby
You get a line and I’ll get a pole, oh babe
You get a line and I’ll get a pole
An’ I’ll meet you down by the crawdad hole
Oh well a yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah baby mine