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by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967)

Cahoots
Language: English 
Play it across the table.
What if we steal this city blind?
If they want any thing let 'em nail it down.

Harness bulls, dicks, front office men,
And the high goats up on the bench,
Ain't they all in cahoots?
Ain't it fifty-fifty all down the line,
Petemen, dips, boosters, stick-ups and guns -- what's to hinder?
  
  Go fifty-fifty.
If they nail you call in a mouthpiece.
Fix it, you gazump, you slant-head, fix it.
  Feed 'em ...
 
Nothin' ever sticks to my fingers, nah, nah, nothin' like that,
But there ain't no law we got to wear mittens -- huh -- is there?
Mittens, that's a good one -- mittens!
There oughta be a law everybody wear mittens.

Text Authorship:

  • by Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967), "Cahoots", appears in Smoke and Steel, first published 1920 [author's text checked 1 time 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), "Cahoots", 2010 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
  • by Howard Swanson (1907 - 1978), "Cahoots", published 1951 [ baritone or bass and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2007-07-07
Line count: 16
Word count: 115

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