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An earlier, unrelated Memphis Jug Band song had a reference to Daddy drawing the
bath water. The accepted definitions of ‘to bottle up and go’ seem to be to leave,
either spontaneously or unexpectedly, to make a swift exit after a disagreement, or

to flee a bad situation without anyone realising you’ve scarpered.

Apart from the chorus, the Memphis Jug Band recording doesn’t share any lyrics
with subsequent versions. Each successive interpreter has made the song their
own, creating new couplets or using some of the ‘floating verses’ that bob around

in the sea of Blues for all to fish out.

John Lee Williamson ( Sonny Boy Williamson I ) recorded his take
on ‘Bottle It Up And Go’ in 1937. It shares the same chorus as the

previous piece.
John-Lee-Williamson-Clip
A duck makes an appearance, but he isn’t confused with a

chicken:

“Now I had a little duck, and I named him Jim.

I put him on the pond just to see him swim.”

A better known recording was made by Mississippian, Tommy McClennan in
Chicago in 1939. It contains themes which crop up time and again in later recordings:

Tommy-McLennan-Clip

Now she may be old, ninety years.
She ain’t too old for to shift them gears.

She got to bottle it up and go X 2

Now them high-powered women, sure got to bottle it up and go.

Now a nickel is a nickel, a dime is a dime.

Don’t need no girl if she want wine.

Now my mama killed a chicken, she thought it was a duck.

She put him on the table with the legs stickin’ up.

There’s also a ‘scat’ verse, which many versions include.

McClennan alternates “bottle it up and go” with “bottle up and

go”. His is an energetic and vibrant rendition. He interjects
spoken asides and often plays the refrain on guitar instead of
singing it.

Leadbelly laid down several cuts of the song in the early 1940s.

Leadbelly-Clip
In a couple of them, he proffers an explanation of the term, “high-powered

women”