Edited by Azizi Powell
This post is part of a continuing series about Blues songs that include the expression "turn your lamp down low" or the expression "turn your damper down".
This post showcases a sound file of and lyrics to the 1928 song "Statesboro Blues" by Blind Willie Tell.
Comments about the meaning of "turn your lamp down low" and "turn your damper down" are found in http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/what-turn-your-damper-down-turn-your.html.
A link to a pancocojams post about a Blues song that includes the expression "turn your damper down" is found in the Related Links section below.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
FEATURED EXAMPLE
'Statesboro Blues' BLIND WILLIE McTELL, Blues Guitar Legend
RagtimeDorianHenry, Uploaded on Apr 3, 2009
-snip-
Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Willie_McTell for information about Blind Willie Tell (May 5, 1898 – August 19, 1959).
****
LYRICS: STATESBORO BLUES
(Blind Willie Tell)
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=54594
"Subject: Lyr Add: STATESBORO BLUES (Blind Willie McTell)" posted by Rustic Rebel Date: 12 Dec 02 - 11:39 PM
....Blind Willie McTell recorded this classic in 1928.
Wake up mama, turn your lamp down low
Wake up mama, turn your lamp down low
Have you got the nerve to drive papa McTell from your door
My mother died and left me reckless, my daddy died and left me wild, wild, wild
Mother died and left me reckless, daddy died and left me wild, wild, wild
No, I'm not good lookin', I'm some sweet woman's angel child
You're a mighty mean woman, to do me this a-way
You're a mighty mean woman, to do me this a-way
Going to leave this town, pretty mama, going away to stay
I once loved a woman, better than I ever seen
I once loved a woman, better than I ever seen
Treat me like I was a king and she was a doggone queen
Sister, tell your Brother, Brother tell your Auntie, Auntie, tell your Uncle,
Uncle tell my Cousin, Cousin tell my friend
Goin' up the country, Mama, don't you want to go?
May take me a fair brown, may take me one or two more
Big Eighty left Savannah, Lord, and did not stop
You ought to saw that colored fireman when he got that boiler hot
Reach over in the corner, hand me my travelin' shoes
You know by that, I got them Statesboro blues
Sister got 'em, daddy got 'em
Brother got 'em, mama got 'em
Woke up this morning, we had them Statesboro blues
I looked over in the corner,
Grandpa and grandma had 'em too.
****
RELATED LINK
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/birmingham-jubilee-singers-sweet-mama.html for a post about a Blues song that includes the saying "turn your damper down".
****
Thanks to Blind Willie Tell for his musical legacy. Thanks also to the publisher of that sound file on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Monday, September 30, 2013
What "Turn Your Damper Down" & "Turn Your Lamp Down Low" Mean
Edited by Azizi Powell
This post is part of a continuing series of posts on the Blues lyric "turn your damper down" & the Blues lyric "turn your lamp down low". This post provides comments about the colloquial & Blues meanings of both of those expressions.
Links to some pancocojams posts about Blues examples of those lines are given in the Related Links section below.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
THE LITERAL MEANINGS OF "TURN YOUR DAMPER DOWN" AND "TURN YOUR LAMP DOWN LOW"
The colloquial & Blues meanings of "turn your damper down" and the related colloquial/Blues expression "turn your lamp down low" are extrapolated from their literal meanings.
The "damper" in the expression "turn your damper down" is a part of a wood burning stove. Here's information about wood burning stove dampers from two websites:
http://www.federalcigarjugband.com/Pages/glossary.html
"A damper restricts airflow and slows combustion in a fuel burning stove."
**
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood-burning_stove
"Keeping the air flowing correctly through a wood-burning stove is essential for safe and efficient operation of the stove. Fresh air needs to enter the wood compartment to provide oxygen fuel for the fire; as the fire burns, the smoke must be allowed to rise through the stove pipes, and exit through the chimney. To regulate air flow, there are damper devices built into the stove, flue, and stove pipes...
By opening or closing the dampers, air flow can be increased or decreased, which can fan the fire in the wood compartment, or "dampen" it by restricting airflow and reducing the flames.”
-snip-
The "lamp" in the expression "turn your lamp down low" is a kerosene lamp. Here's information about turning the flame of a kerosene lamp down low from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerosene_lamp
"The kerosene lamp (widely known in Britain as a paraffin lamp) is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene (British "paraffin", as distinct from paraffin wax) as a fuel...
Lighting a flat-wick lamp requires filling the fuel tank (fount) with fuel and allowing time for the wick to absorb the fuel. The wick is trimmed straight across with a pair of sharp scissors before lighting. With the glass chimney lifted off the lamp, the wick is turned up and lighted with a match or other lighter. The wick is turned down if smoke develops, and the lamp chimney lowered. After a few minutes warm-up the lamp can be turned to full brightness. Extinguishing the lamp is done by turning down the wick and blowing out the flame, or by turning the wick down below the top of the wick tube."
****
THE COLLOQUIAL/BLUES MEANINGS "TURN YOUR DAMPER DOWN"
(These quotes are numbered for possible reference purposes. No preference is indicated by their assigned numbers. My editorial comment about the colloquial/Blues meanings of "turn your damper down" & "turn your lamp down low" is given below.]
1. From http://www.federalcigarjugband.com/Pages/glossary.html
TERM/PHRASE: damper
CONTEXT: Man, I left Lula, goin' to Jonestown. Those Jonestown brown's boy, make you turn your damper down.
DEFINITION: Cool down or back off. [The definition cited above is given here]
SONG/SOURCE: Jonestown Blues-- Gus Cannon (as Banjo Joe)
2. 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."
****
THE COLLOQUIAL/BLUES MEANINGS OF "TURN YOUR LAMP DOWN LOW"
(These quotes are numbered for possible reference purposes. No preference is indicated by their assigned numbers.)
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=54594
"Origins: Turn your lamp down low" [hereafter given as "Mudcat: Turn Your Lamp Down Low"]; posted by toadfrog Date: 12 Dec 02 - 11:48 PM
1. "...What the phrase means, is that you shorten the wick, or do what ever is necessary to make the lamp cast less light, and presumably burn longer. What you do, when you don't need so much light and want to preserve oil. Thus a "lower" light is one that is less bright. All clear now?"
2. From "Mudcat: Turn Your Lamp Down Low"; posted by GUEST,Q
Date: 12 Dec 02 - 11:57 PM
"If you read the original by Poor Big Joe Williams, the meaning is obvious. He has been jugged in the county farm and wants his woman to keep her lamp turned down low, i. e., not get actively involved with another man."
-snip-
"jugged in thee country farm" = has been sent to prison
The Poor [or Big] Joe Williams song that is referred to in the above quote is "Baby Please Don't Go".
3. From "Mudcat: Turn Your Lamp Down Low"; posted by GUEST,me
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 03:27 PM
"I'm pretty late on this but the phrase in question has nothing to do with making whoopie..at all. I don't care what Terry from NPR says; shes obviously never lived in the south or studied old timey dialect..and judging by the few times I've listened to her and NPR she tags the usual assumptions about the South with not a lot of understanding or research. As a New Orleans native and old timey blues singer, lyric, and study of early French Creole settlement dialect I can completely confirm to "turn your lamp down low" or "turn your damper down" simply means to make someone (especially a female companion for most uses) to stop acting larger than they are. Of course men in those days (and sometimes today) view females as objects of ownership and if they get out of line it's time to turn their damper down..or make their light a bit less bright. It's that simple people."
-snip-
This comment was written in response to a comment by Stilly River Sage who wrote:
“I heard this song also, contained in a review that ran on Terry Gross' NPR program "Fresh Air." They were reviewing a new 4-CD set being released by RCA, with a title "When the Sun Goes Down: The Secret History of Rock & Roll."”
****
EDITORIAL COMMENT
Both "turn your damper down" and "turn your lamp down low" refer to lessening the amount of flame/heat that is being emitted. While being "hot" and being in "heat" definitely has a sexual/passionate colloquial meaning, colloquially those words also refer to being angry or irritated i.e. "being hot [under the collar]", "being hot and bothered", "being heated", "having a heated exchange", being enflamed (about something).
In a number of the Blues songs that include the line "turn your damper down" or "turn your lamp down low" the singer states or implies that the woman is angry with him, and/or the woman is leaving him, and/or the woman has put him out. Given those song and the colloquial meanings cited above, it seems to me that both "turn your damper down" and "turn your lamp down low" may not always have a sexual meaning. Instead, those lines could solely mean be a command or plea for the woman to stop being angry (stop being "heated"; "cool down"). That said, I don't discount the comment cited above by Guest Me that those statements mean that a woman [or man] needs to stop being boisterous or so outgoing in person [is emitting too much energy/heat.]
****
RELATED LINKS
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/birmingham-jubilee-singers-sweet-mama.html for a post about a Blues song that includes the saying "turn your damper down".
Posts about other Blues songs that include one of these sayings will be posted ASAP.
****
Thanks to all those whose comments are quoted in this post.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This post is part of a continuing series of posts on the Blues lyric "turn your damper down" & the Blues lyric "turn your lamp down low". This post provides comments about the colloquial & Blues meanings of both of those expressions.
Links to some pancocojams posts about Blues examples of those lines are given in the Related Links section below.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
THE LITERAL MEANINGS OF "TURN YOUR DAMPER DOWN" AND "TURN YOUR LAMP DOWN LOW"
The colloquial & Blues meanings of "turn your damper down" and the related colloquial/Blues expression "turn your lamp down low" are extrapolated from their literal meanings.
The "damper" in the expression "turn your damper down" is a part of a wood burning stove. Here's information about wood burning stove dampers from two websites:
http://www.federalcigarjugband.com/Pages/glossary.html
"A damper restricts airflow and slows combustion in a fuel burning stove."
**
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood-burning_stove
"Keeping the air flowing correctly through a wood-burning stove is essential for safe and efficient operation of the stove. Fresh air needs to enter the wood compartment to provide oxygen fuel for the fire; as the fire burns, the smoke must be allowed to rise through the stove pipes, and exit through the chimney. To regulate air flow, there are damper devices built into the stove, flue, and stove pipes...
By opening or closing the dampers, air flow can be increased or decreased, which can fan the fire in the wood compartment, or "dampen" it by restricting airflow and reducing the flames.”
-snip-
The "lamp" in the expression "turn your lamp down low" is a kerosene lamp. Here's information about turning the flame of a kerosene lamp down low from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerosene_lamp
"The kerosene lamp (widely known in Britain as a paraffin lamp) is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene (British "paraffin", as distinct from paraffin wax) as a fuel...
Lighting a flat-wick lamp requires filling the fuel tank (fount) with fuel and allowing time for the wick to absorb the fuel. The wick is trimmed straight across with a pair of sharp scissors before lighting. With the glass chimney lifted off the lamp, the wick is turned up and lighted with a match or other lighter. The wick is turned down if smoke develops, and the lamp chimney lowered. After a few minutes warm-up the lamp can be turned to full brightness. Extinguishing the lamp is done by turning down the wick and blowing out the flame, or by turning the wick down below the top of the wick tube."
****
THE COLLOQUIAL/BLUES MEANINGS "TURN YOUR DAMPER DOWN"
(These quotes are numbered for possible reference purposes. No preference is indicated by their assigned numbers. My editorial comment about the colloquial/Blues meanings of "turn your damper down" & "turn your lamp down low" is given below.]
1. From http://www.federalcigarjugband.com/Pages/glossary.html
TERM/PHRASE: damper
CONTEXT: Man, I left Lula, goin' to Jonestown. Those Jonestown brown's boy, make you turn your damper down.
DEFINITION: Cool down or back off. [The definition cited above is given here]
SONG/SOURCE: Jonestown Blues-- Gus Cannon (as Banjo Joe)
2. 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."
****
THE COLLOQUIAL/BLUES MEANINGS OF "TURN YOUR LAMP DOWN LOW"
(These quotes are numbered for possible reference purposes. No preference is indicated by their assigned numbers.)
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=54594
"Origins: Turn your lamp down low" [hereafter given as "Mudcat: Turn Your Lamp Down Low"]; posted by toadfrog Date: 12 Dec 02 - 11:48 PM
1. "...What the phrase means, is that you shorten the wick, or do what ever is necessary to make the lamp cast less light, and presumably burn longer. What you do, when you don't need so much light and want to preserve oil. Thus a "lower" light is one that is less bright. All clear now?"
2. From "Mudcat: Turn Your Lamp Down Low"; posted by GUEST,Q
Date: 12 Dec 02 - 11:57 PM
"If you read the original by Poor Big Joe Williams, the meaning is obvious. He has been jugged in the county farm and wants his woman to keep her lamp turned down low, i. e., not get actively involved with another man."
-snip-
"jugged in thee country farm" = has been sent to prison
The Poor [or Big] Joe Williams song that is referred to in the above quote is "Baby Please Don't Go".
3. From "Mudcat: Turn Your Lamp Down Low"; posted by GUEST,me
Date: 22 Jan 10 - 03:27 PM
"I'm pretty late on this but the phrase in question has nothing to do with making whoopie..at all. I don't care what Terry from NPR says; shes obviously never lived in the south or studied old timey dialect..and judging by the few times I've listened to her and NPR she tags the usual assumptions about the South with not a lot of understanding or research. As a New Orleans native and old timey blues singer, lyric, and study of early French Creole settlement dialect I can completely confirm to "turn your lamp down low" or "turn your damper down" simply means to make someone (especially a female companion for most uses) to stop acting larger than they are. Of course men in those days (and sometimes today) view females as objects of ownership and if they get out of line it's time to turn their damper down..or make their light a bit less bright. It's that simple people."
-snip-
This comment was written in response to a comment by Stilly River Sage who wrote:
“I heard this song also, contained in a review that ran on Terry Gross' NPR program "Fresh Air." They were reviewing a new 4-CD set being released by RCA, with a title "When the Sun Goes Down: The Secret History of Rock & Roll."”
****
EDITORIAL COMMENT
Both "turn your damper down" and "turn your lamp down low" refer to lessening the amount of flame/heat that is being emitted. While being "hot" and being in "heat" definitely has a sexual/passionate colloquial meaning, colloquially those words also refer to being angry or irritated i.e. "being hot [under the collar]", "being hot and bothered", "being heated", "having a heated exchange", being enflamed (about something).
In a number of the Blues songs that include the line "turn your damper down" or "turn your lamp down low" the singer states or implies that the woman is angry with him, and/or the woman is leaving him, and/or the woman has put him out. Given those song and the colloquial meanings cited above, it seems to me that both "turn your damper down" and "turn your lamp down low" may not always have a sexual meaning. Instead, those lines could solely mean be a command or plea for the woman to stop being angry (stop being "heated"; "cool down"). That said, I don't discount the comment cited above by Guest Me that those statements mean that a woman [or man] needs to stop being boisterous or so outgoing in person [is emitting too much energy/heat.]
****
RELATED LINKS
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/birmingham-jubilee-singers-sweet-mama.html for a post about a Blues song that includes the saying "turn your damper down".
Posts about other Blues songs that include one of these sayings will be posted ASAP.
****
Thanks to all those whose comments are quoted in this post.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
The Simpsons Hand Clap Rhymes (examples & comments)
Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision: August 1, 2022
This pancocojams post presents information about The Simpsons television cartoon series.
This post also showcases some YouTube video examples and text (word only) examples of all of the hand clap rhymes that I've come across that refer to The Simpsons.
My text analysis of those rhymes is also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the creators of The Simpsons cartoon series and thanks to all those who are shown in these featured videos, and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Also, thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
-snip-
The title for this post was revised on November 24, 2020 to reflect that there are more than one handclap rhymes that include the name of "The Simpsons" fictitious characters.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT "THE SIMPSONS" SHOW
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons
"The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield and parodies American culture, society, television, and many aspects of the human condition.
The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a solicitation for a series of animated shorts with the producer James L. Brooks. Groening created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show and was an early hit for Fox, becoming the network's first series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1989–1990).
Since its debut on December 17, 1989, the show has broadcast 530 episodes and the twenty-fourth season ended on May 19, 2013. The Simpsons is the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and in 2009 it surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest-running American primetime, scripted television series. The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on July 26 and July 27, 2007, and grossed over $527 million.
The Simpsons is widely considered to be one of the greatest television series of all time."...
