Vesta and Mattie's Blues

DESCRIPTION: "I've got a belly full o' whiskey an' a head full o' gin, The doctors say t'will kill me but they don't say when." Chorus: ""I'm a long line skinner an' my home's out west, Lookin' for a man to buy me a hobble dress." Verses float between blues
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Arrangement copyright by W. C. Handy)
KEYWORDS: floatingverses drink love separation clothes
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Handy/Silverman-BluesAnAnthology, p. 60, "Vesta and Mattie's Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Easy Rider" (floating lyrics)
NOTES [60 words]: This looks to me like another one of those blues collections of floating verses (in addition to the first, from "Cocaine Blues" or the like, the second is from "Easy Rider": "Pretty papa, pretty papa, look what you've done: You made your mama love you, now your woman's come"). The notes in Handy, however, imply that it is an actual folk song, so here it is. - RBW
File: Handy060

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