These lyrics were discovered inside of a half-buried tackle box somewhere in rural Mississippi. It is presumed that they are from the mid-1950's, as the lyrics were written upon the inside of an empty box of Maypo. The search for Pappy was a short one. When asking around the area about an old man who was tempermental and shot things with great frquency in the 1950's, about 25 different names were given. So, this particular Pappy shall forever remain anonymous, due to the fact that most men in 1950's Mississippi were like this.
Pappy's got an itchy trigger finger
I found that out one chilly Christmas Eve
Pappy's got an itchy trigger finger
He showed us when carolers wouldn't leave
Now Pappy, he's a rough one
The toughest of the lot
Stood toe to toe with Mighty Joe
Until they heard the shot
He drank his gin and laughed at sin
While in mid reload
When Johnny Law came running
Pappy told him, "Hit the road!"
The man with the tin approached him
As the crowd all wept
"If you want more of this .44, then take another step!"
Pappy's got an itchy trigger finger
His blood runs with pure moonshine
Pappy's got an itchy trigger finger
Put countless men in boxes made of pine
Prefers bullets over knives
He buried seven wives
Pappy's got an itchy trigger finger
Pappy, he once told me, while bouncing on his knee
That he never cared for the men he spared
And that included me
I looked at him with shock
Then he threw at me a wink
It dried my tears away
And it really made me think
That Pappy wasn't all that bad
In his old age was he taming?
But I looked again, to my chagrin
And I saw that he was aiming!
Pappy's got an itchy trigger finger
The meanest son of a bitch around
Pappy's got an itchy trigger finger
Cross him and he'll put you underground
Prefers bullets over knives
He buried seven wives
Pappy's got an itchy trigger finger
There's a whole mess of songs about Pappy. My favorite, "Pappy's the Devil's Own Bastard," made me further appreciate the word bastard as it is used 74 times withing the four-minute ditty.
That is a great tune, and is a B-Side on the record, "I Warned You With My Fists".
It's kind of geeky, I know, but I really like that one b-side called "Pappy's Making The Scene '77." It only has the word "bastard" in it once, if I recall, but it IS in block caps and it DOES open the song.
The best part, of course, is that most of his shenanigans occur in and around that weird brown Camaro he has in most of the songs on the "Pappy Songbook."