-snip-
To my knowledge, "The Simpsons" rhymes that are included in this post weren't created by anyone associated with "The Simpsons" productions (television series and movie).
Although it might have been any episode or any number of episodes that inspired the anonymous creation of "The Simpsons" rhyme, I wonder if the episode in which Bart sells his soul was the inspiration for the rhyme which indicates that Bart is in double trouble (in a lot of trouble).
I happened upon information about that episode in the Wikipedia page about the children's rhyme "Miss Susie"[had a steamboat] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Susie. Here's a quote from that page:
"In The Simpsons episode Bart Sells His Soul, Sherri and Terri chant, "Bart sold his soul, and that's just swell / Now he's going straight to / Hello operator / give me number nine" in Bart's nightmare. And in "Fat Man and Little Boy," Lisa and her friend Janey recite this rhyme. An eavesdropping Homer gasps whenever he expects profanity and lets out sighs of relief when they turn out to be innocuous."
-end of quote-
Here's more information about the "Bart Sells His Soul" episode:
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_Sells_His_Soul
"Bart Sells His Soul" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons' seventh season. It first aired in the United States on the Fox network, on October 8, 1995. In the episode, while being punished for playing a prank at church, Bart declares that there is no such thing as a soul and to prove it he sells his to Milhouse for $5 in the form of a piece of paper with "Bart Simpson's soul" written on it. Lisa warns Bart he will regret this decision, and Bart soon witnesses odd changes in his life. Believing he really has lost his soul, he becomes desperate to get it back. Lisa eventually acquires it and returns it to a relieved Bart."
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: Hand Games
Paisley Horton, Uploaded on Apr 25, 2009
Alecia and Arianna doing hand games..Eliott in the back ground annoyed..lol
-snip-
The girls chant two rhymes.
The first rhyme is a version of the children's hand clap rhyme "There's A Place On Mars".
The second rhyme beginning at .025 is a version of "The Simpsons".
Here's my transcription of that rhyme which I transcribed on September 5, 2010. Corrections & additions are welcome.
THE SIMPSONS (Version #1)
Sin Sin Sin
We do twist (tricks?)
And I do twist (tricks?)
And Maggie Maggie Maggie twist (tricks?)
And Mart is double trouble
Mart is double trouble
Criss cross
The apple sauce
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Now freeze 1 time
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Now freeze
-Alecia and Arianna; 2009, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ9PPA7MaJk&feature=grec_index
NOTES ABOUT MY TRANSCRIPTION OF THIS RHYME
"?" means I'm not sure about the words that were recited.
"sin sin sin"" - an introductory phrase that is probably a folk etymology version of "shame shame shame". The introductory phrase "shame shame shame" is frequently found in African American orginated children's rhyme. Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br9fAi7HdDk for a video of two African American girls performing a handclap routine while reciting a version of the handclap rhyme "Brickwall Waterfall". That video's title is "Shame Shame Shame" and the rhyme begins with that introductory phrase.
""Mart" is undoubtedly "Bart Simpson".
****
OTHER EXAMPLES OF THE SIMPSON'S HAND CLAP RHYME
(Note: I assigned numbers to these examples featured in this post because they have the same titles. The numbers are given in the order of their presentation in this post.
Version #2: The Simpsons hand game
renjs, Uploaded on Aug 27, 2008
Ren, Eric, Alex, Renee doing what Renee wants to do... again
-snip-
Unfortunately, the visuals and sound for this video are very poor quality of this video. I'm including it because, in spite of the poor visual and audio quality of the video, it still gives an example of how "The Simpsons" rhyme is performed as a syncopated group handclap/movement rhyme.)
Here's a description of this video:
A Black man, two young Black boys and a young Black girl form a circle and clap each others hands in the beginning portion of this rhyme. The participants then perform body motions which correspond to the words that are said. For instance, on the words "criss cross", the participants cross their arms on their chest. And on the word "Freeze!", the participants "freeze in place" (make a funny or dramatic pose and remain perfectly still for a very short amount of time.)
The words to this rhyme are difficult to hear, but I believe that the words that the participants recited are the same as or very similar to the words given in Version #3 below.
Here's my partial transcription of this video:
The Simpsons
The Simpsons:
Bart Simpson
Lisa Simpson
Homer and Marge
????
????
WHAT "PUMP UP" MEANS IN CHILDREN'S CHEERLEADER CHEERS & AND WHERE THIS PHRASE MIGHT HAVE COME FROM [Revised June 18, 2016]
"Pump up the volume" literally means to "turn up the sound". In the context of its use in cheerleader cheers, "pump up" means "to raise the energy", "to get more excited about what you are doing". The closely related phrase "Pump it up" which is also found in children's (mostly girls) cheerleader cheers means "to give something more air such as when air is pumped into a car tire or a balloon).
During competitive athletic games the exhortations to "pump it up" and "pump up the volume" are directed to the athletic team as well as to its fans. "Pump up the volume" is closely related to the exhortation "pump it up" which is also found in several children's cheerleader cheers.
My guess is that the record that most likely influenced the use of the phrase "pump up the volume" in cheerleader cheers was the 1987 Pop record "Pump Up The Volume" by the British recording act M|A|R|R|S. That record included a number of samples. In the context of the "pump it up"/ "pump up the volume" children's cheerleading cheers, these record samples were probably the most significant (given in chronological order of record release and not in any particular order of influence):
Trouble Funk, "Pump Me Up" in Drop the Bomb, 1982 (LP): Vocal sample ("Pump-pump me up")
Original Concept, "Pump That Bass" in Bite'n My Stylee, 1986 (12"): Vocal sample ("Pump that bass")
Eric B. & Rakim, "I Know You Got Soul (a cappella version)" in I Know You Got Soul, 1987 (12"):
Vocal sample ("Pump up the volume, dance")
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_Up_the_Volume_(song) for more information about the record "Pump Up The Volume".
-snip-
In addition, the use of "Pump up the volume" in cheerleader cheers may have also been influenced by the title of the 1990s American movie "Pump Up The Volume".. Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_Up_the_Volume_(film) for information about that comedy/drama.
-snip-
I believe that the song "Pump Me Up" was the main influence for the cheerleader cheer "Pump It Up". That influence is shown in those cheers' repetition of the word "pump" (i.e. "pump pump pump it up") and the tune and tempo that those cheers (that I've directly observed and observed via YouTube videos) use.
**
WHAT "DOUBLE TROUBLE" MEANS
"Double trouble" means "a lot of trouble".
****
THE TERM "DOUBLE TROUBLE IN THE 1922 BOOK "NEGRO FOLK RHYMES"
As a matter of interest, the rhyming phrase "double trouble" can be found in a song that is included in the 1922 book Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise And Otherwise by Thomas W. Talley.
From the rhyme entitled "Gooseberry Wine" http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm, p.41
"Oh walk chalk, Ginger Blue!
Git over double trouble.
You needn' min' de wedder
So's de win' don't blow you double."
-snip-
I believe that "walk chalk" in this rhyme/song means "to be very careful"; "to always be alert and aware about your surroundings and what you are doing" given the dangers and difficult circumstances that you're likely to face (as a Black person).
Here's information that helps explain the phrase "walk chalk"
From https://zippyfacts.com/what-does-the-phrase-to-walk-the-chalk-mean-and-where-did-it-come-from/#:~:text=The%20significance%20is%20alleged%20to,lines%20of%20the%20lane%2C%20he
"What does the phrase “to walk the chalk” mean and Where did it come from?"; July 7, 2020 by Karen Hill
"In present day American use, one who is made “to walk the chalk” must walk a line of rectitude and sobriety, not deviating a hair’s breadth, or he must obey the rules closely.
****
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Latest revision: August 1, 2022
This pancocojams post presents information about The Simpsons television cartoon series.
This post also showcases some YouTube video examples and text (word only) examples of all of the hand clap rhymes that I've come across that refer to The Simpsons.
My text analysis of those rhymes is also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the creators of The Simpsons cartoon series and thanks to all those who are shown in these featured videos, and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Also, thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
-snip-
The title for this post was revised on November 24, 2020 to reflect that there are more than one handclap rhymes that include the name of "The Simpsons" fictitious characters.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT "THE SIMPSONS" SHOW
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Simpsons
"The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield and parodies American culture, society, television, and many aspects of the human condition.
The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a solicitation for a series of animated shorts with the producer James L. Brooks. Groening created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show and was an early hit for Fox, becoming the network's first series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1989–1990).
Since its debut on December 17, 1989, the show has broadcast 530 episodes and the twenty-fourth season ended on May 19, 2013. The Simpsons is the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and in 2009 it surpassed Gunsmoke as the longest-running American primetime, scripted television series. The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on July 26 and July 27, 2007, and grossed over $527 million.
The Simpsons is widely considered to be one of the greatest television series of all time."...
-snip-
To my knowledge, "The Simpsons" rhymes that are included in this post weren't created by anyone associated with "The Simpsons" productions (television series and movie).
Although it might have been any episode or any number of episodes that inspired the anonymous creation of "The Simpsons" rhyme, I wonder if the episode in which Bart sells his soul was the inspiration for the rhyme which indicates that Bart is in double trouble (in a lot of trouble).
I happened upon information about that episode in the Wikipedia page about the children's rhyme "Miss Susie"[had a steamboat] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Susie. Here's a quote from that page:
"In The Simpsons episode Bart Sells His Soul, Sherri and Terri chant, "Bart sold his soul, and that's just swell / Now he's going straight to / Hello operator / give me number nine" in Bart's nightmare. And in "Fat Man and Little Boy," Lisa and her friend Janey recite this rhyme. An eavesdropping Homer gasps whenever he expects profanity and lets out sighs of relief when they turn out to be innocuous."
-end of quote-
Here's more information about the "Bart Sells His Soul" episode:
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_Sells_His_Soul
"Bart Sells His Soul" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons' seventh season. It first aired in the United States on the Fox network, on October 8, 1995. In the episode, while being punished for playing a prank at church, Bart declares that there is no such thing as a soul and to prove it he sells his to Milhouse for $5 in the form of a piece of paper with "Bart Simpson's soul" written on it. Lisa warns Bart he will regret this decision, and Bart soon witnesses odd changes in his life. Believing he really has lost his soul, he becomes desperate to get it back. Lisa eventually acquires it and returns it to a relieved Bart."
****
FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: Hand Games
Paisley Horton, Uploaded on Apr 25, 2009
Alecia and Arianna doing hand games..Eliott in the back ground annoyed..lol
-snip-
The girls chant two rhymes.
The first rhyme is a version of the children's hand clap rhyme "There's A Place On Mars".
The second rhyme beginning at .025 is a version of "The Simpsons".
Here's my transcription of that rhyme which I transcribed on September 5, 2010. Corrections & additions are welcome.
THE SIMPSONS (Version #1)
Sin Sin Sin
We do twist (tricks?)
And I do twist (tricks?)
And Maggie Maggie Maggie twist (tricks?)
And Mart is double trouble
Mart is double trouble
Criss cross
The apple sauce
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Now freeze 1 time
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Now freeze
-Alecia and Arianna; 2009, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ9PPA7MaJk&feature=grec_index
NOTES ABOUT MY TRANSCRIPTION OF THIS RHYME
"?" means I'm not sure about the words that were recited.
"sin sin sin"" - an introductory phrase that is probably a folk etymology version of "shame shame shame". The introductory phrase "shame shame shame" is frequently found in African American orginated children's rhyme. Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br9fAi7HdDk for a video of two African American girls performing a handclap routine while reciting a version of the handclap rhyme "Brickwall Waterfall". That video's title is "Shame Shame Shame" and the rhyme begins with that introductory phrase.
""Mart" is undoubtedly "Bart Simpson".
****
OTHER EXAMPLES OF THE SIMPSON'S HAND CLAP RHYME
(Note: I assigned numbers to these examples featured in this post because they have the same titles. The numbers are given in the order of their presentation in this post.
Version #2: The Simpsons hand game
renjs, Uploaded on Aug 27, 2008
Ren, Eric, Alex, Renee doing what Renee wants to do... again
-snip-
Unfortunately, the visuals and sound for this video are very poor quality of this video. I'm including it because, in spite of the poor visual and audio quality of the video, it still gives an example of how "The Simpsons" rhyme is performed as a syncopated group handclap/movement rhyme.)
Here's a description of this video:
A Black man, two young Black boys and a young Black girl form a circle and clap each others hands in the beginning portion of this rhyme. The participants then perform body motions which correspond to the words that are said. For instance, on the words "criss cross", the participants cross their arms on their chest. And on the word "Freeze!", the participants "freeze in place" (make a funny or dramatic pose and remain perfectly still for a very short amount of time.)
The words to this rhyme are difficult to hear, but I believe that the words that the participants recited are the same as or very similar to the words given in Version #3 below.
Here's my partial transcription of this video:
The Simpsons
The Simpsons:
Bart Simpson
Lisa Simpson
Homer and Marge
????
????
????
????
Criss Cross
Apple sauce
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Freeze!
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
And Freeze!
-renjs, August 27, 2008 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehR2-Sa5qYQ&t=1s
????
Criss Cross
Apple sauce
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Freeze!
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
And Freeze!
-renjs, August 27, 2008 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehR2-Sa5qYQ&t=1s
video summary: "Ren, Eric, Alex, Renee doing what Renee wants to do... again"
video description- Black father does four person hand claps with his children.
-snip-
This is my partial transcription of this video. Additions and corrections are welcome.
****
MORE TEXT EXAMPLES OF "THE SIMPSONS" RHYMES
Version #3
THE SIMPSONS [title]
The Simpsons:
Bart Simpson
Lisa Simpson
Homer and Marge
That’s not all-
Bart’s in double trouble
Bart Simpson
Lisa Simpson
Homer and Marge
That’s not all-
Bart’s in double trouble
Criss Cross
Apple sauce
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Freeze!
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
For the last time
Freeze!
- Tamia; 12 year old African American girl, Maryland) Oct 29. 2005; collected by Marimba for Azizi Powell
****
Example #4
THE SIMPSONS
clap
lisa simpson, bart simpson, homer simpson, bart
B-A-R-T B-A-R-T B-A-R-T BART
i said a deep da deep da deep trouble
i said a deep da deep da deep trouble
-Anietie; http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2204285338&topic=2724&post=25803#t; October 7, 2006
-snip-
-snip-
I also found this video entitled "The Simpsons hand game":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jkne6UHrYM.
In that video two young girls perform a handclap routine while reciting a rhyme in what I think is Spanish.
****
Version #3
THE SIMPSONS [title]
The Simpsons:
Bart Simpson
Lisa Simpson
Homer and Marge
That’s not all-
Bart’s in double trouble
Bart Simpson
Lisa Simpson
Homer and Marge
That’s not all-
Bart’s in double trouble
Criss Cross
Apple sauce
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Freeze!
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
Pump up the volume
For the last time
Freeze!
- Tamia; 12 year old African American girl, Maryland) Oct 29. 2005; collected by Marimba for Azizi Powell
****
Example #4
THE SIMPSONS
clap
lisa simpson, bart simpson, homer simpson, bart
B-A-R-T B-A-R-T B-A-R-T BART
i said a deep da deep da deep trouble
i said a deep da deep da deep trouble
-Anietie; http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2204285338&topic=2724&post=25803#t; October 7, 2006
-snip-
-snip-
I also found this video entitled "The Simpsons hand game":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jkne6UHrYM.
In that video two young girls perform a handclap routine while reciting a rhyme in what I think is Spanish.
****
THE SIMPSONS (Example #5)
bart simpson lisa simpson homer and marge
thats not all maggie maggie magie
barts in trouble trouble
criss cross jhonny apple sause
pump up the volume pump up the volume
now freeze!
[This link is no longer active.]
bart simpson lisa simpson homer and marge
thats not all maggie maggie magie
barts in trouble trouble
criss cross jhonny apple sause
pump up the volume pump up the volume
now freeze!
[This link is no longer active.]
