Five Dollar Fine for Whining

—Smokey Greene

We're a fun lovin' crowd, kinda rowdy and loud
Jukebox don't play no sad songs
Don't come in here, cry in your beer
We don't care who done ya wrong.

Chorus:
We got a five dollar fine for whinin'
We told you when you came in
If it ain't on your mind to have a good time
Y'all come back and see us again

We don't really care 'bout your clothes or your hair
This place is open to all
We love a good joke, and it's alright to smoke
Only one rule hangs on the wall.

Chorus

There's too many fools makin' too many rules
One thing you can say about us
We sing the same song, we all get along
Only one thing that causes a fuss.

Chorus

If you want a good time and you ain't gonna whine
This is the place you should be
Let your hair down, buy us a round
We're footloose and we're fancy-free

Chorus

3/4

First Verse:

I IV I V
I IV I – V I

Other Verses & Chorus:

I IV V I
I IV V I

Let Me Fall

—Traditional

Greenbriar Boys' Version:
Let me fall, let me fall,
let me fall, little girl, let me fall

Refrain:
Oh me (oh me), oh my (oh my)
Let me fall little girl, let me fall

Little girl locked in jail
Won't you please get someone to go my bail
Refrain…

Little girl won't you please
Put my big ol' heart at ease
Refrain…

Oh me (oh me), oh my (oh my)
Let me fall little girl, let me fall
Refrain…

Mike Oberst's Version:
Weep and moan, weep and moan
Carry me home little baby take me home

Refrain:
Oh me, (oh me) oh my (oh my)
Let me fall little baby, let me fall

Old hard road, old hard road
Kill me dead, kill me dead, kill me dead
Refrain…

Tie my shoes, tie my shoes,
Tie my shoes little baby and I won't fall.
Refrain…

Lay me down, lay me down
Lay me down little darlin' on the ground.
Refrain…

Extra verses:

Tie my shoes, tie my shoes,
Tie my shoes little girl take me home

If I lose, let me lose
If I lose little girl let me lose
If I lose a hundred dollars when I'm trying to win a dime
My baby she's got money all the time.

On my knees, on my knees,
Let me fall little girl, let me fall

Guess I knew five years ago
When you called me a drunken so and so

I don't care what you say
I'm going to drink my corn liquor anyway

Oh me, (oh me) oh my (oh my)
If I get drunk let me fall little girl, let me fall

On the ground, on the ground,
Just let me fall, little darlin', on the ground.

Lay me down, lay me down,
Just lay me down little darling on the ground.

On my knees, on my knees,
Let me fall little girl let me fall

If I get drunk, take me home
If I get drunk, little girl, take me home

Take me home, take me home
If I get drunk little girl take me home

Verse & Refrain:

I IV I – V I


Rocking Chair Money

—Bill Carlisle, Lonnie Glosson 1946

I've got rockin' chair money
But I got it the hard, hard way
I fought in every battle
From the start to the VJ Day
And now I'll rock, yeah rock,
Come on on and rock, rock on down the line

I'll soon get my big check, baby
And then we'll have some fun
This rockin' chair money, honey
Is better than totin' a gun
'Cause I like to rock, yeah rock,
Come on on and rock, rock on down the line

I fought away out on the ocean
I fought from here and there
My baby stepped out while I was gone
Now she don't get my rockin' chair
And now I'll rock, yeah rock,
Come on on and rock, rock on down the line

Some people seem to be jealous
And some don't seem to care
But I've got rockin' chair money, honey
To rock on away the years
'Cause I like to  rock, yeah rock,
Come on on and rock, rock on down the line

I rocked way out on the ocean
I rode the waves and such
But I'm gonna spend my money honey
The way I think I must
'Cause I like to rock, yeah rock,
Come on on and rock, rock on down the line

Honey, let's go honky tonkin'
Let's honky tonk all night
Let's lollygag and smooch and love
And do everything up right
'Cause I like to rock, yeah, rock
Baby, rock, rock on down the line

Verse:

I I I I
IV I I I
I I – IV I I
V I I

(Hank's last line)

II V I I




Shafer's Reel

Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)

Woody Guthrie, Martin Hoffman

The crops are all in and the peaches are rotting,
The oranges piled in their creosote dumps;
They're flying 'em back to the Mexican border
To pay all their money to wade back again

My father's own father, he waded that river,
They took all the money he made in his life;
My brothers and sisters come working the fruit trees,
And they rode the truck till they took down and died.

