WPT Archives: 1980s

Tryout TV: Wisconsin Opry Live

Tryout TV: Wisconsin Opry Transcript

April 10, 1981

– PBS Wisconsin Archives

– Announcer: The following program is a Tryout TV production made possible in part by a special grant from the Friends of Channel 21, Incorporated.

[bright music]

[country music]

– Good evening. Welcome to the Wisconsin Opry.

[crowd applauding]

Hee-Hoo!

[country music]

[audience applauding]

Thank you very much and welcome to the show. We’ve got a lot of folks we’d like you to meet tonight. I’m Verge Dickinson. Let’s start off with a nice warm Opry welcome for Miss Ellie Peters from Madison, Wisconsin.

[audience applauding and cheering]

– Thank you. Thank you very much. We have got just a whole bunch of country music for you this evening, but you know,

I don’t think that we could even have a country show unless we included some Hank Williams. And I think I hear one coming up right now.

[country music]

[Ellie whooping]

Goodbye Joe, me gotta go, me oh my oh

Me gotta go pole the pirogue down the bayou

My John, the sweetest one, me oh my oh

Son of a gun, we gonna have good fun on the bayou

Jambalaya, a-crawfish pie and-a file gumbo

‘Cause tonight I’m gonna see my ma cher amio

Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-oh

Son of a gun, we gonna have big fun on the bayou

Thibodeaux, Fontainbleau, the place is buzzing

Kinfolk come to see my John by the dozen

Dress in style, go hog wild, and be gay oh

Son of a gun, we gonna have big fun on the bayou

Jambalaya, a-crawfish pie and-a fillet gumbo

‘Cause tonight I’m gonna see my ma cher amio

Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-oh

Son of a gun, we gonna big fun on the bayou

Have big fun

Jambalaya, a-crawfish pie and-a fillet gumbo

‘Cause tonight I’m gonna see my ma cher amio

Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-oh

Son of a gun, we’ll gonna have big fun on the bayou

We’ll settle down far from town get me old pirouge

And I’ll catch all the fish in the bayou

I’ll swap my mon to buy my John what he needs, oh

Son of a gun, we gonna have big big fun on the bayou

Jambalaya, a-crawfish pie and-a file gumbo

‘Cause tonight I’m gonna see my ma cher amio

Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-oh

Son of a gun, we gonna have big fun on the bayou

Son of a gun, we gonna have big fun on the bayou

Hee-Hoo

[crowd applauding]

– Thank you.

– Hey. Hey. Hey, I got some cow jokes.

– Ellie: More?

– Yes, more cow jokes.

These are new ones, these aren’t last summers. These are brand new cow jokes. And the first one is, do you know where little cows eat?

– All: Where?

– In a cafeteria.

– Didn’t like that one, huh? Wait, I have one more. I have one more. Do you know why … Do you know why cows have bells?

– Why?

– Why?

– Because their horns don’t work.

[ladies fake laugh]

– Ladies and gentlemen, this is Mr. Daniel Sommer and Daniel’s much well known, more known for being the Wisconsin Opry King of Swing.

[country music]

My window faces the south

And I’m almost halfway to heaven

The snow is falling and but all I see

Bright fields of cotton smiling back at me

My window faces the south

And though I am far from the Swanee

I’m never frowning or down in the mouth

My window faces the south

– Here’s Bill.

[country music]

That’s hot. Now my window faces the south

And I’m almost halfway to heaven

The snow is falling but all I see

Bright fields of cotton smiling back at me

My window faces the south

And though I am far from the Swanee

I’m never frowning or down in the mouth

My window faces the south

My window faces the south

My window faces the south

[audience applauding]

Thank you. Right now we’re gonna bring Ms. Julie Keller up from Wisconsin’s Dells and she’s gonna sing a real pretty country song for you called “Blue Kentucky Girl.”

