Cabbage Head

Ruth Brown and Dr. John have 2 different versions of this song. I also heard a version by Professor Longhair and a 'soul' version by someone I'd never heard of.

The lyrics are all pretty similar, with gender differences, depending on the singer. In Ruth Brown's version she ends the song by rambling on about how mad she is at her husband and how she's got a shot gun and gonna shoot him. I don't have the CD with me right now but if you need the exact words, I could figure it out for you.

The body of the song lyrics go roughly like this:

Saturday night when I came home, tired as I can be
I saw a pair of shoes outside of my door,
where I know my shoes are supposed to be
I said to my man, my darling man, Honey please explain this mess to me
Whose shoes are those shoes outside of my door
where I know my shoes supposed to be?
He said, my wife, my darling wife, honey, can't you plainly see
Those are nothing but a pair of rain boots and my momma gave them to me
Now I've traveled this world a many, many mile, and I hope someday to travel more
But I have never in my entire life seen a pair of rain boots with high heels on them before

Saturday night when I came home, tired as I can be
I saw a coat hanging up on the rack where I know my coat supposed to be
I said to my man, my darling man, please explain this mess to me
Whose coat is that coat hanging up on the rack
where I know my coat supposed to be?
He said, my wife, my darling wife, honey, can't you plainly see
That's nothing but an old choir robe, and your preacher left it here for me
Now I've traveled this world a many, many mile, and I hope someday to travel more
But I have never in my entire life seen a choir robe with a fur collar on it before

Saturday night when I came home, tired as I can be
I saw a head in the bed, where I know my head supposed to be
I said to my man, my darling man, please explain this mess to me
Whose head is that head in the bed where I know my head supposed to be?
He said, my wife, my darling wife, honey, can't you plainly see
That's nothing but an old Cabbage head, and your Momma brought that here to me
Now I've traveled this world a many, many mile, and I hope someday to travel more
But I have never in my entire life seen a cabbage head with a hair net on it before