****
EXPLANATIONS ABOUT CERTAIN SAYINGS IN THESE RHYMES
EXPLANATIONS ABOUT CERTAIN SAYINGS IN THESE RHYMES
WHAT "PUMP UP" MEANS IN CHILDREN'S CHEERLEADER CHEERS & AND WHERE THIS PHRASE MIGHT HAVE COME FROM [Revised June 18, 2016]
"Pump up the volume" literally means to "turn up the sound". In the context of its use in cheerleader cheers, "pump up" means "to raise the energy", "to get more excited about what you are doing". The closely related phrase "Pump it up" which is also found in children's (mostly girls) cheerleader cheers means "to give something more air such as when air is pumped into a car tire or a balloon).
During competitive athletic games the exhortations to "pump it up" and "pump up the volume" are directed to the athletic team as well as to its fans. "Pump up the volume" is closely related to the exhortation "pump it up" which is also found in several children's cheerleader cheers.
My guess is that the record that most likely influenced the use of the phrase "pump up the volume" in cheerleader cheers was the 1987 Pop record "Pump Up The Volume" by the British recording act M|A|R|R|S. That record included a number of samples. In the context of the "pump it up"/ "pump up the volume" children's cheerleading cheers, these record samples were probably the most significant (given in chronological order of record release and not in any particular order of influence):
Trouble Funk, "Pump Me Up" in Drop the Bomb, 1982 (LP): Vocal sample ("Pump-pump me up")
Original Concept, "Pump That Bass" in Bite'n My Stylee, 1986 (12"): Vocal sample ("Pump that bass")
Eric B. & Rakim, "I Know You Got Soul (a cappella version)" in I Know You Got Soul, 1987 (12"):
Vocal sample ("Pump up the volume, dance")
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_Up_the_Volume_(song) for more information about the record "Pump Up The Volume".
-snip-
In addition, the use of "Pump up the volume" in cheerleader cheers may have also been influenced by the title of the 1990s American movie "Pump Up The Volume".. Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_Up_the_Volume_(film) for information about that comedy/drama.
-snip-
I believe that the song "Pump Me Up" was the main influence for the cheerleader cheer "Pump It Up". That influence is shown in those cheers' repetition of the word "pump" (i.e. "pump pump pump it up") and the tune and tempo that those cheers (that I've directly observed and observed via YouTube videos) use.
**
WHAT "DOUBLE TROUBLE" MEANS
"Double trouble" means "a lot of trouble".
****
THE TERM "DOUBLE TROUBLE IN THE 1922 BOOK "NEGRO FOLK RHYMES"
As a matter of interest, the rhyming phrase "double trouble" can be found in a song that is included in the 1922 book Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise And Otherwise by Thomas W. Talley.
From the rhyme entitled "Gooseberry Wine" http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm, p.41
"Oh walk chalk, Ginger Blue!
Git over double trouble.
You needn' min' de wedder
So's de win' don't blow you double."
-snip-
I believe that "walk chalk" in this rhyme/song means "to be very careful"; "to always be alert and aware about your surroundings and what you are doing" given the dangers and difficult circumstances that you're likely to face (as a Black person).
Here's information that helps explain the phrase "walk chalk"
From https://zippyfacts.com/what-does-the-phrase-to-walk-the-chalk-mean-and-where-did-it-come-from/#:~:text=The%20significance%20is%20alleged%20to,lines%20of%20the%20lane%2C%20he
"What does the phrase “to walk the chalk” mean and Where did it come from?"; July 7, 2020 by Karen Hill
"In present day American use, one who is made “to walk the chalk” must walk a line of rectitude and sobriety, not deviating a hair’s breadth, or he must obey the rules closely.
The significance is alleged to have been of nautical origin,
a straight chalk line drawn along the deck, or a narrow lane between two lines,
to test the sobriety of a sailor; if he could not walk the length of the line
placing each foot directly on it, or if he was unable to keep within the two
lines of the lane, he was adjudged to be too drunk for duty and was clapped
into the brig.".
By the time the expression had become a matter of literary
record, back in 1823, however, the test was military and altogether a friendly
competition among soldiers to discover who was the most sober."...
-end of quote-
Regardless of its nautical origins, I believe that the term "walk chalk" in this rhyme/song has more to do that with the "cakewalk" dance whose earlier name was "the chalk line walk"..
Here's an excerpt from http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3cake1.htm
"The Chalk Line Walk as it was originally known in 1850 in the Southern plantations and later became very popular from 1895-1905 as the Cakewalk with a resurgence around 1915. It originated in Florida by the African-American slaves who got the basic idea from the Seminole Indians (couples walking solemnly). Many of the special movements of the cake-walk, the bending back of the body, and the dropping of the hands at the wrists, amongst others, were a distinct feature in certain tribes of the African Kaffir dances. The African Ring Shout has a certain tie to this dance as well (see Ring Shout.)
These "Walkers" as they were called, would walk a straight line and balance buckets of water on their heads. Over time the dance evolved into a exaggerated parody of the white, upper class ballroom dancers who would imitate the mannerisms (namely the promenades and processionals) of the "Big House" (or masters house) that they observed the White's doing. These Slave's would have some fun with such a dignified walking, flirting, prancing, strutting, bowing low, waving canes, doffing hats, done in a high kicking grand promenade. The Master's and their guest found it amusing, while a few plantation owners frowned upon these shenanigans. For their 'Sunday' entertainment, the plantation owners started having contests to prove to the other who had the best slave walker.
---- The idea of the Cakewalk was that of a couple promenading in a dignified manner, high stepping and kicking, mimicking whitey's high society. Some of the better plantation owners would bake a cake on Sundays and invite the neighbors over and have a contest of the slaves, different prizes were given but originally it was a cake and whichever slave won, would get the cake... thus the term "That Takes The Cake!" (Plus others such as 'It's a Cakewalk' = very easy) and the name "Cakewalk" was now set. The dance grew in popularity even after the Civil War (1861-1865), but it would change."...
-snip-
Read this comment that I wrote about the pre-minstrel/minstrel character "Ginger Blue" in this Mudcat online folk music discussion thread: https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=47413#3231649 Lyr Add: Sail on, Chalk Ginger Blue!. This is one of several comments that I wrote in that discussion thread about the name "Ginger Blue". To briefly summarize one of my last comments in that discussion thread:
"Ginger Blue" was a name given to a pre-minstrel (and later minstrel) character "created" by Thomas Dartmouth Rice in the mid 1800s. "Ginger Blue" was a self-assured, boastful Black man, similar to Zip Coon, except that "Ginger Blue" came from the plantation and Zip Coon came from the city. This character was "played" for laughs for White people in pre-minstrel/minstrel shows.
-end of summary-
Notwithstanding that pre-minstrel/minstrel "Ginger Blue" character, my guess is that in that Negro Folk Rhymes song "Ginger Blue" is an informal referent for a Black man (or Black woman). The message of the rhyme is to caution him (or her) to be confident but very cautious in how he (or she) walks through life.
The "Ginger Blue" referent might have originally referred to a Black man (or woman) who is a "redbone" (a light skinned Black people who have a reddish hue to their skin), but I don't think there's any way of discerning that now.
**
WHAT "CRISS CROSS APPLESAUCE" MEANS
"criss cross applesauce" is a rhyming phrase that is found in several contemporary American English children's rhymes.
****
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Lonnie Donegan - Railroad Bill (with information about Skiffle Music)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part V of a five part series of posts about old time American music songs entitled "Railroad Bill". Part I and Part II of this series provides general information about the man known as "Railroad Bill".
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics of this song by Lonnie Donegan, who was a prominent White British Skiffle vocalist. Information about Skiffle music is also provided in that post. An Addendum to that post also features a sound file of
Part I provides lyrics & a sound file of a 1924 version of "Railroad Bill" by Riley Puckett. That post also provides links to information about and examples of some other early versions of "Railroad Bill" songs. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/riley-puckett-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part II provides lyrics to the version of this song that was recorded in 1924 by Anglo-American vocalist Roba Stanley. In the addendum to that post I've also included the "Roborus" fragment and the "Shanghai Rooster" fragment which are folk etymology variants of "Railroad Bill". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roba-stanley-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part III provides lyrics of a 1929 song by Will Bennett. This is the first version of this song that was recorded by a Black person.
Click for that post. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/will-bennett-railroad-bill-information.html.
Part IV provides a sound file & lyrics of this song by Frank Hutchinson. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/frank-hutchison-railroad-bill.html for that post.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
FEATURED SOUNDFILE: Railroad Bill - Lonnie Donegan
Malcalum, Uploaded on Mar 31, 2007
The death of Railroad Bill - Private detectives, rail detectives, lawmen, and citizens were after Bill, or at least the $1250 reward on his head. A posse was taking a break in the store of Tidmore and Eard in Atmore when a lone, black man with a slight limp walked through to the counter. Nobody paid him much attention except the storekeeper who recognized him as Railroad Bill. After Bill's last visit, the storekeeper placed a double barrel shotgun within reach so that he might win that reward. He was so afraid of Bill that he didn't go for the gun. Bill sat himself on a barrel and proceeded to snack on crackers and cheese, the posse continuing their conversations just across the room.
Leonard McGowin had recognized Bill going into the store. Again, Bill's reputation, the legend that he could only be killed by a silver bullet, his known ability with a gun, caused McGowin to hesitate. McGowin went around to a side door and fired his rifle from outside, issuing a fatal wound. On the way down, Bill went for his gun, but was hit again by a shotgun blast from the storekeeper. It took the startled posse a moment to figure out what was going on and then they opened fire on the corpse.
Railroad Bill's body was strapped to a board. His guns were placed on his person and he was placed on public display. In every "colored waiting room", in every major depot, from Atmore and Brewton to Montgomery, citizens were given the chance to pay 25 or 50 cents to view the remains or have their pictures taken with the notorious outlaw. ... The body was buried in an unmarked grave in Pensacola.
The only genuine picture of McCoy is the final one of his body strapped to a board. All the others are of various other African American bad men and notable characters of those days…..
More on - http://www.northwestfloridacomm.com/Wild_Bill_McCoy.htm
[This article identifies “Railroad Bill” as “Bill McCoy” instead of as Morris Slater as is the case with many other “Railroad Bill” articles.
Comments from the YouTube video comment thread:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQDI8wTvRv0
"Railroad Bill is credited to Traditional,Arrangement Lonnie Donegan on Lon's CD Skiffle Sessions .Its possible it came from the same source as Rock Island Line that being Leadbelly. Its a great track from a great artist . The CD is A1 contains lots of early tracks"
-Susan Yates, 2007
**
"Do you know the names of all those in your photos on this? The one of the guy holding a rifle w/saddle on the ground & one following where the guy is on a horse, those seem to be Bill Pickett, he is credited with being the founder of todays' Rodeo event, called Bulldogging. Still get a real kick out of your video, keep up with your talent."
-Dunitlucky, 2008
**
"No one knows who wrote the folk song, but it was around by 1909 at the latest, and very likely was already around as of about 1897. Some may have called him "Wild Bill McCoy" as suggested here, but "Railroad Bill," the legendary outlaw who inspired the song and lies dead in the 1897 photo seen at 2:02, was a guy named Morris Slater."
-JosephNScott, 2008
**
"I don't know who wrote it but Lonnie definitely got it from Leadbelly. The opening guitar riff is classic Leadbelly."
-pnomis, 2008
-snip-
Click http://www.lyricsmania.com/railroad_bill_lyrics_lonnie_donegan.html for a link to lyrics of Railroad Bill as sung by Lonnie Donegan.
****
ADDENDUM: INFORMATION ABOUT SKIFFLE MUSIC
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skiffle
"Skiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, and roots influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly associated with musician Lonnie Donegan and played a major part in beginning the careers of later eminent jazz, pop, blues, folk and rock musicians.
American Skiffle
The origins of skiffle are obscure but are generally thought to lie in African-American musical culture in the early twentieth century. Skiffle is often said to have developed from New Orleans jazz, but this claim has been disputed.[1] Improvised jug bands playing blues and jazz were common across the American South in the early decades of the twentieth century, even if the term skiffle was not used to describe them.[2]
They used instruments such as the washboard, jugs, tea chest bass, cigar-box fiddle, musical saw, and comb-and-paper kazoos, as well as more conventional instruments, such as acoustic guitar and banjo.[3] The term skiffle was one of many slang phrases for a rent party, a social event with a small charge designed to pay rent on a house.[4] It was first recorded in Chicago in the 1920s and may have been brought there as part of the African-American migration to northern industrial cities. The first use of the term on record was in 1925 in the name of Jimmy O'Bryant and his Chicago Skifflers. Most often it was used to describe country blues music records, which included the compilation "Hometown Skiffle" (1929) and "Skiffle Blues" (1946) by Dan Burley & His Skiffle Boys.[5] It was used by Ma Rainey (1886–1939) to describe her repertoire to rural audiences.[1] The term skiffle disappeared from American music in the 1940s.
Skiffle in Britain
A relatively obscure genre, skiffle might have been largely forgotten if not for its revival in the United Kingdom in the 1950s and the success of its main proponent, Lonnie Donegan."
****
ADDENDUM
BONUS SOUNDFILE: Railroad Bill (Etta Baker with Taj Mahal)
.
anonymoose713, Uploaded on Jul 9, 2009
From the CD titled: "Etta Baker with Taj Mahal" [instrumental]
http://www.musicmaker.org/
****
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the featured vocalists/composers.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part V of a five part series of posts about old time American music songs entitled "Railroad Bill". Part I and Part II of this series provides general information about the man known as "Railroad Bill".
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics of this song by Lonnie Donegan, who was a prominent White British Skiffle vocalist. Information about Skiffle music is also provided in that post. An Addendum to that post also features a sound file of
Part I provides lyrics & a sound file of a 1924 version of "Railroad Bill" by Riley Puckett. That post also provides links to information about and examples of some other early versions of "Railroad Bill" songs. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/riley-puckett-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part II provides lyrics to the version of this song that was recorded in 1924 by Anglo-American vocalist Roba Stanley. In the addendum to that post I've also included the "Roborus" fragment and the "Shanghai Rooster" fragment which are folk etymology variants of "Railroad Bill". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roba-stanley-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part III provides lyrics of a 1929 song by Will Bennett. This is the first version of this song that was recorded by a Black person.
Click for that post. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/will-bennett-railroad-bill-information.html.
Part IV provides a sound file & lyrics of this song by Frank Hutchinson. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/frank-hutchison-railroad-bill.html for that post.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
FEATURED SOUNDFILE: Railroad Bill - Lonnie Donegan
Malcalum, Uploaded on Mar 31, 2007
The death of Railroad Bill - Private detectives, rail detectives, lawmen, and citizens were after Bill, or at least the $1250 reward on his head. A posse was taking a break in the store of Tidmore and Eard in Atmore when a lone, black man with a slight limp walked through to the counter. Nobody paid him much attention except the storekeeper who recognized him as Railroad Bill. After Bill's last visit, the storekeeper placed a double barrel shotgun within reach so that he might win that reward. He was so afraid of Bill that he didn't go for the gun. Bill sat himself on a barrel and proceeded to snack on crackers and cheese, the posse continuing their conversations just across the room.
Leonard McGowin had recognized Bill going into the store. Again, Bill's reputation, the legend that he could only be killed by a silver bullet, his known ability with a gun, caused McGowin to hesitate. McGowin went around to a side door and fired his rifle from outside, issuing a fatal wound. On the way down, Bill went for his gun, but was hit again by a shotgun blast from the storekeeper. It took the startled posse a moment to figure out what was going on and then they opened fire on the corpse.
Railroad Bill's body was strapped to a board. His guns were placed on his person and he was placed on public display. In every "colored waiting room", in every major depot, from Atmore and Brewton to Montgomery, citizens were given the chance to pay 25 or 50 cents to view the remains or have their pictures taken with the notorious outlaw. ... The body was buried in an unmarked grave in Pensacola.
The only genuine picture of McCoy is the final one of his body strapped to a board. All the others are of various other African American bad men and notable characters of those days…..
More on - http://www.northwestfloridacomm.com/Wild_Bill_McCoy.htm
[This article identifies “Railroad Bill” as “Bill McCoy” instead of as Morris Slater as is the case with many other “Railroad Bill” articles.
