Greasy Coat

           Perhaps I spend too much time pondering the social significance of Old Time lyrics.  Nevertheless, from time to time I have wondered about the meaning of “Greasy Coat,” which is an Old Time tune popular in Morgantown, among other places.  I first heard this at the Brew Pub Jam, and you can hear a  polished version from the Stewed Mulligan band's Liv and Howl album, with Keith McManus, Bob Shank, Pat McIntyre and Theodor Stump.....

http://www.stewedmulligan.com/music/Greasy_Coat.mp3 


  It’s actually almost an instrumental, but there are some short verses that are sort of  thrown in:

             I don’t drink and I don’t smoke,

            and I don’t wear no greasy coat.  

            I don’t cuss and I don’t chew,

            and I don’t go out with the girls that do.

           

            I don't kiss and I don't tell

            And all you sinners gonna go to hell

Check out this jam, with fiddler Anna Roberts-Gevalt, Rebekah Weiler and Hilarie Burhans (banjo), Rory Mullennex (guitar), and dancers Becky Hill and Lou Maiuri.

            The verse about not going out with women who cuss and chew is intended  to be humorous, of course.   A young woman who chewed tobacco would be considered quire a catch, especially back in the day.  But what is to be made about the reference to a “greasy coat?”

            Some commentators have suggested that “greasy coat” refers to a condom.  Andrew Kuntz mentions this possibility in The Traditional Tune Archive (http://www.tunearch.org/wiki/TTA ), previously known as Fiddler’s Companion (http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/).  However, although this seems logical enough, I simply can’t find any pre-internet attestation to this possible link.  I don't think this is true at all.  

      This  possbility was debated in the Banjo Hangout forum, where some banjo players were concerned that this song might be inappropriate for children due to this possible link.  

http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/184458 .  
 I shouldn't laugh, but I actually thought some of the discussion was pretty entertaining. 

            In any case, I was able to locate what I believe is a definitive early source for  the metaphor “greasy coat.”   A book with the annotated title “The Life and Adventures of Henry Smith, the Celebrated Razor Strop Man, (Embracing a Complete Collection of his Original Songs, Queer Speeches, Humorous Letters and Odd, Droll Strange and Whimisical Sayings, Now Published for the First Time, with an Accurate Portrait to which is added).  The book was published by White & Potter Printers in Boston in 1849, and contains a humorous poem, entitled Soap Ditty No. 1.  It tells the story of a handsome and virtuous fellow who is unable to find a wife because of his bad hygiene and failure to use soap.     

     Hence, his coat really is a greasy coat, and it is not until the end of the ditty that he discovers soap and is able to wash his coat and finally marry the lady of his dreams.
  

Come gentlemen and list to me,

     While a story I relate--

‘Tis all about a fine young man

     That lived in the old Bay State.

His eyes were brown his cheeks were red

     And free from tan or bloat--

His heart was brave and bold and true,

     But he wore a greasy coat.

          Oh unhappy, unhappy man was he,

          He knew not how to clean his coat

          For he’d never heard of me.  

Now this young man he loved a maid

     And tried her heart to win

But though he was a handsome man

     He could not quite come in.

 ‘Tis true he wore a black moustache

     With whiskers round his throat

And dark and curling hair to match.

     But he wore a greasy coat

          Oh unhappy, unhappy man was he,

          He knew not how to clean his coat

          For he’d never heard of me.  

“Oh lovely maid,” this young man said

     “If you will marry me,

Myself and all that I possess

     I’1l freely give to thee.

I’ve houses lands and money too

I’ll give thee every groat--

I ll give thee all, I can no more,

Myself and greasy coat.”

          Oh unhappy, unhappy man was he,

          He knew not how to clean his coat

          For he’d never heard of me.  

The maiden heard his plaintive tale,

     Then laughed right in his face,

And said:  “to marry such a man

Would bring me to disgrace.

‘Tis true you are good looking, sir,

     And are called a man of note--

But you’ll never do to marry me

     For you wear a greasy coat

          Oh unhappy, unhappy man was he,

          He knew not how to clean his coat

          For he’d never heard of me.  

“Oh cruel maid” the young man said,

     “The words that you have spoken,

Like thunderbolts have pierced my soul--

     My heart of hearts is broken.

Henceforth. I’ll live in some lone cave,

     From busy life remote;”

He heaved a sigh, then wiped his eye

     Upon his greasy coat.

          Oh unhappy, unhappy man was he,

          He knew not how to clean his coat

          For he’d never heard of me.  

Now it chanced as I was journeying

     One pleasant summer day,

I met this young man in the woods

     Of Penn-syl-va-ni-a

His eyes were sunk his cheeks were pate

     He seemed bereft of hope;

I took him by the button hole,

And sold him a cake of soap

          Oh he was happy a happy man was he

          For he could clean his greasy coat

          With the soap he bought of me.

