United States, (b. 1943)
Pig Belly Blues
for Yank Rachel!
- Sooiee, sooiee, got me a mandolin for my little pig.
- Sooiee, sooiee, bought a mandolin with my little pig.
- Mama’s sure angry but her little boy’s think in’ big.
- You ever pluck the blues on a little pig’s belly?
- You ever play the blues on a little pig’s belly?
- Mandolin blues can turn a mama to grape jelly.
- Well, I pluck my mandolin from the bottom up.
- Yeah, I pluck and strum her from the bottom up.
- She sounds good when I stroke her from the bottom up.
- Yeah, you can go and call me Yank.
- Yessir, go right ahead and call me Yank.
- Yank’s mandolin got beaucoup blues in the tank.
- Came up to Indy all the way from West Tennessee,
- Came up to Indy all the way from West Tennessee.
- Mandolin and the pig belly blues came along with me.
- Once you feel the blues it won’t ever stop.
- Once you sing the blues it don’t ever stop.
- Got blues in your head till the day you drop.
- Still hear Hammie and Sleepy John with me on the stage.
- Still hear Big Joe and Sonny Boy with me on the stage.
- The old-time down-home blues always for me the rage.
- Still got the taste of moonshine whiskey on my tongue
- Still taste some a that moonshine whiskey on my tongue.
- White whiskey been on my mind since I was young.
- My woman fed me biscuits baked before break of day.
- My woman gave me biscuits baked before break of day.
- Taste those biscuits and white moonshine when I play.
- Yank’s a deep-diving duck for the moonshine blues.
- Yank’s mouth be always open for hot biscuit blues.
- Yank’s mandolin is forever full of the pig belly blues.
About the Poet:
Norbert Krapf, United States, (b. 1943), is a poet, educator, editor, translator and memoirist who collaborates with musicians, photographers, and artists. Krapf earned a BA in English from St. Joseph’s College, Rensselaer, IN., an MA in English from the University of Notre Dame, and a PhD in English and American Literature/Poetry from the University of Notre Dame. He retired as Emeritus Prof. of English at the C. W. Post Campus of Long Island University, where he taught from 1970 until 2004 and also directed the C. W. Post Poetry Center.
Former Indiana Poet Laureate, 2008-10, Krapf stressed collaborations and the reunion of poetry and song (music). Krapf is the author of thirteen poetry collections, several prose memoirs, and books of translation from the German. His book of poetry, The Country I Come From (2002) was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. [DES-07/22]
Additional information:
- Find more on Krapf at: https://www.krapfpoetry.net/