The old American folk song has a very recognizable melody. But exactly what do the words mean? Take “high tucka haw”-what does this mean?
Incomprehensible lyrics are not exclusive to pop/R&R!
The best I found via Google. From here.
what is a “tuckahaw”? I guess it to be the Indian word “tuckahoe,” here used (as recorded in Webster’s) as a “nickname” for “a Virginian living east of the Blue Ridge mountains.” Actually, Tuckahoe is also the name of the river on which the Randolphs built a mansion of the same name. […] The name became a Virginia term for the tobacco aristocracy in general.
In the song, a “high tuckahaw” has to be something you can “roll up and twist up.” It probably just means a fine tobacco leaf, a cigar.
Minstrel songs aren’t always high on coherence. A lot of them have silly lyrics, especially in the refrain.
I think the verses make more sense than the chorus.
As I was driving down the road
with a tired team and a heavy load,
I cracked my whip and the leader sprung.
Says I, “Goodbye” to the wagon tongue.
It’s a song about road accidents. It has other verses about stubborn horses.
“Well he wouldn’t go ahead, and he wouldn’t hold still,
So he went up and down like an old sawmill.”"
Sort of an old time version of Wreck on the Highway.
I hadn’t even realized that Turkey in the Straw had lyrics. I’ve always heard it as just an instrumental, or with joke lyrics like Yakko’s states song.