Apple Squeezin’ Time
There was matrimony applejack for Uncle Jerry’s bride.
We made it in the summer so they’d have it by their side.
For everlastin’ love, we added roots and turnip greens,
Dandelions and cherry blooms and tender lima beans.
Then to clinch the deal and bind it up with chain and lock
We added in a good supply of last year’s stock.
We sealed it in a goatskin; put it on a rack,
Hung an apple over it and called it applejack.
Refrain:
Frost bitten freezin’ time
Frozen apple squeezin’ time.
You’ll find aunt Luce
Anywhere there’s apple juice,
Feelin’ like an apple on the vine—
Ain’t that fine! But don’t take mine!
There was camp meetin’ applejack for hallelujah time.
We had to put an apple in and wasn’t that a crime.
But just to give it strength enough to knock the devil down
We added in some sugar beets and stirred it all around.
Uncle Ira swore that he could hear the devil shout.
Granny took a hefty swig and swung and knocked him out
And that’s the reason why today the devil seems afraid
To interfere at meetin’ time where applejack is made.
There was applejack special that we always used to make
To counteract the biting of the poison rattlesnake.
Granddad always added in a little wheat and corn,
Set it in the cellar until after Easter morn.
Then he took it down the holler to the cider mill
Brought it home and run it thru his private still,
Took a little nip or two, maybe three or four,
Smacked his lips and run it thru eleven times or more.
There was applejack we used to make and keep for every use
Feuds and fights and frosty nights and all around abuse.
A recipe we never followed there among the hills
Rusty nails and kitten tails and little Carter pills.
We added everything we couldn’t use for nothin’ else
Angleworms and harness rings and rawhide belts.
Applejack, applejack, flowin’ thick and thin.
I don’t recall the day we ever put an apple in.
(Recitation by Wayne Austin.)
For permission to record Bob Nolan's music, contact: The Songwriter’s Guild of America
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