Smoke, smoke, smoke
And when you smoke yourself to death
Tell Saint Peter at the pearly gate
That he’s gonna have to wait
You’ve just gotta have another cigarette
It’s sung in a high bass or low tenor. I can actually sing it. I remember it from when I was a kid.
Any of you other 50ish people know who did that song? My 70ish mother remembers it, but can’t tell me anything more about it.
A staple on the Dr. Demento Show.
Actually singing it, it turns out to be a low to mid tenor. It’s a bit above high bass. I’m a tenor.
EXACTLY IT! I played it for my mother, and she said yes, that’s it. And yes, he’s a tenor. So I guess I am, too.
Also covered by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.
Ya didn’t link, though, so here it is Tex Williams - Smoke That Cigarette.
My lyrics were a bit off. I feel so bad, now.
I suspect the version your mother heard was by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, which was a minor hit in 1973 (#94 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100). The Tex Williams original dates back to 1947.
Just noticed you said “70ish”, not “70s”, thus I would like to withdraw my previous post. Thank you.
That one is from when I was 10 years old, so that’s probably where I got my version of the lyrics from, but I was thinking of, and my mother positively identified, the Tex Williams version which was older. So it’s kinda a cross-corruption of versions, here. Unwind my time machines, please!
That’s the version I know; love it!
It’s also been covered by Willie Nelson fairly recently, which is where I think I know it from. Sadly I can’t find his version on YouTube.
And a nice version by Phil Harris in 1947.
It was also covered by Asleep At The Wheel.
That might also be the source for my memory, since the vid shows it as coming off a 78, which is where I remember first hearing it from, and my lyrics are only an occasional word (and entirely missed line) off. The tempo, however, is the same.
My brother got all my parents’ 78s, and I don’t even know if he has them anymore. And he never answers his phone or email, so I’d have to wait weeks or months for an answer, if I asked him.
Just mentioned this thread to my mother, again. It turns out I’m wrong about which brother got the 78s. He got the 45s. A different brother got the 78s, so I’d be asking the wrong brother, anyway.
Still, because I remember my parents singing it and their records playing it when I was a small kid, i.e. before I got my first radio at age 12, my memory of it had to have come from before the '73 Cody version. Nevertheless, I love that song. Keep all the versions, early and modern, coming. I’m loving this thread!
Well since you asked, here’s a version by Johnny Bond and his Red River Valley Boys (also from 1947). It’s included on Hillbilly Boogie, an excellent compilation of Western Swing that I found in a bargain bin several years ago for $5.
Am I hallucinating or did we recently have a thread about this?
I remember my parents used to say “smoke smoke smoke” when I used to, well, smoke around them. They used to say it in a cartoony Yiddish voice and I could swear they were imitating my (deceased) grandmother. But I guess they were referring to this song(?)
Next up: Cement mixer, putty putty.
The lyrics are wrong, but the rhythm kinda rings a bell. Gimme a minute… or a week.