With coat brushed up as good as new,

      He hied him home again;

Again he sought his lady love,

     Nor did he sigh in vain.

He asked her if she’d marry him,

     Then exposed his coat to view--

She looked and blushing gently sighed

     “I don t care if I do.”

          Oh he was happy a happy man was he

          For he could clean his greasy coat

          With the soap he bought of me.

            The meaning here is clear.  The young fellow is a laughing stock because of his bad hygiene, and saves his romance when he learns how to use soap for the very first time to wash his greasy coat.  The “greasy coat” is to be taken literally, and thus in our Old Time song, the term no doubt would have reminded audiences of the late 19th or early 20th Century  of a humorous buffoon that does not know how to wash himself or his clothing with soap.  

            For me, that’s it, case closed, end of story.  The Greasy Coat is just a reference from 19th century vaudeville, and not a reference to a condom at all.  So you moralists can go ahead and teach this  song to youngsters without fear of corrupting them (just make sure that they wash up afterwards!).

            One of the oldest recorded versions that I could find is from Edden Hammons of Webster County, West Virginia from 1947.  You can find that one on youtube.com.  Other versions that I like are from a 2008 Augusta jam at the top of this article, as well as a cut  from Rachel Eddy's cd, Hand on the Plow:

http://www.myspace.com/music/player?sid=20785699&ac=now 

There is also a really fine version as an extra cut on her cd, Track 13, which is from the Morgantown jam or perhaps Clifftop.  In any case, there is an incredible blending between Bob Shank on Hammer Dulcimer and I. B. Browning on trumpet.  

    I was also impressed by this very unorthodox but very good arrangement performed on clawhammeer ukelele by Aaron Keim:

 

Gospel Plow

            My new favorite song is by Rachel Eddy, the Gospel Plow.  I've been trying to get a copy of her CD album for a while, and finally snagged a few copies from Rachel herself at a New Year's party in Morgantown WV (no doubt, I am hanging out with a fast crowd these days!).  Rachel was born and raised in Morgantown, but a few years ago she was kidnapped by Vikings and now lives in Stockholm Sweden, with her husband, Kristian Herner.  You can hear it from her myspace.com link here: 

Gospel Plow 

  
You can also check out the other songs on the album (in abbreviated fashion) from Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PECX9G/ref=dm_sp_alb 
 

            Although Rachel is known as an Old Time musician, her repertoire also encompasses folk and blues and much more.  Gospel plow is  a blues gospel song once performed by Mahalia Jackson (under the title Keep Your Hand to the Plow).  Bob Dylan, amazingly enough, recorded a much different version with a totally different sound.  Frankly, Dylan’s version doesn’t do much for me, yet Dylan’s version may have inspired the Old Crow Medicine Show, who cut a version a while back.  The Woodticks (with Rachel on fiddle, Keith McManus on banjo, Bob Shank on hammer dulcimer and Karen Wade on guitar) also have a version on youtube.  I didn’t know there was such a thing as hammer dulcimer blues, but I guess there is now.  

            If you want to play along, I’ve transcribed the lyrics and included some chords that kind of fit, although I’m by no means sure that they are the same ones used by Rachel.  

           

E                      A                       E

Mary wore three links of chain

E              A                      E
Every link was Jesus name

                 b7                 A                    E
Had her hand on that plow, hold right on

A                       G

Hold right on, hold right on

                   A                G                       E

Put your hand on the plow hold right on.

Mathew, Mark, Luke and John
All my  prophets holdin’ on
Got their  hand on the plow, hold right on

Hold right on, hold right on

Put your hand on the plow hold right on.

Hold right on, hold right on

Put your hand on the plow hold right on.

All the streets are paved with in gold,

In heaven I am told

Put your hand on the plow hold right on.

Hold right on, hold right on

Put your hand on the plow hold right on.

Cause there’s no gamblers  jokers, thieves

No liars and no cheats

Got their hands on the plow hold right on

Hold right on, hold right on

Put your hand on the plow hold right on.

When I get to the glory land,

I’m going to play in their band

Got my hand on the plow, hold right on

I’ve got my hand on the gospel plow,

and I wouldn’t take nothin’ for my journey  now.

Got my hand on the plow hold right on.

Hold right on, hold right on

Got my hand on the plow hold right on.

