(Elmer Bird WV tune & words*)
*Old man, old man, can I have your daughter
To bake my bread and carry my water, Old Man
*Young man, young man, you can’t have my daughter
To be near you and carry your water, Young man
*Ducks on the mill pond, geese in the clover
Jumped in the bed and the bed turned over, Old Man
(Gerry Milnes’s words)
Old man, old man, can I have your daughter
To milk my cow and carry my water? Ha Ha Ha
Yes sir, yes sir, take her on behind you
Take her up the holler where the devil can’t find you, Ha Ha Ha
Old man, old man, give me chew tobaccer
If y’ain’t got homegrown I’ll take manufactured, Ha Ha Ha
Ducks on the mill pond, geese in the ocean
Hug them pretty girls if I take a notion, Ha Ha Ha
Down in the holler I thought I heard a fiddle ring
Nothing but a little boy pickin on a banjer string, Ha Ha Ha