[country music]

You left me for the bright lights of the town

A country boy set out to see the world

Remember when those neon lights shine down

That big old moon shines on your Kentucky Girl

I swear I love you by the moon above you

How bright is it shining in your world

Some morning when you wake up all alone

Just come on home to your blue Kentucky Girl

Don’t wait to bring great riches home to me

I need no diamond rings or fancy pearls

Just bring yourself, you’re all I’ll ever need

That’s good enough for this blue Kentucky Girl

I swear I love you by the moon above you

How bright is it shining in your world

Some morning when you wake up all alone

Just come on home to your blue Kentucky Girl

Just come on home to your blue Kentucky Girl

[audience applauding]

– Thank you. Thank you. We brought a couple of our own Wisconsin farm boys with us tonight. We brought ’em from the Dells. We have the Reifdeck brothers. We have Doug back on the drums and we have Dennis over on the bass.

[audience applauding]

They’re gonna get together with Dan and Virgil and take you on a little barnyard tour.

– That’s right. We’re gonna start out our tour though, with a farm folk tale. It’s about your favorite barnyard creature, the hog. It goes like this. T’was was a pig fair in September and a day I shall remember. I was wandering up and down in drunken pride when my knees, they turned to butter and I fell into the gutter and a pig came up and laid down by my side. Well, as I lay there in the gutter thinking thoughts, I would not utter, I overheard a passing lady say, “You can tell the man who boozes by the company he chooses.” And with that, the pig got up and walked away.

[audience laughing]

That’s …

[audience applauding]

Thanks, that’s just a warm up for more hog humor to come. This is a hard luck story about a hog farmer who has problems down in the hog pen. And Dan’s gonna start it out. Three, four.

[country music]

[Dan oinks]

Well, I met him in a hospital about a year ago

and why I still remember him, I guess I’ll never know

But he’d and he’d cry out in a medicated fog

Here I am in this dang bed

and who’s gonna feed them hogs

Four hundred hogs, they just standing out there

My wife can’t feed ’em and my neighbors don’t care

They can’t get out and run around

like my old hunting dogs

Here I am in this dang bed

and who’s gonna feed them hogs

His face was lean and his hands were rough

His way was hogs and his nature was tough

The doctors tried to tell him

Boy, you may not live at all

The only thing that he could say was

who’s gonna feed them hogs

Four hundred hogs, they just standing out there

My wife can’t feed ’em and my neighbors they don’t care

They can’t get out and run around

around like my old hunting dogs

Here I am in this dang bed

and who’s gonna feed them hogs

– Volunteers?

– Help!

– We need hog help.

– Now you got a big job to feed all them hogs because they’re various sizes and shapes. From full-grown adult hogs …

[Dan grunts]

To those smaller, adolescent hogs

[Dan squeaking]

and those little, bitty baby hogs.

[Dan screeching]

Aren’t they cute? But look out for the big boar!

[Dan bellowing]

Mammoth hog. Now take all those hogs and ship ’em to market. And four hundred hogs comes to eight hundred hams

And that’s a lot of money for a hog-raisin’ man

Now four hundred hogs comes to sixteen hundred feet

The market’s up and there are people

a-waiting on that meat

Meat, meat, meat

Porkchop, spam, bacon, fritters and hog snouts.

Now the doctors say they do not know

what saved the man from death

But in a few days he put on his overalls and he left

That’s all there is to this small song

but waitress, before you leave

Would you bring me some coffee

and a hot ham sandwich, please

With cheese

Four hundred hogs they’re just standing out there

His wife can’t feed ’em and my neighbors don’t care

They can’t get out and run around

like my old hunting dogs

Here I am in this dang bed

and who’s gonna feed them hogs

Four hundred hogs, they just standing out there

My wife can’t feed ’em and my neighbors don’t care

Not today

They can’t get out and roam around

like my old hunting dogs

Here I am in this dang bed

and who’s gonna feed them hogs

Why don’t you feed em

[audience cheering and applauding]

– Well, you know, it seems like the boys are having a little trouble down in the barnyard down there, but up on the farm, there’s no exception. You see, they’re having a little marital difficulties up there and I’m gonna ask Cindy Dickinson from St. Louis, Missouri to help me and Julie Keller from the Dells. We’re gonna tell you about it in a Jeanne Pruett song called “Satin Sheets”.

