IT TAKES A LONG TALL BROWN-SKIN GAL 
TO MAKE A PREACHER LAY HIS BIBLE DOWN
(Music: Will E.Skidmore / Lyrics: Marshall Walker)


Arthur Collins - 1917
Louis Prima & His Orch. - 1946
Bill Clifton & Red Rector - 1976

Also recorded by:                  
Pete Wendling (Piano Roll); Johnny Maddox (Instr.)


Old Deacon Johnson was a preachin' man 
The black sky pilot of old Dixie Land
Had never missed a Sunday, rain or shine
Was always in his pulpit right on time

One day a dark-skin damsel blowed in town
Somebody started scandalation round
Next Sunday morn they found the church door locked
This was the only word the Deacon left his lonely flock

It takes a long, tall, brown-skin gal 
To make a preacher lay his Bible down
For twenty years I'se passed joy by
But now I'm goin' to get mine till I die
I always thought that preachin' was my line
But since I met this gal I changed my min'
It takes a long, tall brown-skin'd gal 
To make a preacher lay his Bible down

When Deacon Johnson took his 'Brown' away
The congregation tried to make him stay
They promised him if he would not leave town
They wouldn't come between him and his 'Brown'

The deacon studied and declared at last
It ain't no use, my preachin' days is past
I never realized where Heaven lies,
Until today when I looked down into my baby's eyes

It takes a long, tall, brown-skin gal 
To make a preacher lay his Bible down
For twenty years I'se passed joy by
But now I'm goin' to get mine till I die
I always thought that preachin' was my line
But since I met this gal I changed my min'
It takes a long, tall brown-skin gal 
To make a preacher lay his Bible down






(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - October 2015)