by John Wesley Holloway (1865 - ?)
Calling the Doctor
Language: English
Ah'm sick, doctor-man, Ah'm sick! Gi' me some'n' to he'p me quick, Don't, -- Ah'll die! Tried mighty hard fo' to cure mahse'f; Tried all dem t'ings on de pantry she'f; Couldn' fin' not'in' a-tall would do, An' so Ah sent fo' you. "Wha'd Ah take?" Well, le' me see: Firs', -- horhound drops an' catnip tea; Den rock candy soaked in rum, An' a good sized chunk o' camphor gum; Next Ah tried was castor oil, An' snakeroot tea brought to a boil; Sassafras tea fo' to clean mah blood; But none o' dem t'ings didn' do no good. Den when home remedies seem to shirk, Dem pantry bottles was put to work: Blue-mass, laud'num, liver pills, "Sixty-six, fo' fever an' chills," Ready Relief, an' A.B.C., An' half a bottle of X.Y.Z. An' sev'al mo' Ah don't recall, Dey nevah done no good at all. Mah appetite begun to fail; 'Ah fo'ced some clabber, about a pail, Fo' mah ol' gran'ma always said When yo' can't eat you're almost dead. So Ah got scared an' sent for you. -- Now, doctor, see what you c'n do. Ah'm sick, doctor-man. Gawd knows Ah'm sick! Gi' me some'n' to he'p me quick, Don't, -- Ah'll die!
Authorship:
- by John Wesley Holloway (1865 - ?), first published <<1922 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "Calling the Doctor", 2008 [medium voice or high voice and piano] [ sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-03-06
Line count: 32
Word count: 201