Edited by Azizi Powell
This post provides two sound files of Leadbelly performing the song "You Can't Lose Me Charlie" (also known as "You Can't Lose Me Cholly"). Transcriptions of those renditions are also presented in this posts as are one other version & one fragment of another version of that song.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
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FEATURED SOUND FILES
Editor: Notice the different tempos & verses (including verse order) for these two Leadbelly renditions of "You Can't Lose Me Charlie". These two examples are posted in chronological order based on their posting date with the oldest dated example presented first.
Example #1: 'You Can't Lose-A Me Cholly' LEADBELLY, Blues Guitar Legend
RagtimeDorianHenry,·Uploaded on Apr 26, 2009
-snip-
LYRICS: YOU CAN'T LOSE ME CHARLIE [Version #1: fast tempo]
(Leadbelly)
I went a-rowing and my gal went too,
Down on the bottom and the boat broke through,
Every time she turned around she said it so funny,
CHORUS [2x]
You can't lose-a me, Charlie,
You can't lose-a me, boy.
Up to Willie Winston's I went a roading,
Down on my knees, I was doing little courting,
Every time she turned around she said it so funny
CHORUS [2x]
Hog and sheep they went to the pasture,
Hog said to sheep, You'd better go a little faster,
Every time she turned around, she said it so funny,
CHORUS [2x]
I got a yella gal I can't keep.
She use the dollar up every week
Every time she turned around, she said it so funny,
CHORUS [2x]
[instrumental]
I got a yella gal I can't keep.
She use up the dollar money every week
Every time she turned around, she said it so funny,
I got a pretty boy to bring me the money.
CHORUS [2x]
Hog and sheep they went to the pasture,
Hog said to sheep, You'd better go a little faster,
Every time she turned around, she said it so funny,
CHORUS [2x]
[instrumental]
CHORUS [2x]
Up to Willie Winston's I went a roading,
Down on my knees, I was doing little courting,
Every time she turned around she said it so funny
CHORUS [2x]
[instrumental]
CHORUS [2x]
[continue singing the chorus interspersed with guitar playing]
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from the above sound file.
I'm uncertain of the words that are given in italics. Additions & corrections are welcome.
-snip-
In the context of this song, "You can't lose me" means
Whatever you do, Charlie, "I'm yours forever" (You're stuck with me."
"Pretty boy" means "handsome man".
The name "Willie" is probably a nickname of the female name "Wilhemina". That line probably means something like "I traveled down the road to Willie's house to court her [meet with her for the purpose of developing a romantic relationship that hopefully would lead to marriage.]
The phrase "yella gal" refers to light skinned Black women.
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Example #2: Leadbelly "You Can't Lose Me, Charlie"
マッケンジー 姥捨山, Uploaded on Dec 19, 2010
From "Leadbelly"
-snip-
LYRICS: YOU CAN'T LOSE ME CHARLIE [Version #2 -slow tempo]
(Leadbelly)-
CHORUS [2x]
You can't lose-a me, Charlie,
You can't lose-a me, boy.
Hog and sheep they went to the pasture,
Hog said to sheep, You'd better go a little faster,
Every time she turned around, she said it so funny,
CHORUS [2x]
Up to Willie Winston's I went a roading,
Down on my knees, I was doing little courting,
Every time she turned around she said it so funny
CHORUS [2x]
I went a-rowing and my gal went too,
Down on the bottom and the boat broke through,
Every time she turned around she said it so funny,
CHORUS [2x]
Leadbelly speaks these words as commentary:
Me and this gal we had done made a lot of money.
And she used up so much money...She used up a barrel of money every week. And you know that was a shame. I couldn't
spend so much money a week to save my life. But then I look at this gal and I go and tell my friends:
[Begins singing again]
I got a yella gal I can't keep.
[Leadbelly intersperses this comment:
The reason I don't like a yella gal is they use too much money.
[[Begins singing again]
She use up the dollar money every week
Every time she turned around, she said it so funny,
I got a pretty boy to bring me the money.
