Take a Whiff on Me: Take One
-
Artist:
-
Album:Midnight Special: Library Of Congress Vol. 1
-
Track:
References to this song kept cropping up in the Lead Belly biography I'm reading, so I figured I should look it up. As indicated there, as with many songs in the South, this song figured prominently in the repertoire of both blacks and whites. The book also notes that cocaine wasn't illegal in those days (teens, twentys), but I don't think it told me when the drug became illicit and through what mechanism. The lyrics that follow are ascribed to Lead Belly's renditions of the song which they may well be, but some of them don't occur in this recording and some that do are not represented in these lyrics. But all of the versions except for the Stefan Grossman seem to have quite a few lyrics in common.Ellum = Elm. Walked up Ellum and I come down Main Tryin' to bum a nickle, just to buy cocaine Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me. (Cho): Take a whiff on me, take a whiff on me And everybody, take a whiff on me. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me. Went to Mr. Lehman's on a lope Sign in the window said: "No more coke". Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me. (Cho): Goin' up State Street, comin' down Main Lookin' for the woman that uses cocaine. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me. (Cho): I'se got a nickle, you'se got a dime... You buy the coke and I'll buy the wine. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me. (Cho): The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice Takes a brown-skinned woman, for my particular use. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me. (Cho): Cocaine's for horses and not for men Doctors sat t'will kill you but they don't say when. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me. (Cho): Whiff-a-ree and whiff-a-rye Gonna keep on a whiffin' boys, 'till I die. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me.
Comments (4)