Gus Cannon - Old John Booker You Call That Gone (information, lyrics, sound file)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post is Part II of a two part series on "Johnny Booker" songs. This post focuses the song "Old John Booker [You] Call That Gone" as performed by Gus Cannon.

Part I focuses on American versions of this song whose titles include "Jonny Boker", "Old Johnny Booker", "Mister Booger" "What Johnny Booker Wouldn't Do" etc. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-old-time-song-johnny-booker.html for that post.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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Part II
INFORMATION ABOUT GUS CANNON
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Cannon
"Gus Cannon (September 12, 1883 – October 15, 1979) was an American blues musician who helped to popularize jug bands (such as his own Cannon's Jug Stompers) in the 1920s and 1930s. There is doubt about his birth year; his tombstone gives the date as 1874...

Cannon began recording as "Banjo Joe" for Paramount Records in 1927. At that session he was backed up by Blind Blake.[2] After the success of the Memphis Jug Band's first records, he quickly assembled a jug band featuring Noah Lewis and Ashley Thompson (later replaced by Elijah Avery)...

In the "blues revival" of the 1960s, he made some college and coffee house appearances with Furry Lewis and Bukka White,[3] but he had to pawn his banjo to pay his heating bill the winter before the Rooftop Singers had a hit with "Walk Right In".[4]

In the wake of becoming a hit composer, he recorded an album for Stax Records in 1963, with fellow Memphis musicians Will Shade, the former leader of the Memphis Jug Band, on jug and Milton Roby on washboard. Cannon performs a series of traditional songs, including "Kill It," "Salty Dog," "Going Around," "The Mountain," "Ol' Hen", "Gonna Raise A Ruckus Tonight," "Ain't Gonna Rain No More," "Boll-Weevil," "Come On Down To My House," "Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor," "Get Up In The Morning Soon," and "Crawdad Hole" along with his own "Walk Right In," plus various stories and introductions between the songs. The album is almost an audio documentary tour through different corners of Cannon's life and career that, ideally, might've run to several volumes.[5]"

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "JOHNNY BOOKER"
From http://www.tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Johnny_Booker
"JOHNNY BOOKER. AKA and see "Knock John Booker," "Mister Booger," "Old Johnny Booker," "Old Johnny Bucker Wouldn't Do." Old-Time. This widely disseminated song/tune is known as a banjo piece and stems from the minstrel era where it was called "Old Johnny Bigger," among other titles. Sheet music published around 1840 gives the song as "Jonny Boker or the Broken Yoke" [1], "as sung by J. W. Sweeney" [Sweeney's Virginia Melodies]...

Gene Winnans mentions an African-American banjo player named Gus Cannon, who worked medicine shows from 1914 to 1929. Cannon's first two tunes (learned in "strumming style") were "Old John Booker You Call that Gone" and "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More," learned from "Old Man Saul" Russell, who "just played around the house fro [sic] his own amusement." ...
-snip-
The song "Old John Booker You Call that Gone" can be said to be a variant form of the song "Old Johnny Booker".

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FEATURED SOUND FILE
Gus Cannon Old John Booker Call That Gone



jakartajive, Published on Jul 15, 2013

Gus Cannon was an American blues musician who helped to popularize jug bands (such as his own Cannon's Jug Stompers) in the 1920s and 1930s. He hung on in there well into his nineties, not passing on until 1979.

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LYRICS: OLD JOHN BOOKER YOU CALL THAT GONE
(As sung by Gus Cannon)

Old John Booker, call that gone!
Old John Booker, call that gone!
Old John Booker, call that gone!
I'm goin' back here on the farm!

Source: YouTube sound file and Negro Folk Music U.S.A, edited by Harold Courlander, 1963
-snip-
Although this song in mentioned in a number of online sources, I've not found any explanation of what "[you] call that gone" means. Given the last line of that verse, my guess is that it means "call people and tell them that I'm gone" (that I'm leaving to go back to the farm).

In addition, I think that "I'm going back here on the farm" just meeans "I'm going back to the farm".

Coincidentally, the Wikipedia page for Gus Cannon that is quoted above mentions that the first folk blues song he learned was entitled "Po' [Poor] Boy, Long Ways from Home". I'm not sure how that song sounds, but I get the sense from "Old John Booker You Call That Gone", that the singer is happy to be returning "back [home] to the farm".

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Thanks to Gus Cannon for his musical legacy. Thanks also to the publishers of this sound file.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

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Birmingham Jubilee Singers - Sweet Mama Tree Top Tall (with lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases the song "Sweet Mama Tree Top Tall" by the Birmingham Jubilee Singers. Information about the Birmingham Jubilee Singers is included in this post. Lyrics to that version of that song & explanation about certain vernacular terms that are found in that song are included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE BIRMINGHAM JUBILEE SINGERS
From http://www.last.fm/music/Birmingham+Jubilee+Singers
"The Birmingham Jubilee Singers were an American gospel quartet from Birmingham, Alabama.

They were put together in 1926 by Charles Bridges, a native of Birmingham suburb Pratt City, who studied voice at his high school and sang with the Dolomite Jubilee Singers after graduating. Bridges sang lead, accompanied by Leo “Lot” Key, tenor, Dave Ausbrooks, baritone, and Ed Sherrill, who, according to music historian Doug Seroff, was the deepest-voiced of all the bass singers in the Jefferson County movement.

The group became Alabama’s first professional quartet when in 1926 they were discovered by a Columbia Records talent scout, and travelled from Jefferson County to record in Atlanta. They achieved nationwide popularity through their live radio broadcasts over WAPI, WVRC and WJLD.

Becoming one of Columbia’s most prolific black vocal groups, they played vaudeville stages in New York and Chicago with the likes of Ethel Waters. They played a mix of both gospel songs and secular material, performing on gospel and vaudeville stages alike.

The group disbanded in the 1930s when Dave Ausbrooks died. Their complete recorded works were reissued on two compact discs in 1995 by the Document Records label."
-snip-
Italics added to highlight this sentence. "Jubilee songs" was an old term for "Spirituals". Therefore, "Jubilee singers" were usually sang religious music. The song "Sweet Mama Tree Top Tall" is a secular (non-religious) song.

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SHOWCASE EXAMPLE - Sweet Mama, Tree Top Tall - Birmingham Jubilee Singers



CanadianFolkBlues, Published on Jun 6, 2012

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LYRICS - SWEET MAMA TREE TOP TALL
(As sung by the Birmingham Jubilee Singers on "Birmingham Jubilee Singers: Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order: Volume 1: 1926 – 1927" (Document Records, DOCD-5345):

1. Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
I smell your bread cookin', honey. Done got good an' brown.
I'm goin' away sweet mama just worry you off my mind,
'Cause you keep us both worried 'bout the baby all the time.
Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.

2. Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
I smell your bread cookin', honey. Done got good an' brown.
I just got a letter from a gal in Rome.
Says she got plenty money, gonna bring it home.
Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.

3. Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
I smell your bread cookin', honey. Done got good an' brown.
I've got a gal in Georgia, two in Tennessee.
Got three in Alabama good enough for me.
Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.

4. Hey beauty, wake up honey, I know you heard the whistle blow.
You got a few more minutes to get your clothes on; then you have to go.
Your hands are already rough and your feet are long.
... can't see what'n the world you're waitin' on.
Hey beauty, wake up honey, I know you heard the whistle blow.

5. Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
I smell your bread cookin', honey. Done got good an' brown.
I'm standing on the corner with my hat in my han',
... waitin' for the woman ain't got no man.
Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.

6. Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
I smell your bread cookin', honey. Done got good an' brown.
If you don't like my peaches, don't you shake my tree.
... let my peaches be.
Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper down.
(I said) Baby, turn your damper down.
-snip-
Hat tip to Jim Dixon and Arkansas Red for this transcription.
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24332&messages=22 "Lyr Req: Sweet Mama Tree-Top Tall (Lasses White)"

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EXPLANATION OF CERTAIN TERMS THAT ARE USED IN THIS SONG
Tree top tall = a very tall woman

Here's an explanation of "turn your damper down" from
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24332&messages=22

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Mama Tree-Top Tall (Lasses White)
From:GUEST,Arkansas Red-Ozark Troubadour
Date: 03 Jun 13 - 01:29 PM

"From what I understand "turning a damper down" in cooking with a wood stove means to reduce the heat. So the double entendre in this song probably refers to "sweet mama" having "the hots" for other men, and spreading it around, so she is advised to keep her damper turned down and "make it hot" for her man only. This I was told by an [sic] black blues singer who probably knew more double entendres in songs than anybody. Blues are filled with double entendres. That's what makes the blues so great."

If you don't like my peaches, don't you shake my tree.
... let my peaches be. - This is a floating verse that is found in a number of Blues songs & other songs. This verse is also found in at least one children's cheerleader cheer. The earliest general meaning of these sentences is "If you don't like me, leave me alone."