CHORUS [2x]
[Instrumental]
Hog and sheep they went to the pasture,
Hog said to sheep, You'd better go a little faster,
Every time she turned around, she said it so funny,
CHORUS [2x]
-snip-
Click http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=130575 for a discussion thread about this song.
Here's another verse that blogger Bob Coltman shared which isn't included in either of the renditions given above:
"Me and my brother went down the road,
Tryin' to get some money to buy a gourd
Got to have a gourd to drink water outa"
-snip-
Bob Coltman wrote this comment as a preface to Leadbelly's "You Can't Lose Me Charlie" lyrics which he shared:
"Who knows how Leadbelly learned this? Probably at third- or fourth-hand, especially since I have been unable to find any evidence that "Can't Lose Me, Charlie" was ever recorded either for the pop, blues, jazz or oldtime country market.
But however he learned it, Leadbelly learned enough of the original song to pick up a couple of verses (#s 1 and 3 below), though not complete ... they survive as orphaned couplets only.
By the way, the spelling "Cholly," as in "Been On the Cholly So Long," has a number of slang meanings: dope, the bum, a portion of a train where a hobo can ride, etc. In "You Can't Lose Me, Cholly," however, it is just the name "Charlie," derived from Harry S. Miller's* original."...
-snip-
Harry S. Miller was a White American who wrote "You Can't Lose Me Charlie" in 1893. That song is categorized as a "coon song".
Here's information about "coon songs" from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coon_song
"Coon songs were a genre of music that presented a racist and stereotyped image of Blacks. They were popular in the United States and around the English-speaking world from 1880[1] to 1920.[2]
-snip-
Click the link to the Mudcat discussion thread given above for the original lyrics to Miller's composition of "You Can't Lose Me Charlie".
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ADDITIONAL VERSIONS
YOU'RE TRYING TO LOSE ME CHARLIE
(As sung by Paul Clayton, 1961 or 1962)
I was down at Mrs. Johnson's the other night,
Courtin' with a little girl, hid out of sight,
Down on my knees, I was a-tellin'
And my ol' girl's outside, she was a-yellin',
Chorus: Says you're tryin' to lose me, Charlie,
You're tryin' to lose me, Charlie,
Howso and ever in all kinds of weather,
Well, you can't lose me, 'deed you can't.
I was down on the railroad, the train a-comin' fast,
An' I stepped on the other side, just let it pass,
I caught the train, train was a-flyin',
An' my ol' girl caught me, and she was a yellin',
Chorus: Well, you tryin' to lose me, Charlie ...
I's all out on the boat, I's a-doin' little drinkin',
An' the bottom bust out, it commenced a-sinkin',
An' the ol' girl grabbed me, says, I been thinkin',
Cho2: Well, you tryin' to lose me, Charlie,
You tryin' to lose me, Charlie,
Howso and ever, we will all die together,
Well, you can't lose me, 'deed you can't.
-snip-
These lyrics were posted by Bob Coltman to that same Mudcat thread whose link is given above.
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UNTITLED SONG CLIP
Editor: This song clip is categorized as a "shine song" (a song sung by Black shoe shine workers". These workers were generally referred to as "shoe shine boys" although most of those workers were adults.
From On The Trail Of Negro Folk-SongsBy Dorothy Scarborough Assisted By Ola Lee Quiledge Copyright, 1925 By Harvard University Press
Online book http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/negro/folk-songs%20-%200314.htm
"Mr. Morrow says: "The Negro who sang this song was shining my shoes, and when I asked him to give another verse, he stopped. A little substantial persuasion, however, brought forth another, which he timed to the strokes of his shining cloth as it was drawn across my shoes.
" Another Negro boy had a different shine reel, for they all have something of the sort. He was shy and would sing but one.
"I went to de ribber an' my gal went, too,
Stepped in de boat an' de boat went through.
Down de ribber we went, singin' an' er-huggin' an' er-kissin', She say, 'You can't lose me, Charlie.'"
-snip-
This song is reformatted into lines.
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Thanks to Harry S. Miller. the orginal composer of this song and thanks to all subsequent lyricists of versions of this song.
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