“Johnny Booker (Mister Booger)”

Description

About the troubles experienced by a teamster/sailor along the way: A broken yoke, a stalled cart, etc. Chorus something like "Do, Johnny Booker, oh do, do me do, Do, Johnny Booker, oh do" or "So walk a Johnny Booger to help that nigger...."

Notes

"Johnny Booker" includes key verses from "Poor Old Man": "Said an old man come riding by/Said, young man, your mule's gonna die/If he dies I'll tan his skin/If he lives I'll ride him again." This probably entered minstrel tradition via African-American sailors -- or entered the shanty tradition from minstrel shows.

The Chitwood-Landress recording is a bit of a conundrum: it doesn't include most of the canonical mule verses, nor the canonical chorus, but the tune and gestalt are the same. I classify it as a proto-Johnny Booker, and assign it the earliest date, but note its peculiarities; it may be a Chitwood-Landress composition, built on the skeleton of this song. - PJS

Cross references

• cf. "Poor Old Man (Poor Old Horse; The Dead Horse)" (lyrics)
• cf. "Went to the River (I)" (floating lyrics)

Recordings

• Gus Cannon, "Old John Booker, You Call That Gone" (on AmSkBa, DownHome)
• Bill Chitwood & Bud Landress, "Johnny, Get Your Gun" (Brunswick 2883, 1925)
• Cousin Emmy [Cynthia May Carver], "Johnny Booker" (Decca 24214, 1947; on CrowTold01)
• Jack Elliott, "Old Johnnie Booker" (on Elliotts01)
• Earl Johnson & his Clodhoppers, "Johnnie Get Your Gun" (OKeh 45171, 1927)
• New Lost City Ramblers, "Old Johnny Booker Won't Do" (on NLCR17, NLCRCD2)
• Walter "Kid Smith, "Old Johnny Bucker Wouldn't Do" (Gennett 6825/Supertone 9407 [as Jerry Jordon, "Old Johnny Bucker Won't Do"], 1929)

References

1. Randolph 268, "Mister Booger" (1 text plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
2. Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 100, "(Johnny Booker)" (1 fragment, 1 tune, probably this although it's short enough that it might be "Johnny Boker (I)")
3. Lomax-FSNA 258, "Knock John Booker" (1 text, 1 tune)
4. Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 194, "Johnny Booker" (1 text, 1 tune)
5. DT, JNBOOKER
6. Roud #3441
7. BI, R268