Chorus:
Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye, Rosalita,
Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria;
You won't have your names when you ride the big airplane,
All they will call you will be "deportees"

Some of us are illegal, and some are not wanted,
Our work contract's out and we have to move on;
Six hundred miles to that Mexican border,
They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like thieves.

We died in your hills, we died in your deserts,
We died in your valleys and died on your plains.
We died 'neath your trees and we died in your bushes,
Both sides of the river, we died just the same.

Chorus

The sky plane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon,
A fireball of lightning, and shook all our hills,
Who are all these friends, all scattered like dry leaves?
The radio says, "They are just deportees"

Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?
Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit?
To fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil
And be called by no name except "deportees"?

Chorus

¾

Verse:

I IV – I I IV – I
IV I I V – I

Chorus:

IV I V I – I7
IV I I V – I

Farther Along

—W.B. Stephens, 1911

Tempted and tried, we're oft made to wonder
Why it should be thus all the day long;
While there are others living among us,
Never molested, though in the wrong.

Refrain:
Farther along we'll know all about it,
Farther along we'll understand why;
Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine,
We'll understand it all by and by.

When death has come and taken our loved ones,
Leaving our home so lonely and drear,
Then do we wonder why others prosper,
Living so wicked year after year.

Often I wonder why I must journey,
Over a road so rugged and steep
When there are many living in comfort,
While with the lost I labor and weep.

Soon we will see our dear loving Savior,
Hear the last trumpet sound through the sky;
Then we will meet those gone on before us,
Then we shall know and understand why.

9/8

Verse & Refrain:

I – I – I IV – I – I I – I – I II – V – V
V – I – I IV – I – I I – VIm – VIm V – I – I
Additional verses:

Sometimes I wonder why I must suffer,
Go in the rain, the cold, and the snow,
When there are many living in comfort,
Giving no heed to all that I do.

Tempted and tried, how often we question
Why we must suffer year after year,
Being accused by those of our loved ones,
E'en though we've walked in God's holy fear.

When we see Jesus coming in glory
When he comes from his home in the sky
Then we shall meet him in that bright mansion
We'll understand it all by and by

Faithful till death, said our loving Master;
Short is our time to labor and wait;
Then will our toiling seem to be nothing,
When we pass through that heavenly gate

Melody notation in D here…





Theme Time


Josie-O


Halfway Pond



Honey, You Don't Know My Mind

—Jimmy Martin

Honey you don't know my mind I'm lonesome all the time
You're born to lose a drifter, and that's me
You can travel for so long, then a rambler's heart goes wrong
Baby you don't know my mind today

I've heard the music of the rail, slept in every old dirty jail
And life's too short for you to worry me
When I find I can't win I'll be checking out again
Baby you don't know my mind today

Honey you don't know my mind I'm lonesome all the time
And life's too short for you to worry me
You say I'm sweet and kind, well  I can love you a thousand times
Baby you don't know my mind today

Honey you don't know my mind I'm lonesome all the time
I've traveled fast on this hard road you see
I ain't here to judge or plea but to give my poor heart ease
Baby you don't know my mind today

I've been a hobo and a tramp my soul has done been stamped
The things I know I've learnt the hard, hard way
When I find that I can't win I'll be checking out again
Baby you don't know my mind today

Honey you don't know my mind I was born the restless kind
You made it tough let's keep it that way
You're gonna find you were wrong when your lovin' daddy's gone
Baby you don't know my mind today

Verse:

I I – IV V I
I I – IV V I