Old Gray Mule, The (Johnson's Mule)

DESCRIPTION: "Mr. Thomas had an old gray mule, And he drove him to a cart, And he loved that mule and the mule loved him." The song describes how Thomas mistreats the mule (currying it with a rake, feeding it on boot tops). The mule kicks and eventually dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Pound)
KEYWORDS: animal death work
FOUND IN: US(MW,SE)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 103, pp. 213-214, "The Old Gray Mule" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 186, "Johnson's Mule" (1 text)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 512, "Johnson's Mule" (1 short text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 512, "Johnson's Mule" (1 tune plus a text excerpt)
Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric 126, "Johnson Had an Old Gray Mule" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Abernethy-SinginTexas, pp. 25-26, "Johnson's Old Grey Mule" (1 apparently composite text, 1 tune, with material from "Whoa Mule (The Kickin' Mule)" and "The Old Gray Mule (Johnson's Mule)" -- which easily mix anyway -- apparently deliberately mixed)
Roud #3704
NOTES [52 words]: Reading Pound's text, I can't help but believe that parts of it were originally about a goat, not a mule. But I can't locate similar "goat" stanzas. In any case, many of the same lines appear in Gardner and Chickering.
Brown's text is also about a mule, but the few lines it contains are all goat-applicable. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.5
File: LPns213

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