2"48
single, 1943
Written by Al Dexter
This hillbilly honky-tonk was later covered by artists as diverse as Gene Vincent, the Flamin' Groovies, Bing Crosby, and John Prine. It's a sort of novelty song, or at least a humorous one. The narrator is out drinking beer and having fun with ladies when his old lady (the "mama" is an epithet for paramour, not the woman who birthed him) comes in with a gun. Out go the lights and out go the ladies. He promises that he'll woo her every day and put away his old ways, but, it seems, to no avail: "Now there was old Al Dexter, he always had his fun / But with some lead, she shot him dead; his honkin' days are done." Sad!