Crawdad Song [core]

You get a line and I'll get a pole honey
You get a line and I'll get a pole, babe
You get a line and I'll get a pole
And we'll go down to the crawdad hole
Honey, baby mine

Get up old man you slept too late,... (x3)
Crawdad man done passed your gate...

Yonder come a man with a sack on his back,... (x3)
Packin' all the crawdads he can pack...

He fell down and he bust that sack,... (x3)
'Twas a sight to see the crawdads back to back...

A-sittin' on the ice till my feet got cold,... (x3)
A-watchin' that crawdad dig his hole...

What you gonna do when the lake goes dry,... (x3)
Sit on the bank and watch the crawdads die...

I heard the duck say to the drake,... (x3)
"There ain't no crawdads in this lake"...

Listen to this song

This Song Clip was recorded in the key of D. (Click below to play.)

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Get it in print
(two books to choose from!)

Get Started Plus: Core Songs Edition
100 Core Songs (including Crawdad Song) plus our acclaimed playing-by-ear learning method.
Read more & look inside.

Big Print Songs
222 traditional songs, including Crawdad Song, in large print. Chords, historical info, jamming hints, and more.
Read more & look inside

Get it on CD

Core Songs CD Series

Five CDs, 100 songs, including Crawdad Song. Recordings from the Abbott family and their friends.
Listen to samples & buy.

The MP3 collection has all 100 songs on one CD for a discount. See details.


A song from the Mountain Music for Everyone Song Collection from the ToneWay Project. Our website has lyrics to nearly 400 traditional songs common in bluegrass and old-time circles. Most songs also include a free MP3 recording that you can listen to. The ToneWay Project also offers songbooks, CDs, and resources for learning to play music by ear. http://ToneWay.com