Talking Fishing Blues lyrics

Song information

Artist: Woody Guthrie
Album: This Land Is Your Land: The Asch Recordings, Volume 1

Lyrics

I went down to the fishing hole
And I set down with my fishing pole;
Somethin' grabb'd my hook and it got my bait
And jerked me out in the middle of the lake
Huh it was some jump boy
I got sunk, kinda baptized on credit

Fishin' down on th' muddy bank
Felt a pull an' give a big yank
I drug out three old rubber boots
A ford radiator an' a chevrolet coop
(Nothin' but junk, so I handed it in
For national defence)

Settin' in a boat with a bucket of beer
Hadn't caught nuthin' but didn't much care
I guess I was pretty well satisfied
Had my little woman right by my side
(Takin' it easy, just waitin'
Worm been gone off-a that hook for a couple of hours
I was busy)

When you go fishin', tell y' what to do
Go set down by the grassy dew
Take a piece of string, tie it on yo' pole
Throw it way out in th' middle of th' hole
Find you a good shady tree and then just set down
(Go to sleep, forget all about it
Can't catch nuthin' here anyways.)

Well I walked out to a sandy bar
And I caught myself a big alligator gar
Drug him home across my back
Tail was dragging a mile and a half
Flippin' an' floppin'. I sold him for a quarter
(Shot craps, got in jall.)

Jumped in the river and went down deep
There was a hundred pound cat-fish lying there asleep
Well I jumped on his back and rode him all aroun'
Saddled him up and I came into town
People came runnin', lookin', dogs a-barkin'
(Kids a-squallin')

Early one mornin' I took me a notion
To go out fishin' in the middle of the ocean
Well, throwed me a line, I got me a shark
I didn't get him home till way past dark
(Was he a man-eater, tough customer
But he wasn't quite tough enough.)

Late last night I had me a dream
I was out fishin' in a whiskey stream
Baited my hook with apple-jack
Threw out a drink, drug a gallon back
(Done pretty good till the creek run dry
I give the fish back to the finance company.)