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Loudon Wainwright III - I'm The Man Who Rode The Mule Around The World Lyrics

Artist: Loudon Wainwright III

Album: High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project

Genre: Rock

  • Songwriters: Charlie Poole, Norman Woodlieff

I promised to meet her when the clock struck twenty-three
Down in the village, just four miles out of town
She runs the local tavern and the liquor's always free
But the pickles sell for nineteen cents a pound

Oh, she's my Daisy, she's black eyed and she's crazy
The prettiest girl I thought I ever saw
Now her breath smells sweet but I'd rather smell her feet
For she's my freckle faced consumptive Sara Jane

He's the man who rode the mule around the world
He's the man who rode the mule around the world
I rode in Noah's Ark and I'm as happy as a lark
I'm the man who rode the mule around the world

I was born about ten thousand years ago
And there's nothing on this earth that I don't know
I saw Peter, Paul and Moses playing ring around the roses
And I can whup the man that says it isn't so

He's the man who rode the mule around the world
He's the man who rode the mule around the world
And for Pharaoh's little kiddies I built all the pyramiddies
I'm the man who rode the mule around the world

Queen Elizabeth, she fell in love with me
We were married in Milwaukee secretly
But I rose up and I shook her and went off with General Hooker
To shoot mosquitoes down in Memphis, Tennessee

He's the man who rode the mule around the world
He's the man who rode the mule around the world
I set the flags a-flying when George Washington quit lying
I'm the man who rode the mule around the world

I'm a very highly educated man
There's not a thing that I don't understand
I've been around so long that I used to sing this song
When Abraham and Isaac rushed the can

He's the man who rode the mule around the world
He's the man who rode the mule around the world
Oh, I rode in Noah's Ark, I'm as happy as a lark
I'm the man who rode the mule around the world

I promised to meet her when the clock struck twenty-three
Down in the village just four miles out of town
She runs the local tavern and the liquor's always free
But the pickles sell for nineteen cents a pound


Add Song Meaning

  • Anonymous

    This could be a reference to "consumption" (tuberculosis) which was a much more common malady in the past.

  • Anonymous

    From "A Gotham Glossary
    The City in Slang: New York Life and Popular Speech"
    by Irving Lewis Alien - I found this:

    "Some of the best old words have to do with bars: A growler was a two-quart can of beer taken out. Young boys and girls were hired by saloons to “rush the growler” or “chase the can” to the customer ordering from home."

    So while that doesn't entirely explain why exactly Abraham and Isaac rushed the can, it does explain what exactly they were doing.

  • Anonymous

    "When Abraham and Isaac rushed the can"

    ?
    ?

    What does this mean?

    love this song. Also, why is Sara Jane "consumptive"?

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