Catfish Blues

(more explicit Delta Blues version)

[see also "Rollin' Stone", "Still A Fool" & "Two Trains Runnin'"]

Words & Music by:

Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James

Remember, a lot of the original Delta Blues masters made their living at house parties and roadside taverns

I would rather be a little old catfish,

So, I could swim way down in the sea.

A7/E E7

I would have somebody settin' out hooks for me.

Settin' out hooks for, hooks for...

And I got a itty-bitty woman, she weighs only 90 pounds.

She tailor-made and ain't no hand me down, no hand me down.

That's the reason I want to be a little catfish.

I would have many of these women setting out a line for me,

Out a line for me, line for...

Lord, I went to my baby's house, and she set me down on the step.

"She said come right on in because my husband just now left,

Just now left, he just now..."

I wanna take my baby, lay her down carefully in her brass-iron bed.

I want to rub her little old belly 'til her nipples turn cherry red.

Got to be red, got to be...

Yes, I want to do my little old baby like a stud do a mare.

Put my toe down in her groin and my head way up in the air.

My head in the air, way up in the...

That's the reason I want to be a little, old catfish.

So, I could swim way down in the sea.

I would have somebody, somebody setting out a line for me.

A line for, a line for...