20170510

Carson Robison's "Life Gets Teejus, Don't It" Navigate up My home page Readings index Life Gets Teejus, Don't It by Carson Jay Robison, 1890-1957 • Background This 1948 country hit was a great favorite of my father's. I can still see him smiling along as it played on the radio. It formed a part — a small part, I believe and hope — of my childhood image of the United States: an idle man in a broken-down farmhouse somewhere, not really giving a flying damn about anything much. Listening to it again, now, I still find the whole ambience of the song awfully appealing. ————————— • Play the song This text will be replaced by the flash music player. ————————— • Lyrics of the song Sun comes up and the sun goes down. The hands on the clock keep goin' around. I just get up an' it's time to lay down. Life gets teejus, don't it? My shoe's untied but I don't really care. I ain't a-figurin' on goin' nowhere. I'd have to wash an' comb my hair. That's just wasted effort. Water in the well's gettin' lower an' lower. Can't take a bath for six months or more But I've heard it said, and it's true I'm sure, That too much bathin'll weaken' you. I open the door an' the flies swarm in. I shut the door an' I'm sweatin' again. I move too fast an' I crack my shin. Just one durn thing after t'other. My old brown mule, he must be sick. I jabbed him in the rump with a pin on a stick. He humped his back, but he wouldn't kick. There's somethin' cockeyed somewhere. There's a mouse a-chawin' on the pantry door. He's been at it for at least a month or more. When he gets through there he's sure goin' to be sore. [Chuckles] There ain't a durn thing in there. Hound dog howlin', he's so folorn. Laziest dog that ever was born. He's howlin' 'cause he's a-sittin' on a thorn — Just too tired to move over. Tin roof leaks an' the chimney leans. There's a hole in the seat of my ol' blue jeans. An' I've et the last of them pork an' beans. Jus' can't depend on nuthin'. Cow's gone dry an' the hens won't lay. Fish quit bitin' last Saturday. Troubles pile up, day by day — Now I'm gettin' dandruff. Grief an' misery, pains an' woes. Debts an' taxes, an' so it goes. And I think I'm gettin' a cold in the nose … A-choo! Ah, life gets tasteless, don't it?