Satin sheets

Satin sheets to lie on

satin pillows to cry on

Still, I’m not happy, can’t you see

Big long Cadillac, tailor-mades upon my back

But still, I want you to set me free

I’ve found another man

One who gives more than you can

Though you’ve given me everything money can buy

But your money can’t hold me tight

Like he does on those cold nights

You see, you couldn’t keep me satisfied

Satin sheets to lie on, satin pillows to cry on

Still I’m not happy, can’t you see

Big long Cadillac, tailor-mades upon my back

Still, I want you to set me free

– Right now, ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to meet some of these handsome men up here. The dashing young man on the piano over there, his name is David Briles and he hails from Sisseton South Dakota.

[audience applauding]

The good-looking guy on the steel back here, his name is Smiley Bill Herwick. And he hails all the way from Wisconsin.

[audience applauding]

It’s not what I have now

Just one other man

You see, he gives me so much more than you can

Though you’ve given me everything money can buy

But your money can’t hold me tight

like he does on those cold nights

See, you couldn’t keep me satisfied

Satin sheets to lie on

satin pillows to cry on

But still, I’m not happy, can’t you see

Big long Cadillac

The tailor-mades upon my back

But still, I want you to set me free

You know, you couldn’t keep me satisfied

Satin sheets

[audience applauding]

Thank you. Thank you very much.

– This next song is by a Canadian composer named Ian Tyson of Ian and Sylvia, but you’ve probably heard it by Judy Collins. It’s called “Someday Soon.”

There’s a young man that I know, his age is twenty-one

Comes from down in Southern Colorado

Just out of the service and he’s looking for his fun

Someday soon, going with him someday soon

My parents cannot stand him ’cause he rides the rodeo

My father says that he will leave me crying

I would follow him right down the toughest road I know

Someday soon, going with him someday soon

And when he comes to call

My pa ain’t got a good word to say

Must be he was just as wild in his younger days

So blow, you old blue northern, blow my love to me

He’s driving in tonight from California

He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me

Someday soon, going with him someday soon

[gentle piano music]

But when he comes to call, my pa ain’t got a word to say

Must be he was just as wild in his younger days

Blow, you old blue northern, blow my love to me

He’s driving in tonight from California

He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me

Someday soon, going with him someday soon

Someday soon, going with him

Someday soon

– Thank you.

[audience applauding]

[band squawking]

Well, it sounds like more trouble in the barnyard again. I guess we could go back to the swing crew. That’s Dennis and Dan. We’ll probably find out what’s going on.

[country music]

[band squawking]

– Take it away, David. We had a chicken

[band squawks]

But no eggs would it lay

We had a chicken

But no eggs would it lay

And my pa said

Sonny, we’re losing money

And it isn’t very funny

Because our chicken won’t lay

– This is your part. It’s butt

One day a rooster came into our yard

And caught that chicken right off it’s guard

It’s laying eggs now, just like it used to

Since that rooster came into our yard

We had a milk cow

But no milk would it give

We had a milk cow

But no milk would it give

And pa said

Sonny, we’re losing money

And it isn’t very funny

‘Cause our milk cow won’t give milk

One day a rooster

Came into our yard

Then caught that milk cow

Right off it’s guard

It’s giving eggnog just like it used to

Since that rooster came into our yard

We had a gumtree

But no gum would it give

We had a gumtree

But no gum would it give

And pa said

Sonny

– You know this one.

We’re losing money

And it isn’t very funny

Cause our gumtree won’t give

Gum

One day a rooster came into our yard

And caught that gumtree right off it’s guard

Guess what

It’s giving chicklets just like it used to

Since that rooster came into our yard

We had a gas pump

But no gas would it give

We had a gas pump but no gas would it give

– Guess what pa said.

