[home]                     [song index]                         [about miriam]

REEL, REEL, ONE MORE TIME (THE CODINE SONG)

(learned from Bob Furnbach in the 1960s)

(music to go here)

There's a cravin' in my belly, there's an aching in my head
Feel like I'm dyin' and I wish I was dead,
If I live till tomorrow it'll be a long time,
And I'll reel and I'll fall and I'll rise on codine,
    'Cause it's reel, reel, one more time.

When I was a young girl I learned not to care
From whiskey and wine I often did swear,
My mammy and pappy said that drinkin's a curse,
But the fate of their darlin' is a hundred times worse,
    And it's reel, reel, one more time.

You forget about women, you forget about men,
You try it just once, and you'll try it again,
You forget about livin', you forget about time,
And you'll live out your life as a slave to codine,
    And it's reel, reel, one more time.

Stay away from the city, stay away from the town,
Stay away from the man pushin' codine around,
Stay away from the place where you the remedies find,
For it's better be dead than be caught on codine,
    And it's reel, reel, one more time.

If I die tomorrow there's one thing I've done,
I've heeded the warnin' I got when I was young,
The one satisfaction I have as I sink
Is that I lived out my life without bendin' to drink,
    And it's reel, reel, one more time.

(from miriam berg's folksong collection)