7369 old music 2402 - KET

Program 12
Metro
Blues Trio
Instruments:
guitar, harmonica
Chicken à la Blues
(Joseph Pleasant)
“Chicken à la Blues” was written and recorded by Cousin Joe of New Orleans
(Joseph Pleasant). The song is a 12-bar blues with a vocal breakdown in the
middle. Cousin Joe is known for his humorous outlook on the human condition.
This view is expressed in many of the songs he has written, including the song
played here.
New York, New York, I ate so many hot dogs
I couldn’t look a cold dog in the face (2 times)
I ate some in chili gravy, I ate too many in tomato paste.
Back in east Kentucky, you know the place I call my home (2 times)
I ate so many chickens, I can hear them cluckin’ down in my bones.
Chorus:
Monday, I eat fried chicken
Tuesday, chicken à la king
Wednesday, I eat chicken fric-as-see
Thursday, chicken wings
Friday, I eat baked chicken
Saturday, chicken stew
Sunday, I eat scrambled eggs, and you know that is chicken, too.
No more hot dogs, the hot dog days are gone
Today I eat so many chickens
I can hear them cluckin’ down in my bones.
Mother the Queen of My Heart
(Jimmie Rodgers)
“Mother” was written and recorded by Jimmie Rodgers, “The Singing
Brakeman.” Rodgers was a seminal performer and writer in the early days of
country music. The song performed here is a tongue-in-cheek warning of the
dangers of gambling and drinking.
I had a home down in Texas, down where the bluebonnets grew
I had the kindest old mother, how happy we were just we two
Till one day the angels called her, that debt we all have to pay
She called me close to her bedside, these last few words to say:
“Son, don’t go gamblin’ and drinkin’, promise you’ll always be straight.”
Ten years have passed since we parted, and that promise I broke, I must say
I started gamblin’ for pass-time, alas, I was like them all
I bet my clothes and my money, thinking I never would fall
Till one night I bet all my money, nothing was left to be seen
I just needed one card to break them, and naturally, that card was a queen
The cards were dealt ’round the table, each man took one on the draw
I got the queen that I needed, but I looked at it and here’s what I saw:
I saw my mother’s picture, somehow she seemed to say,
“Son, you have broken your promise,” so I threw the cards away
My winnings I gave to a newsboy, this scene it tore me apart
I never will break one more promise, to the mother the queen of my heart.
KET, The Kentucky Network 45