– This song stinks. But Sonny, we’re losing money

And it isn’t very funny

‘Cause our gas pump won’t give

– Audience: Gas! One day a rooster came into our yard

And caught that gas pump right off it’s guard

Guess what

It’s giving shell gas juts like it used to

Since that rooster came into our yard

[audience applauding]

– Wait a minute. You guys have to do one more verse. Come on, I wanna hear one more.

– You wanna hear one more?

[audience cheering]

– Okay. We had a rooster

But he was

[country music]

He’s name was Rucy

We had a rooster

But he was confused

And daddy was so upset

Guess what he said

Sonny, we’re losing money

And it isn’t very funny

‘Cause our rooster is

– Audience: Gay!

One day another rooster came into our yard

And caught that other rooster right off it’s guard

Guess what

It’s laying hens now just like it used to

Since that rooster came into our yard

[audience cheering and applauding]

– Thank you. I said good morning captain

I said good morning captain

– He must be sleeping. Come on, darling, get on up there. I need that job real bad. Please. Pretty please.

[upbeat country music]

I said good morning captain

Good morning to you, sir

Do you need another mule skinner

Down on the new road trail

[ladies yodeling]

Well, I’m a lady mule skinner

From Tennessee away and I brought extra

Well, I’ll make any mule listen

I won’t accept your can, no

[band yodeling]

[upbeat country music]

I said hey

Hey little water boy won’t you bring your bucket ’round

Come on son, and bring that old bucket around

And if you don’t like your job

Go on and let that bucket down

[ladies yodeling]

Smiling Bill on the steel.

[country music]

See, we being working out at the Opry

Way up there in Wisconsin, Dells

And you know well, we’re working really hard

For that no good Virgil

Who spending all of my pay

And I tell you, I’m tired of it

[ladies yodeling]

Come on, now

[ladies yodeling]

Captain, you gotta give me the job

You know the bank is sending me those love letters

[audience applauding]

– This is a song about the summertime nightlife in Wisconsin, Dells. There’s a lot more to do there besides go to the Opry, you know. You may find me after hours down in one of those nice, cool air conditioned bars. And then I roll home about bar time, feeling single and seeing double.

Well, I really had a ball last night

I held all the pretty boys tight

I was feeling single

Seeing double

Wound up in a whole lot of trouble

But today I’m face the big fight

‘Cause I really had a ball last night

Well, I came home from work this morning

My baby was feeling low

So asked him what was on his mind

Then he told me where I could go

Well, I didn’t go where he told me to

Because the water was cold in the lake

Now there’s something fishy about this whole deal

I don’t see where I made my mistake

Well, I really had a ball last night

I held all the pretty boys tight

I was feeling single, seeing double

Wound up in a whole lot of trouble

But today I’ll face the big fight

But I really had a ball last night

When I woke up this morning

Like me, the sun was high

So I started walking the long way home

To think of an alibi

But I couldn’t think of a darn dawn thing

That hadn’t already been said

So, I guess I may as well play it by ear

‘Cause I’m already dead

Well, I really had a ball last night

I held all the pretty boys tight

I was feeling single, seeing double

Wound up in a whole lot of trouble

But today I’ll face the big fight

‘Cause I really had a ball last night

Today I’ll face the big fight

But I really had a ball last night

[audience applauding]

– Thank you!

– Thank you. You know, I want you all to take a little trip through your imagination with me now, if you would, and I want you to picture a big old moon about halfway up in the sky and then I want you to fill the whole sky in with just lots and lots of stars. And if you really believe, you might see a tired old cowboy coming in out of the desert. See, this Cowboy’s been around a couple years and has had to learn a lot of things. But you see the hardest lesson that cowboy’s had to learn is one that we all do. And that is when you lie to yourself, you yourself become …

Desperado

Why don’t you come to your senses

You’ve been out riding fences now so long

Oh, you’re a hard one

But I know that you got your reasons

It seems the things that are pleasing you

Can hurt you somehow

Don’t you draw the queen of diamonds, boy

She’ll beat you if she’s able

You know the queen of hearts is always your best bet

Now it seems to me, some fine things

Have been laid upon your table

But you only want the things that you can’t get

Desperado, oh, you ain’t getting no younger

It seems your tears and your hunger now

They’re leading you home

And freedom, well that’s just some people talking

You see, your prison’s really walking

Through this world all alone

Don’t your feet get cold in the winter time?

