Golden Axe, The

DESCRIPTION: "Join that happy band." "Crawled to the chicken coup on my knees, Thought I heard a chicken sneeze...." "Hawk's a-setting on the railroad tack Picking his teeth with a carpet tack... hit him on the head with the golden axe."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: violence nonsense floatingverses humorous parody nonballad animal chickens
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 284, "The Golden Axe" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, p. 177-178, "Oh Hear That Trumpet Sound" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7785
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Henhouse Door (Who Broke the Lock?)" (floating verse)
cf. "Polly Wolly Doodle" (floating verse)
cf. "Mourner, You Shall Be Free (Moanish Lady)" (gospel parody)
NOTES [82 words]: The "join that happy band" chorus is "Oh hear that trumpet sound Stand up and don't set down If you don't join that happy band What you gonna do when they chop you on the head with the golden axe" marks this as a gospel parody.
The "chicken sneeze" verse is a floater; see, for the whole verse, the entry for "Henhouse Door (Who Broke the Lock?)" The carpet tack verse can also be found in "Polly Wolly Doodle" (see, for example, Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 462). - BS
Last updated in version 3.5
File: R284

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