POLK SALAD ANNIE

Tony Joe White

(words & music by Tony Joe White)



(Recitation)



If some of ya'll never been down South too much...

I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this, so that you'll understand

What I'm talking about

Down there we have a plant that grows out in the

woods and the fields,

looks somethin' like a turnip green.

Everybody calls it Polk salad. Polk salad.

Used to know a girl that lived down there and

she'd go out in the evenings and pick a mess of it...

Carry it home and cook it for supper, 'cause that's about all they had to eat,

But they did all right.



Down in Louisiana Where the alligators grow so mean

There lived a girl that I swear to the world Made the alligators look tame



Polk salad Annie polk salad Annie

Everybody said it was a shame

Cause her mama was working on the chain-gang

(a mean, vicious woman)



Everyday 'fore supper time She'd go down by the truck patch

And pick her a mess o' Polk salad And carry it home in a tote sack



Polk salad Annie 'Gators got you granny

Everybody said it was a shame

'Cause her mama was aworkin' on the chain-gang

(a wretched, spiteful, straight-razor totin' woman,

Lord have mercy. Pick a mess of it)



Her daddy was lazy and no count

Claimed he had a bad back

All her brothers were fit for was stealin' watermelons out of my truck patch

Polk salad Annie, the gators got your granny

Everybody said it was a shame

Cause her mama was a working' on the chain gang

(Sock a little polk salad to me, you know I need a mess of it)