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Thanks to the Birmingham Jubilee Singers for their musical legacy. Thanks also to those quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

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Gus Cannon (Banjo Joe) - "Jonestown Blues" (with lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases the 1929 song "Jonestown Blues" by Gus Cannon (Banjo Joe). Information about Gus Cannon is also included in this post. Lyrics for this song & explanations of the vernacular terms used in this song are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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INFORMATION ABOUT GUS CANNON (BANJO JOE)
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Cannon
"Gus Cannon (September 12, 1883 – October 15, 1979) was an American blues musician who helped to popularize jug bands (such as his own Cannon's Jug Stompers) in the 1920s and 1930s. There is doubt about his birth year; his tombstone gives the date as 1874.[1]

...Cannon began recording as "Banjo Joe" for Paramount Records in 1927. At that session he was backed up by Blind Blake.[2] After the success of the Memphis Jug Band's first records, he quickly assembled a jug band featuring Noah Lewis and Ashley Thompson (later replaced by Elijah Avery).[3] Cannon's Jug Stompers first recorded at the Memphis Auditorium for the Victor label in January 1928. Hosea Woods joined the Jug Stompers in the late 1920s, playing guitar, banjo and kazoo, and also providing some vocals. Modern listeners can hear Cannon's Jug Stompers recording of "Big Railroad Blues" on the compilation album The Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead.

Although their last recordings were made in 1930, Cannon's Jug Stompers were one of Beale Street's most popular jug bands through the 1930s. A few songs Cannon recorded with Cannon's Jug Stompers are "Minglewood Blues", "Pig Ankle Strut", "Wolf River Blues", "Viola Lee Blues", "White House Station" and "Walk Right In" (later made into a pop hit by The Rooftop Singers[3] in the 1960s, and later a hit rock/pop version by Dr. Hook in the 1970s). By the end of the 1930s, Cannon had effectively retired, although he occasionally performed as a solo musician.
He returned in 1956 to make a few recordings for Folkways Records. In the "blues revival" of the 1960s, he made some college and coffee house appearances with Furry Lewis and Bukka White,[3] but he had to pawn his banjo to pay his heating bill the winter before the Rooftop Singers had a hit with "Walk Right In".[4]

In the wake of becoming a hit composer, he recorded an album for Stax Records in 1963, with fellow Memphis musicians Will Shade, the former leader of the Memphis Jug Band, on jug and Milton Roby on washboard. Cannon performs a series of traditional songs, including "Walk Right In," "Kill It," "Salty Dog," "Going Around," "The Mountain," "Ol' Hen", "Gonna Raise A Ruckus Tonight," "Ain't Gonna Rain No More," "Boll-Weevil," "Come On Down To My House," "Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor," "Get Up In The Morning Soon," and "Crawdad Hole" along with his own "Walk Right In," plus various stories and introductions between the songs. The album is almost an audio documentary tour through different corners of Cannon's life and career that, ideally, might've run to several volumes.[5]

Cannon can be seen in the King Vidor produced film, Hallelujah! (1929), during the late night wedding scene."

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FEATURED EXAMPLE OF THIS SONG
'Jonestown Blues' GUS CANNON (1929) Banjo Blues Legend



RagtimeDorianHenry, Uploaded on Apr 21, 2009

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LYRICS OF JONESTOWN BLUES
(Gus Cannon, also known as "Banjo Joe")

[instrumental, humming]

Man, I left Lula, went to Jonestown.
Man, I left Lula, went to Jonestown.
Said those Jonestown brown, boy, sure did make my frown.

[Spoken] Play it now boy.
[instrumental; hums the word “hum”.]

Said I left Jonestown, too small a burg for me.
I left Jonestown, too small a burg for me.
Well I left Jonestown, went back to Tennessee.

[instrumental; hums the word “hum”.]

Well, Jonestown ,boy, too small a burg for me.
Said Jonestown, boy, too small a burg for me.
I left Jonestown, boy, made it to Tennessee.
Said, I got to Memphis, I laid my banjo down.

When I got to Memphis, I laid my banjo down.
Said when I got to Memphis, I laid my banjo down.
[Spoken overlap – Oh play it now, Play it.]
I got full of my good whiskey, my good gal made me clown.
[Spoken – Now play it boy.] [instrumental; hums the word “hum”.]n”.]
-snip-
EXPLANATION OF CERTAIN TERMS THAT ARE FOUND IN THIS SONG
Jonestown brown - brown skinned women from the city of Jonestown

burg - city

make me clown - made a fool out of me

-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from the sound file given above. Additions & corrections are welcome.

Another transcription of this song [or a different version of this song?] can be found at http://www.donegone.net/?p=141. If this is the samee rendition of "Jonestown Blues", I disagree with portions of that transcription. For instance, that transcription gives the last line of the first verse as "Those Jonestown browns, boy, make you turn your damper down."

Here's an explanation of "turn your damper down" from
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24332&messages=22

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Mama Tree-Top Tall (Lasses White)
From:GUEST,Arkansas Red-Ozark Troubadour
Date: 03 Jun 13 - 01:29 PM

"From what I understand "turning a damper down" in cooking with a wood stove means to reduce the heat. So the double entendre in this song probably refers to "sweet mama" having "the hots" for other men, and spreading it around, so she is advised to keep her damper turned down and "make it hot" for her man only. This I was told by an [sic] black blues singer who probably knew more double entendres in songs than anybody. Blues are filled with double entendres. That's what makes the blues so great."

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Thanks to Gus Cannon (Banjo Joe) for his musical legacy. Thanks also to those quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

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Robert Johnson - They're Red Hot (with lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases Robert Johnson's 1936 uptempo Blues song "They're Red Hot". Lyrics for & commentary about that song are also included in this post.

The content of this post is provided for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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SHOWCASE EXAMPLE: They're Red Hot 1936 - ROBERT JOHNSON (Ragtime Blues Guitar Legend
)


RagtimeDorianHenry, Uploaded on Apr 17, 2009

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LYRICS: THEY'RE RED HOT
(Robert Johnson)

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale
I got a girls, say she long and tall
She sleeps in the kitchen with her feets in the hall
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale, I mean
Yes, she got'em for sale, yeah Hot tamales and they're red hot,
yes she got'em for sale
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale

She got two for a nickel, got four for a dime
Would sell you more, but they ain't none of mine
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale, I mean
Yes, she got'em for sale, yes, yeah Hot tamales and they're red hot,
yes she got'em for sale
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale

I got a letter from a girl in the room
Now she got something good she got to bring home soon, now
Its hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got em for sale, I mean
Yes, she got'em for sale, yeah Hot tamales and they're red hot,
yes she got em for sale
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got em for sale
(spoken) They're too hot boy!
The billy got back in a bumble bee nest
Ever since that he can't take his rest, yeah
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes you got'em for sale, I mean
Yes, she got'em for sale Hot tamales and they're red hot,
yes she got'em for sale

(spoken) Man don't mess around em hot tamales now
(spoken) Cause they too black bad, if you mess around em hot tamales
(spoken) I'm [g]onna upset your backbone, put your kidneys to sleep
(spoken) I'll due to break away your liver and dare your heart to beat bout my
Hot tamales cause they red hot, yes they got em for sale, I mean
Yes, she got em for sale, yeah Hot tamales and they're red hot,
yes she got'em for sale
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale

You know grandma left and grandpa too
Well I wonder what in the world we chillun gon do now
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale, I mean
Yes she got'em for sale Hot tamales and they're red hot,
yes she got'em for sale
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale

Me and my babe bought a V-8 Ford
Well we wind that thing all on the runnin board, yes
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale, I mean
Yes she got'em for sale, yeah Hot tamales and they're red hot,
yes she got'em for sale
They're too hot boy!
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes, now she got em for sale

You know the monkey, now the baboon playin in the grass
Well the monkey stuck his finger in that old 'Good Gulf Gas', now
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale, I mean
Yes she got'em for sale, yeah Hot tamales and they're red hot,
yes she got'em for sale
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale

I got a girls, say she long and tall
Sleeps in the kitchen with her feets in the hall
Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale, I mean
Yes she got'em for sale, yeah

Source: http://www.robertjohnsonbluesfoundation.org/music/robert-johnson-centennial-collection/they%E2%80%99re-red-hot

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COMMENTARY
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They're_Red_Hot
" "They're Red Hot" is a song originally performed and written by blues musician Robert Johnson. Notably, it is one of very few songs recorded by the bluesman that is not based around twelve bar blues. It is based on a common ragtime chord progression. Unlike some other Johnson songs, only one recording of this song exists.

It was also performed by the Red Hot Chili Peppers on their 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. The band recorded this song outside of The Mansion on top of a hill at two in the morning, as seen in the 1992 documentary Funky Monks. The song is available for download for the Rock Band series, being one of the shortest and most difficult."
-snip-
From http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=74&subsectionID=395&articleID=47447
Steve Stockmar, The Daily Courier July 29, 2013 Prescott Arizona

They're Red Hot"
Artist: Robert Johnson

..."First, let's talk about the guitar. Robert Johnson's rhythmically-cinematic acoustic guitar is the blueprint for Keith Richards' DNA. Let's move on.

The key line of "They're Red Hot" is "hot tamales and they're red hot." Throughout this performance, one is never quite sure whether Robert is referring to tamales or women, but even money is on the latter...

It's brilliant Robert Johnson. What's most amazing is his tireless tempo. Robert's twangy guitar works hard to keep up with his relentless fingers. And so help me, he takes on the whole song with a single mighty breath. He raps 581 words in exactly three minutes and one second, as though begging for an urgent glass of water after suddenly eating a hot tamale.

