Don't Go Reaching Across My Plate
by 
Albert Collins 
recording of 1980 
from 
Frostbite (Alligator ALCD-4719) 
If one thing in this world 
I just can't stand 
Is bein' at the table wit' an ill-mannered man 
Now, if he's sittin' on your left 
Before you could eat a bite 
He'll reach across your plate 
An' you know that ain't right 
Now I like to eat, as well as any man 
But there's some rules, a fool should understand 
When ya have one little helpin' 
An' one extra piece of cake 
I tell ev'rybody, don't go reachin' across my plate 
I was at a party last night, at over Big Murray 
Cat reached 'cross my plate 
Got a coat sleeve in my gravy 
I didn't say a word, just looked him dead in the eye 
He reached across my plate, an' cut him a piece a pie 
Now I don't care if he did it for a prank 
I don't care, if you had a drink 
Especially when I'm out, a-with my date 
Now don't you go reachin' across MY plate 
At a party last week, there was some high-class folks 
Ev'rything on the table, an' that ain't no joke 
They had barbecue possum 
, rattlesnake gravy 
Chicken fried skunk 
, an' it smelt real crazy 
Ev'rything went fine, but one thing made me blue 
A cat reached across my plate, for some armadillo 
stew 
Now when you at the table, you act real nice 
You say, "pass me that" or "pass me the platter" 
But just because you hungry, an' happen to come in late 
Don't you go reachin', across MY plate 
(Spoken: 
"Pass some a-that turkey over there, baby!" 
"No, don't give me none of that skunk, I don't want none a-that" 
"I, I beg your pardon" 
"If this cat stop reachin' 'cross my plate, I can maybe ask for somethin'" 
"A pass me a little a-that turkey there, baby" 
Fading: 
Na na na na-na-na-na 
Yeah-heya 
"Party' nice, party's nice" 
"Yeah, ah give gimme some a that chicken over there, baby" 
"Chicken fried skunk? "ah no" 
__________ 
Note: possum, opossum, any of a family (Didelphidae) of American marsupials that usually have a pointed snout and prehensile tail; especially : a common omnivorous largely nocturnal and arboreal mammal (Didelphis virginiana) of North America having grayish to blackish fur with white on the cheeks; 
Note 2: skunk, any of various common omnivorous black-and-white New World mammals (especially genus Mephitis) of the weasel family that have a pair of perineal glands from which a secretion of pungent and offensive odor is ejected; 
Note 3: armadillo, any of a family (Dasypodidae) of burrowing edentate mammals found from the southern U.S. to Argentina and having the body and head encased in an armor of small bony plates. See 
illustration