Lyrics:

Bobbie Gentry -
'Papa's Medicine Show' Lyrics

It doesn't seem so long ago when Papa had his medicine show
All the family had a part, I still know them all by heart
Everywhere we traveled we sang that little song
Just sold enough liniment to barely get along

One bottle, two bottle, three bottle, four
Mama looks twenty but she's really eighty-four
Look at Papa fiddle, just listen to him play
Had a touch of rhuematism just the other day
But he threw away his water bottle, put away his pill
Aunt Purdy's liniment cured all his ills

One year in Oklahoma Pop was gettin' old
There wasn't much demand for medicine shows
I still can hear us singin' to a dwindlin' crowd that spring
We didn't know that it would be the last time we would sing

One bottle, two bottle, buy it by the quart
Uncle John used it on his foot and cured a wart
All you people sittin' here in the front row
Don't you wanna try it, it'll cure a sore toe
Throw away your water bottle, put away your pill
Aunt Purdy's liniment'll cure all your ills

Papa started ailin' and passed away that fall
We all had to pick cotton to pay the funeral hall
I never got much schoolin', but I learned one thing for sure
There are things in this old life Aunt Purdy's couldn't cure

One bottle, two bottle, three bottle, four
Mama looks twenty but she's really eighty-four
Look at Papa fiddle, just listen to him play
Had a touch of rhuematism just the other day
But he threw away his watter bottle, put away his pill
Aunt Purdy's liniment cured all his ills

One bottle, two bottle, buy it by the quart
Uncle John used it on his foot and cured a wart
All you people sittin' here in the front row
Don't you wanna try it, it'll cure a sore toe
Throw away your water bottle, put away your pill
Aunt Purdy's liniment'll cure all your ills

One bottle, two bottle, three bottle, four
Mama looks twenty but she's really eighty-four
Look at Papa fiddle, just listen to him play
Had a touch of rhuematism just the other day