remastered:

backup:

This is a song I learned from Michael Cooney many decades ago. He told me recently that he learned it partly from Guy Carawan and partly from Bess Lomax Hawes, but had changed it around a lot. As have I (not least by making a slide piece out of it). It’s the folk process, folks. I particularly like the last verse, which also occurs in Robert Brown’s ‘James Alley Blues’ and Judy Roderick’s ‘Born In The Country’, which is based on Brown’s song.

David Harley

Pick My Pocket (Harley)

Backup:

Got no fare / For a boat or plane

I got shoes to walk / But I’m here just the same

Buddy, you can pick my pocket / Got no greens to lose

Just a handful of empty / And a head full of blues

I keep looking for a highway / I can make it down alone

With every hobo, sewer rat / And rolling stone

Buddy, you can pick my pocket / Got no greens to lose

Just a handful of empty / And a head full of blues

I’ve got a new way of spelling / Ecstasy

E is for Exit / And the rest is blowing free

Buddy, you can pick my pocket / Got no greens to lose

Just a handful of empty / And a head full of blues

Just a hat full of empty  / And a guitar full of blues

(c) David Harley 1972