Talking Blues by Woody Guthrie

Talking Blues is one of Woody Guthrie’s songs in the public domain, published in 1946.
An illustration for the story Talking Blues by the author Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie Songbook, 1946
If you want to get to heaven, tell you what to do
Gotta grease your feet with some good beef stew
Slide right out of the devil’s hand
And slide over into the promised land
But go easy, go greasy.

Standing in the corner by the mantel piece
Up in the corner by a bucket of grease
I stuck my foot in that bucket of grease
And go a slipping up and down the mantel piece
Hunting matches. Cigaret stubs. Shortage on.

Woody
Down in the hen house on my knees
I thought I heard a chicken sneeze
Nothing but a rooster saying his prayers
Thanking his God for the hens upstairs
Rooster preaching. Hen a singing. Henhouse shaking.

Down in the holler July a setting on a log
My hand on my trigger and my eye on a hog
Pulled that trigger and the gun went “bippp”
I grab that hog with all of my grip
Cain’t eat hog eyes. But I love chitlins.

I got a gal just over the hill
She won’t kiss like her sister will
Never takes a bath not even a rub
‘Fraid she’ll slide through the hole in the tub.
Awful skinny. Bony. Cut a man like a razor.

Not a bit of use in me working so hard
I got a woman in the rich folks yard
When she kills a chicken she sends me the feet
Thinks I’m working when I’m loafing the street.
Listening to all the back talk. Gossip.

Not no use in me working so hard
I got a woman in a the rich folks yard
When they kill a chicken she sends me the head
Thinks I’m a working when I’m laying up in bed.
Dreaming about her. Two other women.

Lots of folks tell you that a preacher won’t steal
But I caught three down in my corn field
One had a bushel and the other had a peck
The other’n had a great long cotton sack.
Half full or fuller. Roasting ears. He was stealing.

When I get to eating pork chops I cain’t stop
Ain’t no kind of grave I cain’t sop
Grab that bone in both of my hands
And listen to my lips so flipppityyy floppppp
Born liking it. Slicker the better. Ease on in home.

I went to church the other night
See if everybody had been living right
Lady got religion and waved her hands