You must be daddy's little pumpkin
I can tell by the way you roll
You must be daddy's little pumpkin
I can tell by the way you roll
Why it's quarter past eleven
And you're sleeping on the bedroom floor
I can see the fire burning
Burning right behind your eyes
I can see the fire burning
Burning right behind your eyes
You must of swallowed a candle
Or some other kind of surprise [ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/j/john_prine/daddys_little_pumpkin.html ]
I'm going down to memphis
I got three hundred dollars in cash
I'm going down to memphis
I got three hundred dollars in cash
All the women in memphis
Want to see how long my money will last
I'm going downtown
I'm gonna to rattle somebody's cage
I'm going downtown
I'm gonna rattle somebody's cage
I'm gonna beat on my guitar
And strut all around the stage
If you see my baby coming
Don't tell her that her daddy's in jail
If you see my baby coming
Don't you tell her that her daddy's in jail
She'd sell her little pumpkin just to raise
Her sweet daddy's bail
You must be daddy's little pumpkin
I can tell by the way you roll
You must be daddy's little pumpkin
I can tell by the way you roll
You never do nothing
To save your doggone soul.
Someone once told me that this was a song about non-physical child abuse. The lines "you must have swallowed a candle or some other sort of surpirise" are, allegedly, referring to to the drugging of his baby daughter by a single fater, before he goes downtown. The trip ends in tragedy with him in jail (gaol as we english would spell it! ), speculating on both the strength of his daughter's love for him (she'd sell her little pumpkin just to raise her sweet daddy's bail) and whether she is trying to find him. The final coda is, so i'm told, supposed to be a meditation on the unquestioning love that daughters have for their fathers.