Vance Randolph and Gershon Legman are the Johnson and Boswell, Lewis and Clark and Will and Ariel Durant of coarse and vulgar humor as a literary subject. Randolph's Pissing in the Snow is the standard popular introductory work on the subject, just as Legman's two volume masterpiece No Laughing Matter sets the standard for deeper historical, semantic and psychological consideration of dirty jokes. Here, Randolph and Legman do for the dirty song (or vulgar version of a standard song) what those works did for the dirty joke, namely provide an exposition of the funny material along with a discussion of its historical context, how the information was collected and some comparisons with other similar treasures. As the other reviewer in this thread noted, the irony of this as a subject of serious study is entertaining in and of itself. While this book is a bit pricey, I will vouch that it is worth every penny and might be the finest thing to come out of Arkansas in the 1990's.

When the Univesity of Arkansas Press published this Vance Randolph classic it almost completely made up for giving us Clinton and that admits a lot. This is another portion of Randolph's work on Ozark mountain folklore and generally follows up on his more popular paperback classic Pissing in the Snow. Without saying anything more, this book, although apparently not intended primarily to amuse, is very, very damn funny. It's expensive but worth every penny. No collection of Dirty Jokes as literature can afford to be without it and it deserves the highest recommendation.

I enjoyed this book so much! The irony of an academic study of something usually ignored drew me to the work, but its bawdy and fascinating content kept me reading all the way to the end. I've heard some of the versions of the hymns and bluegrass songs parodied by the Ozarkians interviewed, but some were totally new and entertaining. Read it and you'll be laughing silently every time you hear the "usual" versions of Casey Jones, Frankie and Johnny, At the Cross, Ida Red, and so many others.

After the kids were snug in their sleeping bags and tents, their parents would pop the corks on their favorite brews and this collection of dirty, one-pager, country stories was passed from person to person around the campfire and read aloud. People would literally fall over, roaring with laughter, gasping for breadth. And often,the reader was paralized with laughter and couldnt continue. The stories are red neck filthy and funny beyond words. I didnt get the cultural relevance, I was too busy laughing. Not for the politically correct.

I took a strange but ultimately interesting course in American Folklore back at good old MWC. Our Professor made us read this book, and I can never thank him enough. I am still not sure what the purpose of us reading this book was, but the stories were hilarious. I laughed so much reading these stories. Many of which were simply extended dirty jokes. This was by far the best book I read at college. I don't know much about Folklore, but at the very least if you want to read a funny book, get pissing in the snow.

This book is a great collection of Ozark Folktales and stories. I wouldn't recomend reading this book to a 10 year old because of the content of some of the stories, but I would recomend this book to the older reader who would appreciate the wit and humor.

This was an amazing book, especially because it was all apparently collected firsthand from the people who practiced the things in it. It's interesting and easy to read, packed with information, and though some of the things Ozark mountain people were concerned with may no longer be germane to people living in the modern world, it provides a fascinating look at folk customs, magic, and a body of lore that has most likely all but disappeared by now.

My parents still live in the Ozarks, and I recognised some of the things that were common superstitions, phrases, etc.
I found it very entertaining to read, and being born in MO myself, and having lived in some of those areas on and off, made it even more enlightening.
I also noticed tiny hints here and there of the Scottish influence, as that is my ancestry, and something I spend much time studying. Many did settle in the hills around there when they came, preferring that over cities. Makes it even more intriguing, that some bits peek out, mingled and changed with the new culture.
Good stuff!

Wonderful lifetime body of research collected as he lived among the Ozark people. I grew up in Ozark Co. in the 60's-70's and was fortunate to see and hear much of the rich folklore he records. For an outsider (even marrying into an Ozark clan didn't make him a local boy) Randolph obtained a staggering amount of information which is presented in a humerous yet respectful style. When so much of our culture preverted for the neon cash/trash of Branson it's refreshing to read Randolph and remember when stories were told around wood fired stoves and in the summer's evening on front porches. Anyone interested in the real Ozarks should read this...and before you dismiss it all as ignorant fantasy,I can attest that witching water works, and I've touched the otherworldly feather crowns found in death pillows among many other oddities he records.....can't explain it but here it is for what it's worth.