Banjer Days: Song Lyrics
- Sunday, October 01, 2006 -
The song lyrics provided here are for the five songs sung by me on the Banjer Days recording. It should be noted that I might not have listed some of the verses exactly as sung on the recording. This is because I don’t always sing each song the same way every time I perform.
Track 3; Hand Me Down My Old Suitcase, g-CGCD: This was one of my father’s favorite songs; however, he sang only one verse. When laying the banjo down he would invariably comment: “Son, that was Clay Collins’s favorite tune.” Clay Collins was very old when I asked him about the song - he couldn’t remember any additional verses. However, another Knott County neighbor, John Austin, did remember a verse or two. I play this song in a banjo style very close to my father’s style of playing.
Hand me down my old suitcase
And all of my dirty clothes,
Policeman comes ‘round here tonight,
Tell him I’m sleeping out of doors.
If I had listened to what my mother said,
I wouldn’t have been here today,
I wouldn’t have been in this old jailhouse,<
Rotting my sweet life away.
If you see my brother,
Take him a letter from me,
Tell him not to ramble, not to gamble,
Not to leave his happy home.
Hand me down my old suitcase,
And all of my dirty clothes,
Policeman comes ‘round here tonight,
Tell him George is sleeping out of doors.
Track 4; Moonshiner, g-DGAD: I learned a verse or two of this song from John Hall and his son Carl. Carl Hall was an excellent singer and had been taught many of the old songs by his father. I remember Carl singing songs such as Omie Wise and Pretty Polly in front of class when we were in the third grade. John had quit playing banjo and Carl did not play an instrument, so I chose a tuning I thought suited the song and worked out my own version. I did not know that my father played this tune until he was 90 years old. He played the tune in the conventional g-DGBD tuning. His version sounded great; however, I still play the version I learned over 50 years ago.
I’ve been a moonshiner for 21 long years,
I’ve spent all my money on whiskey and beers.
