JOHNNY VORBECK
(learned from my sister Phyllis Fitz in the late 1940s)
Once there was a Dutchman, his name was Johnny Vorbeck,
One day a boy came walking, and he walked right into the store,
One day the thing got busted, it simply wouldn't go,
(from miriam berg's folksong collection)
He was a dealer in sauerkraut and sausages and speck
He made the finest sausages that ever you have seen,
Until one day he invented this wonderful machine.
Oh, Mister, Mister Johnny Vorbeck, how could you be so mean,
I told you you'd be sorry for inventing that machine.
Now all the neighbors' cats and dogs will nevermore be seen,
They've all been ground to sausages in Johnny Vorbeck's machine.
He bought a pound of sausages and laid them on the floor.
The boy began to whistle and whistled up a tune,
And all the little sausages went dancing round the room.
Oh, Mister, Mister Johnny Vorbeck...
So Johnny Vorbeck climbed inside to see what made it so,
His wife was having nightmares and walking in her sleep,
She gave the crank a heck of a yank and Johnny Vorbeck was meat.
Oh, Mister, Mister Johnny Vorbeck...