“Don't Let Your Deal Go Down”

Description

Floating verses: "Been all around this whole round world... Anyplace I hang my hat/Feels like home to me"; "Left my little girl a'crying"; "Where did you get your high-top shoes" Chorus: "Don't let your deal go down/Till your last (g)old dollar is gone"

Notes

The phrase "let your deal go down" refers to the Georgia Skin Game, a card game popular among gamblers in the first half of the 20th century. - PJS

Cross references

• cf. "In the Pines" (words)

Recordings

• Fiddlin' John Carson, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (OKeh 45096, 1927)
• Lake Howard, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (Perfect 13151, 1935)
• Dick Justice, "Old Black Dog" (Brunswick 395, c. 1929)
• Kessinger Brothers, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (Brunswick 411, 1930)
• New Lost City Ramblers, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (on NLCR01, NLCRCD1) (NLCR12)
• W. Lee O'Daniel & the Light Crust Doughboys, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (Vocalion 03471, 1937)
• Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues" (Columbia 15038-D, 1925; on CPoole01, CPoole05); (Columbia 15184-D, 1927)
• Riley Puckett, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (Columbia 15448-D, 1929) (Bluebird B-6067, 1935)
• Mike Seeger, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (on MSeeger01)
• Ernest V. Stoneman, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (OKeh 45054, 1926)
• Stoneman Family, "The Black Dog Blues" (on Stonemans01)
• Fields Ward, Glen Smith & Wade Ward, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (on HalfCen1)
• Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys, "Don't Let the Deal Go Down" (Vocalion 05282, 1939; Columbia 37739, 1947)

References

1. BrownIII 301, "High-Topped Shoes" (2 texts, both mixed; "A" is mostly "Pretty Little Foot" with verses from "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" while "B" is a hash of "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down," ""More Pretty Girls Than One," "In the Pines," and others)
2. Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 182-183, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
3. Rorrer, p. 70, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues" (1 text)
4. Darling-NAS, p. 285, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (1 text)
5. Silber-FSWB, p. 144, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (1 text)
6. DT, DEALDOWN*
7. Roud #4854
8. BI, CSW182