Comments from the YouTube video comment thread:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQDI8wTvRv0
"Railroad Bill is credited to Traditional,Arrangement Lonnie Donegan on Lon's CD Skiffle Sessions .Its possible it came from the same source as Rock Island Line that being Leadbelly. Its a great track from a great artist . The CD is A1 contains lots of early tracks"
-Susan Yates, 2007
**
"Do you know the names of all those in your photos on this? The one of the guy holding a rifle w/saddle on the ground & one following where the guy is on a horse, those seem to be Bill Pickett, he is credited with being the founder of todays' Rodeo event, called Bulldogging. Still get a real kick out of your video, keep up with your talent."
-Dunitlucky, 2008
**
"No one knows who wrote the folk song, but it was around by 1909 at the latest, and very likely was already around as of about 1897. Some may have called him "Wild Bill McCoy" as suggested here, but "Railroad Bill," the legendary outlaw who inspired the song and lies dead in the 1897 photo seen at 2:02, was a guy named Morris Slater."
-JosephNScott, 2008
**
"I don't know who wrote it but Lonnie definitely got it from Leadbelly. The opening guitar riff is classic Leadbelly."
-pnomis, 2008
-snip-
Click http://www.lyricsmania.com/railroad_bill_lyrics_lonnie_donegan.html for a link to lyrics of Railroad Bill as sung by Lonnie Donegan.
****
ADDENDUM: INFORMATION ABOUT SKIFFLE MUSIC
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skiffle
"Skiffle is a type of popular music with jazz, blues, folk, and roots influences, usually using homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a term in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, it became popular again in the UK in the 1950s, where it was mainly associated with musician Lonnie Donegan and played a major part in beginning the careers of later eminent jazz, pop, blues, folk and rock musicians.
American Skiffle
The origins of skiffle are obscure but are generally thought to lie in African-American musical culture in the early twentieth century. Skiffle is often said to have developed from New Orleans jazz, but this claim has been disputed.[1] Improvised jug bands playing blues and jazz were common across the American South in the early decades of the twentieth century, even if the term skiffle was not used to describe them.[2]
They used instruments such as the washboard, jugs, tea chest bass, cigar-box fiddle, musical saw, and comb-and-paper kazoos, as well as more conventional instruments, such as acoustic guitar and banjo.[3] The term skiffle was one of many slang phrases for a rent party, a social event with a small charge designed to pay rent on a house.[4] It was first recorded in Chicago in the 1920s and may have been brought there as part of the African-American migration to northern industrial cities. The first use of the term on record was in 1925 in the name of Jimmy O'Bryant and his Chicago Skifflers. Most often it was used to describe country blues music records, which included the compilation "Hometown Skiffle" (1929) and "Skiffle Blues" (1946) by Dan Burley & His Skiffle Boys.[5] It was used by Ma Rainey (1886–1939) to describe her repertoire to rural audiences.[1] The term skiffle disappeared from American music in the 1940s.
Skiffle in Britain
A relatively obscure genre, skiffle might have been largely forgotten if not for its revival in the United Kingdom in the 1950s and the success of its main proponent, Lonnie Donegan."
****
ADDENDUM
BONUS SOUNDFILE: Railroad Bill (Etta Baker with Taj Mahal)
.
anonymoose713, Uploaded on Jul 9, 2009
From the CD titled: "Etta Baker with Taj Mahal" [instrumental]
http://www.musicmaker.org/
****
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the featured vocalists/composers.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Frank Hutchison - Railroad Bill (information & lyrics)
This is Part IV of a five part series of posts about old time American music songs entitled "Railroad Bill". Part I and Part II of this series provides general information about the man known as "Railroad Bill".
Part IV provides a sound file & lyrics of this song by Anglo-American vocalist Frank Hutchinson.
Part I provides lyrics & a sound file of a 1924 version of "Railroad Bill" by Riley Puckett. That post also provides links to information about and examples of some other early versions of "Railroad Bill" songs. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/riley-puckett-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part II provides lyrics to the version of this song that was recorded in 1924 by Anglo-American vocalist Roba Stanley. In the addendum to that post I've also included the "Roborus" fragment and the "Shanghai Rooster" fragment which are folk etymology variants of "Railroad Bill". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roba-stanley-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part III provides lyrics of a 1929 song by Will Bennett. This is the first version of this song that was recorded by a Black person.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/will-bennett-railroad-bill-information.html.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics of this song by Lonnie Donegan, who was a prominent British Skiffle vocalist. Information about Skiffle music is also provided in that post. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/lonnie-donegan-railroad-bill-with.html.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
FEATURED SOUNDFILE: Frank Hutchison-Railroad Bill
.
BBYMRLCCOTN, Uploaded on Jun 27, 2010
-snip-
Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Hutchisonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Hutchison for information about Frank Hutchinson (March 20, 1891 – November 9, 1945)
LYRICS AND COMMENTS ABOUT "RAILROAD BILL SONG" AS SUNG BY FRANK HUTCHINSON
From http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?Itemid=128&topic=4210.msg60497#msg60497 Topic: Frank Hutchison lyrics
Johnm [John Miller]
Re: Frank Hutchison lyrics
« Reply #50 on: April 21, 2011, 08:33:33 AM »
“Frank Hutchison recorded "Railroad Bill" at his session in New York City on July 9, 1929...
Railroad Bill got so bad
Stole all the chickens the poor farmers had
Well, it's get back, old Railroad Bill
Railroad Bill went out West
Shot all the buttons off a brakeman's vest
Well, it's get back, Railroad Bill
Railroad Bill got so fine
Shot ninety-nine holes in a shilver shine
Well, it's ride, Railroad Bill
Railroad Bill, standing at the tanks
Waiting for the train they call Hancy Nanks
Well, it's ride, Railroad Bill
Railroad Bill, standing at the curve
Gonna rob the mail train but he didn't have the nerve
Well, it's get back, Railroad Bill
Railroad Bill, he lived on the hill
He never worked or he never will
Well, it's ride, Railroad Bill
Railroad Bill went out West
Shot all the buttons off a brakeman's vest
Well, it's get back, Railroad Bill
Posted by http://www.johnmillerguitar.com
**
Response by uncle bud
Re: Frank Hutchison lyrics
« Reply #51 on: April 21, 2011, 08:43:00 AM »
"Hi John -
Perhaps Hutchison screwed up the line in verse 3? Normally the line would be something like "shot nine holes through a silver dime". He doesn't sing that, sounds something like "silver shine" to me. With silver sung as "shilver".
****
ADDENDUM: INFORMATION ABOUT THE NANCY HANKS
"Nancy Hanks" is given as "Hancy Nanks" in that version of "Railroad Bill."
Here's information about the "Nancy Hanks" from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Hanks_(train)
"The Nancy Hanks was a popular Central of Georgia Railway passenger train in Georgia running between Atlanta and Savannah. It was named after a race horse who was named for Abraham Lincoln's mother. The name is even older than the mid-20th century train derived from that of a short-lived but famous steam special, the Nancy Hanks. The earlier Nancy operated in 1892 and 1893.
Nancy Hanks II made her first trip on July 17, 1947. The new train's cars were painted blue and grey and, like the first Nancy, each bore a likeness of the famed trotter on the side.[1]
"The Nancy", as it was affectionately known, was an all-coach, reserved-seat train with grill lounge service. It left Savannah daily at 7 AM for the six-hour run via Macon to Atlanta, and returned from Atlanta's Terminal Station at 6 PM (18:00)."
****
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the featured vocalists/composers.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Part IV provides a sound file & lyrics of this song by Anglo-American vocalist Frank Hutchinson.
Part I provides lyrics & a sound file of a 1924 version of "Railroad Bill" by Riley Puckett. That post also provides links to information about and examples of some other early versions of "Railroad Bill" songs. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/riley-puckett-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part II provides lyrics to the version of this song that was recorded in 1924 by Anglo-American vocalist Roba Stanley. In the addendum to that post I've also included the "Roborus" fragment and the "Shanghai Rooster" fragment which are folk etymology variants of "Railroad Bill". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roba-stanley-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part III provides lyrics of a 1929 song by Will Bennett. This is the first version of this song that was recorded by a Black person.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/will-bennett-railroad-bill-information.html.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics of this song by Lonnie Donegan, who was a prominent British Skiffle vocalist. Information about Skiffle music is also provided in that post. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/lonnie-donegan-railroad-bill-with.html.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
FEATURED SOUNDFILE: Frank Hutchison-Railroad Bill
.
BBYMRLCCOTN, Uploaded on Jun 27, 2010
-snip-
Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Hutchisonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Hutchison for information about Frank Hutchinson (March 20, 1891 – November 9, 1945)
LYRICS AND COMMENTS ABOUT "RAILROAD BILL SONG" AS SUNG BY FRANK HUTCHINSON
From http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?Itemid=128&topic=4210.msg60497#msg60497 Topic: Frank Hutchison lyrics
Johnm [John Miller]
Re: Frank Hutchison lyrics
« Reply #50 on: April 21, 2011, 08:33:33 AM »
“Frank Hutchison recorded "Railroad Bill" at his session in New York City on July 9, 1929...
Railroad Bill got so bad
Stole all the chickens the poor farmers had
Well, it's get back, old Railroad Bill
Railroad Bill went out West
Shot all the buttons off a brakeman's vest
Well, it's get back, Railroad Bill
Railroad Bill got so fine
Shot ninety-nine holes in a shilver shine
Well, it's ride, Railroad Bill
Railroad Bill, standing at the tanks
Waiting for the train they call Hancy Nanks
Well, it's ride, Railroad Bill
Railroad Bill, standing at the curve
Gonna rob the mail train but he didn't have the nerve
Well, it's get back, Railroad Bill
Railroad Bill, he lived on the hill
He never worked or he never will
Well, it's ride, Railroad Bill
Railroad Bill went out West
Shot all the buttons off a brakeman's vest
Well, it's get back, Railroad Bill
Posted by http://www.johnmillerguitar.com
**
Response by uncle bud
Re: Frank Hutchison lyrics
« Reply #51 on: April 21, 2011, 08:43:00 AM »
"Hi John -
Perhaps Hutchison screwed up the line in verse 3? Normally the line would be something like "shot nine holes through a silver dime". He doesn't sing that, sounds something like "silver shine" to me. With silver sung as "shilver".
****
ADDENDUM: INFORMATION ABOUT THE NANCY HANKS
"Nancy Hanks" is given as "Hancy Nanks" in that version of "Railroad Bill."
Here's information about the "Nancy Hanks" from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Hanks_(train)
"The Nancy Hanks was a popular Central of Georgia Railway passenger train in Georgia running between Atlanta and Savannah. It was named after a race horse who was named for Abraham Lincoln's mother. The name is even older than the mid-20th century train derived from that of a short-lived but famous steam special, the Nancy Hanks. The earlier Nancy operated in 1892 and 1893.
Nancy Hanks II made her first trip on July 17, 1947. The new train's cars were painted blue and grey and, like the first Nancy, each bore a likeness of the famed trotter on the side.[1]
"The Nancy", as it was affectionately known, was an all-coach, reserved-seat train with grill lounge service. It left Savannah daily at 7 AM for the six-hour run via Macon to Atlanta, and returned from Atlanta's Terminal Station at 6 PM (18:00)."
****
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the featured vocalists/composers.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Will Bennett - Railroad Bill (Information & lyrics)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of five part series of posts about old time American music songs entitled "Railroad Bill". Part I and Part II of this series provides general information about the man known as "Railroad Bill".
This post provides lyrics of a 1929 song by Will Bennett. This is the first version of this song that was recorded by a Black person.
Part I provides lyrics & a sound file of a 1924 version of "Railroad Bill" by Riley Puckett. That post also provides links to information about and examples of some other early versions of "Railroad Bill" songs. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/riley-puckett-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part II provides lyrics to the version of this song that was recorded in 1924 by Anglo-American vocalist Roba Stanley. In the addendum to that post I've also included the "Roborus" fragment and the "Shanghai Rooster" fragment which are folk etymology variants of "Railroad Bill". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roba-stanley-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part IV provides a sound file & lyrics of this song by Frank Hutchinson. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/frank-hutchison-railroad-bill.html for that post.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics of this song by Lonnie Donegan, who was a prominent British Skiffle vocalist. Information about Skiffle music is also provided in that post. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/lonnie-donegan-railroad-bill-with.html.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
COMMENTS ABOUT AND LYRICS TO Will ROBA STANLEY'S VERSION OF "RAILROAD BILL"
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=45143
From Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Railroad Bill
From:Dicho
Date: 10 Mar 02 - 11:59 AM
"Railroad Bill" has a long history, possibly going back before the events concerning Morris Slater, who was killed in Alabama in 1897 (Norm Cohen, Long Steel Rail, p. 122-131). It appears in many collections of Negro folk songs. …
It has been recorded by Will Bennett, 1929, Vocalion 1464. It is the first recording by a black artist, and the music with chords and text is reproduced in Cohen.
It was recorded by Riley Puckett and Gid Tanner, 1924, Columbia 15040-D; the first recording of the song. It was also recorded by Frank Hutchison, 1929, Okeh 45425 (reissued on Rounder 1007 in "The Train That Carried My Girl From Town," lyrics in Cohen. Cohen lists a number of other recordings.
Lyrics to two early black versions are in Odum and Johnson, 1925, The Negro and His Songs.
I will transcribe the lyrics of any of these if there is any interest.
Will Bennett sang "Railroad Bill" in B.
(C) Railroad Bill, ought to be killed,
Never worked and he nev (F) er will.
Now I'm gonna (C) ride, my Rail (G7) road (C)Bill.
****
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=21456 "Origins: Railroad Bill"
Subject: RE: Help: Railroad Bill
From:Stewie
Date: 19 Mar 03 - 02:08 AM
As indicated by a posting from Dicho in the other thread linked at the top of this page, my comment that Frank Hutchison was the first white artist to record this was incorrect - as I recall, I took that bit of misinformation from notes on an reissue LP sleeve. Riley Puckett was first to record it in November 1924, but his recording remained unissued until November 1925 as Co 15040-D. Roba Stanley recorded it a month later than Riley, in December 1924, but her recording, OK 40295, was released months earlier than his - in March 1925. The Georgia Crackers recorded it in 1927, but this was unissued. [Info from Meade et alia 'Country Music Sources' p67].
--Stewie.
****
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=113809
Subject: Lyr Req: Will Bennett's 'Railroad Bill'
From:John Minear
Date: 26 Aug 08 - 03:11 PM
I have been trying, without success, to decipher the last two verses of Will Bennett's "Railroad Bill". Has anybody ever figured out what they might be? According to Norm Cohen in LONG STEEL RAIL, Bennett recorded this in 1929 on Vocalion (1464) in Knoxville, Tennessee. It has been reissued on "People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs 1913-1938". Here are the rest of the lyrics:
Railroad Bill, ought to be killed
Never worked and he never will
Railroad Bill done took my wife
Threatened on me, that he would take my life
Going up on the mountain, take my stand (chance)
Forty-one derringer in my right and left hand
Going up on the mountain, going out west
Forty-one gun just sticking in my breast
Buy me a gun just as long as my arm
Kill everybody ever done me wrong
Buy me a gun with a shiny barrel
Kill somebody about my good-looking gal
Got a thirty-eight special on a forty-four frame
How in the world can I miss him when I've got dead aim
When I went to the doctor, asked him what the matter could be
Said if you don't stop drinking, son, it'll kill you dead
Going to drink my liquor, drink it in the wind
Doctor said it will kill me, but he never said when
If the river was brandy and I was a duck
I'd sink to the bottom and I'd never come up
Honey, honey, do you think of me
Times have caught me living on pork and beans
Son, you talk about your honey, you ought to see mine
She's humpbacked, bow-legged, crippled and blind
Honey, honey, do you think I'm a fool
Think I'm going to quit you while the weather is cool
----
Here are the garbled ones:
Honey, honey, quit your worrying me
It's going through the world in my heart disease
Going to the mountain *do everything*
Go through the world :
Thanks for your help.
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will Bennett's 'Railroad Bill'
From:Dead Horse
Date: 26 Aug 08 - 06:13 PM
More like "for my hearts ease" iffen ya was ta ax me.
**
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will Bennett's 'Railroad Bill'
From:Stewie
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 07:51 PM
Paul Oliver gives a part transcription at pp241-242 of the Cambridge Uni paperback edition of 'Songsters & Saints'. Unfortunately, he ends his transcription at the 38 Special stanza. However, he goes on to note:
"Will Bennett's interpretation of the song has several more verses, but these are dissociated from the main theme. In his concluding stanza, he stated 'I'm goin' to the World in the Natchez Queen', making an oblique reference to the World's Fair, held in St Louis in 1904; an indication at least of the age of some of the verses he was using, and very probably an indication of the advanced age of the singer himself."