Recorded Nov. 27, 1936, in San Antonio. It's found on any one of three albums available on most mp3 sites: "All Time Blues Classics," "Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings," and "King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. 2."
Enjoy.
-snip-
Prior to researching information for this psot, I was familiar with the "hot tamales and they're red hot" refrain of this song, but I wasn't aware how really risque this song actually is - for example, "the monkey & baboon playing in the grass" verse.

As a bit of trivia, the "girl who's long & tall/sleeps in the kitchen with her feet in the hall" verse is an old African American floating verse. At least one song that is included in Thomas W. Talley's now classic 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise describes a man being so long and tall that he chicken roost on his feet. And the description of a girl being long & tall is the inspiration for Little Richard'a 1956 Rock & Roll song "Long Tall Sally".

Also, it's my strong opinion that the title & refrain of Robert Johnson's uptempo Blues song "They're Red Hot" -but not its risque verses- are the inpiration for the children's cheerleader cheer "Red Hot" [Our team is red hot!] However, I believe that few if any of those cheerleaders or their adult coaches are aware of the connection between their cheers and this famous Blues song.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/07/childrens-cheer-our-team-is-red-hot.html for video examples & commentary about the children's cheer "Our Team Is Red Hot".

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Thanks to Robert Johnson for his musical legacy. Thanks also to those who are quoted in this post & to the publisher of the sound file which is showcased in this post.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

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Origins & Examples of "I Know You Rider"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides information about the origin of the Blues song "I Know You Rider" and the way that song became known in (White) American Folk & Rock music circuits. The lyrics to two versions of "I Know You Rider" are also given in this post.

The song "I Know You Rider" is a good example of a song that orginated from African Americans but was collected (and thus preserved) by White folklorists and was/is arranged, performed, and popularized by numerous non-African American vocalists. In particular, "I Know You Rider" is most associated with the White American Rock band "The Grateful Dead".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/07/see-see-rider-blues-information.html for another post about a song that includes the word "rider".

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

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WHAT THE BLUES TERM "RIDER" MEANS
In Blues songs (and Folk or Rock songs that are based on Blues songs) a "rider" is a person's sexual partner.

Here's an excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_See_Rider about the often found term "easy rider":
"The term "See See Rider" is usually taken as synonymous with "easy rider." In particular, in blues songs it often refers to a woman who had liberal sexual views, had been married more than once, or was skilled at sex. Although Ma Rainey's version seems on the face of it to refer to "See See Rider" as a man, one theory is that the term refers to a prostitute and in the lyric, "You made me love you, now your man done come," "your man" refers to the woman's pimp. So, rather than being directed to a male "easy rider," the song is in fact an admonition to a prostitute to give up her evil ways."

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INFORMATION ABOUT HOW THE SONG "I KNOW YOU RIDER" WAS FIRST CIRCULATED AMONG FOLK & ROCK SINGERS
(Editor: This comment is reposted from http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=40592&messages=78 "Origins: I Know You Rider" I'm reposting it as a means of highlighting Bob Coltman's significant & little known role in the development & circulation of the song "I Know You Rider". and as an example of how "traditional" African American songs have been picked up by non-African American performers.)

Subject: RE: Origins: I Know You Rider
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 10 Jan 06 - 12:55 PM
"...I should correct, and amplify on, my earlier post, and try to give a history of the song as best I know it, in response to some of the guesses (a few of which are wide of the mark) and questions above.

I got the song in the mid-1950s from the Lomaxes'* 1934 American Ballads and Folk Songs (not Our Singing Country as I first remembered). It's on p. 196. Apparently I was the first to pick it up and sing it, though it had lain around unnoticed in that well-known collection for twenty years.

... The Lomax headnote says "An eighteen-year-old black girl, in prison for murder, sang the tune and the first stanza of these blues." The Lomaxes added a number of "floating verses" from other, uncredited sources, and named it "Woman Blue."

So I resurrected and debuted the song. I followed the tune given in Lomax, roughly but not exactly, changed the song from a woman's to a man's viewpoint, dropped two verses, and was its first arranger, voice and guitar in a heavy drag downbeat, sort of an early folk-rock sound.

I sang it a lot in folk circles around Philadelphia, in concerts, around Boston, mostly at the legendary Old Joe Clarke's, and in Dartmouth Outing Club hiker/climber/skier circles, which took me around New York State and New England circa 1957-60. I also sang it in the west, in Wyoming/Tetons "Teton Tea Parties" and on the West Coast, especially in San Francisco and Los Angeles, late summer-early fall '59. Then I went in the Army (sorta like prison) and everything went on hold.

As previously stated, Tossi Aaron learned the song from me in Philadelphia around 1959. She sang it on her Prestige LP. The song traveled around for years among a few East and West Coast folksingers but was not sung by very many people (most white kids took a while to crash the blues).

No well-known singer recorded it until the Kingston Trio. They presumably got it from some West Coast singer who heard me in '59 -- it's possible they heard it from Tossi Aaron's LP, but that LP didn't get much West Coast circulation as far as I know. I never knew Dave Guard personally but he could perhaps have heard me in a West Coast hoot or concert, or else got it from someone who did. The Trio may well have been the Seldom Scene's source, as they drew from all sorts of music stylists.

The next breakout singer to record it was James Taylor in, I think, 1967. He picked it up during his teen years, probably at the hoots on Martha's Vineyard. It may have come from the Trio LP, Tossi's LP, or from some hiker or beach bum who got it from me via New England hoot circles.

Janis Joplin got the song almost simultaneously, perhaps from James, or vice versa. Her source could, I think, have been someone on the West Coast who'd heard it from me, or could have been James. Janis, blues freak that she was, was presumably Jerry Garcia and the Dead's source, perhaps via Jorma Kaukkonen who was the real blues fanatic in that crowd.

Later versions, like the Byrds, Martin-Neil, Rowan & Rice and so on, all derive from those early ones. There is, I think I can state categorically, no other source or root for this song apart from Lomax and me. I have never heard any other song that could be credibly a version of it.

Don't be misled by the Google associations. The song has nothing to do with C.C/Easy Rider or any of the other Rider songs; it is distinct and quite different.

Neither Blind Lemon Jefferson nor Leadbelly recorded the song in any form I know of, and I've heard virtually everything by both men. However, a Lomax verse I didn't use, "Did you ever wake up and find your rider gone?" is heard in various 1920s recordings, and "Sun goin' to shine in my back door some day / Wind's gonna rise up, blow my blues away" is of course universal from c. 1920 on.

The rest of the verses sound like good solid traditional blues but are unique to this song. However, because they were supplied by the Lomaxes, I think we have to worry, as with much Lomax material, that they may have been tinkered with by Alan Lomax, who did more rewriting than he admitted. They're great verses, though, and make the song what it is.

The unnamed Lomax source (doesn't that frost ya? couldn't they have given her name? or did they think that would have endangered her in prison?) is the originator of the core song. Wish we knew her name so we could credit her.

Probably I shoulda copyrighted it. (Everybody else since has.) But in those days a lot of us believed traditional songs were free as the air and should not be locked down. The music industry, obviously, disagreed.

You could, if you wish, credit it Traditional, arr. Bob Coltman.

I'm proud to be the guy who, after Lomax, started the song on its musical rounds. All credit to the Lomaxes for putting it together, and to Tossi, who knew a good song when she heard one."
-snip-
"The Lomaxes" refers to American folklorists John & Alan Lomax.

****
AN EARLY ARRANGEMENT OF "I KNOW YOU RIDER"
LYR ADD: Origins: I Know You Rider
From:GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 11 Jan 06 - 03:04 PM

"Thought some of you might like to see a text of the song as I revised, arranged and performed it 1959-75 or so...

I KNOW YOU RIDER
(Traditional, arranged by Bob Coltman)

I know you rider, gonna miss me when I'm gone,
I know you rider, gonna miss me when I'm gone,
Gonna miss your man, baby, from rollin' in your arms.

I laid down last night, babe, tried to take my rest…
But my mind kept ramblin' like wild geese in the west.

I know my woman bound to love me some…
'Cause she throws her arms round me like a circle round the sun.

I'm goin' down to the river, set down on a log…
If I can't be your man, honey, sure won't be your dog.

I cut your wood, baby, and I made your fire…
I tote' your liquor babe, from the Fresno Bar.

Just as sure as the birds fly high in the sky above…
Life ain't worth livin' if you ain't with the one you love.

I'm goin' down the road, get some better care…
I'm goin' back to my used-to-be rider, for I don't feel welcome here.

Sun gonna shine in my back door some day…
Wind gonna rise up, blow my blues away.

Source: http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=40592&messages=78

****
FEATURED EXAMPLES
(These examples are presented in chronological order based on their posting date, with the oldest dates posted first.)

Example #1: Janis Joplin - "I Know You Rider"



Shroomeryslearyfan, Uploaded on Mar 5, 2010

****
Example #2: Tossi Aaron - I Know You Rider (1960)



RPB412, Uploaded on Mar 21, 2011

I discovered this song from The Grateful Dead and have been searching for as many other versions as I could find ever since. This is probably not the oldest recording of it, but it is the oldest one I have found.

