Edited by Azizi Powell
This post features a sound file of & lyrics to African American Bluesman, Mississipi Bracy's 1930 Blues song "I'll Overcome Someday". Biographical information about Mississippi Bracy is also included in this post.
This song is different from Albert Charles Tindley's early Gospel song "I Will Overcome Someday", although it may have been at least partly inspired by that song which was composed in 1900. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-gospel-song-i-will-overcome-someday.html for a pancocojams post about the Gospel song "I Shall Overcome" & The Civil Rights song "We Shall Overcome".
The content of this post is presented for historical, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
My thanks to Mississippi Bracy for this composition & performance. My thanks also to the producer of this sound file, the YouTube uploader of the sound file, and the writer of the quoted biographical statement.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
From http://www.thebluestrail.com/artists/mus_cbrac.htm:
"Caldwell Bracey (his surname is sometimes spelled in listings as Bracy) was born in the Mississippi Delta region, possibly about 1903. All that has been established concerning his career is that he recorded four blues sides for OKeh Records at the King Edwards Hotel in Jackson, Mississippi, in December 1930, under the name Mississippi Bracey. The best known of these tracks are probably "I'll Overcome Someday" and "You Scolded Me and Drove Me from Your Door". At the same session he also recorded four hymns under the name Caldwell Bracey & Wife but listings indicate that these were never released by OKeh. It is not known if Caldwell Bracey was related to Ishman Bracey, another Jackson bluesman performing around the same time, and who went on to become an ordained minister."
FEATURED VIDEO
Mississippi Bracy/I'll overcome someday
Uploaded by hal561 on Dec 29, 2009
Caldwell Bracy, vocal/guitar
Recorded: King Edward Hotel, Jackson, Mississippi., 17 December 1930
"Sitting on..." style!
****
LYRICS
I'LL OVERCOME SOMEDAY
(Caldwell "Mississippi" Bracy)
Work all the summer
and all the fall
Now I gotta take Christmas now
In my overhalls *
But by and by I’ll overcome
Some sweet day
Goin up the country
Won’t be back till fall
Time get no better
I won’t be back at all
But by and by I’ll overcome
Some sweet day
You treat me
like didn’t know my name **
You mistreat me now
For another man
But by and by I’ll overcome
Some sweet day.
My baby quit me
Didn’t say wa word
T’was on account of
Something that she heard
But by and by I’ll overcome
Some sweet day.
When I had money
I had a friend
Ain’t got no money I aint
Ain’t got no friend
But by and by I’ll overcome
Some sweet day.
If one more drink
Make me tell it all
Somebody stole my
Little all and all***
But by and by I’ll overcome
Some sweet day.
-snip-
Transcribed from the sound file by Azizi Powell, 6/11/2012]
Hat tip to http://www.blueslyrics.com.ar/Mississippi-Bracey/IllOvercome.html.
I found that transcription of this song after making my transcription. The blueslyrics.com transcription is very similar to mine, but it doesn't include the "But by and by I’ll overcome/Some sweet day" refrain that is a core element of Bracy's song.
Lyrics Notes:
* "overhalls" = overalls
** "like didn’t know my name" = like you didn't know my name
*** "little all and all" = my woman
****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & THANKS
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment