*In Folklorist Harry Smith’s House-"My Name Is John Johanna" — Kelly Harrell (1927)

Click on the title to link to a presentation of the song listed in the headline.

The year 2009 has turned into something a year of review of the folk revival of the 1960s. In November I featured a posting of many of the episodes (via “YouTube”) of Pete Seeger’s classic folk television show from the 1960s, “Rainbow Quest”. I propose to do the same here to end out the year with as many of the selections from Harry Smith’s seminal “Anthology Of American Folk Music,” in one place, as I was able to find material for, either lyrics or "YouTube" performances (not necessarily by the original performer). This is down at the roots, for sure.


MY NAME IS JOHN JOHANNA

by Kelly Harrell and the Virginia String Band

1) My name is John Johanna, I came from Buffalo town
For 9 long years I’ve travelled this wide wide world around
Through ups and downs and miseries and some good days I saw
But I never knew what misery was ’til I went to Arkansas

2) I went up to the station the operator to find
Told him my situation and where I wanted to ride
Said hand me down 5 dollars, a ticket you shall draw
That’ll land you safely railway in the state of Arkansas

3) I rode up to the station then chanced to meet a friend
Alan Catcher was his name although they called him Cain
His hair hung down in rat tails below his under jaw
He said he run the best hotel in the state of Arkansas

4) I followed my companion to his respected place
Saw pity and starvation was pictured on his face
His bread was old corn dodgers, his beef I could not chaw
He charged me 50 cents a day in the state of Arkansas

5) I got up that next morning to catch that early train
He said "don’t be in a hurry lad, I have some land to drain
You’ll get your 50 cents a day and all that you can chaw
You’ll find yourself a different lad when you leave old Arkansas"

6) I worked 6 weeks for the son of a gun, Alan Catcher was his name
He stood 7 feet 2 inches, as tall as any crane
I got so thin on sassafras tea I could hide behind a straw
You bet I was a different lad when I left old Arkansas

7) Farewell you old swamp rabbits, also you dodger pills
Likewise you walking skeletons, you old sassafras hills
If you ever see my face again I’ll hand you down my paw
I’ll be lookin’ through a telescope from home to Arkansas

Thanks to Catherine Yronwode (see her Blues Lyrics and Hoodoo website) and Stuart Filler for help on the lyrics. Stuart Filler adds: the swamp rabbit is "the largest member of its genus, the cottontail family"—famous for the incident with Jimmy Carter, and "sassafras is used for a tea...The highest concentration [of the plant] occurs in Arkansas and Missouri."