****
Example #3: Joan Baez - I Know You Rider



enya mea, Uploaded on Jul 13, 2011

****
Example #4: Grateful Dead - I Know You Rider



samsurfer17, Uploaded on Dec 3, 2011

I know you rider gonna miss me when I'm gone
I know you rider gonna miss me when I'm gone
gonna miss your baby
from rollin in your arms

Laid down last night
Lord I could not take my rest
Laid down last night
Lord I could not take my rest
My mind was wandering like the wild geese in the west

The sun will shine in my back door someday
The sun will shine in my back door someday
March winds will blow all my troubles away

I wish I was a headlight
on a northbound train...
I wish I was a headlight
on a northbound train!
I'd shine my light through
cool Colorado rain

I know you rider gonna miss me when I'm gone
I know you rider gonna miss me when I'm gone
Gonna miss your baby
from rollin in your arms

I know you rider gonna miss me when I'm gone
gone
gone
I know you rider gonna miss me when I'm gone
gone
gone
Gonna miss your baby
from rolling in your arms

****
My thanks to the unknown original composer of this song, thanks to the Lomaxes for their inclusion of this song in their 1930s collection of African American Folk songs, and thanks to Bob Coltman for his early arrangement of "I Know You Rider". My thanks also to the vocalists & musicians who are featured in the examples that are showcased in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these featured sound files.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More

Bobby "Blue" Bland - Further Up The Road (with lyrics & comments)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases performances of "Further Up The Road" by Bobby Blue Bland. Information about Bobby Blue Bland, lyrics & comments about this song are also included in this post.

The content of this post is provided for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT BOBBY "BLUE" BLAND
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Bland
"Robert Calvin "Bobby" Bland (January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), also known as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American singer of blues and soul. He was an original member of the Beale Streeters,[1] and was sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues". Along with such artists as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and Junior Parker, Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B.[1] An imitator of Frank Sinatra, he was also known as the “Sinatra of the blues”, his music being influenced by Nat King Cole.[2]

Bobby Bland was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1981, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.[3]"

****
INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "FURTHER UP THE ROAD"
From
""Farther Up the Road" is credited to Joe Medwick (born Joseph Medwick Veasey), a Houston-area independent songwriter/broker, and Duke Records owner Don Robey. In an interview, blues singer Johnny Copeland claimed he and Medwick wrote the song in one night; Medwick then sold it the next day to Robey, with Robey taking Copeland's songwriting credit.[2] According to Bobby Bland, Medwick wrote the song with no involvement by Robey.[2]

Farther Up the Road" is a mid-tempo twelve-bar blues that has been called a "seminal Texas shuffle".[3] It features Bland's vocals contrasted with the aggressive guitar sound of Pat Hare.[4] The backing arrangement is provided by the Bill Harvey Orchestra, who add a big band-influenced intro and outro as well as chord substitutions to the twelve-bar scheme. Part of the song's success may be due to Bland's "telling a convincing story, making brief lyrical vignettes highly believable with his conversational style".[5]

The song was Bland's first charting single after several years of recording for various record companies. It became a #1 hit during a fourteen-week stay in 1957 in the Billboard R&B chart as well as reaching #43 in the Billboard pop chart.[6] Bland enjoyed nearly uninterrupted chart success for the next twenty years."

****
LYRICS - FURTHER UP THE ROAD

Further on up the road
Someone's gonna hurt you
Like you hurt me
Further on up the road
Someone's gonna hurt you
Like you hurt me

Further on up the road
Baby, you just wait and see

You got to reap
Just what you sow
That old saying is true
You got to reap
Just what you sow
That old saying is true

Like you mistreat someone
Someone's gonna mistreat you

Now you're laughing, pretty baby
Someday, you're gonna be crying
Now you're laughing, pretty baby
Someday, you're gonna be crying

Further on up the road
You found out I wasn't lying

Yeah, baby
Further on up the road, baby
You found out I wasn't lying

Further on up the road
When you're all alone and blue
Further on up the road
When you're all alone and blue

You're gonna ask me to
Take you back, baby
But I'll have somebody new

Mmm, baby
Further on up the road
Mmm, baby
Further on up the road
Mmm, you'll get yours

Source: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/b/bobby_bland/farther_up_the_road.html


****
SHOWCASE EXAMPLES
Example #1: Further up the road - Bobby bland



Deckswax,Uploaded on Nov 19, 2009

'Further up the road' by Bobby Bland.

A tale of what goes around comes around.
If ever a man had the wrong name it was Robert Bland 'cos bland he certainly wasn't.
-snip-
Here are three comments from this soundfile's viewer comment thread http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq3cYcEfJtY:
"In Memphis in 1956 he was called Bobby ^" BLUE"^ Bland by no less than Dewey Phiilips on his radio show on Saturday night on WHBQ from the near condemned Chickasaw Hotel mezzeanaine floor { phonetically pronounced Chicksa] and on his tv show weekdays at 4:00pm His gorilla would just say Duh!

And BB King and Rufus Thomas at WDIA woud agree."
-ju2071944, 2013
**
"This wouldn't be the same without Pat Hare's amazing guitar work, a true blues guitar hero."
-ShotgunBuddha4698, 2012
**
"Oh Man!!! The original and still the best. He IS GREAT!!!

Why can't you hear this on the (free) radio? Clapton copies this and they play it to death-Bobby is the original and it doesn't get on. WTH."
-TommyMacDaddy1, 2010

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Example #2: "Further On Up The Road" - Bobby "Blue" Bland



malacomg, Uploaded on Feb 10, 2011
-snip-
Here's a comment from this video's viewer comment thread:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRZCdJ4n60Q
"Yes the tempo is a little fast but Bobby is doing 200+ shows a year when this show was taped. You are listening to one of the songs that Bobby did that's been covered by everybody. Listen closely and you have to agree Bobby does this song the best. Hell it was a song he sang first.Bobby Bland a well kept secret Bobby Bland like Elvis a good Memphis singer."
-"Thaddeus Youmans, 2012

****
Thanks to Bobby Blue Bland for his musical legacy. Thanks also to the composers & the transcriber of these lyrics, and the publishers of this exampls on YouTube.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More

Hubert Sumlin with Billy Branch - ''You Can't Change Me'' (with lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases the performance of the Blues song "You Can't Change Me" by Hubert Sumlin and Billy Branch.

My transcription of the lyrics to that song is also included in this post. Additions & corrections of those lyrics are welcome.

This post also includes biographical information about those two Bluesmen.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT HUBERT SUMLIN
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Sumlin">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Sumlin
"Hubert Charles Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer,[1] best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howlin' Wolf's band.[2] Sumlin was listed as number 43 in the Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.[3]

... As a boy, Sumlin first met Howlin' Wolf by sneaking into a performance. When Wolf relocated from Memphis to Chicago in 1953, his long-time guitarist Willie Johnson chose not to join him. Upon his arrival in Chicago, Wolf first hired Chicago guitarist Jody Williams, and in 1954 Wolf invited Sumlin to relocate to Chicago to play second guitar in his Chicago-based band. Williams left the band in 1955, leaving Sumlin as the primary guitarist, a position he held almost continuously (except for a brief spell playing with Muddy Waters around 1956) for the remainder of Wolf's career... Sumlin played on the album Howlin' Wolf, also called The Rockin' Chair Album, which was named the third greatest guitar album of all time by Mojo magazine in 2004."...

****
INFORMATION ABOUT BILLY BRANCH
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Branch
"Billy Branch (born William Earl Branch, October 3, 1951, Great Lakes, Illinois, United States) is an American blues harmonica player and singer of Chicago blues and harmonica blues...

Billy Branch is a three time Grammy nominee, a retired two term governor for the Chicago Grammy Chapter, an Emmy Award winner, and a winner of the Addy Award. In addition, Branch has received numerous humanitarian and music awards.

Branch was born in Great Lakes, Chicago, Illinois, although his family moved to Los Angeles when he was five years old. In 1969 he moved to Chicago where he attended and graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago.[1]

Branch attended the first Chicago Blues Fest, produced by Willie Dixon, in 1969. Six years later, after graduating from the University of Illinois, he was touring with the band led by Willie Dixon called the Chicago Blues All-Stars. He soon took the place of the harmonica player Carey Bell, when Carey left the All Stars to form his own band.

In the 1970s, Branch founded his own group, The Sons of Blues, along with Lurrie Bell on guitar and Freddie Dixon on bass guitar.[1] They are the sons of Carey Bell and Willie Dixon respectively, and they recorded for Alligator Records and with a change in personnel for Red Beans Records.[1] The new band consisted of Carlos Johnson on guitar and J.W. Williams on vocals and bass guitar.[1] He has also recorded for Verve Records and Evidence Records.[2][3]"...

****
SHOWCASE SOUND FILE [WITH PHOTOGRAPHS & DRAWINGS]

Hubert Sumlin with Billy Branch (on harmonica )~''You Can't Change Me''



Published on Apr 5, 2013

The GREAT GUITARIST of Howlin' Wolf...Hubert Sumlin !!!

