Crawdad

This song from the Southern States of the U.S. grew out of African-American blues combined with white American children's play songs. There are a number of variations, such as "This Morning, This Evening, So Soon", "Sweet Thing", "How Many Biscuits Can You Eat?" and "What Ya Gonna Do?", as sung by Josh White, for example.

Apparently, among the earliest singers of this song were the workers building levees along the Mississippi to prevent flooding.

The first known publication was in 1874 under the name "Baby Mine".
Raymond Crooke

The Akers Family sings Crawdads.
Raymond Crooke sings.

CRAWDAD SONG

Tune

You get a line and I'll get a pole, Honey,
You get a line and I'll get a pole, Babe -
You get a line and I'll get a pole,
We'll go fishin' in the crawdad hole,
Honey, Baby mine.

Sittin' on the bank 'til my feet get cold, -Honey;
Sittin' on the bank 'til my feet get cold, Babe,
Sittin' on the bank 'til my feet get cold,
Lookin' down that crawdad hole,
Honey, Baby mine.

Yonder comes a man with a sack on his back, -Honey;
Yonder comes a man with a sack on his back, Babe,
Yonder comes a man with a sack on his back,
Packin' all the crawdads he can pack,
Honey, Baby mine.

The man fell down and he broke that sack, -Honey;
The man fell down and he broke that sack, - Babe,
The man fell down and he broke that sack,
See those crawdads backing back,
Honey, Baby mine.

I heard the duck say to the drake, Honey,
I heard the duck say to the drake, Babe ,
I heard the duck say to the drake,
There ain't no crawdads in this lake,
Honey, Baby mine.

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