Four Nights Drunk- Cottrell (WV) pre1973 REC
[This version is similar to Sheila Adams version. I don't know the Cottrell's source. Two recordings of Jenes Cottrell are "Live at the Mountain Heritage Festival, Carter County, Kentucky 1973 and also Old-Time Music from Clay & Calhoun Counties, WV - From the Collection of the Brandwine Friends of Old Time Music 2004.
Jenes Cottrell
by Jane Taylor Cox George
Traditional musician and craftsman Jenes Cottrell (September 14, 1901-December 7, 1980) was descended from the earliest settlers of Clay County. Known for their farming and trading, the Cottrells also worked with wood. During the arts and crafts revival beginning in the 1960s, Jenes Cottrell became one of the best-known practitioners of the old ways. He made toys, rolling pins, chairs, and canes, and he put in chair bottoms of woven wood splits. He had a fine foot-powered, spring-pole lathe which he used to demonstrate his skill at festivals throughout West Virginia and beyond. He drew people as flies swarm to sugar. Somewhere along the way Cottrell had begun to make banjo rims using aluminum torque converter rings from 1956 Buick transmissions. He quickly became known for making and playing banjos. Murray Smith, a Clay County banker, began treks with Cottrell all over the country to carry him to meet the public.
Cottrell was born, lived, and died on Deadfall Run, the home of his ancestors. He lived there with a sister, Sylvia O’Brien, also a musician and an exemplar of the old ways. There was never any electricity, gas, or running water in Cottrell’s home. The house had never been painted. He never owned a car or a telephone. Jenes Cottrell was a quiet man with simple wants and a simple life who was proud of his heritage. He is buried on the farm.]
Four Nights Drunk- Jenes Cottrell. Clay County West Virginia
1. Now I came home the other night,
As drunk as I could be,
Seen a horse standing in the barn
Where my horse orter to be.
Then I said to my wife, my pretty little wife,
Explain this thing to me,
What kind of horse is standing in the barn
Where my horse orter to be?"
You poor fool, you blind fool,
Can't you plainly see?
That's nothing but a milk-cow
Your mama sent to me.
Then I said, "I've been around this world,
A dozen times or more;
And a saddle on a milk-cow's back
I never have seen before."
2. Well I came home the next night,
As drunk as I could be,
I seen a hat hanging on the rack
Where my hat orter to be.
Then I said to my wife, my pretty little wife,
Explain this thing to me,
How come a horse standing in the barn
Where my horse orter to be?"
You poor fool, you blind fool,
Can't you plainly see?
That's nothing but a chamber pot
My mama sent home to me.
Then I said, "I've been around this world,
A dozen times or more;
But a John B. Stetson chamber pot [1]
I never did see before."
3. Well I came home the next night,
(As) drunk as I could be,
(Seen) a pair of pants on the floor
Where my pants orter to be.
Then I said to my wife, my pretty little wife,
Explain this thing to me,
What's them pants a-doing there on the floor
Where my horse orter to be?"
You poor fool, you blind fool,
Can't you plainly see?
That's nothing but an old dish rag
My mama sent home to me.
Then I said, "I've been around this world,
A dozen times or more;
But cuffs and a zipper on a dish rag
I never did see before."
4. Now I came home the other night,
As drunk as I could be,
I seen a head a-laying on the pillow
Where my head orter to be.
Then I said to my wife, my pretty little wife,
Explain this thing to me,
What's that head doing there on the pillow
Where my head orter to be?"
You poor fool, you blind fool,
Can't you plainly see?
That's nothing but a cabbage
My mama sent home to me.
Then I said, "I've been around this world,
A dozen times or maybe more;
But mustache and whiskers on a cabbage head
I never did see before."
1. Stetson is a brand of hat