"'Rang' Tang Bully" - Joe Werner

Joe Werner was easily the most famous Depression-era musician to perform with the Hackberry Ramblers. The talented multi-instrumentalist played guitar and harmonica and whistled with an unusual embouchure that gave the illusion that he was smiling.1  Recorded by Bluebird records in 1938, "'Rang' Tang Bully" (#2075) song title would become Joe's nickname.

According to compiler Samuel Charters:

This is an example of an old Anglo-American folk song with Cajun musical elements.  The song is known by many names, one of the most common "The Bully Of The Town," but this version sounds like the text has come from minstrel show sources rather than from a apurer ballad tradition.  As in many other Cajun recordings, the melodic harmony often changes before the accompaniment harmonies, giving a feeling of harmonic uneasiness to the piece.2  

When you see me coming boys,

With my head all hanging down,

Tell those boys, I'll jock your block,

I'm a rang tang bully in town.

Joe Werner
Freeland Archives, Acadia Parish

I'm a rang tang bully in town,

I'm the pointed guy around,

I can whip the boys, anyway they come,

I tell you folks, I'm a son of a gun.

When you see me coming boys,

With my head all hanging down,

Go tell those boys, on the other block,

I'm a rang tang bully in town.

I'm a rang tang bully in town,

I'm the pointed guy around,

I can whip the boys, anyway they come,

I tell you folks, I'm a son of a gun.

1. Cajun Breakdown : The Emergence of an American-Made Music by Ryan Andre Brasseaux
2. The Cajuns: Songs, Waltzes & Two Steps.  Liner notes.

Find:
The Cajuns: Songs, Waltzes, & Two-Steps (Folkways, 1971)
JOE WERNER Early Cajun Artist (BACM, 2016)