Junker/Junko/Junco Partner

[Wilson Gray]

I'm with you that it's "hatband." IIRC, the Louis Jordan version clarifies this.

-Wilson

On Jan 20, 2008 1:01 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Junker/Junko/Junco Partner
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 1/20/2008 11:42 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >Vic Damone?? Who'da thunk it?  Most interesting and valuable, Wilson.
> >
> >   I can't guess at "lanky" either.  And what's a "hotban'"?  Maybe
> > a "hop pad"?
>
> Hatband? And his head was probably in it when he was "shah
> tup".  Anyone who would say "Soive' six munts" might say "hotban'".
>
> (At this very instant I'm reading "The Whimsical Jester: or Rochester
> in High Glee" (1788) -- in an attempt to get in tune with 19th
> century humor -- with a similar incident:  a man finding another in
> bed with his wife, throws the other's hat out the window.  Being
> ashamed at what he had done, he goes to the king, who pardons him,
> saying he was justified. "Yes, my liege, but his head was in it.")
>
> Perhaps "lanky" is just a "long" tractor.
>
> Joel
>
>
>
> >   JL
> >
> >Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> >Sender: American Dialect Society
> >Poster: Wilson Gray
> >Subject: Junker/Junko/Junco Partner
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >I was surprised to come across mention of this song in Linguist List.
> >Since this is pretty much a folk song, it has a wide variety of words.
> >So, FTHOI, I thought that I'd just throw some others into the pot. The
> >words below are the oldest that I know of, as I was able to understand
> >them from a lo-fi, ca.1949, 78rpm recording by Vic Damone, back in the
> >day. It was the B-side of "Vagabond Shoes."
> >
> >-Wilson
> >
> >Down the road
> >Comin' a junko potnuh
> >Fo' he was low-did as can be
> >He wuh knocked-out
> >Knocked-out low-did
> >And he was sangin' this song to me
> >
> >Soive' six munts
> >Ain't no sinnunce
> >What I did ain' no crime
> >I jes' shah tup
> >A Cajun's hotban'
> >He was in it
> >Ah the verih time
> >
> >Well, when I had
> >Plin-tee of muh-nih
> >I thought I had-a minnih frins
> >All ovuh town
> >Now, I ain't got no mo' munnay
> >An' my bes' frins
> >Have put me down
> >
> >Had to pawn my watch and pih-stole
> >An' I shoulda pawned my key an' chain
> >Would have pawned my Ee-zo-bell-lah (Isabela?)
> >But the po' gal wouldn' sign her name
> >
> >Well, if I had
> >One milly-own dah-lahs
> >Jest-a one milly-own
> >To call my own
> >I would buy me a lanky(?!) trak-toe
> >An' I would raise me a tobacco fome
> >
> >Well, give me watuh, watuh
> >When I'm thois-tee
> >Give whiskih when I'm dry
> >Give me kine-niss when I'm sicklih
> >An' heh-vah-ah-on when I die
> >
> >Down the road
> >Come a junko potnuh
> >An' he was a-low-did
> >As can be
> >He wuh knocked-out
> >Knocked-out low-did
> >An' he was kuh-vud
> >In mih-zuh-ree
> >
> >Down the road
> >come a junko potnuh, potnuh, potnuh
> >
> >--
> >All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> >come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >-----
> >-Sam'l Clemens
> >
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org