Rake and Palette

In my 20's I shared a house on the east side of Detroit with three other single, semi-employed guys. We became the "The Lakepointe House." Ralph Bedard made loud sex, wrote poetry, and crafted flutes by hand from discarded bamboo. Doug Ferguson (dulcimer) work-studied while finishing a degree at Wayne State University - history? Bob Cameron (guitar) drove a UPS truck as a fill-in driver and tried to keep his VW Beetle running. I solo'ed as a folk/rock singer, guitarist at bars and coffeehouses across Michigan: Union Street Oyster Bar (Hi, Tom), The Ark (Hi, Rick), ... It was the tail end of the 70's singer-songwriter era. In The Lakepointe House we jammed a lot. Songs from across the 60's & 70's folk blues spectrum, as well as our own creations. Bob penned this favorite and in our diaspora we've shared it to all corners of our worlds. It is many years later and it is August - a perfect time to sing "Joe Wouldn't Hoe." Joe Wouldn't Hoe By Bob Cameron, c. 1975 Chorus: Joe wouldn't hoe the ground around his corn He would stay in bed all the morn The weeds grew high, up to the sky-eee But the corn stayed down around his knees. He got up in the spring to plant his crops All the while thinking that he'd rather not This corn he said is just too much work to keep And with that thought in mind, he promptly went to sleep (chorus) [thanks, Doug, for the two next verses] He went out one bright August day Hadn't been out there since May The weeds were wound around the Milky Way-eeee But the corn was down around his knees He went to the fair when it came Farmers there kicked him out in shame They said "We're not gonna share the blame-eeee For the corn staying down around your knees" (chorus) Folks round there, their thoughts revealed They thought his corn was an abandoned field They thought his farm was an auto dumping lot And when the harvest came, he had a bumper crop... get it? (chorus) Now every song has a moral they say Weed your corn or you won't make hay Spend some time or you're gonna pay-eeee When the corn stays down around your knees (chorus)