File: smithtony06-oh-dirtytrick_M.mp3
Speakers:
TS – Tony Smith
AG – Alfred Gallant
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
TS: Him and this other guy played all night at this house party. They used to have big money years ago, black cents, they were big ones.
KP: Big pennies?
TS: Yeah, pennies. So anyway they paid them, it was a dirty trick to do it though - Anyway, he thought he got silver and he didn't. You know what they did, they wrapped it up in foil, and he never looked at it. He thought he got a quarter or whatever, eh. Holy Jesus, [it would have been] a good nights' pay. So on the way home they decided to count what they got, eh. So the other fellow took what he took out of his pocket and counted, "Not too bad!" he said. At that time I guess it was pretty good. He took it out and said, "What in the Jesus, there's paper on this God-damn thing." And he said he took the fiddle, and he was goin' behind him, like, walkin' behind him and he said they had to go across a little narrow bridge, and all of a sudden he heard this God-darn splash. And he thought he fell in, like. Jesus, he looked around, he said "Holy Jesus, I hope he didn't jump in." And he looked around, "Where's your fiddle?" "I threw the god-damned thing over." And he said he never played after that.
AG: Made a fool of him by giving him that kind of money.
TS: That's what he said, he never played the fiddle after. Couldn't pay him to play. Oh, it was a dirty trick to do, real dirty trick to do. They'd be sittin' back in the corner playin' all night. They damn well earned their money then, I'll tell you.