Expert: Abdalla Mohamed Ali - 10/4/2008

Question
Hi.
Can you please tell me the lyrics to Lead Belly's : "I'm Sorry Mama" recorded in
1934 at the Louisiana State Farm. I can not make out all the words as the
recording is not too good. Also maybe there are expressions I may not be
familiar with. I can make out practically all his hundreds of songs but am
stuck with this one. Whoa Back Buck is another that foxes me in parts.
Thank you.
Tim Page

Answer
Hello,
I don't know the lyrics of "I'm sorry mama" but here is Whoa Back Buck

Whoa back Buck---gee by the lamb,
Who made the back band---whoa goddamn.

18, 19--20 years ago,
Took my gal to the country store,
Took my gal to the country store,
Buy m' pretty little gal little calico.

Me and my gal walkin' down the road,
Her knees knock together playin' "Sugar In The Gourd",
Sugar in the gourd and the gourd in the ground,
If you want a little sugar got to roll the gourd around.

My old man's good old man
Washed his face in a frying pan,
Combed his hair with a wagon wheel,
And died with a toothache in his heel.

Papa loved mama---mama loved men,(three times)
Mama's in the graveyard and papa's in the pen.

I gee to the mule but the mule wouldn't gee, (3 times)
So I hit him side the head with the single tree.

I haw to the mule wouldn't haw, (3 times)
So I broke his back with my mother-in-law.

(The above are the verses Art Thieme used to sing.)
Also recorded by Guy Carawan & Leadbelly.

Additional verses:
Eastbound train on the westbound track
Westbound train on the eastbound track
Both those trains were running fine
But what a terrible way to run a railroad line!
Cho
_____________

Whoa, back, Buck, git over Paul
You steppin on my cotton, say, one & all.
Whoa, back, Buck, git over Lamb,
You steppin on my cottobn like you don't give a damn.
I'm a rowdy soul, Im a rowdy soul
Don't see a nigger in a mile or mo.

Took my gal to the party-o,
She sat on a steeple,
She let a fart & broke my heart
And ______ (shit?) all over the people.
Tell my wife when you go to the hills,
I"m here workin at the sorghum mill.

Last year was a good crop year
And everybody knowed it.
Paw didn't raise but a bushel of corn
And some damn rascal stole it.
I'm a rowdy soul, I'm a rowdy soul.
I'm rowdy all around my red asshole.