POKE SALAD ANNIE
by Tony Joe White


opening riff in F ... uptempo 4/4 beat

RECITATION:
If some of y'all never been down sout too much,
I'm gonna tell you a little about this so that you'll
Understand what I'm talkin' about ...
Down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods,
And in the field ... looks somethin like a turnip green,
And everybody calls it poke salad ... poke salad;
Used to know a girl 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.


[F] Down in Lou'siana, where the alligators grow so mean,
There lived a girl that I swear to the world,
Made the alligators look tame, 
Poke Salad [Bb]Annie, Poke Salad [F]Annie
Every[Ab]body said it was a [F]shame, cause her
[Ab]Mama was a workin on the [F]chain gang
  (a mean, vicious woman)

[F]Every day 'fore suppertime, she'd go down by the truck patch,
And pick her a mess o' poke salad and carry it home in a tote sack,
Poke Salad [Bb]Annie, The gators got your [F]granny,
Every[Ab]body said it was a [F]shame, cause her
[Ab]Mama was a workin on the [F]chain gang
  (a wretched, spiteful, straight razor totin' woman,
   Lord have mercy, pick me a mess of it)

Her [F] 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,
Poke Salad [Bb]Annie, The gators got your [F]granny,
Every[Ab]body said it was a [F]shame, cause her
[Ab]Mama was a workin on the [F]chain gang
  (sock a little poke salad to me,
   you know I need me a mess of it)

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source: Bob Longmire                 
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From 'Webster's Third New International Dictionary'

 Poke Salad - The cooked young shoots of pokeweed.

 Pokeweed - A tall American perennial herb (Phytolacca Americana)
 having young shoots that are edible...

It's also known as pokeroot.
Better tell Tony Joe White how to spell it - it's "Polk" on the record.