****
LYRICS - YOU CAN'T CHANGE ME*

I been gone so long
Yeah, baby, I been gone so long.
See you got me in trouble here.
Every since I’ve been gone.
I did all I could for you.
Seems like all the things I did
Wasn’t no good.
[instrument solos]

I been good so long here
Now, baby, I think you understand
I been worked so long for many years
Little girl, I think you understand it, you understand
I did everything I could for you, listen
I think you gotta a wonder of a man

[Hey.]

[instrument solos]

Goodbye, baby
It be goodif I never seen you, never seen you, sugar
Ah, you know I’ve been abused all my life,
Hey, little girl I don’t care if I never don’t see you no more.
Baby baby, baby
I thought I caught your last trick
Now I know I don’t need a baby.
-snip-
The words given in italics indicate are those whose transcriptions I'm unsure of. Additions & corrections are welcome for this entire transcription.

****
Thanks to Hubert Sumlin & Billy Branch for their musical legacy.
Thanks to the publisher of this sound file & the excellent historical photographs & drawings that are presented with it.

Thanks for visting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More

Pink Anderson and Simmie Dooley - Every Day in the Week Blues (sound file & lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases the early Blues song "Every Day in the Week Blues" by Pink Anderson and Simmie Dooley. Information about Pink Anderson & two versions of lyrics for this song are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT PINK ANDERSON
From http://www.bluessearchengine.com/bluesartists/a/pinkanderson.html
"Pink Anderson (February 12, 1900–October 12, 1974) was a blues singer and guitarist, born in Laurens, South Carolina. After being raised in Spartanburg (in upstate South Carolina), he joined Dr. Kerr of the Indian Remedy Company in 1914 to entertain the crowds (sing, dance, in the early days) while Kerr tried to sell a concoction purported to have medicinal qualities. In 1916, in Spartanburg, Pink Anderson met Simmie Dooley, from whom Pink learned to be a blues singer. When Pink Anderson was not travelling with Dr. Kerr, he and Simmie Dooley would play small gatherings in Spartanburg and neighboring communities. After Dr. Kerr retired in 1945, Pink Anderson stayed pretty much close to home in Spartanburg, keeping his musical talents in tune with a small guitar and harmonica. Heart problems forced Pink Anderson to retire in 1957. Pink Anderson's son, known as Little Pink Anderson is currently a bluesman in Georgia. Pink Anderson recorded some songs in the 1960s and appeared in the 1963 film The Bluesmen. Roger 'Syd' Barrett derived the name Pink Floyd juxtapositioning the first names of Pink Anderson and Floyd Council he had read about in a sleevenote by Paul Oliver for a 1962 Blind Boy Fuller LP (Philips BBL-7512)"...

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO - Pink Anderson and Simmie Dooley - Every Day in the Week Blues



dylansaves, Uploaded on Dec 20, 2009

Pink Anderson and Simmie Dooley perform "Every Day in the Week Blues," found on the compilation series "Times Ain't Like They Used to Be: Rural Music of the 1920's and 30's." Pictured: Pink Anderson
-snip-
A transcription of the lyrics for this version of "Every Day Of The Week Blues" is found below. However, that transcription doesn't include the dialogue between Pink Anderson And Simmie Dooley which I believe adds to the "feel" -the cultural tone- of that recording.

A commenter to this sound file's viewer comment thread shares that the boy pictured in the photograph that is used for this sound file is probably Alvin "Lil' Pink" Anderson, Pink's son. Lil' Pink is also a guitarist who still performs.

Another commenter confirms that this song is really called "Every Day In The Week Blues" although Pink Anderson did record another version of that song.
(Those lyrics are found below as Version #2)

This same sound file can also be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr52zaz6os0

****
LYRICS - EVERY DAY IN THE WEEK BLUES

Version #1:
I woke up this morning
What you reckon was on my mind
My brown told me to leave but I told her I just wasn't gwine

Woke up singing this morning
When the clock was striking four
All I heard my baby crying daddy please don't go

Show me the train
You call the Cannonball
That's the train don't stop a'tall

My momma told me
When I was but a child
That there's good times now but terrible after a while

If you ride the Seaboard
I ride the L & N
Momma that's the train'll sure carry me in the wind

My momma told me
When I was four years old
You gonna be around a woman god bless your soul

Lord a mean old fireman
A cruel old engineer
Took my good girl and left me standing here

I'm gon' buy me a manger
I wanna carry it to the sky
So I can see my baby when she comes passing by

Well I took this brown skinned woman
From my best friend
And that rascal got lucky and stole her back again

I woke up this morning
Ah with the rising sun
Said go away day and let tomorrow come

Singing my blues
And I sing 'em when I please
I sing these blues to give my poor heart ease

Sometime I feel like
I done throw it away
Take this old guitar and whoop these blues all day

You must get your basket brownie
And make it into them woods
If you don't find an old apple you must make black [berries]* good

Source : Fkeller, July 24, 2012, 12:20:27 PM http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=2742.15

That blogger prefaced this transcription with this comment "Been meaning to check collective wisdom on this for a long time. I've always loved this one but could use some help in a couple spots. I searched but didn't see that this had been done before. I apologize if it has."

*Two other commenters shared that that word was "berries" instead of "bread" as Fkeeller had transcribed it.

"My brown" and "brownie" were commonly used and acceptable referent among some Black American for [Black American] women with brown skin. The term "yellow woman" in version #2 of this song refers to Black American women with very light skin.

****
Version #2:
I woke up this morning, when the clock was striking four
You oughta heard my baby cry, ‘daddy, please don’t go’
I can’t believe you woman, God knows I have to go
Had the blues so long since I made my poor heart so

Well the blues jumped the devil, run the devil a solid mile
The devil sat down and he cried like a newborn child
If you’ve got you one woman, well you sure better get you five
Cuz two might quit you and the other three might die

I’ve got a Monday woman, works on 4th and Main
I’ve got a Tuesday woman brings me all her change
My Wednesday woman brings me whiskey and beer
I’ve got a Thursday woman, raise sand if she catch me here
My Friday woman just won’t treat me right,
I got a Saturday woman I declare works me all night
My Sunday woman leaves me on my own to sleep
You gotta know about that, got a gal every day in the week

I don’t love no yellow woman, and I ain’t crazy about no brown
Cuz you can’t tell the difference I declare when the sun go down
My old grandma, and my grandpa, both of them got old and grey
If grandpa hadn’t a talked careful I wouldn’t have been here today

I’m going to sing this verse and I declare I ain’t gonna sing no more
I’m gonna leave here directly, gonna walk and tell everything I know

Transcribed by Fingerstyleblues.com
Source: http://fingerstyleblues.com/lesson-20-pink-andersons-every-day-in-the-week-blues/

snip-
That website also has guitar chords for this song.

Here's an excerpt from that website:
"Every Day in the Week Blues is a classic Pink Anderson song which can be found on Pink Anderson: Vol. 1 Carolina Bluesman and the album this version comes from, the great Gospel Blues & Street Songs album which features the songs of both Pink Anderson and Reverend Gary Davis. This is an energetic song played in the Piedmont style with a loose ragtime sort feel."
-snip-
Another partial lyric version to this song can be found at http://www.lyricszoo.com/pink-anderson/every-day-of-the-week/.

****
Thanks to these vocalists for their musical legacy. Thanks also to the transcribers of this song who I have quoted, and thanks to the publishers of this sound file on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More

"Roll And Tumble Blues" & "Rollin And Tumblin" (Sound Files & Lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases a sound file of the Blues classic "Roll And Tumbled Blues" and two song files of the Blues classics "Rollin & Tumblin" which were adapted from that song.

These songs are presented in the order of their recording & are by Hambone Willie Newbern, Muddy Waters, and Elmore James. The lyrics to these versions are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

****
FEATURED EXAMPLES & THEIR LYRICS

Example #1: Hambone Willie Newbern - Roll and Tumble Blues [1929]



wisdomisbetter, Uploaded on Jul 9, 2011
-snip-
LYRICS - ROLL AND TUMBLE BLUES
(Hambone Willie Newbern)

And I rolled and I tumbled
and I cried the whole night long
And I rosed this morning mama
and I didn't know right from wrong

Did you ever wake up
nd find your dough‑roller gone
And you wrings your hands
and you cry the whole day long

And I told my woman Lord
[just] before I left her town
Don't she let nobody
tear her barrelhouse down

And I fold my arms Lord
and I [slowly] walked away
Says that's all right sweet mama
your trouble going to come some day

Source: http://www.elyrics.net/read/h/hambone-willie-newbern-lyrics/roll-and-tumble-blues-lyrics.html
-snip-
your "dough roller" = your female lover
"Don't let nobody tear her barrelhouse down" = Don't have sex with anyone else.

****
Example #2: Muddy Waters - Rollin' & Tumblin' ( Chess 1950 )
cojwat, Uploaded on Apr 25, 2010

Recorded in the year 1950 at Chess label. There is also other versions of this song here in YouTube, but they are all worth of listening. Muddy Waters is the Father of Chicago Blues and absolutely one of the greatest blues musicians.

I hope owners of the rights want to see this as an honor to this artist, which it really is. And same goes to these random photos, paintings and artworks, which I have found from net.
My hope is that everyone can just listen to this fine musician. Enjoy!

