Tony Joe White - Polk Salad Annie (1969 performance & AB Dancers)(Stereo)

"Polk Salad Annie" is a 1968 song written and performed by Tony Joe White.Its lyrics describe the lifestyle of a poor rural Southern girl and her family. Traditionally, the term to describe the type of food highlighted in the song is polk or poke salad, a cooked greens dish made from pokeweed.Its 1969 single release peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. In Canada, the song made No. 10 on the RPM Magazine Hot Singles chart. Elvis Presley's version also made the song popular. The song vividly recreates the Southern roots of White's childhood and his music reflects this earthy rural background. As a child he listened not only to local bluesmen and country singers but also to the Cajun music of Louisiana, the hybrid of traditional musical styles introduced by French settlers at the turn of the century. His roots lie in the swamplands of Oak Grove, Louisiana, where he was born in 1943. Situated just west of the Mississippi River, it's a land of cottonfields, where pokeweed, or "poke" grows wild, and alligators lurk in moss-covered swamps. "I spent the first 18 years of my life down there", said White. "My folks raised cotton and corn. There were lotsa times when there weren't too much to eat, and I ain't ashamed to admit that we've often whipped up a mess of poke sallet. Tastes alright too — a bit like spinach."[3] In the song, after gathering the leaves, Annie drags them home in a 'tote sack'. In a January 17, 2014, interview with music journalist Ray Shasho, White explained the thought process behind the writing of "Polk Salad Annie" and "Rainy Night in Georgia". I heard "Ode to Billie Joe" on the radio and I thought, man, how real, because I am Billie Joe, I know that life. I've been in the cotton fields. So I thought if I ever tried to write, I'm going to write about something I know about. At that time I was doing a lot of Elvis and John Lee Hooker onstage with my drummer. No original songs and I hadn't really thought about it. But after I heard Bobbie Gentry I sat down and thought … well I know about polk because I had ate a bunch of it and I knew about rainy nights because I spent a lot of rainy nights in Marietta, Georgia. So I was real lucky with my first tries to write something that was not only real and hit pretty close to the bone, but lasted that long. So it was kind of a guide for me then on through life to always try to write what I know about. Lyrics Now some of y'all never been down South too much I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this So that you'll understand What I'm talking about Down there we have a plant that grows out In the woods and the fields Looks somethin' like a turnip green Everybody calls it Polk salad, polk salad, huh Used to know a girl that lived down there and She'd go out in the evenings and pick her 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 There lived a girl that I swear to the world Made the alligators look tame Polk salad Annie, polk salad Annie Everybody said it was a shame 'Cause her mama was working on a chain-gang A mean business woman Now, everyday 'fore supper time She'd go down by the truck patch And pick her a mess o' Polk salad And carry it home in a tote sack Polk salad Annie The gators got you granny (Chomp, chomp, chomp) Everybody said it was a shame Cause her mama was a-workin' on a chain gang A wretched, spiteful, straight-razor totin' woman Lord have mercy, pick a mess of it Her daddy was lazy and no count Claimed he had a bad back All her brothers were fit for Was stealin' watermelons out of my truck patch Polk salad Annie The gators got your granny (Woo hoo) Everybody said it was a shame 'Cause her mama was a-working on a chain gang Sock a little polk salad to me Know I need a mess of it Ooh, good God Got to have me Source: Musixmatch Songwriters: Tony Joe White