The sky won’t snow and the sun won’t shine

It’s hard to tell the night time from the day

You’re losing all your highs and lows

Ain’t it funny how the feeling goes away

It just goes away

Desperado

Why don’t you come to your senses

Come down from your fences now and open the gate

It may be raining, but there’s a rainbow above you

You better let somebody love you

Let somebody love you

Oh let somebody love you

Before

It’s too late

Desperado

[audience applauding]

Thank you. Thank you very much.

– Oh, you know what? No country show would be complete without a real hoedown foot stomper. And Dennis is gonna get his little fiddle out here and we’re gonna play a foot stomper for you if you’d like to clap along. And if you’d like to sing along, your part goes, “Turkey in the hay.”

[country music]

As I was a-goin’ on down the road

With a tired team and a heavy load

I cracked my whip and the leader sprung

I says day-day to the wagon tongue

Turkey in the straw

Turkey in the hay

Turkey in the straw

Turkey in the hay

Roll ’em up and twist ’em up

A high tuck a-haw

And hit ’em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw

I came to the river and I couldn’t get across

So I paid five dollars for a blind old horse

Well, he wouldn’t go ahead

And he wouldn’t stand still

So he went up and down like an old saw mill

Turkey in the straw

Turkey in the hay

Turkey in the straw

Turkey in the hay

Roll ’em up and twist ’em up a high tuck a-haw

And hit ’em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw

Well, I jumped into the wagon and I gave a little yell

And the horse took off like a bat outta hell

There was sugar on the ground

Flour in the corn

Haven’t seen so much since the day that I was born

Turkey in the straw

Turkey in the hay

Turkey in the straw

Turkey in the hay

Roll ’em up and twist ’em up a high tuck a-haw

And hit ’em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw

[lively country music]

[audience applauding]

– Dennis, everybody. Right now, we’re gonna bring Ms. Julie Keller back up to sing an old Cajun tune for you. And this is called “Leaving Louisiana In The Broad Daylight.”

Mary took to running with a traveling man

Left her momma crying with her head in her hands

Such a sad case, so brokenhearted

She say, “Momma, got to go, got to get out of here

Got to get out of town, tired of hanging around

I got to roll on between the ditches

It’s just an ordinary story about the way things go

Around and around, nobody knows

But the highway goes on forever

Oh, that old highway goes on forever

She never would’ve done it if she hadn’t got drunk

Hadn’t started running with a traveling man

If she hadn’t started taking those crazy chances

She said daughter, let me tell you

’bout the traveling kind

Everywhere they go such a very short time

He’ll be long gone before you know it

Oh, he’ll be long gone before you know it

She say, never have I seen it went it looked so good

Never have I knew it when I knew I could

Never have I done it when it looked so right

Leaving Louisiana in the broad daylight

This is down in the swampland where anything goes

It’s alligator bait and the bars don’t close

It’s the real thing down in Louisiana

Did you ever see a Cajun when he really got mad

When he really got trouble like a daughter gone bad

It gets real hot down in Louisiana

The stranger better move it or he’s going to get killed

He’s going to have to get it or a shotgun will

It ain’t no time for lengthy speeches

There ain’t no time for lengthy speeches

She say, never have I seen it when it looked so good

Never ever knew it when I knew I could

Never have I done it when it felt so right

Leaving Louisiana in the broad daylight

Leaving Louisiana in the broad daylight

It’s just an ordinary story about the way things go

Around and around nobody knows

But the highway goes on forever

That old highway goes on forever

There ain’t no way to stop the water

– Thank you.

