Song #23, "Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord," begins "Oh the deacon went down to the cellar to pray, but he got drunk and stayed all day." So why not post about the only other Camp Ajawah song that uses the word "cellar" (I always say "basement" myself, "cellar" is more evocative, I have to admit). And it's a song mentioned in the last two posts about Lisa Loeb's new CD: "Granny's In The Cellar."
Evidently lots of beloved authority figures get in trouble in cellars.
Just as "Ain't Gonna" is mildly scandalous, making fun of a deacon and drinking, "Granny" is playful with grandma and grossness. All in good fun...
Granny's in the cellar
Lordy, can't you smell her
Cooking greasy biscuits on the stove
In her eye there is some matter
That keeps dripping in the batter
And she whistles as the [sniff] runs down her nose
Down her nose, down her nose
She whistles as the [sniff] runs down her nose
In her eye there is some matter
That keeps dripping in the batter
And she whistles as the [sniff] runs down her nose
Granpa's in the basement
And to his amazement
There is something in the wine he made last fall
And his eyes are getting redder
As his tongue is getting wetter
'Cause it's ninety-seven percent alcohol
Alcohol, alcohol
It's ninety-seven percent alcohol
His eyes are getting redder
As his tongue is getting wetter
'Cause it's nInety-seven percent alcohol.
Granny's in the laundry
And she's in a quandary
'Cause she put some starch in with her underwear
And it's gonna be disaster
When it dries as hard as plaster
But she's tough as nails and so she doesn't care
Underwear, underwear
She put some starch in with her underwear
And It's gonna be disaster when it dries as hard as plaster
But she's tough as nails so she don't care.
Tune: "Y'All Come"
From _A Prairie Home Companion Folksong Book_ by Marcia & Jon
Pankake; (Viking, 1988)
Instructions given in text: "Where it says [sniff] just wind 'er up
and give a real good snort. Just don't be too long about it, and
don't be too disgusting, and above all, try not to get any on you."
4 comments:
Last year I heard
the missing first verse
to this song, sung by DLM
"I grieve my Lord,
From day to day,
I've left the straight
And narrow way..."
and, he added this thigh-slapper:
"Oh you can't get to heaven,
With our SPL,
'Cause our SPL,
Is going to ....well?"
JohnTMcHugh
Good additions, John. Though I think you are referencing "Ain't Gonna Grieve," not "Granny's In The Cellar," right?
I sang this song when I went trick or treating in NE PA when I was little:
Granny's in the cellar
Lordy can't you smell her
She's mixin' up a batch of cookies on her greasy stove
Her eyes are full of matter
That keeps running in the batter
And the (big sniff her) keeps running from her nose
From her nose, from her nose
And the (big sniff her) keeps running from her nose
At school in Switzerland, we sung that around 1965 with the lyrics "And a nigger went down ..." Hard to imagine nowadays!
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