Re: Got A Problem: Too Many Cucarachas!
The truth about folk songs, in the proper sense of the term -- songs passed on through oral tradition -- is that they exist in different versions. Generally, no one lyric can be called 'definitive." When a definitive version exists, it indicates that people are getting the song from the same source, perhaps a school music book or a well-known record, e.g, Simon and Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair" (Matin Carthy claims that he taught this song along with his arrangement to P.S). This is also true of tunes. If you search for lyrics of any folk song, you'll run into the same issue.
Good luck to your friend with cockroaches. Mice eat them, but, as I learned when living near Kensington Market in Toronto, trying to get the balance of mice and roaches in your home is not an easy task.
Last edited by Ranald; May-20-2022 at 7:29pm.
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
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