johnny cash
I've got a thing about this song, and some others have, too. It is covered by only a fistful of artists, but it has gotten it's own bar and showroom in Austin, Texas. Click cat to visit website.
Sam Phillips and Sun Records was an incubator for rockabilly and rock in the fifties. Johnny left Sun Records for Columbia in July 1958, leaving several recordings behind. Elvis was captured by RCA already 1955. In 1969, Mercury Records purchased the Sun label from Phillips. Distribution rights were scattered with the wind. This song was included with an unknown number of worthless country albums featuring Johnny's good name to sell out bullshit. It was released as a single by Sun in 1960. The original take is pure "boom-chicka-boom" with the vocal mixed background with echo, Luther Perkins picking a few strings in the right channel and Marshall Grant going boom-chicka-boom in the left. An unidentified new recording with Cash dropped out in 1996, revealing the fourth and last verse I like the best, though not included with the original recording, maybe due to playing time. I love cats, curling up in the sofa and everywhere else (I'm talking about the ANIMAL now!).
I gave my woman half my money at the general store
I said "now buy a little groceries and don't spend no more"
but she gave ten dollars for a ten cent hat
and bought some store bought cat food for a mean eyed cat
when I give her ten more dollars for a one way ticket she was mad as she could be
then I bet ten more that if she ever left she'd come crawling back to me
when I woke up this morning and I turned my head
there was no cotton picking thing on her side of the bed
I found a little note where her head belonged
it said "dear John honeybaby : I'm long gone"
when I heard a whistle blowing and the big wheels turning I was scared as I could be
I put on my overalls and I headed to town gonna bring her back with me
I asked the man down at the station if he'd seen her there
I told him all about her pretty eyes and long blonde hair
he spit his tobacco saying "I'll be dad blamed
I believe I saw her leaving on the east bound train"
I bought a round trip ticket on the east bound train • I was broke as I could be
but when I come back I gotta buy another ticket gonna bring her back with me
well I got off the train somewhere in Arkansas
and I worked up the guts to call my mother in law
she said "I'll tell you where she is if you act right
she's working four to twelve at Trucker's World tonight"
when I walked in she saw me and took off her apron and grabbed her going home hat
she bought a ticket with her tips and now we're curled up on the sofa : me and her
...and that mean eyed cat
For the following CHORD section, fullscreen/horizontal mobile is recommended.
Chords in brackets may be omitted.
A I gave my woman half my money at the general store E I said now buy a little groceries and don't spend no more A A7 but she gave ten dollars for a ten cent hat D7 A E7 A and bought some store bought cat food for a mean eyed cat D D7 A when I give her ten more dollars for a one way ticket she was mad as she could be D B7 A F# E6 E7 A then I bet ten more that if she ever left she'd come crawling back to me