Its so nice, that you can still buy these recordings on CD!
-snip-
LYRICS - ROLLIN AND TUMBLIN
(as performed by Muddy Waters)

Well, I rolled and I tumbled,
Cried the whole night long.
Well, I rolled and I tumbled,
Cried the whole night long.
Well, I woke up this mornin,
Didn't know right from wrong.

Well, I told my baby,
Before I left that town.
Well, I told my baby,
Before I left that town.
Well, don't you let nobody,
Tear my barrelhouse down.

Well, ahh, mmm-hmmm,
Owww, oww ooo, aww, oww, oh.
Aaa, mmm-hmmm, oww, oh oh oh
Owww, oww ooo, aww, oww, oh.

Well, if the river was whiskey,
And I was a divin duck.
Well, if the river was whiskey,
And I was a divin duck.
Well, I would dive to the bottom,
Never would I come up.

Well, I could a had a religion,
This bad old thing instead.
Well, I could a had a religion,
This bad old thing instead.
Well, all whiskey and women,
Would not let me pray.

Source: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/m/muddy_waters/rollin_tumblin.html [reformatted]

****
Example #3: Elmore James - Rollin' and Tumblin' [1960]



shortrax, Uploaded on Aug 18, 2008

Fiery version of the blues standard by Mississippi slide guitar legend Elmo. It is basically the same tune as Robert Johnson's Travellin' Riverside Blues, but even that was not the earliest version.
-snip-
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecwW2fX1Yew for a sound file of Robert Johnson's Travelin Riverside Blues.

Also, click http://www.lyricsmania.com/traveling_riverside_blues_lyrics_robert_johnson.html for the lyrics to that song. Warning: The lyrics are rather risque.
-snip-
LYRICS - ROLLIN AND TUMBLIN
(as performed by Elmore James)

I roll and I tumble,
cried the whole night long
Yes I roll and I tumble,
I cried the whole night long
I got up this morning,
feeling that something going on wrong

Well now want you to love me baby,
or please let me be
Yes love me baby,
or please let me be
If you don't like my peaches
please don't shake my tree

Well I want you to love me baby,
and come on and say you'll be mine
I want you to love me baby,
come and say you'll be mine
If you don't like my potatoes,
please don't dig up my vine

Source: http://www.lyricstime.com/elmore-james-rollin-and-tumblin-lyrics.html [reformatted]

****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to these Bluesmen for their musical legacy. Thanks also to the publishers of these sound files on YouTube, and thanks to the transcribers of these lyrics.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More

Jimmie Stouthers - Going To Richmond (with lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases a 1936 sound file of Jimmie Strothers singing the Blues song "Going To Richmond".

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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INFORMATION ABOUT JIMMIE SOUTHERS
From http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jimmie-strothers-mn0000850010 by Steve Leggett
"Jimmie Strothers was a blind banjo and guitar player from Virginia who recorded 15 tracks for Alan Lomax and Harold Spivacke in 1936. Biographical details are sketchy, but Strothers was apparently a medicine show entertainer for a time before going to work in the mines, where an explosion took his eyesight, forcing him to earn a living as a street singer. Things changed even more drastically when he was convicted of murdering his wife with an axe and was sent to the state penitentiary in Lynn, VA, which was where Lomax and Spivacke, working on a field recording project for the Library of Congress, found him. Strothers recorded a total of 13 songs (plus alternate takes of "Jaybird" and "Poontang Little, Poontang Small") over the course of two days on June 13 and June 14, 1936, often with fellow inmate Joe Lee sharing vocal and guitar duties...

In two days of recording, Jimmie Strothers managed to leave behind an edgy, singular, and fascinating group of songs that explore the boundaries between the sacred and the profane."

****
FEATURED SOUND FILE

Jimmie Strothers - Going to Richmond



mgstill, Published on Mar 17, 2013
Recorded by John A. Lomax and Harold Spivacke 1936
at the State Farm,
Lynn, Virginia
-snip-
"State Farm" is a referent for a prison.

****
NOTES ABOUT THIS TRANSCRIPTION
I made this transcription from repeatedly listening to this sound file. Words that I'm unsure of are in italics.

Notes about some of these lyrics are posted below this transcription.

Additions and corrections to this transcription are welcome.

****
LYRICS - GOING TO RICHMOND
(as sung by Jimmie Stouthers, 1936)

1.Yes, I’m goin to Richmond
Baby,leavin for paradise
Gonna see that woman
That sure gonna rag my life.

2.Yes, I’m goin to Richmond
And I’m leavin for paradise
Gonna see that woman
That sure don’t rag my life.

3.Yes, I’m leavin old Clarice
And I’m headed for Tennessee.
Gonna see that brownskin
That sure made a fool of me.

4.Yes, I’m leavin that Clarice
Baby, I’m headed for Tennessee.
Gonna see that fast brown
That sure made a fool of me.

5. Yes, [I’m] an old old teacher
And I feed my salty soul, yes, old boy
Sure know not to trust no young woman
No where on earth you go.

6. Yes, it’s an old old teaching
And I feed my salty soul, son
Don’t you trust no young woman
No where on earth you go.

7. Yes, your fast brown will tell you
That she love you all her life, oh boy
Meet another dude around the corner
And re-tell that same lie twice.

8.Yes, your fast brown will tell you
That she love you all her life, oh boy
Meet another dude around the corner
And re-tell that same lie twice.

9.Well I stand duh women
I sure gonna do this fine.
Have ah hand full of gimmie
And a mouth full of much supplies

10. Well I stand duh women
I sure gonna do this fine.
Gotta hand full of gimmie
And a mouth full of much supplies

11. I got one good ole poodle
And ah baby that a long legged hound.
I got one high yella
And two, three brown.

12. I got one high yella
Yeah, And two three browns
I got one high yella
Really and two three browns.

13. Train come round the mountain
This mornin in a solid> moan
If I live to see tomorrow
Gonna roll in my bad brown’s arms.

14. Train come round the mountain
In a solid moan
If I live to see tomorrow
Gonna roll in my bad brown’s arms.

15. (for the first two lines - Strothers hums and plays the guitar)
I got the Blues and I can’t be satisfied.
Well, I got the Blues, babe.
And I can’t be satisfied.

16. Goin down by the river
And hang down my head and cry
Well I been mistreated
And I can’t be satisfied.

17. Yes, I’m goin to away to leave
To get you off of my mind.
Baby, I’m goin away to leave you.
To get you off my mind.

18. Yes, I’m goin away to leave you.
Get the worry of you off my mind
And I won’t be worried,
Honey, ‘bout you all the time.

19. I done played this piece babe
Till my fingers got sore
Now ain’t nothing doin
I ain’t gonna play no more.

****
NOTES ON THIS TRANSCRIPTION
1. "gonna rag for the rest of my life" = gonna make me poor, gonna mess me up for the rest of my life [These are only guesses.]

2. "brownskin" - A brown skinned Black woman

4. I'm unsure of this transcription. "Fast brown" could be "fair brown". The word "fast" here and elsewhere in this song means a person who has many sexual interactions, a promiscuous person.

5. "I feed my salty soul" - A salty man was a term for a man that was "randy", a man who is always interested in sex and also is very good at sex. An equivalent term is "Candy man".

9."Well I stand duh women" = I think this is "Well, I understand the women" with "duh" meaning "the"

"A hand full of gimme" - she's always asking me to give her something [such as store bought items, clothes, shoes etc] goods]

"And a mouth full of much supplies - she's always demanding many things of me. [Or is this word "must" instead of "much"]

11. The singer is describing one woman as a poddle dog, and another as a long long legged hound [One is short and one is tall?]

High yella - a very light skin Black woman

13. bad brown - a brown skin woman who is a "nice girl" [?]

19. This verse is representative of other Blues songs, African American, Caribbean, and African folk songs and folktales that have "in conclusion" type rhyming endings. One such ending is found in versions of the "Frog Went A Courtin" songs:
"Frog's bridle and saddle are on the shelf.
If you want any more you must sing it yourself."

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to Jimmie Strothers for his musical legacy. Thanks also to the YouTube publisher of this sound file.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More

Debunking The Urban Myth About "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracka"

Edited by Azizi Powell

"Hooka Tooka Soda Craka" is a song that is most often associated with the Rhythm & Blues singer Chubby Checker or the Folk/Pop singer Judy Henske.

I've read a number of places online a story that is attributed by her fans to Judy Henske that the lyrics to "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracker" come from Black American children who would sing this song to warn their prostitue mothers that the police were outside. For example, read this YouTube sound file publisher's summary:

Hooka Tooka Two



Man06ful, Uploaded on Aug 22, 2009
"the main lyrics here came from a skip rope song by children of prostitutes playing outside the whore houses. Somehow Judy Henske found this song - svaed [sic] it. The kids were holding soda crackers and chewing tobacco to pass to their mothers if there was a bust."
-snip-
This video uploader expands on that story in his or her comments on that sound file's viewer comment thread:
"Henske made up the lyrics - Green Rocky Road - and had a law suit for years with Chubby Checker who - used her lyrics. Henske introduced the song - explaining the bit about kids in front of whore houses holding chewing tobbacco and soda crackers for their mothers if there was a bust - because in jail they werent allowed cigarettes and the bread was mouldy. The rythme - lyrics are exactly like other skip rope songs....
-Man06ful, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsAt9hrrKh0
-snip-
The story that "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracka" comes from a "skip rope song by children of protitutes playing outside the whore houses" just doesn't seem credible to me.