-snip-
That line is written in italics to indicate that this is probably the last line given above by the transcriber.
****
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the featured vocalists/composers.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part II of five part series of posts about old time American music songs entitled "Railroad Bill". Part I and Part II of this series provides general information about the man known as "Railroad Bill".
This post provides lyrics of a 1929 song by Will Bennett. This is the first version of this song that was recorded by a Black person.
Part I provides lyrics & a sound file of a 1924 version of "Railroad Bill" by Riley Puckett. That post also provides links to information about and examples of some other early versions of "Railroad Bill" songs. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/riley-puckett-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part II provides lyrics to the version of this song that was recorded in 1924 by Anglo-American vocalist Roba Stanley. In the addendum to that post I've also included the "Roborus" fragment and the "Shanghai Rooster" fragment which are folk etymology variants of "Railroad Bill". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roba-stanley-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part IV provides a sound file & lyrics of this song by Frank Hutchinson. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/frank-hutchison-railroad-bill.html for that post.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics of this song by Lonnie Donegan, who was a prominent British Skiffle vocalist. Information about Skiffle music is also provided in that post. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/lonnie-donegan-railroad-bill-with.html.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
COMMENTS ABOUT AND LYRICS TO Will ROBA STANLEY'S VERSION OF "RAILROAD BILL"
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=45143
From Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Railroad Bill
From:Dicho
Date: 10 Mar 02 - 11:59 AM
"Railroad Bill" has a long history, possibly going back before the events concerning Morris Slater, who was killed in Alabama in 1897 (Norm Cohen, Long Steel Rail, p. 122-131). It appears in many collections of Negro folk songs. …
It has been recorded by Will Bennett, 1929, Vocalion 1464. It is the first recording by a black artist, and the music with chords and text is reproduced in Cohen.
It was recorded by Riley Puckett and Gid Tanner, 1924, Columbia 15040-D; the first recording of the song. It was also recorded by Frank Hutchison, 1929, Okeh 45425 (reissued on Rounder 1007 in "The Train That Carried My Girl From Town," lyrics in Cohen. Cohen lists a number of other recordings.
Lyrics to two early black versions are in Odum and Johnson, 1925, The Negro and His Songs.
I will transcribe the lyrics of any of these if there is any interest.
Will Bennett sang "Railroad Bill" in B.
(C) Railroad Bill, ought to be killed,
Never worked and he nev (F) er will.
Now I'm gonna (C) ride, my Rail (G7) road (C)Bill.
****
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=21456 "Origins: Railroad Bill"
Subject: RE: Help: Railroad Bill
From:Stewie
Date: 19 Mar 03 - 02:08 AM
As indicated by a posting from Dicho in the other thread linked at the top of this page, my comment that Frank Hutchison was the first white artist to record this was incorrect - as I recall, I took that bit of misinformation from notes on an reissue LP sleeve. Riley Puckett was first to record it in November 1924, but his recording remained unissued until November 1925 as Co 15040-D. Roba Stanley recorded it a month later than Riley, in December 1924, but her recording, OK 40295, was released months earlier than his - in March 1925. The Georgia Crackers recorded it in 1927, but this was unissued. [Info from Meade et alia 'Country Music Sources' p67].
--Stewie.
****
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=113809
Subject: Lyr Req: Will Bennett's 'Railroad Bill'
From:John Minear
Date: 26 Aug 08 - 03:11 PM
I have been trying, without success, to decipher the last two verses of Will Bennett's "Railroad Bill". Has anybody ever figured out what they might be? According to Norm Cohen in LONG STEEL RAIL, Bennett recorded this in 1929 on Vocalion (1464) in Knoxville, Tennessee. It has been reissued on "People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs 1913-1938". Here are the rest of the lyrics:
Railroad Bill, ought to be killed
Never worked and he never will
Railroad Bill done took my wife
Threatened on me, that he would take my life
Going up on the mountain, take my stand (chance)
Forty-one derringer in my right and left hand
Going up on the mountain, going out west
Forty-one gun just sticking in my breast
Buy me a gun just as long as my arm
Kill everybody ever done me wrong
Buy me a gun with a shiny barrel
Kill somebody about my good-looking gal
Got a thirty-eight special on a forty-four frame
How in the world can I miss him when I've got dead aim
When I went to the doctor, asked him what the matter could be
Said if you don't stop drinking, son, it'll kill you dead
Going to drink my liquor, drink it in the wind
Doctor said it will kill me, but he never said when
If the river was brandy and I was a duck
I'd sink to the bottom and I'd never come up
Honey, honey, do you think of me
Times have caught me living on pork and beans
Son, you talk about your honey, you ought to see mine
She's humpbacked, bow-legged, crippled and blind
Honey, honey, do you think I'm a fool
Think I'm going to quit you while the weather is cool
----
Here are the garbled ones:
Honey, honey, quit your worrying me
It's going through the world in my heart disease
Going to the mountain *do everything*
Go through the world :
Thanks for your help.
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will Bennett's 'Railroad Bill'
From:Dead Horse
Date: 26 Aug 08 - 06:13 PM
More like "for my hearts ease" iffen ya was ta ax me.
**
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Will Bennett's 'Railroad Bill'
From:Stewie
Date: 27 Aug 08 - 07:51 PM
Paul Oliver gives a part transcription at pp241-242 of the Cambridge Uni paperback edition of 'Songsters & Saints'. Unfortunately, he ends his transcription at the 38 Special stanza. However, he goes on to note:
"Will Bennett's interpretation of the song has several more verses, but these are dissociated from the main theme. In his concluding stanza, he stated 'I'm goin' to the World in the Natchez Queen', making an oblique reference to the World's Fair, held in St Louis in 1904; an indication at least of the age of some of the verses he was using, and very probably an indication of the advanced age of the singer himself."
-snip-
That line is written in italics to indicate that this is probably the last line given above by the transcriber.
****
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the featured vocalists/composers.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Roba Stanley - Railroad Bill (information & lyrics)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of five part series of posts about old time American music songs entitled "Railroad Bill". Part I and Part II of this series provides general information about the man known as "Railroad Bill".
This post provides lyrics to the version of this song that was recorded in 1924 by Anglo-American vocalist Roba Stanley. In the addendum to this post I've also included the "Roborus" fragment and the "Shanghai Rooster" fragment which are folk etymology variants of "Railroad Bill".
Part I provides lyrics & a sound file of a 1924 version of "Railroad Bill" by Riley Puckett. That post also provides links to information about and examples of some other early versions of "Railroad Bill" songs. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/riley-puckett-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part III provides lyrics of a 1929 song by Will Bennett. This is the first version of this song that was recorded by a Black person.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/will-bennett-railroad-bill-information.html.
Part IV provides a sound file & lyrics of this song by Frank Hutchinson. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/frank-hutchison-railroad-bill.html for that post.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics of this song by Lonnie Donegan, who was a prominent British Skiffle vocalist. Information about Skiffle music is also provided in that post. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/lonnie-donegan-railroad-bill-with.html.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT "RAILROAD BILL"
From Alabama: A History" by Virginia Van Der Veer Hamilton p. 86-89
“Morris Slater, once a woods-rider” who bled trees for resin on slash pine plantations and manufactured turpentine in crude stills, had taken up train robbery after he killed a deputy sheriff and fled the law. Slater broke into box cars to steal food, axes, shotguns shells, and other goods which he sold or donated to poor blacks. He earned the nickname “Railroad Bill” and a reputation for mystic powers which enabled him to transform into a rabbit, opossum, or other animal to evade his pursuers…
But after he had killed two more sheriffs, Railroad Bill met his inevitable fate at the hands of gunmen in Atmore. Curious citizens paid 25 cents for a glimpse of his body when it was exhibited in every “colored” waiting room* along the Louisville and Nashville Railroad line from Atmore to Greenville.
In the flatlands and red hills of south Alabama Railroad Bill became a folk hero to his people. Folklorists suggest that the classic social outlaws like Robin Hood and Jesse James or Railroad Bill, who steal from the rich and give to the poor usually emerge during stressful times to revolt against their oppressors. Railroad Bill’s popularity reflected the racial tensions of southern Alabama".
-snip-
Lyrics to a version of "Railroad Bill" is also found on page 89.
*"Waiting room" here means train waiting room
****
COMMENT ABOUT AND LYRICS TO ROBA STANLEY'S VERSION OF "RAILROAD BILL"
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=21456 "Origin: Railroad Bill" posted by GUEST [Bob Coltman] 22 Jan 05 - 08:30 AM
..."The Roba Stanley recording would seem to be the root of this long recorded song trail, though the song's tradition goes back at least nine years earlier. Her version is unusually full...lots of verses, including some that haven't survived. I've gleaned the following from Charles Wolfe, "Roba Stanley, The First Country Sweetheart," a biography / discography printed in Tony Russell's valuable Old Time Music magazine #26, 1977 (out of London). He interviewed Roba Stanley Baldwin in 1976-77 in Gainesville, Florida. Per that article (I summarize):
Roba Stanley first recorded at age 14 in August 1924 and made her last record a little over a year later (marriage at 15 ended her career, as "My husband didn't like for me to play in public much"). She was a chubby white girl who sang with guitar. Then she married, had three kids, later gave away her guitar, and the musical part of her life was pretty much over.
Obscure as she is (she made only four records for Okeh), she may have been the first solo woman singer to broadcast on radio and record country music. Samantha Bumgarner and Eva Davis were earlier, but Wolfe distinguishes between Roba's roots country music and their fiddle-and-banjo breakdowns.
Born in Dacula, GA …, Roba was the daughter of R. M. "Rob" Stanley, a celebrated local fiddle champion whose house was a mecca for musicians near and far. By 1923 Roba was accompanying him for square dances. They debuted on WSB radio in early 1924.
Roba Stanley was, if not the earliest, among the earliest to record "Devilish Mary," the minstrel number "Mr. Chicken," "Frankie and Alvin" (her version of Frankie and Albert/Johnnie), a great "Single Life," and "Railroad Bill."
Where did she get the song? The article isn't specific. Wolfe concludes from his interviews with her that virtually all her songs were "picked up orally from sources in northeast Georgia." Roba made up some of her words. "I'd take me a piece of paper and write and get things to rhyme..." So some of her verses may have been all or partly hers.
She was passing along a song that was already popular with blacks, if not yet with whites, and had apparently been composed sometime in the previous ten to fifteen years. It was first (as far as I know) reported from Auburn, AL and Lowndes County, AL in 1915 or 1916 in Newman I. White's American Negro Folk Songs, which gives the stanza,
Railroad Bill did not know
Dat Jim McMillan had a forty-fo'
and the related Roborus song of the same date:
Roborus was a mighty mean man,
He killed my son by the lighten flash.
The song caught fire in the next ten years. By 1925 Dorothy Scarborough in On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs was reporting the song widespread across the south from there to Mississippi.
Riley Puckett could have been Roba's source. He recorded the song slightly earlier than she did, though his record was released later. (She got there first...never underestimate singers' competitive streaks). The ever-popular, hugely recorded blind singer Puckett, with the Skillet Lickers and as soloist, did get some of his material from black tradition.
However, there's the intriguing possibility that Roba's source may have been a black singer she heard locally. That back porch of her father's...or all those places they "played out..." Perhaps the color line got crossed to the extent of a curious girl of, say, 13, stopping to listen to a black street singer on the edge of a shady part of town. But that's speculation.
Herewith, Roba Stanley's version of Railroad Bill. The local references may reflect her own alterations.
RAILROAD BILL
Railroad Bill, ought to be killed,
Got my home in Lawrenceville,
Oh, drive on, you Railroad Bill.
Railroad Bill, got so mean,
Walked all the way from New Orleans,
Oh, drive on, you Railroad Bill (repeats for every verse except the last)
Railroad Bill, got so fine,
Shot nine holes through a silver dime,
Drink up your whiskey, cross to the bar,
Pistol a-shining like a morning star,
Two dice in Cuba, three craps in Spain,
Spend all my money for gasoline,
Ought to been there when I got paid off,
Had more money than a walkin' boss,
Went to Dacula to get me some meat,
Stanley Brothers sell 'em cheap,
Went to Dacula to get me some flour,
Pool and Pounds they sell 'em higher,
Going to Atlanta, I'm on the nine,
Call up my honey away down the line,
Going to Atlanta, I'm going on the train,
Talk to my honey until she changes her name,
Went down to the creek to take off a run,
First man I seen was Henry McClung,
Went down on the creek to stay out of trouble,
First man I see was John T. Tuggle,
Went up on the mountain to get me a load,
Met Sheriff Garner in the middle of the road,
Oh, ride, ride, ride.
NOTE: Needless to say "Stanley Brothers" in verse 7 doesn't refer to the bluegrass pioneers (that would take time travel, and more coincidence than even traditional music can bear). Ms. Stanley explained it was a store in Dacula, as was Pool & Pounds in verse 8; these are prime candidates for local authorship and just could be Roba's own composition, as could the verses featuring McClung and Tuggle, then constable and deputy in Dacula, and Garner, sheriff in Lawrenceville.
****
ADDENDUM
The comment above mentions the song "Roborus". "Roborus" was probably a folk etymology form of the name "Railroad Bill". Here's a quote from the 1928 book American Negro Folk-Songs edited by Newman Ivey White, page 359 [Google Books]
“Reported from Auburn, Alabama, 1915-1916, MS of A.M. Kearlyn
Roborus appears to be the same as Railroad Bill. The first line seems to be a variant of “Railroad Bill mighty bad man”.(Perrow, 1912, p.155, and Odum, p.125 pp. 200, 201, 202). The second line is a variant of two Railroad Bill lines ”.(Perrow, 1912, p.155) “Killed McMillan like a lightning flash” and “He killed Bill Johnson with a lightning flash”.
Roborus was a mighty mean man
He killed my son by a lightning flash
-snip-
"Shanghai Rooster" appears to have been a folk etymology form of "Roborus" (probably from a mishearing of the word "rooster").
“Reported from Auburn, Alabama, 1915-1916, MS of A. H.Williamson as heard in Lowndes County
With the first line, cf Odum, 1925, p.134 as “Shanghai Rooster”
Shang-hi Rooster ain’t got no comb
Some of dese women ain’t got no home
An’ did n’t it rain, rain, rain, rain, rain.
Railroad Bill didn’t know
That Jim McMillan had a forty-fo’
An’ did n’t it rain, rain, rain, rain, rain.
****
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the featured vocalists/composers.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part II of five part series of posts about old time American music songs entitled "Railroad Bill". Part I and Part II of this series provides general information about the man known as "Railroad Bill".
This post provides lyrics to the version of this song that was recorded in 1924 by Anglo-American vocalist Roba Stanley. In the addendum to this post I've also included the "Roborus" fragment and the "Shanghai Rooster" fragment which are folk etymology variants of "Railroad Bill".
Part I provides lyrics & a sound file of a 1924 version of "Railroad Bill" by Riley Puckett. That post also provides links to information about and examples of some other early versions of "Railroad Bill" songs. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/riley-puckett-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part III provides lyrics of a 1929 song by Will Bennett. This is the first version of this song that was recorded by a Black person.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/will-bennett-railroad-bill-information.html.
Part IV provides a sound file & lyrics of this song by Frank Hutchinson. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/frank-hutchison-railroad-bill.html for that post.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics of this song by Lonnie Donegan, who was a prominent British Skiffle vocalist. Information about Skiffle music is also provided in that post. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/lonnie-donegan-railroad-bill-with.html.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT "RAILROAD BILL"
From Alabama: A History" by Virginia Van Der Veer Hamilton p. 86-89
“Morris Slater, once a woods-rider” who bled trees for resin on slash pine plantations and manufactured turpentine in crude stills, had taken up train robbery after he killed a deputy sheriff and fled the law. Slater broke into box cars to steal food, axes, shotguns shells, and other goods which he sold or donated to poor blacks. He earned the nickname “Railroad Bill” and a reputation for mystic powers which enabled him to transform into a rabbit, opossum, or other animal to evade his pursuers…
But after he had killed two more sheriffs, Railroad Bill met his inevitable fate at the hands of gunmen in Atmore. Curious citizens paid 25 cents for a glimpse of his body when it was exhibited in every “colored” waiting room* along the Louisville and Nashville Railroad line from Atmore to Greenville.
