(alternate titles: Cabbage Head; Cat Man Blues; Five Nights Drunk; Four Nights Drunk; The Intoxicated Rat; Our Goodman; Seven Nights Drunk; Three Nights Drunk; Three Nights Experience; You Old Fool)
Coley Jones was a member of the Dallas String Band which included Sam Harris on guitar, Marco Washington on bass, and other various rotating members. The band played on the streets of North Texas. Jones also had a background in minstrel shows. Between 1927 and 1929, the Dallas String Band made ten recordings for Columbia with Jones recording an additional seven as a solo artist. Jones later fronted the Coley Jones String Band in which the legendary Texas blues guitarist Aaron "T-Bone" Walker got his start. Other than his recordings, not much is known about Jones.
The song "Drunkard's Special" basically consists of a long humorous tale in which a drunk husband comes home to more and more far fetched explanations from his wife. The song gets more bawdy as it progresses depending on how many verses are sung. The song is amazingly widespread and its humor seems to appeal to all audiences. In his notes, Harry Smith cites versions found all over Europe. The song also has been recorded as a New Orleans piano blues, a bluegrass song, and by Irish folk musicians. Folklorist Alan Lomax even recorded a calypso version in the Bahamas.
FOR ADDITIONAL RECORDINGS BY JONES:
see Coley Jones and the Dallas String Band, 1927-1929: Complete Recordings (Matchbox 208a); and the collections Roots 'N Blues (COL 47911c); Ragtime #2- The Country (SFW CD RBF 18c); Maple Leaf Rag (NW 235a); Texas Blues (Roots 312a); Early Mandolin Classics (RND 1050c); and Before the Blues, V. 3 (YZ 2017c); as by the Dallas String Band on the collections, Jazz, V. 1 (FW 2801c); and Before the Blues, V. 2 (YZ 2016c).
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON JONES:
see John Minton's article, "Our Goodman in Blackface and the Maid at the Sooky Jump: Two African-American Variants of Child Ballads on Commercial Disc, JEMF Quarterly, Vol. 17 (Spring 1983).
OTHER RECORDED VERSIONS INCLUDE:
Traditional American Folk: as Cabbage Head: Hamper McBee (RND 0061a); as Four Nights Drunk: Sheila Adams Barnhill (Granny Dell 3107d); Frank Proffitt Jr. (Cloudlands 008d); Jean and Lee Schilling (TRL 617a); as Five Nights Drunk: Hattie Presnell (FL 22a); as Good Old Man: John Jacob Niles (TRD 1046a); as Intoxicated Rat: Doc Watson (VG 155/8c, VG 79152c); as Our Goodman: Orrin Rice (LC AFSL12a); as Three Nights Drunk: The Blue Ridge Buddies (E.C. and Orna Ball; SFW CD 40097c); Billy Ed Wheeler (Sagittarius 197a).
Folksong revival: as Cabbage Head: Bill Lucas (PH 1007a); as Five Nights Drunk: Max Hunter (FL 75a); The Seeger Sisters (PRS 13029a); as Four Nights Drunk: The Delaware Water Gap (ADE 2004a); Tony and Judy Seeger (Indiana Archives of Traditional Music); as Intoxicated Rat: Cisco Houston (SFW CD 40059c); as Our Goodman: Oscar Brand (ADF 1906a); John Greenway (PRS 13011a); Sam Hinton (DEC 8108a); Dick McCormick (RST 110a); as Three Nights Drunk: Grant Rogers (FL 27d); as You Old Fool: The Weavers (VG 7/50c).
Country/String band: as Cabbage Head: Sam McGee (DLY 1009a); Slim Pickens (Blue Canyon 506a); as Four Nights Drunk: The New Lost City Ramblers (SFW CD 5263c); The Roan Mountain Hilltoppers (JA 0067)); as Intoxicated Rat: Maybelle Carter with the New Lost City Ramblers (VG 183a); The Dixon Brothers (RCA 507a); as Three Nights Drunk: Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers (OH 192a)); as Three Nights Experience: John B. Evans (AU 22020b, OH 177a); Homer and Jethro (Audio Lab 1513a); Earl Johnson and His Dixie Entertainers (OK 45092b); Randolph Country String Band (DU 33001); as the Intoxicated Rat: Dixon Brothers (RCA 8417c).
Bluegrass: as Cabbage Head: Clint Howard and Fred Price (PH 1028a); as Intoxicated Rat: Blue Ridge Mountain Boys (RR 198a); Benny Martin (GS 1415a); as Three Nights Experience: Charlie Moore (Country Jubilee 70617a).
Blues: as Cat Man Blues: Blind Lemon Jefferson (PAR 2921b) . Rhythm and blues: as Intoxicated Rat: Brook Benton (MER 60641a). New Orleans: as Cabbage Head: Dr. John (Warner Brothers 26940); Professor Longhair (RND 2057c).
British: as Four Nights Drunk: Steeleye Span (CHR 1121a, SH 79047c); as Our Goodman: Peter Kennedy and Alan Lomax (Caedmon 1146a); Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger (SFW CD 3509c, RVR 12-621/2a); Tony Wales (SFW CD 3515c).
