KAW-LIGA

(Hank Williams/Fred Rose)

© 1952 Milene Music, Inc.

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Recorded by Bob Dylan, unknown studio (or hotel room?) during "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour, prob. Nov 1975; featured in "Renaldo and Clara."

Original recording: Hank Williams, Castle Studio, Nashville, TN, Sep 23, 1952 (same session as "Your Cheatin' Heart", also covered by Dylan)

WESLEY ROSE:
Hank stayed at a fishing lodge in South Alabama called Kowaliga. The name struck "Pappy" as a good Indian name and also as a good title for a song.

Interview, Nashville, TN, Jun 4, 1973; reprinted in Dorothy Horstman, Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy, New York, 1976, p. 397.

Kaw-liga was a wooden Indian standing by the door.
He fell in love with an Indian maiden over in the antique store.
Kaw-liga just stood there and never let it show,
So she could never answer "yes" or "no."

CHORUS:
Poor ol' Kaw-liga, he never got a kiss.
Poor ol' Kaw-liga, he don't know what he missed.
Is it any wonder that his face is red?
Kaw-liga, that poor ol' wooden head.

He always wore his Sunday feathers and held a tomahawk.
The maiden wore her beads and braids and hoped some day he'd talk.
Kaw-liga, too stubborn to ever show a sign,
Because his heart was made of knotty pine.

Kaw-liga was a lonely Indian, never went nowhere.
His heart was set on the Indian maid with the coal black hair.
Kaw-liga just stood there and never let it show,
So she could never answer "yes" or "no."

And then one day a wealthy customer bought the Indian maid,
And took her, oh, so far away, but ol' Kaw-liga stayed.
Kaw-liga just stands there as lonely as can be,
And wishes he was still an old pine tree.