Smoke Goes Up the Chimney Just the Same, The

DESCRIPTION: "You can turn your damper up, you can turn your damper down, but the smoke goes up the chimney (chimbly, chimley) just the same." Describes a "Man of distinction's" struggles with his stove's flue.
AUTHOR: Harry Conor (source: 1901 sheet music)
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (sheet music)
LONG DESCRIPTION: "You can turn your damper up, you can turn your damper down, but the smoke goes up the chimney (chimbly, chimley) just the same." A man of distinction struggles fruitlessly with his stove's flue, concluding that, no matter his adjustments, the smoke goes up the chimney just the same. In later verses he burns money to impress his friends, noting mysteriously "Chinese gum, opium," but the smoke goes up the chimney just the same. He accuses his neighbor of stealing his chickens and searches the neighbor's kitchen, but not a chicken is to be found. He concludes that "you can turn the damper up, you can turn your damper down, but the smoke will reach the chickens just the same." In other versions, the singer talks about circumstances when "bumming" is and isn't fun, with the conclusion that "everybody's bumming just the same."
KEYWORDS: theft animal chickens begging nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Harbin-Parodology, #51, p. 19, "The Smoke Went up the Chimney" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 289, 393, 516, "Damper Song" (notes only)
Zander/Klusmann-CampSongsNThings, p. 43, "The Damper Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Zander/Klusmann-CampSongsPopularEdition, p. 1, "The Damper Song" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Fiddlin' John Carson & his Virginia Reelers, "The Smoke Goes Out the Chimney Just the Same" (OKeh 45186, 1927; on Protobilly)
Dan W. Quinn, "The Smoke Goes Up the Chimney Just the Same" (Victor 1469. 1902; on Protobilly)
NOTES [69 words]: There's a drawing of an opium pipe included on the cover of the sheet music and a cryptic reference to opium in the lyrics sung by Quinn; the annotators of "Protobilly" suggest that this "might explain the pipe on the sheet music cover and the song's surreal images." -PJS
Another song with this title was copyrighted by A. J. Mills, J. P. Long, and Bennett Scott in 1917. I don't know what the relationship is. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: RcSGUCJS

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