Cocaine (The Furniture Man)

DESCRIPTION: "I've got a gal in the white folks' yard...she brings me meal, she brings me lard." Refrain: "Here comes Sal with her nose all sore/Doctor said she can't smell no more...." The furniture man looks for the singer's wife, repossesses all of his belongings
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Luke Jordan)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Confused, floating verses; "I've got a gal in the white folks' yard...she brings me meal, she brings me lard." Occasional refrain: "Here comes Sal with her nose all sore/Doctor said she couldn't smell no more...I'm simply wild about my good cocaine." The furniture man comes to singer's house looking for his wife, repossesses all of his belongings
KEYWORDS: drugs hardtimes floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(Ap, SE)
RECORDINGS:
Luke Jordan, "Cocaine Blues" (Victor 21076, 1927)
Dick Justice, "Cocaine" (Brunswick 395, 1929; on RoughWays2)
Kentucky Ramblers, "Good Cocaine (Mama Don't Allow It)" (Broadway 8271, c. 1932; rec. 1930)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Cocaine Blues (I)" (subject) and references there
cf. "Ain't No Use Workin' So Hard" (lyrics)
NOTES [56 words]: This song clearly exists in both Anglo- and African-American traditions; just as clearly, Justice's performance was derived from Jordan's. The narrative is extremely confused, but (barely) sufficient to class it as a ballad. - PJS
For the effects of cocaine, and its history in the United States, see the notes to "Cocaine Blues (I)." - RBW
Last updated in version 3.6
File: RcCo

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