Three Nights Drunk- Ball (VA) (1937) 1957 Seeger REC
[This is standard version by the Blue Ridge Buddies (Estil Ball, Orna Ball and Blair Reedy) recorded by Mike Seeger in 1957. It's similar to Clint Howard's (with Doc Watson) "Cabbage Head Song" and a host of other versions. Orna Ball sings the woman's part.
John Lomax recorded the Ball's version in 1937 and it appeared with music in "Our Singing Country."]
Wiki bio- Estil Cortez Ball (1913–1978) was an American singer-songwriter, fingerstyle guitarist, and country gospel and folk musician from Rugby in Grayson County, Virginia.
Career
From the mid-1950s until 1975, Ball performed with his wife Orna and their Friendly Gospel Singers in churches and on the radio, especially on WKSK (AM) in West Jefferson, North Carolina and WBOB (AM) in Galax, Virginia. Ball's first recordings were made by John A. Lomax on behalf of the Library of Congress at the 1937 Galax Fiddler's Convention in Galax, Virginia, where E.C. performed with his Rugby Gully Jumpers string band (named after Paul Warmack's Gully Jumpers).[1] Lomax recorded the string band and several duets by E.C. and Orna. John's son Alan Lomax recorded Ball three years later, in 1941, at E.C.'s home in Rugby, Virginia, and there again in 1959.[2]
County Records released Ball's first LP in 1967, as E.C. Ball and the Friendly Gospel Singers. Two more LPs followed in the 1970s on Rounder Records: E.C. Ball and Fathers Have A Home Sweet Home.[3] Ball was also recorded by John Cohen for his 1975 compilation album High Atmosphere: Ballads and Banjo Tunes from Virginia and North Carolina.
E.C. Ball's most famous composition was a piece he called "Tribulations," based, as he told Alan Lomax in 1959, "on the last book in the Bible: Revelations." It has been frequently covered by other musicians as "Trials, Troubles, Tribulations."
Ball died in 1978 in Grassy Creek, North Carolina, and is buried at Corinth Baptist Church in Rugby, Grayson County, Virginia.[4]
In December 2009, a tribute album was released entitled Face A Frowning World: An E.C. Ball Memorial Album, on the Tompkins Square label, produced by Nathan Salsburg. Singers interpreting songs from E.C.'s repertoire include Jolie Holland, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Jon Langford, the Handsome Family, Rayna Gellert, and Catherine Irwin, among others.[5]
Three Nights Drunk- Blue Ridge Buddies (1957) Estil Ball, Orna Ball and Blair Reedy
1. The other night when I come home
Drunk as I could be,
Found a horse in the stable
Where my horse ought to be.
Now come my wife, my dear little wife
Explain this to me.
There's a horse here in the stable,
Where my horse ought to be?
You blind fool, you silly fool
Can't you never see?
It's nothing but a milk cow
Your granny gave to me.
I've travelled wide world over,
Ten thousand miles or more
A saddle upon a milk cow's back,
I never did see before.
2. The second night when I came home
Drunk as I could be
Found a coat a-hangin' on the rack,
Where my coat ought to be.
Now come my wife, my dear little wife
Explain this to me,
There's a coat's hangin' on the rack,
Where my coat ought to be?
You blind fool, you silly fool
Can't you never see?
It's nothing but a bed quilt
Your mother gave to me.
I've travelled over this country,
Ten thousand miles or more
Pockets in a bed quilt
I never did see before.
3. The third night when I come home
Drunk as I could be
Found a head on the pillow
Where my head ought to be.
Now come my wife, my dear little wife
Explain this to me,
There's a head's on the pillow
Where my head ought to be?
You blind fool, you blind fool
Can't you never see?
It's nothing but a cabbage head
Your mother gave to me.
I've travelled this wide world over,
ten thousand miles or more
A moustache on a cabbage head,
I never seen before.