Down in Louisiana, where the alligators grow so meanLived a girl, that I swear to the worldMade the alligators look tame
This song is just plain badass. It could have been extremely corny, but it’s not at all. It’s that groove that is impossible to escape and the lyrics just follow so nicely. Amos Moses, a song by Jerry Reed, is in this vein as well.
This song could very well be called Swamp Rock. It blends blues, rock, and country with a Southern feel. Tony Joe White, often called “The Swamp Fox,” built much of his career around this style, influencing later artists like Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Black Keys.
The song was on his 1969 album called Black and White. The album peaked at #51 on the Billboard 100, but the single did much better. Polk Salad Annie peaked at #8 on the Billboard 100 and #10 in Canada in 1969.
White was what you would call a one-hit wonder, but he wrote many more hits than this one. He wrote A Rainy Night In Georgia, Willie and Laura Mae Jones, Steamy Windows, and others. Artists such as Willie Nelson, Elvis Presley (where I heard the song first), Ray Charles, and Tina Turner.
Elvis Presley released the song in 1973. It wasn’t released as a single in America, but it did manage to peak at #23 in the UK.
Polk Salad Annie
If some of ya’ll never been down south too muchSome y’all never been down s-I’m gonna tell you a little story so’s you’ll understand what I’m talkin’ aboutDown there we have a plant that grows out in the woods, and the fieldsAnd it looks somethin’ like a turnip greenEverybody calls it polk saladNow that’s polk saladUsed to know a girl lived down there and she’d go out in the evenings andPick her a mess of itCarry it home and cook it for supperBecause that’s about all they had to eatBut they did all right
Down in Louisiana, where the alligators grow so meanLived a girl, that I swear to the worldMade the alligators look tamePolk salad Annie, gators got your grannyEverybody said it was a shameBecause her momma was a workin’ on the chain gangA mean vicious woman
Everyday before supper time, she’d go down by the truck patchAnd pick her a mess of polk salad, and carry it home in a tow sackPolk salad Annie, the gators got your grannyEverybody says it was a shameBecause her momma was a workin’ on the chain gangA wretched, spiteful, straight-razor totin’ womanLord have Mercy, pick a mess of it
Sock a little polk salad to me
Her daddy was lazy and no-count, claimed he had a bad backAll her brothers were fit forWas stealin’ watermelons out of my truck patchPolk salad Annie, the gators got your grannyEverybody said it was a shameBecause her momma was a workin’ on the chain gang
Yeah, sock a little polk salad to me, you know I need me a mess of itSock a little
Sock a little polk salad to me, you know I need a real mess of it (chick-a-boom)Sock a little polk salad, you know I need a real (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)Ching-ching-ching-ching-a-ling (chick-a-boom)
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Love this guy and as you say he had written some great songs. Great tune and I think Elvis did a very credible job on it. Sometimes story songs loose a bit when covered I think.
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This song just works. It could have went either way…but it went a great way.
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I like both versions of this song and I love the story it tells.
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This one is on my “To Blog” list. I think there’s a different edit of TJW’s version in the film “Ford v Ferrari”.
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Oh…I’ll have to check that out then…I didn’t know there was another edit of the song. I can’t believe I haven’t posted it already.
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I thought the guy was a black delta blues singer until I saw him live at Texas Int. Pop Festival in 1969. A white guy sounding like Luther Vandross or Muddy Waters, wow. I’ve had Poke Salad, and it ain’t too bad, sort of like collard greens. Down in the bayou country of Louisiana, that stuff grows everywhere and there are so many alligators, folks make pets of them. Houma is likely the place he is singing about, true Cajun country.
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I have been to Houma! Yes! I agree.
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Sheila, it has some of the best food in the US. I could live in Louisiana if I wasn’t such a Texan.
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there’s a baseball pitcher, Kevin Gausman, plays for Toronto (as you likely know), he came to spring training about 20 pounds heavier than usual… said he lives in Southern Louisiana and they eat differently there than in Canada!
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Yep, they sure do. Lots of gator recipes, breads and other fat-induced dream foods.
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I agree! I absolutely love cajun food!
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I can see why you thought that. I’ve always wanted to go to Louisiana from what I’ve heard…it’s totally different than any other state.
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I’ve been there a few times. My friend Jordan, our drummer, was born in the bayou, and his entire family tree are Cajuns. That boy can cook some food that will light you up.
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Always loved this song, though I think my first husband introduced me to it. Ha!
I was very much into swamp rock! The Stranger band is still one of my favorites:
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Oh cool! I love that swamp rock sound. When I think of swamp rock I go to CCR but there was a lot of different bands that used it. This was a good example of a more hard based one.
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I bought one album of Stranger’s and wore it out! Ha! Then again I used to go see them in concert at the Other Place in Ormond Beach, FL nearly every time they played over the span of 4 or 5 years.