Hold right on, hold right on

Mississippi Sawyer

  What in the world is a Mississippi Sawyer?  There are a few different theories.  Literally, it is a person who saws wood for a living.  Another possbility is that it is a partially uprooted tree that posed a hazard to barges going up and down the Mississippi River.  It's also possible that it is simply a fiddler, or someone who "saws" away at the fiddle. 
    In a book called Southern Mountain Dulcimer, Wayne Erbson cites Ira Ford, in Traditional Music of America (1940), with the story that the name comes from a saw mill operator who was also a fiddle player.  He played the tune at a giant four-day long celebration of the opening of the saw mill.  The original name of the tune was The Downfall of Paris, but ever since that party, the tune was known as "Mississippi Sawyer"  after the owner of the sawmill.  ( http://books.google.com/books?id=oakbS2YVosEC&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&dq=mississippi+sawyer+ira+ford&source=bl&ots=RwdK8yjFb5&sig=Q_DzL4bRl3E0hkbrA2nYai3ICsA&hl=en#v=onepage&q=mississippi%20sawyer%20ira%20ford&f=false / ).  

     This makes about as much sense as anything else I've seen on this song, so I'm going with that as the best explanation.   

      The Downfall of Paris was published in England in 1816.  In some cases, the song was still known by that name even in the US in the 20th Century, although the title  "Mississippi Sawyer" was also well known in the 19th Century, consistent with the story about the party at the sawmill. 


   There were lyrics in French (Ca Ira) which celebrated the French Revolution, but these apparently have nothing at all to do with Mississippi or sawyers.  Likewise there have been a few attempts to create English language lyrics for the song over the years, but none of them have stuck.  Mississippi Sawyer is an instrumental tune. 

   Here is a version from my friends Rachel Eddy and Kristian Herner from Sweden, with Bill Fahy. This version is kind of laid back, and It's perfect for playing along with.

I also like this version by Annie and Mac, which is played at a nice even tempo, with a perfect view of the left hand technique for banjo and guitar,  This is really helpful for those of us trying to learn the song....but Annie and Mac are playing in the key of C rather D. I think that most of the known world plays this song in D, so if you learn via Annie and Mac, you will want to capo on 2 in order to coexist with the rest of the world.  
   At the Trolley Stop, we are always in D, and we generally kick it up a notch or two. 

 
A PART 

D---   D---   G---   G--- 
D---   D---   A7--- D---
 
B PART

D---   D---  A7--- A7--- 
D---   D---  A7--- D---

This House is Not For Sale!

    Rick Good has really done it this time.  Channelling the likes of  Woody Guthrie, Uncle Dave Macon and Pete Seeger, he has written and performed a song called This House is Not for Sale.

    We played it last week at the Trolley Stop and got a terrific reception from it.  Everyone wanted to know where to get a copy of the lyrics (answer:  check out the website of Rick and his missus Sharon Leahy, http://www.leahygood.com/ , or I've appended the lyrics to this song below). 

     Rick's political sympathies are evident from the lyrics, but as I see it, it really is not a matter of left nor right, but a matter of supporting  the traditional American value of equality, and opposing influence buying.  

   I hope that no matter who we elect, that person will turn out to be someone who will not sell out their values.  Do you suppose that is naive?  

   Well, maybe, but I believe in America, and in my friends and neighbors, and in common sense and that the people are not going to be pushed around as easily as the special interests think.  

    And I also believe in the husband and wife team of Rick Good and Sharon Leahy, and I hope this video goes absolutely viral! 

The video itself is absolutely priceless, what with some really cool drawings from the grandkids (aided and abetted by Sharon),  but there is also a version with a full band, which is available from cdbaby.com.  You may download your own copy here:


 http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rickgood3

THIS HOUSE IS NOT FOR SALE

On Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.
There is a house, a monument, as fine as it can be.
If you are the President it’s where you do reside.
If you are a billionaire it’s one thing you can’t buy.

It’s not for sale, not the White House, this house is not for sale;
Though you are spending millions just to make this Union fail.
If you weren’t filthy rich you’d be in jail.

1. You get one vote, that’s all she wrote,
2. So Koch and Rove go stuff you trove,
3. Like Paradise it has no price,
4. You can change the rules but we’re no fools,
5. You get one vote, that’s all she wrote,
This house is not for sale.

You can buy a congressman. You can buy a judge.
You can back a super-pac and give your lies a nudge.
But we the people know the truth and we still have the right
To take a stand and build a land where money is not might.

You live for gold, you sold your soul, you take more than you need.
You push and pull till you’re so full someday you’ll die of greed.
The Bible calls it Avarice, this sickness in your mind,
And the Devil’s waiting for you underneath your bottom line.

Just a dozen years ago democracy went down.
The highest court threw out your vote & gave King George his crown.
Now we’re still cleaning up the mess from W’s devastation,
While plutocrats and old fat cats are out to buy our nation.

Our founding fathers wrote the Constitution for us all,
But even then they did amend to clarify the law.
So, if you doubt what I’m about then tell me if you can,
How does a corporation have the legal rights of man?

© Rick Good, 2012
New Standards Music, BMI