In the flatlands and red hills of south Alabama Railroad Bill became a folk hero to his people. Folklorists suggest that the classic social outlaws like Robin Hood and Jesse James or Railroad Bill, who steal from the rich and give to the poor usually emerge during stressful times to revolt against their oppressors. Railroad Bill’s popularity reflected the racial tensions of southern Alabama".
-snip-
Lyrics to a version of "Railroad Bill" is also found on page 89.
*"Waiting room" here means train waiting room
****
COMMENT ABOUT AND LYRICS TO ROBA STANLEY'S VERSION OF "RAILROAD BILL"
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=21456 "Origin: Railroad Bill" posted by GUEST [Bob Coltman] 22 Jan 05 - 08:30 AM
..."The Roba Stanley recording would seem to be the root of this long recorded song trail, though the song's tradition goes back at least nine years earlier. Her version is unusually full...lots of verses, including some that haven't survived. I've gleaned the following from Charles Wolfe, "Roba Stanley, The First Country Sweetheart," a biography / discography printed in Tony Russell's valuable Old Time Music magazine #26, 1977 (out of London). He interviewed Roba Stanley Baldwin in 1976-77 in Gainesville, Florida. Per that article (I summarize):
Roba Stanley first recorded at age 14 in August 1924 and made her last record a little over a year later (marriage at 15 ended her career, as "My husband didn't like for me to play in public much"). She was a chubby white girl who sang with guitar. Then she married, had three kids, later gave away her guitar, and the musical part of her life was pretty much over.
Obscure as she is (she made only four records for Okeh), she may have been the first solo woman singer to broadcast on radio and record country music. Samantha Bumgarner and Eva Davis were earlier, but Wolfe distinguishes between Roba's roots country music and their fiddle-and-banjo breakdowns.
Born in Dacula, GA …, Roba was the daughter of R. M. "Rob" Stanley, a celebrated local fiddle champion whose house was a mecca for musicians near and far. By 1923 Roba was accompanying him for square dances. They debuted on WSB radio in early 1924.
Roba Stanley was, if not the earliest, among the earliest to record "Devilish Mary," the minstrel number "Mr. Chicken," "Frankie and Alvin" (her version of Frankie and Albert/Johnnie), a great "Single Life," and "Railroad Bill."
Where did she get the song? The article isn't specific. Wolfe concludes from his interviews with her that virtually all her songs were "picked up orally from sources in northeast Georgia." Roba made up some of her words. "I'd take me a piece of paper and write and get things to rhyme..." So some of her verses may have been all or partly hers.
She was passing along a song that was already popular with blacks, if not yet with whites, and had apparently been composed sometime in the previous ten to fifteen years. It was first (as far as I know) reported from Auburn, AL and Lowndes County, AL in 1915 or 1916 in Newman I. White's American Negro Folk Songs, which gives the stanza,
Railroad Bill did not know
Dat Jim McMillan had a forty-fo'
and the related Roborus song of the same date:
Roborus was a mighty mean man,
He killed my son by the lighten flash.
The song caught fire in the next ten years. By 1925 Dorothy Scarborough in On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs was reporting the song widespread across the south from there to Mississippi.
Riley Puckett could have been Roba's source. He recorded the song slightly earlier than she did, though his record was released later. (She got there first...never underestimate singers' competitive streaks). The ever-popular, hugely recorded blind singer Puckett, with the Skillet Lickers and as soloist, did get some of his material from black tradition.
However, there's the intriguing possibility that Roba's source may have been a black singer she heard locally. That back porch of her father's...or all those places they "played out..." Perhaps the color line got crossed to the extent of a curious girl of, say, 13, stopping to listen to a black street singer on the edge of a shady part of town. But that's speculation.
Herewith, Roba Stanley's version of Railroad Bill. The local references may reflect her own alterations.
RAILROAD BILL
Railroad Bill, ought to be killed,
Got my home in Lawrenceville,
Oh, drive on, you Railroad Bill.
Railroad Bill, got so mean,
Walked all the way from New Orleans,
Oh, drive on, you Railroad Bill (repeats for every verse except the last)
Railroad Bill, got so fine,
Shot nine holes through a silver dime,
Drink up your whiskey, cross to the bar,
Pistol a-shining like a morning star,
Two dice in Cuba, three craps in Spain,
Spend all my money for gasoline,
Ought to been there when I got paid off,
Had more money than a walkin' boss,
Went to Dacula to get me some meat,
Stanley Brothers sell 'em cheap,
Went to Dacula to get me some flour,
Pool and Pounds they sell 'em higher,
Going to Atlanta, I'm on the nine,
Call up my honey away down the line,
Going to Atlanta, I'm going on the train,
Talk to my honey until she changes her name,
Went down to the creek to take off a run,
First man I seen was Henry McClung,
Went down on the creek to stay out of trouble,
First man I see was John T. Tuggle,
Went up on the mountain to get me a load,
Met Sheriff Garner in the middle of the road,
Oh, ride, ride, ride.
NOTE: Needless to say "Stanley Brothers" in verse 7 doesn't refer to the bluegrass pioneers (that would take time travel, and more coincidence than even traditional music can bear). Ms. Stanley explained it was a store in Dacula, as was Pool & Pounds in verse 8; these are prime candidates for local authorship and just could be Roba's own composition, as could the verses featuring McClung and Tuggle, then constable and deputy in Dacula, and Garner, sheriff in Lawrenceville.
****
ADDENDUM
The comment above mentions the song "Roborus". "Roborus" was probably a folk etymology form of the name "Railroad Bill". Here's a quote from the 1928 book American Negro Folk-Songs edited by Newman Ivey White, page 359 [Google Books]
“Reported from Auburn, Alabama, 1915-1916, MS of A.M. Kearlyn
Roborus appears to be the same as Railroad Bill. The first line seems to be a variant of “Railroad Bill mighty bad man”.(Perrow, 1912, p.155, and Odum, p.125 pp. 200, 201, 202). The second line is a variant of two Railroad Bill lines ”.(Perrow, 1912, p.155) “Killed McMillan like a lightning flash” and “He killed Bill Johnson with a lightning flash”.
Roborus was a mighty mean man
He killed my son by a lightning flash
-snip-
"Shanghai Rooster" appears to have been a folk etymology form of "Roborus" (probably from a mishearing of the word "rooster").
“Reported from Auburn, Alabama, 1915-1916, MS of A. H.Williamson as heard in Lowndes County
With the first line, cf Odum, 1925, p.134 as “Shanghai Rooster”
Shang-hi Rooster ain’t got no comb
Some of dese women ain’t got no home
An’ did n’t it rain, rain, rain, rain, rain.
Railroad Bill didn’t know
That Jim McMillan had a forty-fo’
An’ did n’t it rain, rain, rain, rain, rain.
****
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the featured vocalists/composers.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Riley Puckett - Railroad Bill (information, sound file, and lyrics)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of five part series of posts about old time American music songs entitled "Railroad Bill". Part I and Part II of this series provides general information about the man known as "Railroad Bill".
This post provides a sound file and lyrics to the version of this song that was recorded in 1924 by Anglo-American vocalist/musician Riley Puckett. An addendum to this post also provides notes about other verses of that song or variants of that song that were collected in the early 20th century.
Part II provides lyrics of a 1924 version of "Railroad Bill" by Roba Stanley. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roba-stanley-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part III provides lyrics of a 1929 song by Will Bennett. This is the first version of this song that was recorded by a Black person.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/will-bennett-railroad-bill-information.html.
Part IV provides a sound file & lyrics of this song by Frank Hutchinson. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/frank-hutchison-railroad-bill.html for that post.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics of this song by Lonnie Donegan, who was a prominent British Skiffle vocalist. Information about Skiffle music is also provided in that post. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/lonnie-donegan-railroad-bill-with.html.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT "RAILROAD BILL"
From http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1258
"The legend of Railroad Bill arose in the winter of 1895, along the Louisville and Nashville (L&N) Railroad line in southern Alabama. Based loosely on the exploits of an African American outlaw known as "Railroad Bill," tales of his brief but action-filled career on the wrong side of the law have been preserved in song (see lyrics), fiction, and theater. He has been variously portrayed as a "Robin Hood" character, a murderous criminal, a shape shifter, and a nameless victim of the Jim Crow South. He was never conclusively identified, but L&N detectives claimed he was a man named Morris Slater, and some residents of Brewton believed him to be a man called Bill McCoy who was shot by local law enforcement.
Stories about Railroad Bill began to surface in early 1895, when an armed vagrant began riding the L&N boxcars between Flomaton and Mobile. He earned the nickname "Railroad Bill," or sometimes just "Railroad," from the trainmen who had trouble detaining the rifle-wielding hitchhiker...
Railroad Bill was a symbol of the racial and economic divide in the post-Reconstruction Deep South. During this period of increasing legal segregation in Alabama and the rest of the South, the hunt for Railroad Bill became a theatrical white supremacist saga in local newspapers. The outlaw's legacy has been passed down through generations in many cultural representations. Railroad Bill blues ballads began circulating in the early twentieth century; one was recorded by Riley Puckett and Gid Tanner in 1924. Musicologist Alan Lomax recorded a version of Railroad Bill by Payneville native Vera Ward Hall in 1939. Blues singers have used "Railroad Bill" as a stage name, and the popularity of the ballads exploded during the folk revival of the 1950s and 60s. In 1981, the Labor Theater in New York City produced the musical play Railroad Bill by C. R. Portz”.
**
Click http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=21456#1385373 "Origin: Railroad Bill" comment posted by Q 22 Jan 05 - 02:48 PM for the earliest collected fragments of "Railroad Bill". Those verses were collected in 1909 by E. C. Perrow [1912, Songs and Rhymes from the South, Part 1, JAFL XXV, p. 155] from "Alabama and Mississippi blacks".
Here's a note from that same commenter about another early collection of "Railroad Bill" song fragments:
"Howard W. Odum published Railroad Bill verses in 1911. The story was taking off and 'Bill' became known in the west, the story probably carried there by black railroaders and cowboys."
-snip-
A "Railroad Bill" song is also included in Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise. Another "Railroad Bill" song-from Odum- is found in Dorothry Scarborough's 1925 collection On The Trail Of Negro Folk Songs. Click that same Mudcat thread http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=21456 for the words to those versions that I reposted [Azizi Date: 22 Jan 05 - 12:33 PM and Azizi Date: 22 Jan 05 - 01:17 PM]
Also, that same discussion thread includes a comment posted by GUEST,C.B. Date: 22 Jan 05 - 04:34 AM who purports to be a descendant of Morris Slater, the man who was widely known to be "Railroad Bill". That commenter provides some background information about Morris Slater which seems to fit the information that is otherwise known about him.
****
FEATURED SOUND FILE: Riley Puckett-Railroad Bill
BBYMRLCCOTN, Uploaded on May 2, 2010
-snip-
Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_Puckett for information about Anglo-American vocalist/musician Riley Puckett(May 7, 1894 - July 13, 1946).
****
LYRICS: RAILROAD BILL
(As sung by Riley Puckett)
From http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/bluegrass-songbook/008471.HTM
"This song had it's last general popularity during the folk revival of the 60's when it was recorded by several artists, today it is mainly heard in OT circles."*
Railroad Bill, Railroad Bill
He never worked, and he never will,
And it's ride, ride, ride.
Railroad Bill's a mighty mean man
Shot the light out of the poor brakeman's hand
Railroad Bill, up on a hill
Lightin' a seegar with a ten-dollar bill.
Railroad Bill took my wife,
If I didn't like it, gonna take my life.
Goin' on a mountain, goin' out west
Thirty-eight special stickin' out of my vest.
Buy me a pistol just as long as my arm
Shoot everybody ever done me harm.
Got a thirty-special in a forty-five frame,
I can't miss 'cause I got dead aim.
Railroad Bill, he ain't so bad
Whupped his mama, shot his old dad.
Early one morning, standing in the rain
Round the bend come a long freight train.
Railroad Bill a-comin' home soon
Killed McMillan by the light of the moon
McMillan had a special train
When they got there they was prayin'
Kill me a chicken, send me the wing
They think I'm workin', Lord, I ain't doin' a thing.
Kill me a chicken, send me the head,
Think I'm workin', Lord, I'm layin' in bed.
Gonna drink my whiskey, drink it in the wind
The doctor said it'd kill me but he didn't say when.
"One of the classic guitar virtuoso finger-picking songs.
Recorded by Cisco Huston, Hobart Smith, Guy Carawan, Jack Elliot."
-snip-
*OT- probably means "old time music".
****
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the featured vocalists/composers. And thanks to the publisher of this featured version on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part I of five part series of posts about old time American music songs entitled "Railroad Bill". Part I and Part II of this series provides general information about the man known as "Railroad Bill".
This post provides a sound file and lyrics to the version of this song that was recorded in 1924 by Anglo-American vocalist/musician Riley Puckett. An addendum to this post also provides notes about other verses of that song or variants of that song that were collected in the early 20th century.
Part II provides lyrics of a 1924 version of "Railroad Bill" by Roba Stanley. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roba-stanley-railroad-bill-information.html for that post.
Part III provides lyrics of a 1929 song by Will Bennett. This is the first version of this song that was recorded by a Black person.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/will-bennett-railroad-bill-information.html.
Part IV provides a sound file & lyrics of this song by Frank Hutchinson. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/frank-hutchison-railroad-bill.html for that post.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics of this song by Lonnie Donegan, who was a prominent British Skiffle vocalist. Information about Skiffle music is also provided in that post. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/lonnie-donegan-railroad-bill-with.html.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT "RAILROAD BILL"
From http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1258
"The legend of Railroad Bill arose in the winter of 1895, along the Louisville and Nashville (L&N) Railroad line in southern Alabama. Based loosely on the exploits of an African American outlaw known as "Railroad Bill," tales of his brief but action-filled career on the wrong side of the law have been preserved in song (see lyrics), fiction, and theater. He has been variously portrayed as a "Robin Hood" character, a murderous criminal, a shape shifter, and a nameless victim of the Jim Crow South. He was never conclusively identified, but L&N detectives claimed he was a man named Morris Slater, and some residents of Brewton believed him to be a man called Bill McCoy who was shot by local law enforcement.
Stories about Railroad Bill began to surface in early 1895, when an armed vagrant began riding the L&N boxcars between Flomaton and Mobile. He earned the nickname "Railroad Bill," or sometimes just "Railroad," from the trainmen who had trouble detaining the rifle-wielding hitchhiker...
Railroad Bill was a symbol of the racial and economic divide in the post-Reconstruction Deep South. During this period of increasing legal segregation in Alabama and the rest of the South, the hunt for Railroad Bill became a theatrical white supremacist saga in local newspapers. The outlaw's legacy has been passed down through generations in many cultural representations. Railroad Bill blues ballads began circulating in the early twentieth century; one was recorded by Riley Puckett and Gid Tanner in 1924. Musicologist Alan Lomax recorded a version of Railroad Bill by Payneville native Vera Ward Hall in 1939. Blues singers have used "Railroad Bill" as a stage name, and the popularity of the ballads exploded during the folk revival of the 1950s and 60s. In 1981, the Labor Theater in New York City produced the musical play Railroad Bill by C. R. Portz”.
**
Click http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=21456#1385373 "Origin: Railroad Bill" comment posted by Q 22 Jan 05 - 02:48 PM for the earliest collected fragments of "Railroad Bill". Those verses were collected in 1909 by E. C. Perrow [1912, Songs and Rhymes from the South, Part 1, JAFL XXV, p. 155] from "Alabama and Mississippi blacks".
Here's a note from that same commenter about another early collection of "Railroad Bill" song fragments:
"Howard W. Odum published Railroad Bill verses in 1911. The story was taking off and 'Bill' became known in the west, the story probably carried there by black railroaders and cowboys."
