Poor Howard’s Dead and Gone

Chorus:  
Poor Howard’s dead and gone, 
Left me here to sing this song,
Poor Howard’s dead and gone, 
Left me here to sing this song.

1) Poor Howard had a wife 
And she nagged him all his life
So he used his butcher knife
Like I said he had a wife.

2) They took Howard off to jail, 
Wouldn’t let me go his bail,
They said if he is your friend, 
Buy a lily for his hand.

3) When we laid his bones to rest 
We fulfilled his last request
He said buddies bury me 
Far from her as I can be.

4) His last words were “Friends, goodbye. 
Don’t you worry; don’t you cry.
I don’t mind this a gettin’ hung, 
At least I stopped her naggin’ tongue.”


A “Sukey Jump” song that comes from the singing of Huddie Ledbetter - “Lead Belly” - in the 1930’s and 40’s.  Also sung by The Weavers in the 1950’s and Eddy Arnold in the 1960’s.  “Sukey Jump” is a long obsolete, Southern Black American colloquial referent for country dances. The word “sukey” rhymes with “LOOK ee”. 

Most of the information about sukey jumps comes from several 1939/1940 recordings of Folk/Blues singer/musician Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) as well as interviews of Leadbelly that were conducted & recorded by folklorist/ collector Alan Lomax.  From Leadbelly’s comments, it appears that the term “sukey jumps” was used in the Deep South prior to the end of slavery in the United States (1865) and at least until 1940.  In 1935 her book “Mules To Men” about life for Black people in rural Florida, Black folklorist Zora Neale Hurston also used the term “sukey Jump” as a referent for a dance attended by Black people which was held outdoors around a bonfire.