Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:
Mauling Live Oak

Mauling Live Oak

Mauling Live Oak

One day I was traveling - I happened to
 think,
"My pockets are empty, I can't buy a drink.
I am an old bummer, completely dead broke,
And there's nothing to do but go mauling
 live oak."

cho: Derry down, down, down, derry down.

Well, I went right away for to see Captain
 Swift
To see and find out could he give me a lift.
He looked me all over from top unto toe.
Said he "You're the boy that live-oaking
 must go "

Then he brought out the contract that both
 of us signed
To keep and secure if we both were inclined.
But the very best wages that he could afford
'Twas only five dollars a month and my board

Well I had to get ready without much delay,
For the schooner was sailing the very next
 day
With two pints of whiskey, a pipe and a spoon
Away we set sail for Mosquito Lagoon.

Now, bluff was the game that we played every
 night,
And in it Charles Douglass he took great
 delight.
 He won my tobacco, while others cracked jokes
 He said, "You'll get more when you're mauling
 live oak."

Now, mauling this live oak, I'll say it's
 great fun,
Especially the dry ones that makes the sweat
 run.
It'll make your axe handles to glimmer and
 smoke -
You need iron handles for mauling live oak.

It's mosquitoes by day, and it's midges by
 night.
The sand fleas and bedbugs, they bother me
 quite,
And if ever back home my head I do poke,
To Hell I'll kick Swift and his goddam
 live oak.
From Minstrelsy of Maine, via Tom McHenry who blended three
     versions.
Recorded by the Boarding Party, Folk Legacy
RG