-snip-
A "Railroad Bill" song is also included in Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise. Another "Railroad Bill" song-from Odum- is found in Dorothry Scarborough's 1925 collection On The Trail Of Negro Folk Songs. Click that same Mudcat thread http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=21456 for the words to those versions that I reposted [Azizi Date: 22 Jan 05 - 12:33 PM and Azizi Date: 22 Jan 05 - 01:17 PM]
Also, that same discussion thread includes a comment posted by GUEST,C.B. Date: 22 Jan 05 - 04:34 AM who purports to be a descendant of Morris Slater, the man who was widely known to be "Railroad Bill". That commenter provides some background information about Morris Slater which seems to fit the information that is otherwise known about him.
****
FEATURED SOUND FILE: Riley Puckett-Railroad Bill
BBYMRLCCOTN, Uploaded on May 2, 2010
-snip-
Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_Puckett for information about Anglo-American vocalist/musician Riley Puckett(May 7, 1894 - July 13, 1946).
****
LYRICS: RAILROAD BILL
(As sung by Riley Puckett)
From http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/bluegrass-songbook/008471.HTM
"This song had it's last general popularity during the folk revival of the 60's when it was recorded by several artists, today it is mainly heard in OT circles."*
Railroad Bill, Railroad Bill
He never worked, and he never will,
And it's ride, ride, ride.
Railroad Bill's a mighty mean man
Shot the light out of the poor brakeman's hand
Railroad Bill, up on a hill
Lightin' a seegar with a ten-dollar bill.
Railroad Bill took my wife,
If I didn't like it, gonna take my life.
Goin' on a mountain, goin' out west
Thirty-eight special stickin' out of my vest.
Buy me a pistol just as long as my arm
Shoot everybody ever done me harm.
Got a thirty-special in a forty-five frame,
I can't miss 'cause I got dead aim.
Railroad Bill, he ain't so bad
Whupped his mama, shot his old dad.
Early one morning, standing in the rain
Round the bend come a long freight train.
Railroad Bill a-comin' home soon
Killed McMillan by the light of the moon
McMillan had a special train
When they got there they was prayin'
Kill me a chicken, send me the wing
They think I'm workin', Lord, I ain't doin' a thing.
Kill me a chicken, send me the head,
Think I'm workin', Lord, I'm layin' in bed.
Gonna drink my whiskey, drink it in the wind
The doctor said it'd kill me but he didn't say when.
"One of the classic guitar virtuoso finger-picking songs.
Recorded by Cisco Huston, Hobart Smith, Guy Carawan, Jack Elliot."
-snip-
*OT- probably means "old time music".
****
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the featured vocalists/composers. And thanks to the publisher of this featured version on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Howlin Wolf - Forty Four (sound file & lyrics)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part V of a five part series about "The Forty Fours" Blues songs. This post provides a sound file and lyrics to Howlin Wolf's "Forty Four".
Part I of that series provides the text to the song entitled "Forty-Four" that is included in African American folklorist & Fisk Univesity professor Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/forty-four-from-thomas-w-talleys-1922.html for that post.
Part II provides a sound file & lyrics to Roosevelt Sykes's song "44 Blues". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roosevelt-sykes-44-blues-sound-file.html for that post.
Part III provides information about Leothus Lee Green's song "Number 44 Blues" as well as a sound file & the lyrics to that song. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/leothus-lee-green-number-44-blues.htmlfor Part III of this series.
Part IV provides the lyrics and sound file to "Vicksburg Blues" by Little Brother Montgomery. Part IV provides the lyrics and sound file to "Vicksburg Blues" by Little Brother Montgomery. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/little-brother-montgomery-vicksburg.html for that post.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT HOWLIN WOLF
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howlin'_Wolf
"Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976), known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. He was born in West Point, Mississippi in an area now known as White Station.
With a booming voice and looming physical presence, Burnett is commonly ranked among the leading performers in electric blues; musician and critic Cub Koda declared, "no one could match Howlin' Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits."[1] A number of songs written or popularized by Burnett—such as "Smokestack Lightnin'", "Back Door Man", "Killing Floor" and "Spoonful"—have become blues and blues rock standards."...
****
LYRICS: FORTY FOUR
(Chester Burnett [Howlin Wolf])
I wore my .44 so long, I've made my shoulder sore.
I wore my .44 so long, I done made my shoulder sore.
Well, I'm wondrin everybody, where'd my baby go.
Well, I'm so mad this mornin, I don't know where in the world to go.
Well, I'm so mad this mornin, I don't know where in the world to go.
Well, I'm lookin for me some money, pawned gun to have some gold.
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/h/howlin+wolf/forty+four_20200764.html
****
SHOWCASE SOUND FILE
Howlin' Wolf - Forty Four (1954)
leon wadsworth, Uploaded on Sep 24, 2010
****
Thanks to Howlin Wolf for his music legacy. Thanks also to those who are quoted in this post. And thanks to the publisher of this song file on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part V of a five part series about "The Forty Fours" Blues songs. This post provides a sound file and lyrics to Howlin Wolf's "Forty Four".
Part I of that series provides the text to the song entitled "Forty-Four" that is included in African American folklorist & Fisk Univesity professor Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/forty-four-from-thomas-w-talleys-1922.html for that post.
Part II provides a sound file & lyrics to Roosevelt Sykes's song "44 Blues". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roosevelt-sykes-44-blues-sound-file.html for that post.
Part III provides information about Leothus Lee Green's song "Number 44 Blues" as well as a sound file & the lyrics to that song. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/leothus-lee-green-number-44-blues.htmlfor Part III of this series.
Part IV provides the lyrics and sound file to "Vicksburg Blues" by Little Brother Montgomery. Part IV provides the lyrics and sound file to "Vicksburg Blues" by Little Brother Montgomery. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/little-brother-montgomery-vicksburg.html for that post.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT HOWLIN WOLF
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howlin'_Wolf
"Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976), known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. He was born in West Point, Mississippi in an area now known as White Station.
With a booming voice and looming physical presence, Burnett is commonly ranked among the leading performers in electric blues; musician and critic Cub Koda declared, "no one could match Howlin' Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits."[1] A number of songs written or popularized by Burnett—such as "Smokestack Lightnin'", "Back Door Man", "Killing Floor" and "Spoonful"—have become blues and blues rock standards."...
****
LYRICS: FORTY FOUR
(Chester Burnett [Howlin Wolf])
I wore my .44 so long, I've made my shoulder sore.
I wore my .44 so long, I done made my shoulder sore.
Well, I'm wondrin everybody, where'd my baby go.
Well, I'm so mad this mornin, I don't know where in the world to go.
Well, I'm so mad this mornin, I don't know where in the world to go.
Well, I'm lookin for me some money, pawned gun to have some gold.
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/h/howlin+wolf/forty+four_20200764.html
****
SHOWCASE SOUND FILE
Howlin' Wolf - Forty Four (1954)
leon wadsworth, Uploaded on Sep 24, 2010
****
Thanks to Howlin Wolf for his music legacy. Thanks also to those who are quoted in this post. And thanks to the publisher of this song file on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Little Brother Montgomery - Vicksburg Blues (sound file & lyrics)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part IV of a five part series about "The Forty Fours" Blues songs. This post provides a sound file and lyrics to little Brother Montgomery's song "Vicksburg Blues".
Part I of that series provides the text to the song entitled "Forty-Four" that is included in African American folklorist & Fisk Univesity professor Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/forty-four-from-thomas-w-talleys-1922.html for that post.
Part II provides a sound file & lyrics to Roosevelt Sykes's song "44 Blues". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roosevelt-sykes-44-blues-sound-file.html for that post.
Part III provides information about Leothus Lee Green's song "Number 44 Blues" as well as a sound file & the lyrics to that song. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/leothus-lee-green-number-44-blues.html for that post.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics to Howlin Wolf's "Forty Four". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/howlin-wolf-forty-four-sound-file-lyrics_24.html for that post.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT LITTLE BROTHER MONTGOMERY
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Brother_Montgomery
"Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery (April 18, 1906 – September 6, 1985[2]) was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and blues pianist and singer.[1]...
Montgomery was born in the town of Kentwood, Louisiana, a sawmill town near the Mississippi Border, across Lake Pontchartrain from the city of New Orleans, where he spent much of his childhood. As a child he looked like his father, Harper Montgomery, and was called Little Brother Harper. The name evolved into Little Brother Montgomery, a nickname which stuck. He started playing piano at the age of 4, and by age 11 he was playing at various barrelhouses in Louisiana. His own musical influences were Jelly Roll Morton who used visit the Montgomery household...
Among his original compositions are "Shreveport Farewell", "Farrish Street Jive", and "Vicksburg Blues". His instrumental "Crescent City Blues" served as the basis for a song of the same name by Gordon Jenkins, which in turn was adapted by Johnny Cash as "Folsom Prison Blues."[5]"
****
SHOWCASE SOUND FILE
Little Brother Montgomery Vicksburg Blues
randomandrare, Uploaded on Sep 23, 2009
I do not own the copyright to this recording. This video is for historical and educational purposes
Composed by Eurreal Montgomery
Little Brother Montgomery:Vocals & Piano
Recorded in Grafton, WI. c. September, 1930
Originally issued on Paramount 13006 (78 RPM)
This recording taken from the 1996 4CD box set "Full Spectrum Blues, Disc 2, Piano Blues & Boogie Woogie
-snip-
Here are two comments from this sound file's viewer comment thread:
"I have a taperecording from a collector's 78, which I cherish -- one of my all-time favorites. It is slightly different than this recording."
-JimCopp, 2012o
**
"I think he recorded this track four times in the 20s/30s. The one I like best is the second one. Stunning piano playing and very innovative for the time I would venture. There's a later recording without vocals on Last FM (on the Net) which is also brilliant."
-MrTimBranston, 2013
****
LYRICS: VICKSBURG BLUES
(Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery)
UPDATE November 24, 2014 - I've removed my attempted transcription. Read the lyrics in the comment section below. Thanks, anonymous Nov. 23, 2014!
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO
Also, thanks to anonymous for alerting me to a 1976 video of Little Brother Montgomery singing "Vicksburg Blues". Anonymous also posted the words to this version in the comment section below. Here's that video:
Little Brother Montgomery - Vicksburg Blues - Chicago (1976)
RawBluesTV, Published on Aug 27, 2012
Little Brother Montgomery piano & vocal
Produced by Maddalena Fagandini & Giles Oakley (BBC TV series)
Recorded in Chicago, Jan. 29, 1976
****
Thanks to Little Brother Montgomery for his music legacy. Thanks also to those who are quoted in this post. And thanks to the publisher of this song file on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part IV of a five part series about "The Forty Fours" Blues songs. This post provides a sound file and lyrics to little Brother Montgomery's song "Vicksburg Blues".
Part I of that series provides the text to the song entitled "Forty-Four" that is included in African American folklorist & Fisk Univesity professor Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/forty-four-from-thomas-w-talleys-1922.html for that post.
Part II provides a sound file & lyrics to Roosevelt Sykes's song "44 Blues". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roosevelt-sykes-44-blues-sound-file.html for that post.
Part III provides information about Leothus Lee Green's song "Number 44 Blues" as well as a sound file & the lyrics to that song. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/leothus-lee-green-number-44-blues.html for that post.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics to Howlin Wolf's "Forty Four". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/howlin-wolf-forty-four-sound-file-lyrics_24.html for that post.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT LITTLE BROTHER MONTGOMERY
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Brother_Montgomery
"Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery (April 18, 1906 – September 6, 1985[2]) was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and blues pianist and singer.[1]...
Montgomery was born in the town of Kentwood, Louisiana, a sawmill town near the Mississippi Border, across Lake Pontchartrain from the city of New Orleans, where he spent much of his childhood. As a child he looked like his father, Harper Montgomery, and was called Little Brother Harper. The name evolved into Little Brother Montgomery, a nickname which stuck. He started playing piano at the age of 4, and by age 11 he was playing at various barrelhouses in Louisiana. His own musical influences were Jelly Roll Morton who used visit the Montgomery household...
Among his original compositions are "Shreveport Farewell", "Farrish Street Jive", and "Vicksburg Blues". His instrumental "Crescent City Blues" served as the basis for a song of the same name by Gordon Jenkins, which in turn was adapted by Johnny Cash as "Folsom Prison Blues."[5]"
****
SHOWCASE SOUND FILE
Little Brother Montgomery Vicksburg Blues
randomandrare, Uploaded on Sep 23, 2009
I do not own the copyright to this recording. This video is for historical and educational purposes
Composed by Eurreal Montgomery
Little Brother Montgomery:Vocals & Piano
Recorded in Grafton, WI. c. September, 1930
Originally issued on Paramount 13006 (78 RPM)
This recording taken from the 1996 4CD box set "Full Spectrum Blues, Disc 2, Piano Blues & Boogie Woogie
-snip-
Here are two comments from this sound file's viewer comment thread:
"I have a taperecording from a collector's 78, which I cherish -- one of my all-time favorites. It is slightly different than this recording."
-JimCopp, 2012o
**
"I think he recorded this track four times in the 20s/30s. The one I like best is the second one. Stunning piano playing and very innovative for the time I would venture. There's a later recording without vocals on Last FM (on the Net) which is also brilliant."
-MrTimBranston, 2013
****
LYRICS: VICKSBURG BLUES
(Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery)
UPDATE November 24, 2014 - I've removed my attempted transcription. Read the lyrics in the comment section below. Thanks, anonymous Nov. 23, 2014!
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO
Also, thanks to anonymous for alerting me to a 1976 video of Little Brother Montgomery singing "Vicksburg Blues". Anonymous also posted the words to this version in the comment section below. Here's that video:
Little Brother Montgomery - Vicksburg Blues - Chicago (1976)
RawBluesTV, Published on Aug 27, 2012
Little Brother Montgomery piano & vocal
Produced by Maddalena Fagandini & Giles Oakley (BBC TV series)
Recorded in Chicago, Jan. 29, 1976
****
Thanks to Little Brother Montgomery for his music legacy. Thanks also to those who are quoted in this post. And thanks to the publisher of this song file on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Leothus Lee Green - Number 44 Blues (information, sound file, & lyrics)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part III of a five part series about "The Forty Fours" Blues songs. This post provides provides information about Leothus Lee Green's song "Number 44 Blues" as well as a sound file & the lyrics to that song.
Part I of that series provides the text to the song entitled "Forty-Four" that is included in African American folklorist & Fisk Univesity professor Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/forty-four-from-thomas-w-talleys-1922.html for that post.
Part II provides a sound file & lyrics to Roosevelt Sykes's song "44 Blues". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roosevelt-sykes-44-blues-sound-file.html for that post.
Part IV provides the lyrics and sound file to "Vicksburg Blues" by Little Brother Montgomery. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/little-brother-montgomery-vicksburg.html for that post.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics to Howlin Wolf's "Forty Four". Click http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/artist/Leothus+Lee+Green/a/albums.htm
"Leothus Lee Green, also known as Pork Chops, was an early contemporary of Little Brother Montgomery and a mentor to Roosevelt Sykes. Born in Mississippi around 1900, Green worked as a clothes presser in Vicksburg while perfecting his piano technique. Soon Leothus was traveling throughout the Lower Mississippi River Basin, earning a living by playing piano for the people. Montgomery knew him in Vicksburg, and claimed to have taught him the "44 Blues" in Sondheimer, LA, back in 1922...
Excepting for a brief excursion to New York in August 1937, Green performed and recorded mainly in or near Chicago. He cut 24 sides for Vocalion in 1929 and 1930, and 14 titles for Decca between August 1934 and September 1937. His last records were made for the Bluebird label in Aurora, IL, on October 11, 1937. Although primarily a bluesman, he was capable of quoting ragtime novelties, shifting into boogie-woogie, and running stride-like jazz passages. Little is known about the life of Leothus Lee Green; his death is believed to have occurred around 1945. All of his known recordings have been reissued in chronological sequence by the Document label." ~ arwulf arwulf, Rovi
****
LYRICS: "NUMBER FORTY FOUR BLUES"
(Leothus Lee Green)
Ah, my baby cryin and Ididn’t hear the 44 whistle blowin when she blows
Ah, my baby cryin and I hear the 44 whistle when she blows
And then I feel mistreated and your sweet mama bound to go.
Ah, baby, when you get lonely and think you want to go
Yes, baby when you get lonely and think that you want to go
You know that you ain’t no better, mama
Than the black woman that I had before
Some of these mornins mama, baby and it won’t be long
Ah some of these mornins, baby and it won’t be long
You gonna look for your daddy, baby, and I’m goin to be gone.
