Get out of the way, old Dan Tucker

Let's see if I can remember, boomer.

He combed his hair with a wagon wheel,
died with the toothache in his heel.

Old Dan Tucker well he got drunk,
Fell in the fire and he kicked up a chunk

Hot coal of fire went down his shoe,
Great day in the morning how the ashes flew.

I think the entire song has to do with drinking.

Old Dan Tucker was a fine old man,
Washed his face in a frying pan,
Combed his hair with a wagon heel, etc.

Hi Letty!

You've got it right -- it was about a hard drinking man. It seems like a lot of those wonderful old bluegrass songs were about men who drank too much!

I just cannot find a version with the refrain I remember and it's driving me crazy. I can't imagine where I might have come up with it.

You remember it the way I remember it.

Now if I can remember who I first heard sing it. The Weavers? Pete Seeger?

Joe(mebbe, I can hear the banjo ringing)Nation

At least I'm in good company with my crazy remembering!

There's some great old versions of the song on youtube that I've been listening to trying to find someone singing the version I remember. I don't think any of them claim to be the original version of it though.

yep.
Seeger:
Lyrics to Old Dan Tucker :
Old Dan Tucker, he's a fine old man,
Washed his face in a frying pan
Combed his hair with a wagon wheel
Died of a toothache in his heel

Get out of the way! Old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to get your supper
Supper's gone, dinner is a cooking
Old Dan Tucker just a standing there looking

Old Dan Tucker, he'd come to town
Riding a billy goat, leading a hound
Hound dog barked, billy goat jumped
Landed Dan Tucker on the top of a stump!

Get out of the way! Old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to get your supper
Supper's gone, dinner is a cooking
Old Dan Tucker just a standing there looking

Now old Dan Tucker has come to town
Swinging the ladies round and round
First to the right and then to the left
Then to the girl that he loves best

Get out of the way! Old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to get your supper
Supper's gone, dinner is a cooking
Old Dan Tucker just a standing there looking

~~
I heard Pete sing it sometime in the '60s, I think with the Weavers, but I could be wrong about that.

I've sung it
"Swinging the ladies round and round
first to the East and then to the West
Then to the girl that he loves best.."

That may be because I heard it wrong.

We didn't have lyric sheets, we listened to the songs on records over and over and over till we got all the words.

Joe(12-stringer)Nation

Thank you!

What a great song.

Now I just need to know about the "toothache in his heel" part.......

I'm guessing its just for fun, they liked to that in songs.

immediately comes to mind.

There are books which analyze these things to death:
the buckwheat cake was
1) a symbol of death,
2) a symbol of marriage,
3) a symbol that Susanna was black.....

......aye yi yi yah.

Just sing it.
On Four.

Joe(and'a one)Nation

Will do!

I like the lyrics you posted better than the ones I remember since "dinner" is in place of where I remember "breakfast". I haven't heard the supper/dinner distinction in a while!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Dan_Tucker

Here's Pete Seeger singing the version you are looking for:

Thanks, Buterflynet ! Oh, how we would curse at the cameraman who didn't have sense enough to STAY on the left hand so we could see how the notes were being played!

In some coffeehouses, the front row seats were always filled with other musicians studying your licks and runs. You'd come back the next week to find out three other guys had figured out your way of doing the bass run in "Mr. Customs Man."

Joe(That was okay. I stole their stuff too)Nation

Thanks Butrflynet! You've just got to love the frayed strap holding up his banjo!

He does the repeat the two lines version, not the supper/dinner version.

Died with a toothache in his heel - This may well refer to the well known clinical entity called "Reiter's Syndrome" which is a form of arthritis and auto-immune disorder that often attacks the heel, although it can involve other joints. This is a "reactive" arthritis, frequently following a venereal infection or a severe case of dysentery. Quite painful, can be disabling and aches just as badly as a severe toothache -- usually not a fatal disorder, however it can be fatal in rare cases.

Very interesting! Thank you!

This question has been sitting here for 2 years waiting for someone to know what they meant. I'm glad you came along!

There's usually a meaning in these odd lyrics. The whole story about Old Dan Tucker being a hard drinking, wild kind of a guy and the association of Reiter's Syndrome with venereal disease is fascinating, huh?

Ha! Excellent point.

I always thought the phrase was too specific to not mean something.

There are too many other words that rhyme with "wheel" for someone to just arbitrarily write "toothache in his heel".

Welcome to A2K.
That was an interesting response

That makes so much more sense! Thank you. We are singing it I'm choir and we were confused..