Root, Hog, or Die [Laws B21]
DESCRIPTION: The singer arrives in California broke and takes a job making hay. He soon gambles his pay away, gets drunk, and lands in jail. A friend pays his fine; he warns against the dangers of playing poker
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910
KEYWORDS: poverty drink gambling prison reprieve
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Laws B21, "Root Hog or Die"
Randolph 422, "Root Hog or Die" (5 texts, mostly short and perhaps excerpted, 3 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 347-349, "Root Hog or Die" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 422C)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 57, "Root, Hog, Or Die" (1 text)
DT 598, ROOTHOG3
Roud #3242
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Root, Hog, or Die (II)"
cf. "Root, Hog, or Die (III)"
cf. "Root, Hog, or Die (IV)"
cf. "Root, Hog, or Die (V)"
cf. "Root, Hog, or Die (Confederate Version)"
cf. "A Hit at the Times (Root, Hog, or Die VIII)"
SAME TUNE:
[All the other Root, Hog, or Die songs]
New Jers-A ("Come, kind friends, all draw near," by C. A. Boggs) (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 107)
Union Root Hog or Die [1] ("Now gentlement all listen, a story you shall know") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 163)
Union Root Hog or Die [2] ("Away down in South Carolina, they're kicking up a muss") (Wolf-AmericanSongSheets p. 163)
File: LB21
Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography
The Ballad Index Copyright 2024 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.