I was born in Jersey City

guitars; voiceCollected by Max Hunter (H-9) For Mary C. Parler Transcribed by Frances Majors Sung by Fred Smith Bentonville, Arkansas June 22, 1958 Reel 251-52, Item 7 Jersey City I was born in Jersey City, In Chicago near the South, And that's the very reason why My voice is in my mouth. 'Twas a hot and frosty evening, The wind was full of air, There's people dying this year Who never dyed their hair. My wife she had the headache, She had it again and again; I throwed her through the window Just to take away the pain. A man pulled up the river, He pulled it up by the roots; A miser can't hide money In ice and cowhide boots. The oyster plant is in a stew, The cowslip ate the buttercup; The cabbage got so far ahead, The tomato couldn't catch up. I laid down in the river Because it had a bed; I took a sheet of water And pulled it over my head. My father had a great big steer, He simply was immense; He ran his horns clean through my pants And throwed me o'er the fence. He ran me here, he ran me there, He ran me to Washington; There I received the pension For the Battle of Bull Run. Jersey City (Cont'd) Reel 251-52, Item 7 (Cont'd) I been taking 'lectric bitters To set my liver at right; And ain't been sick for eight weeks since We've had electric lights. A lady by a sewer, And by a sewer she died; And at the coroner's inquest, It was said was sewercide. The crows are making crowbars, The hayroots making hay; And the bumblebees are making bums For ta-ra-boom-te-a.Funding for digitization provided by the Arkansas Humanities Council and the Happy Hollow Foundation