Three Nights' Experience- Howdyshell (VA) 1932 Davis BB
[The title is conspicuous as being the same title as the version by Earl Johnson in 1927. Davis' excellent notes are not included as they shed no light on the ballad. This standard version features one original line, "Shoo fly! Can't you never see?"]
MORE TRADITIONAL BALLADS OF VIRGINIA- Davis
BB. "Three ltlights' Experience." Phonograph record (aluminum) made by A. K. Davis, Jr. Sung by Misses virginia and Mary Howdyshell, of crazet, Va. Albemarle county. November 11, 1932. Text transcribed by P. C. Worthington. Tune noted by G. W. Williams. Text independently collected by F red F. Knobloch, who adds : "The girls learned the song from their mother, Mrs. Richard Howdyshell, who . . .learned the song when she was a little girl. This song is also sung to the tune of The Rovin' Gambler."' Again the song is sung with relish and without offense by young women. The tune has been slightly abbreviated, in view of its likeness to AA.
1. First night when I came home as drunk as I could be,
I found a horse in the stable where my horse ought to be.
"Come here, my little wifie, and explain this thing to me.
How come a horse in the stable where my horse ought to be?"
"Shoo fly! Can't you never see?
It's nothing but a milk cow your granny sent to me."
"Travelled this world over for a thousand miles or more,
But a saddle upon a milk cow's back I never did see before."
2 The second night when I come home as drunk as I could be,
Found a coat a-hanging on the rack where my coat ought to be.
["Come here, my little wifie, and 'splain this thing to me.
How come this coat a-hanging on the rack where my own coat ought to be?"] [1]
"Shoo fly! Can't you never see?
It's nothing but a bed quilt your granny sent to me."
"Travelled this world over for a thousand miles or more,
Pockets upon a bed quilt I never did see before."
3 The third night when I came home as drunk as I could be,
I found a head a-layin' on the pillow where my head oqght to be.
"Come here, my little wifie, and explain this thing to me.
How come a head a-layin' on the pillow where my head ought to be?"
"Shoo fly! Can't you never see?
It's nothing but a cabbage head your granny sent to me."
"I've travelled this world over for a thousand miles or more,
Mustache on a cabbage head I never did see before."
1. The lines within brackets are lacking on the record, but they appear in the MS. Their omission is clearly an inadvertence on the part of the singers.