Tony Joe White

Some of you all never been down South too much...
I'm gonna tell you a little story
So you'll understand where I'm talking about
Down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods and the fields
and it looks something like a turnip green.
Everybody calls it Polk salad. Now that's Polk salad.
Used to know a girl that lived down there and
she'd go out in the evenings to pick a mess of it...
Carry it home and cook it for supper,
'cause that's about all they had to eat, but they did all right.
Down in Louisiana, where the alligators grow so mean
Lived a girl that I swear to the world, made the alligators look tame
Polk salad Annie, 'gators got your granny
Everybody said it was a shame
For the mama was working on the chain-gang
What a mean, vicious woman
Everyday before suppertime, she'd go down by the truck patch
And pick her a mess of Polk salad and carry it home in a tote sack
Polk salad Annie, 'gators got you granny
Everybody said it was a shame
'Cause the mama was working on the chain-gang
Whoo, how wretched, dispiteful, straight-razor totin' woman
Lord have mercy.
Sock a little Polk salad to him, yeah, you know what, yeah, yeah
But daddy was a lazy and a no-count, claimed he had a bad back
All her brothers were fit for was stealing watermelons out of my truck
For once Polk salad Annie, 'gators got your granny
Everybody said it was a shame
For the mama was working on the chain-gang
Sock a little Polk salad to him, you know what meets a meal mention
You sock a little, hey, hey, hey, yeah, yeah
Chic a bon, chic a bon, chic a bon bon bon bon
Chic a bon, chic a bon, chic a bon bon bon bon
Sock a little Polk salad to him, you know what meets a meal mention
Sock a little Polk salad to him, you know what meets a meal mention
Chinc, chinc, chinc, chin, ling, ling ling.