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When
Cool Water was first published back in the 1930’s, the publisher
had taken it upon himself to change a lyric line. This infuriated Bob at
the time! He’d originally written it as a poem and had set it to
music years later. Bob said, “You know, I made the publisher pull all
the remaining copies off the market until he fixed the problem”. He
explained, “The lyrics go:
Dan, can you see
That big green tree
Where
the water’s running free
And it’s waiting there for me
And you.”
Bob continued, “And you is just a little addition. It’s
not supposed to rhyme with anything. The publisher took it upon
himself to change it from me and you to you and me
and I was very upset about it. Unfortunately, before we could pull
the sheet music off the market, a lot of it had been sold and, as the
years went by, people like Rex Allen and Marty Robbins and a few others
recorded it with those lyrics reversed.” Then he smiled, “However, as
the royalties came rolling in, I became more tolerant.” (Bob Nolan to
Dick Goodman.
Note: Rex Allen did not record the song commercially but he sang
it often on his radio programs and in live performances.)
We are greatly indebted to
OJ Sikes (New Jersey), Roberto Costa (Brazil), Anne & Peter Greb
(Germany), Michelle Sundin (Texas), Bob Serkey (NJ), Larry Hopper (NJ),
John Fullerton (MO), Dick Goodman (AZ), Dan Vena and countless fans for
sending us so many examples of Cool Water. Thanks, too, to all
the artists who generously allowed us to use their recordings. A special
thanks to OJ and Roberto for spending all those hours cleaning old
tracks for us!
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