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Do I ever get sick of this song? No. I like Tony and what he does . I can see why Elvis did this one. He could get behind it. I’ve been eating a lot of greens latey. I better try some of this “Polk Salad”. I’m curios.
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You know…I’ve never tried it either and hell I live in the south. I do need to give it a shot. I do like White’s writing style…it kind of fits in with what you posted today…not exactly but that dirt feel.
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Tont definitely has that going on in spades.
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CB it’s probably like wild spinach. Good for what ails ya.
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Now you’ve done it Lisa. I’ll be jonesing all day. I’m a spinach freak. Goes back to my Popeye days.
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🙂
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Lisa…I’m making you an honorary southerner today…”good for what ails ya” I love that phrase
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You would have loved my mom and grandma. They had a million of these expressions. Thank you for making me an honorary southerner for today ❤
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I love them…especially “bless your heart” which can be good as gold or a dagger stabbed into someones heart.
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My old mentor/therapist, Barb, who was born and raised down south, was really good at “bless your heart.” I miss her more than you can know.
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I like the term swamp rock and agree with you putting The Black Keys in that genre. This is one I sing like a mantra, like Amos Moses and Blackwater. Love Tony Joe’s voice!!!!!! So danged sexy.
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Yes…I’m glad you think Amos Moses belongs in this. No one commented on that and I totally agree. It is like a Mantra….
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Badass is definitely the word. I’m surprised you haven’t posted on this before now. Elvis is good, but TJW wins this one in my book. The man created his unique version of soul. Great choice.
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Me as well… you can’t beat him doing this. It fit Elvis but not as good as Tony Joe White.
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I knew Elvis had done it but hadn’t heard it before. Not as good as White’s but seeing those sideburns was worth the price of admission, LOL. A good song
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We need as a society for those sideburns to come back!
Yea White kills this song…great music, fun lyrics, and his voice fits perfectly.
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I think I told you that we lived downtown in the Market Street Apts. when we first moved to Nashville. We lived on the ground floor and our apt had this long vertical warehouse windows that faced First Street. So when there was a street festival downtown, we’d just enter and exit our apt. through the window and fill our tumblers with beer from the fridge so we didn’t have to pay top dollar to the venders.
Anyway, it was during Summer Lights…we saw Tony Joe White walking down First Street. We’d seen him play a show earlier in the day. My husband ran up to him and told him we that we had his Black and White album. My husband pointed out where we lived and asked him would he sign it if he (my husband) would run get the album. Mr. White said yes and he waited until we got back with the album and signed it. Great guy. (Sorry this was so long.)
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Oh that is so cool to hear that Pam. I love hearing stories about that with famous people who were nice. He did seem like a down to earth guy. Thank you for sharing that! I love those personal stories.
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I love these sorts of reminisces. If only some of the ‘bigger stars’ knew what memories they were making by taking a little time for a fan here and there. Or fans they were losing by not taking a little time. Hey, I’m sure we all value our privacy but it ain’t appreciated when some passing egotistic asshat gives you the finger in response to your shy wave.
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So true. I’m more reserved, so I haven’t approached the few stars I’ve encountered. But my husband is outgoing and if someone’s an asshole he just shrugs it off.
But, yeah, Tony Joe White was a real gentleman–as well as a heck of a singer/ songwriter and guitarist. RIP.
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Another one my brother turned me on to. He played this and another one a lot – I don’t now remember if it was the flipside of the ‘Polk’ 45 or another release, ‘Roosevelt And Ira Lee.’ Same hot swampy feel.
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Your brother came through with this one. I just listened to Roosevelt And Ira Lee…he mus have loved writing songs with two names in them. Yep the very same feel.
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love the tune, but is it okay to say I was never a huge Elvis fan or will I be struck by lightening…yeah, I can and used to play Blue Swede Shoes (that 45 rpm single had 4 songs on it) and hunka hunka burning love….I just never liked the Las Vegas show stuff…what it was that Band song say about Spike Jones about singing and talking?
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You have company with me…I liked some of his songs but didn’t like his movie career or Las Vegas at all.
Cripple Creek…right Warren?
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yep…and even though way before my time I’m a huge Spike Jones fan, only Groucho Marx may is always in first place….Groucho may pop out in the blog soon..
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Warren…we are on the same page today. The Marx Brothers to me are the best. I love Harpo’s silent routines and Groucho’s comeback lines…no one could beat him in wit. I dont’ know as much about Spike Jones
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It’s a cool song that sounded familiar. I believe I had heard Elvis’ rendition before. While I’m not sure about the name Tony Joe White, I definitely know “Rainy Night in Georgia” and “Steamy Windows.”
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It was the Elvis version I first hear, and I have to admit I really didn’t like it at all, I regarded it as the worst single from Elvis – ever! And that was saying something in 1973! Tony Joe White, though, I discovered belatedly in the 80’s and 90’s as a pretty good songwriter and artist (I even have a cassette album of his) so I can appreciate the song outside of Elvis.
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Thats alright! I totally get it.
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