Loudon Wainwright — “Black Uncle Remus” Lyrics

On Thursday I was listening to Loudon Wainwright on Fresh Air. He was talking about his new album that pays tribute to Charlie Poole.

All of a sudden I remembered — “Oh! Loudon Wainwright wrote a song called ‘Black Uncle Remus!’ Let’s see if I can embed that into a blog post.”

Turns out I can’t embed it just yet.  For now, the best I can do is send you to the Yep Roc label for a refreshingly substantial preview of the song.  You can also buy it for all of 99 cents. It’s the first track.

Of all the Uncle Remus-inspired music (see: Miley Cyrus’s “Zip-a-dee-do-dah,” Van Dyke Parks’s Jump!, Henry F. Gilbert’s unfinished Uncle Remus Opera, Devin the Dude’s NSFW “Briarpatch,” etc), this track is the most jammable as Amelia and I have proved all week.  The lyrics are below.

Black Uncle Remus in central square,
Somebody took the rocker off the rocking chair.
When you got the whiskey habit
You don't talk about Brer Rabbit.

Black Uncle Remus got the death letter blues,
The hellhound says it time to pay the dues.
You rarely recall the catfish catchin'
When you're living in the Briar Patches.

Black Uncle Remus, he moans and he sings,
His tears have rusted his banjo strings.
You start calling for Jesus or your Mama maybe
When your life's gummed up in the old Tar Baby.

Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do,
Whatcha gonna do when you're black and blue?.
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do,
Whatcha gonna do when you're black and blue?