If some of y'all never been down sout too much,
I'm gonna tell you a little about this so that you'll
Understand what I'm talkin' about ...
Down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods,
And in the field ... looks somethin like a turnip green,
And everybody calls it poke salad ... poke salad;
Used to know a girl lived down there and she'd go out
In the evenings and pick her a mess of it, carry it
Home and cook it for supper, cause that's about all they
Had to eat, but they did all right.
Down in Lou'siana, where the alligators grow so mean,
There lived a girl that I swear to the world,
Made the alligators look tame,
Poke Salad Annie, Poke Salad Annie
Everybody said it was a shame, cause her
Mama was a workin on the chain gang
(a mean, vicious woman)
Every day 'fore suppertime, she'd go down by the truck patch,
And pick her a mess o' poke salad and carry it home in a tote sack,
Poke Salad Annie, The gators got your granny,
Everybody said it was a shame, cause her
Mama was a workin on the chain gang
(a wretched, spiteful, straight razor totin' woman,
Lord have mercy, pick me a mess of it)
Her daddy was lazy and no count, claimed he had a bad back,
& All her brothers were fit for, was stealin watermelons out of my truck patch,
Poke Salad Annie, The gators got your granny,
Everybody said it was a shame, cause her
Mama was a workin on the chain gang
(sock a little poke salad to me,
you know I need me a mess of it)