The Liar and His Gourds by KimB

[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB]

My family always loved folk or traditional music. We entertained ourselves by singing folk songs and playing instruments like guitars, banjo and dulcimer. As we had no TV and often no radio, this was our main source of entertainment.

We often were able to checkout books of songs from the library. During the 1950s it was popular for song collectors to travel to odd outposts and remote corners of the USA to record people singing variants of old traditional songs and to write these up in histories about how they evolved from the earliest known versions. I loved to read these song-history books and all about the history and circumstances of the song but also about the people who sang them.

In one story, the author¹ traveled to a remote corner of the USA and recorded several songs from an elderly woman. As he prepared to leave, she called him back and said,

"Young man, I want you to know, that hit takes a liar to raise gourds."

This wonderful statement became an instant hit in our family. We took turns trying to catch each other off-guard with this phrase. We might be playing cards and one would say to another "I just want you to know, it takes a liar to grow gourds." or we might be riding in the car or at the grocery store. No place or event was safe from having this sprung on you. It always produced a smile, giggle or outright guffaw!

My Uncle Vernon, who lived in Louisiana, always had a great wit and loved to tease us Yankees about how inept we were. He would proudly show us around his place and the wonderful gardens, and woods and lakes and fishing holes. Always, with a twinkle in his eye he would challenge us Yankees to prove we could be as good as he was. Fishing contests were common and there was never any doubt about who was going to win: Vernon always got the biggest baddest bass in the lake.

On one visit, we waited for just the right moment and hit Vernon with "I just want you to know, it takes a liar to grow gourds." Vernon was just flummoxed. He just couldn't think of a come back. He tried all that visit to think of something but nothing could outdo "It takes a liar to grow gourds".  Finally it was "Score 1 for the Yankees"!

Some time later, on another visit we were chatting with Vernon and he asked (innocently), "What was that phrase again about the gourds again?"

Of course, we puffed up proudly, secure in our verbal victory and pronounced, "It takes a liar to grow gourds."

Vernon looked at us each in turn and with a twinkle in his eye, said
"So, how's your crop coming?"

So, how's your crop coming?

1. The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles [1960]
p87 Song: The Lady of York / The Cruel Mother  Singer: Aunt Didie Netherly