I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago

"I was born about ten thousand years ago, And there's nothing in this world that I don't know." The singer boasts of his past accomplishments, e.g. watching Adam and Eve eat the apple (and eating the core); teaching Solomon to read....
 It need hardly be stated that there is very little truth in this song (even if one accepts the Bible as literally true). I won't state examples; they would just bore you.
I do suspect that the "Ten Thousand Years" title is original, and "four thousand years" is a later correction by those who thought the braggart couldn't have been born before 4004 BCE. And "six thousand years ago" may be an adjustment by someone who knew Archbishop Ussher's 4004 date and did some subtraction. 

Not to be confused with the bawdy "Three Thousand Years Ago". 

The verse "She's my darling, she's my daisy, She's humpbacked and she's crazy... She's my freckled-faced consumptive Mary Ann" (sung as part of this song, e.g., by Charlie Poole) is also associated with "Hungry Hash House," and that's where I've listed it when it occurs on its own. It's not clear that Poole's piece belongs there, but for the moment I'm listing that song with this one because it fits better metrically.

Woody Guthrie took this idea and rewrote it as "The Great Historical Bum." This was one of his Columbia River songs; Greg Vandy with Daniel Person, 26 Songs in 30 Days: Woody Guthrie's Columbia River Songs and the Planned Promised Land in the Pacific Northwest, Sasquatch Books, 2016, p. xvi, shows one of Woody's typed copies; it ends "But Coulee Dam's th' biggest thing that Man has ever done." Someone (Chad Mitchell Trio? Milt Okun?) then combined the two. Talk about a strange sort of folk process.

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics: 
I was born about ten thousand years ago
There aint nothing in this world that I dont know
I saved king davids life and he offered me a wife
I said now youre talking business have a chair

Yeah, I was born about ten thousand years ago
Aint nothing in this world that I dont know
Saw peter, paul and moses playing ring around the roses
Ill lick the guy that says it isnt so

I was born about ten thousand years ago
Aint nothing in this world that I dont know
I saw old pharaohs daughter bring moses from the water
Ill lick the guy that says it isnt so

I was there when old noah built the ark
And I crawled in the window after dark
I saw jonah eat the whale and dance with the lions tale
And I crossed over canaan on a log

I was born about ten thousand years ago
Aint nothing in this world that I dont know
I saw old pharaohs daughter bring moses from the water
Ill lick the guy that says it isnt so

Yeah, I was born about ten thousand years ago
Aint nothing in this world that I dont know
Saw peter, paul and moses playing ring around the roses
Ill lick the guy that says it isnt so

I was there when old noah built the ark
And I crawled in the window after dark
I saw jonah eat the whale and dance with the lions tale
And I crossed over canaan on a log

I was born about ten thousand years ago
There aint nothing in this world that I dont know
I saved king davids life and he offered me a wife
I said now youre talking business have a chair

Yeah, I was born about ten thousand years ago
Aint nothing in this world that I dont know
Saw peter, paul and moses playing ring around the roses
Ill lick the guy that says it isnt so
Send "I Was Born About Ten"