PUTTING ON THE STYLE
Sung by: Mrs. W.B. Apple
Recorded in Huff, AR 1/1/62

 Click here to listen to the original recording
(Mrs. Apple: "My grandfather sang many songs to me, and also my father. My grandfather was a doctor, and he roamed the hills of Arkansas and Illinois and learned many of these songs, and he taught them to my father and my father taught these to me. This is an old gay nineties song, but I’ve heard my father sing it many times.")

Eighteen hundred eighty four,
June the twenty-first.
I thought I’d write a poem
If I could write a verse.
Sitting by the window,
Something made me smile.
I saw fellows passing,
Putting on the style.

Chorus: Putting on the agony,
Putting on the style.
That’s what the stylish people
Are doing all the while.
When I look around me,
I’m often made to smile,
To see so many people
A-putting on the style.

Preacher in the pulpit,
Shouts with all his might,
“Glory, hallelujah!”
And the people in a fright.
Why, they think the Devil
Is coming down the aisle,
But it’s the preacher,
Putting on the style.

(Chorus)

Sweet sixteen at meetings,
A-going to see the boys.
She turns her head and sniggers
At every little noise.
She turns her head this way
And on this side a while,
But it’s only a sweetheart
Putting on the style.

(Chorus)

Also found in Randolph, Vol. III, #469.

All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., unless otherwise noted

The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection
Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas
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