The Geezer and the Guiser
1. Said the guiser to the geezer, "Will you give me a pull?"
Said the geezer to the guiser, "I'll be damned if I will.
Save all your money and put it into stocks
And you'll always have tobacco in your old tobacco box."
(CHO) 3 lines of diddling, then
And he whistled the same old tune.
2. Said the geezer to the guiser, "Take my advice,
Go down to the river, chop a hole in the ice,
Swim down to the bottom and lie down among the rocks
And you'll never want tobacco for your old tobacco box."
CHO
Moe Hirsch pulled this one out of his hat recently, and I am
intrigued. First, because the tune resembles a minor-key
adaptation of the Little Beggarman, and second, because the
lyrics hint at a fuller dialog somewhere back there. The title
is my addition. Clearly it's related to There was an old soldier,
I had a little chicken, etc. etc. But "guiser"? I think the term
has to do with English ritual personnel, no? Anyway, here it is;
I'm frankly trolling it as bait to see if it stirs up anyone's
memory, who might want to share.
Moe thinks he heard Frank Warner sing it with banjo,
in Moe's youth in NYC (that would be in the days of the Early
to Middle Folk Scare, as Bruce Phillips put it: around WWII,
more or less). LH
LH
oct99
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!