Info
This song is also titled “Bile Em Cabbage Down.”
Lyrics
(American folk song)
Refrain
Boil them cabbage down, down.
Turn them hoecakes* ’round,
The only song that I can sing is
Boil them cabbage down.
Raccoon has a bushy tail
Possum’s tail is bare
Rabbit’s got no tail at all
But a little bunch of hair. Refrain
Someone stole my old coon dog.
Wish they’d bring him back.
He chased the big hogs through the fence,
And the little ones through the crack. Refrain
Met a possum in the road,
Blind as he could be.
Jumped the fence and whipped my dog
And bristled up at me. Refrain
Possum up a ‘simmon tree
Raccoon on the ground
Raccoon say to the possum
“Won’t you shake them ‘simmons down?” Refrain
Butterfly, he has wings of gold.
Firefly, wings of flame.
Bedbug, he got no wings at all,
But he gets there just the same. Refrain
Once I had an old grey mule,
his name was Simon Slick.
He’d roll his eyes and back his ears,
and how that mule would kick. Refrain
*Hoecakes are made of cornmeal, originally baked on the blade of a hoe over a fire, similar to pancakes. (source)
Optional: Students could sing “biscuits” instead of “hoecakes” if they are not familiar with that word.
Recorder Notes GABC'
See also
- Subject: animals
- Harmony: chords I, IV, V
- Melody: GABC’
- Scale: tetratonic
- Tones: drmf
- info about the song
YouTube
- PDF of song with chords
- MIDI file
- Listen to the melody
