Stop!
(Bob Nolan)
Woe [whoa] is me, my children, woe, I say.
For there’s one little word can’t never be heard - that’s “Stop!” I say.
I got a gal in the Cumberland Mountains, pretty as she can be.
Pure as streams and the bubblin’ fountain, mine she’s gonna be.
I says, “Sal, should we oughta get hitched and shall I name the day?”
But her pappy showed up with a two-hole pistol, “Stop!” he say.
Woe is me, my children, woe, I say,
For her pappy showed up with a two-hole pistol, “Stop!” he say.
Bullfrog sleep by the lily pad pond and the pollywog he comes by.
The pollywog wink and the bullfrog blink and he opens up his eye.
Said the bullfrog, “Pollywog, let’s take a swim in the lily pad pond close by”.
When the bullfrog div and the pollywog give with a, “Stop! It’s dry!”
Woe is me, my children, woe, I say,
When the bullfrog div and the pollywog give with a “Stop! It’s dry!”
I got a mule, got a mighty fine mule, boys, I got a mule for sale.
But I think that I oughta tell you why - he’s got a granny knot in his tail.
He turned his nose at my courtin’ clothes, he turned me down today
With a hee-haw hoot at my catalog suit, he stop and bray.
Woe is me, my children, woe, I say,
With a hee-haw hoot at my catalog suit, he stop and bray.
Bob Nolan was
a multi-talented songwriter and he loved to play with words. The beautiful
I Still Do is
a classic example but there were others (My
Old Pal, Sing
as You Work,
etc). In "Stop!" the chorus plays with only two
words, "whoa" and "woe".
The recording you hear on this page is from the soundtrack of the 1943 Republic picture, Idaho. "Stop" is sung by Roy Rogers, Smiley Burnette and Pat Brady in turn. The explosion is part of the film overlaying the recording. You can watch the entire song sequence on our Videos page.
As you might expect, this comic song suited Sons of the Pioneers' Pat Brady to a "T".
Pat is featured in the
transcription we hear on the
Teleways
programs, usually ending up with his tongue tied in knots!
The only
sheet music we found was a simple, rough lead sheet from the Republic Records Library at
Brigham Young University.
Republic Records Library at
Brigham Young University