It ssems probable to me that this story is an elaboration by fans of a joking comment that Judy Henske made during an introduction to that song, an elaboration which was not only accepted by some of her fans, but grew to include the "holding soda cracker and chewing tobacco" portion. According to a blogger with the screen name "old frat" on this 1996 discussion thread https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/rec.music.folk/SkUpw3iKaQs "Hooka Tooka My Soda Cracker"
"Judy Henske does a great version of this song ["Does your mama chaw tobacca?], and is probably the one you remember.

On the album, it starts with a humorous monologue intro where she asks the group to repeat the chorus. She then says, "You sound like a bunch of kids outside a Chicagoe whorehouse." The song itself doesn't really seem to be about this subject at all --or I've been mssing the true meaning of soda cracker all of my life."
-snip-
The question about which album this comment is found in was answered by this comment that was posted in 2003 by Joe Offer on this thread of the Mudcat Folk & Blues music forum http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=59549 "Lyr Req: PLease help 'Hucka CHucka soda cracka'?":
"I found the Henske arrangement - it's on her self-titled album, released on Elektra in 1963 and recently reissued on CD. She calls it "Hooka Tooka," and says it's traditional, arranged by Henske."

If this story isn't an elaboration by her fans of a comment that Judy Henske made about the quality of her audience's singing that "Hooka Tooka" song, if Judy Henske actually believed the story about the song being used by children to warn their mothers of a police bust story, I have these questions:

How did that singer learn that the jump rope rhyme/song "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracka" was used by those Black children (in Chicago or elsewhere) as a means of warning their mothers or other women in that whore house that a police bust was imminent? Did she hear the children singing that song and then go up to them and ask them why they were singing it? If the children told her that story, did she believe it without checking it? And how would she check such a story? Isn't it possible that those Black children made up a fanciful story for that White woman?

Also, how did she know that they were "holding soda crackers and chewing tobacco to give to their mothers if there was a bust? Where were these items placed while they were turning a jump rope and jumping rope? Furthermore, is it consistent with mothers' behaviors that they would force their children or encourage their children to play in front of the house where they are whoring so that their children would warn them in a pre-arranged manner of a possible police bust?

In my opinion, that this story has been accepted by so many people without questioning its crediblity speaks to Americans' negative stereotypes about Black women.

Even if Judy Henske somehow learned that "Hooka Tooka Soda Craker" was sung by some children in Chicago to warn their mothers of a police bust, that doesn't mean that this song was first sung for that reason. Nor does it mean that this song was always sung for that reason.

CORRECTING THAT URBAN MYTH
I believe that the song "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracka" is an American (probably African American) adaptation of the United Kingdom children's counting out rhyme "Icka Backa Soda Cracker". I also believe that the United Kingdom children's singing game "Walking On The Green Grass" is another source of "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracker" song. The American song "Green Green Rocky Road" sometimes include a version of "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracka". Click this page of my Cocojams cultural website for text versions of these & other songs that I believe are related to "Hooka Tooka Soda Cracka": http://cocojams.com/content/text-analysis-hooka-tooka-soda-cracker.

By the way, the end word of "hooka tooka soda cracka" rhymes with the second line in that couplet -"does your mama chew tobacca". The "does your mama chew tobacco" line probably originated as a "dig" (an insult, rip, diss). That phrase definitely predates Judy Henske's 1963 song, "Hooka Tooka" song e.g. read the entry "Green Green Rocky Road" given below which "was collected [in 1955] from the children of Lilly Chapel School in York, Alabama and is found in "Negro Songs From Alabama" by Harold Courlander".

I'll let others debate whether Judy Henske or Ernest Evans (Chubby Checker) was the first to write the "Hooka Tooka" song.

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FEATURED SOUND FILES AND VIDEOS

Example #1: Chubby Checker Hooka Tooka Forever Gold 1999



JesusSierra408, Uploaded on Jun 22, 2009

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Example #2: hookatooka

.

redheadedberry, Uploaded on Feb 22, 2009
-snip-
Girls singing "Hooka Tooka" around a camp fire.

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Example #3: Taj Mahal & André Christovam - Green Green Rocky Road



Annecysavoie | December 27, 2008
Heineken Concerts - Bourbon Street - São Paulo - 2000

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Acka Backa Soda Cracker!



julietlovesjoe Published on Jun 12, 2012

They played a game at Luka's concert this morning. Check it out!! 6/12/2012

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OTHER RELATED LINKS
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtgno5szcH8 for an example of the children's singing game "Walking On The Green Grass".

Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHpXS01tz4A for a choral version of the song "Walking On The Green Grass".

Click this page of my Cocojams website http://cocojams.com/content/choosing-it-rhymes for additional text versions of the counting out rhyme "Acka Backa Soda Cracka" and other counting out rhymes.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the composers of this song. Thanks also to those whose comments I quoted. Also, thanks to those featured in these videos, to the producers of these videos, and to the video's publishers on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More

Sound Files Of "John The Revelator" by Blind Willie Johnson & by Son House

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post features a 1930 sound file of "John The Revelator" that was recorded by Blind Willie Johnson and his first wife Willie B. Harris. This post also features a 1965 sound file of "John The Revelator" that was recorded by Son House. In addition, this post includes information about the meaning of that old time African American Gospel song.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, religious, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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EXPLANATION OF THE SONG "JOHN THE REVELATOR"
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Revelator_(song)
" "John the Revelator" is a traditional Gospel blues call and response song.[1] In the chorus, John of Patmos, the traditional author of the Book of Revelation, is writing "the book of the seven seals." At the time of the song's composition (and in modern times), John of Patmos was generally considered the same person as John the Apostle and John the Evangelist.

The song was recorded on April 20, 1930 in Atlanta, Georgia by Blind Willie Johnson and is included in the Anthology of American Folk Music.[1][2][3] In this version Johnson's first wife Willie B. Harris performs the response parts of the song.[4] The Golden Gate Quartet performed and recorded the song a cappella in the 1930s.[5] Son House also recorded several a cappella versions in the 1960s."
-snip-
The beginning lyrics of this song as sung Blind Willie Johnson & his first wife and by Son House are given below the featured sound files.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE MEANING OF THE TERM "A BOOK OF THE SEVEN SEALS"
The song "John The Revelator" focuses on John writing the book of Revelations. In that song, that last book in the New Testament is referred to as "a book (or the book) of the seven seals". Here's ome information about the term "book of the seven seals":
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_seals
"The Seven Seals is a phrase in the Book of Revelation that refers to seven symbolic seals that secure the book or scroll, that John of Patmos saw in his Revelation of Jesus Christ. The opening of the seals of the Apocalyptic document occurs in Revelation Chapters 5-8. In John's vision, the only one worthy to open the book is referred to as both the "Lion of Judah" and the "Lamb having seven horns and seven eyes"."

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FEATURED VIDEOS

Example #1: Blind Willie Johnson - John the Revelator



velotronic, Uploaded on Mar 2, 2011
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Here's the beginning of "John The Revelator" (as recorded by Blind Willie Johnson & Willie B. Harris.)

[call] Well who's that writin'?
[response] John the Revelator[6]
Who's that writin'? John the Revelator
Who's that writin'? John the Revelator
A book of the seven seals[7]
-snip-
Additional lyrics for this version of "John The Revelator" are found on that song's Wikipedia page whose link is given above.

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Example #2: Son House - John The Revelator -Version Estudio



dhamago,Uploaded on Aug 7, 2008

Son House - John The Revelator -Version EstudiO
-snip-
Here's the beginning of "John The Revelator" (as recorded by Son House)
[call] Who's that writin'?
[response] John the Revelator[6]
Tell me who's that writin'?
John the Revelator
Tell me who's that writin'?
John the Revelator
Wrote the book of the seven seals[7]
-snip-
Additional lyrics for this version of "John The Revelator" are found on that song's Wikipedia page whose link is given above.

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RELATED LINKS
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/04/carolina-chocolate-drops-read-em-john.html for the related song "Read 'Em John"

**
Click http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=5825 for a discussion about the song "John The Revelator" which includes several versions of this song's lyrics.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to Blind Willie Johnson & Willie B. Harris, and Son House for recording this song. My thanks also to the producers and the publishers of these sound files on YouTube .

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More

Taj Mahal - Fishin Blues

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases the song "Fishin Blues" as performed by Taj Mahal. Information about Taj Mahal and lyrics to this song are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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FEATURED EXAMPLE

Taj Mahal - Fishin' Blues



Bravedeer, Uploaded on Mar 27, 2007

Taj playing Fishing Blues.

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INFORMATION ABOUT TAJ MAHAL
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal_(musician)

Henry Saint Clair Fredericks (born May 17, 1942), who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He often incorporates elements of world music into his works. A self-taught singer-songwriter and film composer who plays the guitar, banjo and harmonica (among many other instruments),[2] Mahal has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his almost 50 year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa and the South Pacific.[3]"...

