Robert Hunter

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of contemporary/traditional and form their own categories.
One of the main traditional themes that Hunter uses is the gambling theme. The poems "Candyman" and "Loser" exemplify this motif the best:
Come on boys and gamble
Roll those laughing bones.
Seven come eleven, boys
I'll take your money home.
--"Candyman"
Last fair deal in the country, sweet Suzy
Last fair deal in the town.
Put your gold money where your love is, baby,
Before you let my deal go down.
--"Loser"
Both are about professional gamblers, and both (especially "Loser") carry overtones of trouble and treachery. The following lines illustrate one such instance in "Candyman":
I come in from Memphis
where I learned to talk the jive
When I get back to Memphis
Be one man less alive
The Candyman obviously has a score to settle with someone in Memphis. The "trouble" notion is both more and less apparent in "Loser":
Don't you push me baby
because I'm moaning low.
I know a little something
you won't ever ...

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A story of a coal miner in the Cumberland mines, this poem carries strong parallels to the "conventional wisdom" theme.
I gotta get down
I gotta get down
Or I can't work there no more.

Lotta poor man make a five-dollar bill/Keep him happy all the time
Some other fellow making nothing at all
And you can hear him crying

'Can I go buddy
Can I go down
Take your shift at the mine?'
Conventional wisdom is a motif that Hunter uses in several of his traditional poems, namely "Greatest Story Ever Told", and "Uncle John's Band". These deal with aspects of day-to-day country living and the common-sense wisdom found in many classic folk tales. "Uncle John's Band" is the prime ...

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