ARKANSAS

Questions?
Song Title
ARKANSAS
Writers
Brand
Publisher
HOLLIS MUSIC, INC. (BMI)
% Publisher Controls
100%
Territory Controlled
WORLD
Themes/Keywords
Country, Drinking, Friendly, Man, News, Story, travel
Lyrics
My name is Oscar Brand,
I hail from Winnepeg town,
I travel the wide world over,
I travel the wide world round.
I’ve seen some ups and downs in life,
Some terrible things I saw,
But I never knew what mis’ry was
Till I got to Arkansas.

I was loafin’ in Saint Louis with five dollars and no more,
I read the mornin ‘ papers until my eyes were sore,
I read the evenin’ papers until one day I saw
That a hundred men were wanted for work in Arkansas.

Well, I landed on the depot, I haled a bottle of gin,
When along came a walkin’ skeleton by the name of Thomas Quinn.
His ears was big, his nose was large, his hair hung down his jaw,
He was a perfect photograph of the folks in Arkansas.

He fed me on corn dodgers, his meat I couldn’t chaw,
His bread it was so mealy stale, it almost broke my jaw,
I got so thin on sassafras tea, I could hide behind a straw,
And that’s the kind of vittles they serve in Arkansas.

Then he set me out a mattress as hard as any rock,
My teeth began to loosen, my knees began to rock,
I said I’m finished workin’, my salary I asked to draw,
He handed me a coon skin, and that’s currency in Arkansas.

His wife she was a box car, her teeth was like a hoe,
She wept a barrel full of tears the day I said I’d go,
She threw her arms around me, she bit me on the jaw,
Sayin’, “Don’t forget your dear old friend back here in Arkansas.”

Well I walked into a saloon I inhaled a bottle o’ rye,
Put my coon skin on the counter when the bartender he come by,
He picked it up, he smoothed it down, he rubbed it with his paw,
Then he handed me a rattlesnake skin, said, “That’s change in Arkansas.”

I’m goin’ to Indian Territory, gonna marry with a squaw,
I ain’t goin’ back to the cane brakes and the corn dodgers anymore,
If you ever see me there again, I’ll extend to you my paw,
It’ll have to be through a telescope from Hell to Arkansas.

Disclaimer: Information on this page is intended for research purposes only. All information, including publisher, writer and split information is subject to change.
Please contact the appropriate performing rights organization to verify the information above.