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LYRICS - FISHIN BLUES
(Taj Mahal)

Betcha' goin' fishin' all o' da' time
Baby goin' fishin' too.
Bet yo' life, Yo' sweet wife
Catch mo' fish than you.

Many fish bites if ya' got good bait,
Here's a little tip that I would like to relate.
Many fish bites if ya' got good bait.
I'ma goin fishin', Yes I'm goin' fishin,
And my baby goin' fishin' too.

I went on down to my fav'rit fishin' hole
Baby grab me a pole an' line.
Throw my pole on in, caught a nine poun' catfish
Now ya' know I brought 'im home for suppertime.

Provin' any fish bites if ya' got good bait,
Here's a little tip that I would like to relate.
Many fish bites if ya' got good bait.
I'ma goin fishin', Yes I'm goin' fishin,
And my baby goin' fishin' too.

Baby brother 'bout to run me outta my mind,
Say, can I go fishin' wi' chu?
I took 'im on down to the fishin' hole
Now what do you think that he did do?
Pulled a great big fish out da' bottom o' da pond,
Now he laughed and jumped 'cause he was real gone.
Many fish bites if ya' got good bait.
I'ma goin fishin', Yes I'm goin' fishin,
And my baby goin' fishin' too.

Put 'im in da' pot baby put 'im in da' pan
Honey cook 'im 'til he nice an' brown.
Make a batch o' buttermilk, Hoe cakes Mama
An' ya' chew them thangs an' ya' chomp 'em on down

Singin' any fish bites if ya' got good bait,
Here's a little tip that I would like to relate.
Many fish bites if ya' got good bait.
I'ma goin fishin', Yes I'm goin' fishin,
And my baby goin' fishin' too.

Play da' blues.....

Betcha' goin' fishin' all o' da' time
Baby goin' fishin' too.
Bet yo' life, Yo' sweet wife
She gonna Catch mo' fish than you.

Many fish bites if ya' got good bait,
O Here's a little tip that I would like to relate.
Many fish bites if ya' got good bait.
I'ma goin fishin', Mama's goin' fishin,
And the baby goin' fishin' too

-snip-
http://www.lyricsdrive.com/fishin-blues-lyrics-taj-mahal.html

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RELATED LINK
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/04/henry-thomas-fishin-blues.html for a post about the song "Fishin Blues" as sung by its original composer.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to Taj Mahal for his musical legacy. My thanks also to the producer of this video and its publisher on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More

Henry Thomas - Fishin' Blues

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases the song "Fishin Blues" as performed by that song's original composer Henry Thomas. Information about Henry Thomas and lyrics to this song are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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FEATURED EXAMPLE

Henry Thomas - Fishin' Blues



MadnessInLivingColor, Published on Jul 1, 2012

For listening purposes only.

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INFORMATION ABOUT HENRY THOMAS
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Thomas_(blues_musician)

"Henry Thomas (born 1874, Big Sandy, Texas – died 1930) was an American country blues singer, songster and musician, who enjoyed a brief but notable recording career in the late 1920s.[1][2] Often billed as "Ragtime Texas", Thomas bridged 19th and 20th century styles, providing the basis for what later became known as Texas blues guitar.[3][4]

...Thomas's legacy has been sustained by his songs, which were revived by musicians beginning in the folk music revival of the early 1960s...one of Thomas's best-known tunes [is] "Fishin' Blues...

Thomas's song "Fishin' Blues" was recorded by the US folk-rock group Lovin' Spoonful in 1965, appearing on their hit debut album Do You Believe in Magic?.[7] The song was recorded three years later, in 1968, by blues musician Taj Mahal for one of his first albums, De Old Folks at Home and has since been released on many of Taj Mahal's greatest hits compilations.[8][9] The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band also covered the song on their album Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Volume III in 2002.[10]

****
LYRICS - FISHIN BLUES
(Henry Thomas)

Went up on the hill about twelve o'clock.
Reached right back and got me a pole.
Went to the hardware and got me a hook.
Attached that line right on that hook.
Says you've been a-fishin' all the time.
I'm a-goin' fishin' too.

I bet your life, your lovin' wife.
Can catch more fish than you.
Any fish bite if you've got good bait.
Here's a little somethin' I would like to relate.
Any fish bite, you've got good bait.
I'm a-goin' a-fishin', yes, I'm a-goin' a-fishin',
I'm a-goin' a-fishin' too.

Looked down the river about one o'clock.
Spied this catfish swimmin' around.
I've got so hungry, didn't know what to do.
I'm gonna get me a catfish too.

Yes, you've been fishin' all the time.
I'm a-goin' a-fishin' too.
I bet your life your lovin' wife.
Catch more fish than you.
Any fish bite, got good bait.
Here's a little somethin' I would like to relate.
Any fish bite, you've got good bait.
I'm a-goin' a-fishin', yes, I'm goin' a-fishin',
I'm a-goin' a-fishin' too.

Put on your skillet, don't never mind your lead.
Mama gonna cook 'em with the short'nin' bread.
Says you been fishin' all the time.
I'm a-goin a-fishin' too.
I bet your life, your lovin' wife.
Can catch more fish than you.
Any fish bite, if you've got good bait.
Here's a little somethin' I would like to relate.
Any fish bite, you've got good bait.
I'm a-goin' a-fishin', yes, I'm goin' a-fishin',
I'm a-goin' a-fishin' too.

http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/electricapricotquestforfesteroo/fishingblues.htm

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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/04/taj-mahal-fishin-blues.html for a post about "Fishin Blues" as sung by Taj Mahal.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to Henry Thomas for his musical legacy. My thanks also to the producer of this sound file and its publisher on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More

Betty & Dupree (Examples & Lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents information about and five examples of the Blues and Rhythm & Blues song "Betty And Dupree".

The content of this post is presented for historical, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG BETTY & DUPREE
The Blues song "Betty & Dupree" was first documented in the 1930s.

Click http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=27925#344464 for lyrics to "Dupree Blues" as recorded by Willie Walker and Sam Brooks, Atlanta, Georgia, 6 December 1930. Columbia 14578-D. Transcription from Jeff Todd Titon 'Early Downhome Blues' University of North Carolina Press Second Edition pp 70-71. [from November 21, 2000 post by Stewie]

On that same day in that same Mudcat discussion thread, Stewie also provided information about & lyrics to another 1930s version of "Dupree Blues": "Kingfish Bill Tomlin 'Dupree Blues' Paramount 13057. Recorded Grafton, Wisconsin, c November 1930. Transcription from Paul Oliver 'Songsters and Saints' Cambridge University Press pp 253-254."

Also, this comment posted on November 21, 2000 on that same Mudcat discussion thread by Art Thieme indicated that the Betty and Dupree song was based on an actual occurrence:
"The version I recorded is pretty much the way I heard Josh White do it in the late 1950s in Chicago. The information I've picked up over the last 40 years is that Frank Dupree of Abbeville, S. Carolina killed a Georgia patrolman for which he was hanged on September 1, 1922--(Georgia Department of Public Health). Dupree had been trying to rob an Atlanta jewelry store on December 15, 1921. After killing one and wounding others, Dupree escaped and was finally captured in Detroit, Michigan after a chase through several states."

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FEATURED VIDEOS
(These videos are presented in chronological order based on the date of their YouTube posting, with the oldest dated videos posted first.)

Example #1: Betty & Dupree by Cookie & the Cupcakes



groovetown1503, Uploaded on Sep 16, 2009

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Example #2: Josh White: Betty and Dupree (1956)



davidhertzberg,Uploaded on Aug 29, 2010

Josh White (1914 - 1969) sings "Betty and Dupree." I created this video from the LP, "The Josh White Stories, Volume 1," issued on the ABC-Paramount label in 1958, serial number ABC-124.

You can read about this remarkable artist -- billed as "The Father of American Folk Music" -- here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_White

and here:
http://www.joshwhitejr.com/biojwsr.html

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Example #3: Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - Betty and Dupree



Kevin Joseph, Uploaded on Oct 13, 2011

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee's haunting version of the Chuck Willis classic.

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Example #4: The Stroll w/ The King of The Stroll: Chuck Willis - Betty and Dupree ("Seventeen")



Rgjraccoon, Published on Oct 25, 2012

Click http://artists.letssingit.com/chuck-willis-lyrics-betty-and-dupree-r4jqdmq#axzz2P2I6mqEF for lyrics to this song.

This video is also featured in this post on my zumalayah cultural blog: http://zumalayah.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-stroll-model-for-soul-train-line.html "The Stroll-The Model For The Soul Train Line".

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Example #5: TAJ MAHAL TRIO - Betty and Dupree - LRBC-19. S.E. Caribbean 10/27~11/3 - 2012



rd350c, Published on Dec 2, 2012

Taj was supposed to come on at 10:15 and it rained and rained. But Taj hung in there for us and went on sometime after midnight. What devotion to fans, and what a great performer. The show was magical. Everyone knew the cruise was ending - people were crying.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the composers of these songs, and thanks to the vocalists and musicians who are featured in these videos. My thanks also to bloggers whose comments I quoted or linked to. Thanks also to the producers of and publishers of these videos.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Read More