[audience applauding]

– You know, Dan here likes singing those cowboy songs and I think better yet, he likes being a cowboy but you know, there’s a piece of each and every one of us who yearns to be that I think, and Dan would like a little trip with him underneath the desert sky.

[slow country music]

I’m riding along

Singing the same old cowboy song

That’s been sung a hundred times before

Ain’t got nothing but my name

And I’m the only man I know to blame

But I’m living, I’m happy and I’m free

Just listen to the wind blow

You let it blow, let it blow what you are

Sand over my trail

I got my saddle on the ground

And that old moon, he can still be found

Just hiding in the desert sky

I like simple things in life like a prairie breeze

A good stout horse between my knees

And I’m all alone, I’m just being me

And when I die let me die with a dream in my mind

A smile on my face and no trouble behind

And no cross on my grave to show my resting place

You just listen to the wind blow

Let it blow, let it blow what you are

Sand over my trail

I got my saddle on the ground

And that old moon, he can still be found

Hiding in the desert sky

[country music]

You just listen to the wind blow

Let it blow, let it blow what you are

Sand over my trail

I got my saddle on the ground

And that old moon, he can still be found

Hiding in the desert sky

Won’t you bury me with my chaps on

And my six-gun strapped to my side

So I can watch the moon a-hiding in the desert sky

Swing it home

Just hiding in the desert sky

Just hiding in the desert sky

[audience applauding]

– Thank you.

– Thank you. You know, Wisconsin is very fortunate that they have so much talent but there are always a lot of people that we never get to hear from. And very specially this evening, I would like to dedicate our next song

“Memphis Moonlight” to one of those unsung heroes, the author himself, Mr. Tom Belser from Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.

I remember the night and Memphis moonlight

The whipper wind

The sycamore

The memories of you

I wish the dawn would never break

Oh how my heart aches

The night the Memphis moonlight turned blue

You ran away with them good old Kentucky boys

You say that your love would be true

Well, then I ran away

And hid deep within myself

The night the Memphis moonlight turned blue

[piano music]

Love is a funny thing

You can see it in my veins

The tears that I cry for you

Can still be erased

But the heartbreak inside

Since you went away

Here in my heart tucked safely away

I remember

The night in the Memphis moonlight

The whipper wind

The sycamore

The memories of you

I wished the dawn would never bring

Oh my heart aches the night

The Memphis moonlight turned blue

The whipper wind

The sycamore

And the memories

Of you

[audience applauding]

Thank you, Dennis. Thank you, Mr. Belser for a beautiful song. Thank you.

[audience applauding]

– Ellie. Ellie, did you hear what the, the … The really tragic thing that happened in Madison last night? A man was killed by a weasel.

– How could a man possibly be killed by a weasel?

– Well, he was walking down the railroad track and he didn’t hear the weasel. Hey, look over yonder

Coming down that railroad track

Hey, look over yonder

Coming down that railroad track

It’s the Orange Blossom Special

Bringing my baby back

– It’s getting time to go home tonight. And the conductor, this is Mr. Dennis. He’s gonna take us home on that Orange Blossom Special All aboard.

[frantic country music]

What’s wrong, Dennis? Oh, Dennis, you can’t stop, you’re on TV.

[slow country music]

I don’t think you really wanna blow it. Come on Dennis, now you have to think real hard when these things happen. You remember, when you were just a little boy and you couldn’t do something your mama says you have to think real hard. You have to think you can. I think I can

I think I can

I think we can, come on.

I think I can

I think I can

I think I can

I think I can

[frantic country music]

[audience applauding]

– Thank you very much. That was Mr. Dennis. I’d like to thank all you folks in the studio audience and everybody at home. This will be the last number of the evening.

– Announcer: The proceeding program was a Tryout TV Production made possible in part by a special grant from the Friends of Channel 21 Incorporated.