Shortnin' Bread
Paul Chaplain Lyrics

Mammas little baby loves shortnin, shortnin,
The baby loves to eat shortnin bread.

Mammas little baby loves shortnin bread.
The baby enjoys eating a type of bread named shortnin bread.

Three little children layin in the bed.
There were three children lying in the bed.

Two were sick and the other most dead.
Two of the children were unwell, while the other was almost dead.

Sent for the doctor, the doctor said,
They called for a doctor and he arrived.

"Feed those children on shortnin bread."
The doctor advised the family to give the children shortnin bread to eat.

When those children layin in the bed
While the children were lying in bed.

Heard that talk about shortnin bread,
When they heard about the idea of eating shortnin bread.

They popped up well and started to sing,
They suddenly felt better and started to sing happily.

Skipping round the room doing the pigeon wing.
They danced and skipped around the room happily.

Put on the skillet! Put on the lid!
Someone asked the mother to put a pan and a lid on the stove.

Mammas going to make some shortnin bread.
The mother is going to make some shortnin bread.

That's not all shes going to do,
She is planning to do something else as well.

Mammas going to cook us some cocoa too!
The mother is also planning to make cocoa for the family.

I snuck to the kitchen, picked up the lid,
Someone went to the kitchen secretly and picked up the lid of the pan.

I filled my pockets full of shortnin bread.
The person stole some shortnin bread and put it in their pockets.

I winked at the pretty little girl and said,
The person winked at a girl and talked to her.

"Baby, howd you like some shortnin bread?"
They offered the girl some stolen shortnin bread.

Got caught with the skillet. Got caught with the lid.
The person got caught by someone while stealing the skillet and the lid.

Got caught with my mouth full of shortnin bread.
They were caught while eating the stolen shortnin bread.

Six months for the skillet, six months for the lid.
The punishment for stealing the skillet and the lid was six months each.

Five years for stealing shortnin bread.
The punishment for stealing the shortnin bread was more severe, a whole five years.