• Track: Polk Salad Annie
• Artist: Tony Joe White
• Album: Black and White
• Year: 1968

Lyrics:

If some of ya’ll never been down south too much…
I’m gonna tell you a little bit about this, so that you’ll understand
What I’m talking about
Down there we have a plant that grows out in the
Woods and the fields,
Looks somethin’ like a turnip green.
Everybody calls it Polk salad. Polk salad.

Used to know a girl that lived down there and
She’d go out in the evenings and pick 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 Louisiana where the alligators grow so mean
There lived a girl that I swear to the world made the alligators look tame

Down in Louisiana where the alligators grow so mean
There lived a girl that I swear to the world
made the alligators look tame

Polk salad Annie polk salad Annie
Everybody said it was a shame
Cause her mama was working on the chain-gang
(a mean, vicious woman)

Everyday ‘fore supper time She’d go down by the truck patch
And pick her a mess o’ polk salad And carry it home in a tote sack

Polk salad Annie, ‘gators got you granny
Everybody said it was a shame
‘Cause her mama was aworkin’ on the chain-gang
(A wretched, spiteful, straight-razor totin’ woman, Lord have mercy. Pick 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
Polk salad Annie, the gators got your granny
Everybody said it was a shame
Cause her mama was a working’ on the chain gang
(Sock a little polk salad to me, you know I need a mess of it)

Today on Dances with Bass Radio, we’re grooving old school with one of the most well-known swamp blue tracks ever recorded—Polk Salad Annie by Tony Joe White. White released this track in 1968 and since has been covered by dozens of musicians, from Elvis Presley to Eric Clapton to Tom Jones. The track charted at number 8 but quickly fell out of radio rotation. Were it not for other artists picking this track up, it might have disappeared into obscurity.

Interestingly—and we like interesting factoids here in the DWB subterranean lair—some say that the original title of the song was “Poke Sallet Annie,” but the record label changed “poke” to “polk” and “sallet” to “salad.” “Poke” is a shortened reference to “pokeweed,” and “sallet” is an old English word for “cooked greens.” Apparently, pokeweed, which is abundant in the south, is seriously poisonous, though the leaves of the plant can be eaten if properly cooked.

Our crack legal team insists that we tell you NOT to try this at home. We’re not sure exactly what would happen if you didn’t prepare it properly, but let’s just assume that much bleeding from the eyes and orifices, intense fetal-position moaning, and slow death will occur, okay?

White also wrote Rainy Night in Georgia, which first was made a hit by Brook Benton in 1970. White also wrote a pair of hits for Tina Turner in 1989: Steamy Windows and Undercover Agent for the Blues.

White’s career has enjoyed something of a revival in recent years. In fact, at 73, he released a new record titled Rain Crow.

Video:

Here is the original video:

And here is Tony Joe White performing Polk Salad Annie with the Foo Fighters in 2014 on The Late Show with David Letterman. The Foos couldn’t be any cooler:

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