I got blues will last me nine months from today.
Baby, I got blues will last me nine months from today.
I’m gonna get my sweet woman to drive my blues away.
[Piano Instrumental]
Ah, little baby when you get lonely and want to go.
Ah baby, baby, when you get lonely and you want to go
You ain’t no better, baby, than the black woman that I had before
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from the recording found above. Corrections and additions are welcome.
****
SHOWCASE SOUND FILE
Leothus Lee Green - Number 44 Blues
baalhabeit, Published on May 6, 2012
"The Forty-Fours," as its earlier form was sometimes referred to, was a piano-driven "barrelhouse honky-tonk blues" that was performed as an instrumental. Little Brother Montgomery, who is usually credited with the development of the song, taught it to another blues pianist along the way by the name of Lee Green; Green, in turn, taught it to Roosevelt Sykes. As Sykes explained: Lee Green was the first guy I ever heard play the "44" Blues. So Lee Green took a lot of time out to teach me how to play it…
****
Thanks to Leothus Lee Green for his music legacy. Thanks also to those who are quoted in this post. And thanks to the publisher of this song file on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part III of a five part series about "The Forty Fours" Blues songs. This post provides provides information about Leothus Lee Green's song "Number 44 Blues" as well as a sound file & the lyrics to that song.
Part I of that series provides the text to the song entitled "Forty-Four" that is included in African American folklorist & Fisk Univesity professor Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/forty-four-from-thomas-w-talleys-1922.html for that post.
Part II provides a sound file & lyrics to Roosevelt Sykes's song "44 Blues". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roosevelt-sykes-44-blues-sound-file.html for that post.
Part IV provides the lyrics and sound file to "Vicksburg Blues" by Little Brother Montgomery. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/little-brother-montgomery-vicksburg.html for that post.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics to Howlin Wolf's "Forty Four". Click http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/artist/Leothus+Lee+Green/a/albums.htm
"Leothus Lee Green, also known as Pork Chops, was an early contemporary of Little Brother Montgomery and a mentor to Roosevelt Sykes. Born in Mississippi around 1900, Green worked as a clothes presser in Vicksburg while perfecting his piano technique. Soon Leothus was traveling throughout the Lower Mississippi River Basin, earning a living by playing piano for the people. Montgomery knew him in Vicksburg, and claimed to have taught him the "44 Blues" in Sondheimer, LA, back in 1922...
Excepting for a brief excursion to New York in August 1937, Green performed and recorded mainly in or near Chicago. He cut 24 sides for Vocalion in 1929 and 1930, and 14 titles for Decca between August 1934 and September 1937. His last records were made for the Bluebird label in Aurora, IL, on October 11, 1937. Although primarily a bluesman, he was capable of quoting ragtime novelties, shifting into boogie-woogie, and running stride-like jazz passages. Little is known about the life of Leothus Lee Green; his death is believed to have occurred around 1945. All of his known recordings have been reissued in chronological sequence by the Document label." ~ arwulf arwulf, Rovi
****
LYRICS: "NUMBER FORTY FOUR BLUES"
(Leothus Lee Green)
Ah, my baby cryin and Ididn’t hear the 44 whistle blowin when she blows
Ah, my baby cryin and I hear the 44 whistle when she blows
And then I feel mistreated and your sweet mama bound to go.
Ah, baby, when you get lonely and think you want to go
Yes, baby when you get lonely and think that you want to go
You know that you ain’t no better, mama
Than the black woman that I had before
Some of these mornins mama, baby and it won’t be long
Ah some of these mornins, baby and it won’t be long
You gonna look for your daddy, baby, and I’m goin to be gone.
I got blues will last me nine months from today.
Baby, I got blues will last me nine months from today.
I’m gonna get my sweet woman to drive my blues away.
[Piano Instrumental]
Ah, little baby when you get lonely and want to go.
Ah baby, baby, when you get lonely and you want to go
You ain’t no better, baby, than the black woman that I had before
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from the recording found above. Corrections and additions are welcome.
****
SHOWCASE SOUND FILE
Leothus Lee Green - Number 44 Blues
baalhabeit, Published on May 6, 2012
"The Forty-Fours," as its earlier form was sometimes referred to, was a piano-driven "barrelhouse honky-tonk blues" that was performed as an instrumental. Little Brother Montgomery, who is usually credited with the development of the song, taught it to another blues pianist along the way by the name of Lee Green; Green, in turn, taught it to Roosevelt Sykes. As Sykes explained: Lee Green was the first guy I ever heard play the "44" Blues. So Lee Green took a lot of time out to teach me how to play it…
****
Thanks to Leothus Lee Green for his music legacy. Thanks also to those who are quoted in this post. And thanks to the publisher of this song file on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Roosevelt Sykes - "44 Blues" (sound file & lyrics).
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a five part series about "The Forty Fours" Blues songs. This post provides information about the "Forty Four Blues" as well as a sound file & lyrics to Roosevelt Sykes's song "44 Blues".
Part I of that series provides the text to the song entitled "Forty-Four" that is included in African American folklorist & Fisk Univesity professor Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/forty-four-from-thomas-w-talleys-1922.html for that post.
Part III provides information about Leothus Lee Green's song "Number 44 Blues" as well as a sound file & the lyrics to that song. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/little-brother-montgomery-vicksburg.html for that post.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics to Howlin Wolf's "Forty Four". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/howlin-wolf-forty-four-sound-file-lyrics_24.html for that post
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT "THE FORTY FOUR SONGS" & LYRICS TO ROOSEVELT SYKES' VERSION OF THAT SONG
From
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty-Four_(song)
"The Forty-Fours," as its earlier form was sometimes referred to, was a piano-driven "barrelhouse honky-tonk blues" that was performed as an instrumental.[1] Little Brother Montgomery, who is usually credited with the development of the song, taught it to another blues pianist along the way by the name of Lee Green; Green, in turn, taught it to Roosevelt Sykes...
By the time he recorded it in 1929, Roosevelt Sykes supplied the lyrics and called the song "44 Blues":[2]
It was not until after Sykes recorded "44 Blues" that Green and Montgomery recorded their versions of "The Forty-Fours." While instrumentally both were similar to Sykes' version, the subject matter and lyrics were different. Lee Green recorded his version, titled "Number 44 Blues," two months after Sykes (August 16, 1929, Vocalion 1401). About one year later, Little Brother Montgomery recorded his version titled "Vicksburg Blues" (September 1930, Paramount 13006-A). Of the three, Roosevelt Sykes' version was the most popular and "was to be far more influential than Green's version."[2] "[Sykes' lyrics] played on the differing interpretations of the phrase 'forty-fours' — the train number 44, the .44 caliber revolver and the 'little cabin' on which was the number 44, presumably a prison cell."[2] "Undoubtedly, these overlays of meaning generally appealed to other singers, accounting for the frequent use of Sykes' lyrics."[2]
Due to the song's popularity, many versions of "Forty-Four" would appear over the following years, including some that bore little resemblance to the original except for the title. Sykes, Green, and Montgomery recorded it themselves ten times between 1929 and 1936.[2] In 1954, when Howlin' Wolf recorded his version, "Forty Four" took on a new outlook. Backing Wolf, who sang and played hamonica, were Hubert Sumlin and Jody Williams (electric guitars), Otis Spann (piano), Willie Dixon (bass), and Earl Phillips (drums). Together they transformed "Forty Four" into a Chicago blues...
[Howlin] Wolf retained Sykes' handgun reference and added "Well I'm so mad this morning, I don't know where in the world to go...
****
SHOWCASE SOUND FILE
ROOSEVELT SYKES 44 Blues
doctorsamurai, Published on Mar 10, 2012
-snip-
Here are two comments from that sound file's viewer comment thread http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnia4na291s
"The .44 Magnum was not around, but .44 caliber revolvers and rifles were around in the late 19th century."
--VJDxp, 2013
**
"44 caliber revolvers did exist at that time. They used .44 Special cartridges. The .44 Magnum cartridges didn't exist until 1955."
-63YardDart, 2013
****
Thanks to Roosevelt Sykes for his life legacy. Thanks also to those who are quoted in this post. And thanks to the publisher of this song file on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part II of a five part series about "The Forty Fours" Blues songs. This post provides information about the "Forty Four Blues" as well as a sound file & lyrics to Roosevelt Sykes's song "44 Blues".
Part I of that series provides the text to the song entitled "Forty-Four" that is included in African American folklorist & Fisk Univesity professor Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/forty-four-from-thomas-w-talleys-1922.html for that post.
Part III provides information about Leothus Lee Green's song "Number 44 Blues" as well as a sound file & the lyrics to that song. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/little-brother-montgomery-vicksburg.html for that post.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics to Howlin Wolf's "Forty Four". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/howlin-wolf-forty-four-sound-file-lyrics_24.html for that post
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT "THE FORTY FOUR SONGS" & LYRICS TO ROOSEVELT SYKES' VERSION OF THAT SONG
From
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty-Four_(song)
"The Forty-Fours," as its earlier form was sometimes referred to, was a piano-driven "barrelhouse honky-tonk blues" that was performed as an instrumental.[1] Little Brother Montgomery, who is usually credited with the development of the song, taught it to another blues pianist along the way by the name of Lee Green; Green, in turn, taught it to Roosevelt Sykes...
By the time he recorded it in 1929, Roosevelt Sykes supplied the lyrics and called the song "44 Blues":[2]
Well I walked all night long, with my .44 in my hand (2x)
Now I was looking for my woman, found her with another man
Well I wore my .44 so long, Lord it made my shoulder sore (2x)
After I do what I want to, ain't gonna wear my .44 no more
Now I heard my baby say, she heard that 44 whistle blow (2x)
Lord it sounds like, ain't gonna blow that whistle no more
Now I got a little cabin, and it's number 44 (2x)
Lord I wake up every morning, the wolf be scratching on my door
It was not until after Sykes recorded "44 Blues" that Green and Montgomery recorded their versions of "The Forty-Fours." While instrumentally both were similar to Sykes' version, the subject matter and lyrics were different. Lee Green recorded his version, titled "Number 44 Blues," two months after Sykes (August 16, 1929, Vocalion 1401). About one year later, Little Brother Montgomery recorded his version titled "Vicksburg Blues" (September 1930, Paramount 13006-A). Of the three, Roosevelt Sykes' version was the most popular and "was to be far more influential than Green's version."[2] "[Sykes' lyrics] played on the differing interpretations of the phrase 'forty-fours' — the train number 44, the .44 caliber revolver and the 'little cabin' on which was the number 44, presumably a prison cell."[2] "Undoubtedly, these overlays of meaning generally appealed to other singers, accounting for the frequent use of Sykes' lyrics."[2]
Due to the song's popularity, many versions of "Forty-Four" would appear over the following years, including some that bore little resemblance to the original except for the title. Sykes, Green, and Montgomery recorded it themselves ten times between 1929 and 1936.[2] In 1954, when Howlin' Wolf recorded his version, "Forty Four" took on a new outlook. Backing Wolf, who sang and played hamonica, were Hubert Sumlin and Jody Williams (electric guitars), Otis Spann (piano), Willie Dixon (bass), and Earl Phillips (drums). Together they transformed "Forty Four" into a Chicago blues...
[Howlin] Wolf retained Sykes' handgun reference and added "Well I'm so mad this morning, I don't know where in the world to go...
****
SHOWCASE SOUND FILE
ROOSEVELT SYKES 44 Blues
doctorsamurai, Published on Mar 10, 2012
-snip-
Here are two comments from that sound file's viewer comment thread http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnia4na291s
"The .44 Magnum was not around, but .44 caliber revolvers and rifles were around in the late 19th century."
--VJDxp, 2013
**
"44 caliber revolvers did exist at that time. They used .44 Special cartridges. The .44 Magnum cartridges didn't exist until 1955."
-63YardDart, 2013
****
Thanks to Roosevelt Sykes for his life legacy. Thanks also to those who are quoted in this post. And thanks to the publisher of this song file on YouTube.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
"Forty-Four" - From Thomas W. Talley's 1922 Book "Negro Folk Rhymes"
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of a five part series about "The Forty Fours" Blues songs. This post provides the text to the song entitled "Forty-Four" that is included in African American folklorist & Fisk University professor Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise.
Part II provides a sound file & lyrics to Roosevelt Sykes's song "44 Blues". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roosevelt-sykes-44-blues-sound-file.html for that post.
Part III provides information about Leothus Lee Green's song "Number 44 Blues" as well as a sound file & the lyrics to that song. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/little-brother-montgomery-vicksburg.html for Part III of that post.
Part IV provides the lyrics and sound file to "Vicksburg Blues" by Little Brother Montgomery. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/little-brother-montgomery-vicksburg.html for that post.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics to Howlin Wolf's "Forty Four". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/howlin-wolf-forty-four-sound-file-lyrics_24.html for that post
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
EDITORIAL COMMENT
This song which is entitled "Forty Four" song was published in Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise. As such, this is a precusor to the "Forty Four" Blues songs. The earliest recorded version of "Forty Four" Blues songs is Roosevelt Sykes' "44 Blues"(1929).
Information about those songs can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty-Four_(song). Visit the pancocojams posts which are hyperlinked above for examples of those songs.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THOMAS W. TALLEY
From http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=5507
"Recognized during his lifetime primarily as a chemist, teacher, and administrator at Fisk University, Thomas W. Talley (1870- 1952) was also Tennessee's first African-American folklorist. A native of Bedford County, he began collecting folk songs about 1900, and published many of them in Negro Folk Rhymes in 1922. Later, he compiled the state's first collection of Black folk tales, Negro Traditions. Talley was also a skilled singer and composer."
-snip-
In his published notes in this book, Thomas W. Talley indicated that the songs in his collection were from his memory and his [African American] student's memories. He also indicated that some of these songs were quite old. However, no dates, source names, or demographical information is given for any of these songs.
****
FORTY FOUR
(author unknown; Thomas W. Talley, editor "Negro Folk Rhymes")
If de people'll jes gimme
Des a liddle bit o' peace,
I'll tell 'em what happen
To de Chief o' Perlice.
He met a robber
Right at de dō'!
An' de robber, he shot 'im
Wid a forty-fō'!
He shot dat Perliceman.
He shot 'im shō'!
What did he shoot 'im wid?
A forty-fō'.
Dey sent fer de Doctah
An' de Doctah he come.
He come in a hurry,
He come in a run.
He come wid his instriments
Right in his han',
To progue an' find
Dat forty-fō', Man!
De Doctah he progued;
He progued 'im shō'!
But he jes couldn' find
Dat forty-fō'.
Dey sent fer de Preachah,
An' de preachah he come.
He come in a walk,
An' he come in to talk.
He come wid 'is Bible,
Right in 'is han',
An' he read from dat chapter,
Forty-fō', Man!
Dat Preachah, he read.
He read, I know.
What Chapter did he read frum?
'Twus Forty-fō'!
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm#Page_93 [Pg 71-72]
Thomas W. Talley Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise [New York, Macmillan Press, 1922]
****
Thanks to the unknown composer/s for composing this song. Thanks to Thomas W. Talley for his life legacy.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part I of a five part series about "The Forty Fours" Blues songs. This post provides the text to the song entitled "Forty-Four" that is included in African American folklorist & Fisk University professor Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise.
Part II provides a sound file & lyrics to Roosevelt Sykes's song "44 Blues". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/roosevelt-sykes-44-blues-sound-file.html for that post.
Part III provides information about Leothus Lee Green's song "Number 44 Blues" as well as a sound file & the lyrics to that song. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/little-brother-montgomery-vicksburg.html for Part III of that post.
Part IV provides the lyrics and sound file to "Vicksburg Blues" by Little Brother Montgomery. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/little-brother-montgomery-vicksburg.html for that post.
Part V provides a sound file and lyrics to Howlin Wolf's "Forty Four". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/howlin-wolf-forty-four-sound-file-lyrics_24.html for that post
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
EDITORIAL COMMENT
This song which is entitled "Forty Four" song was published in Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise. As such, this is a precusor to the "Forty Four" Blues songs. The earliest recorded version of "Forty Four" Blues songs is Roosevelt Sykes' "44 Blues"(1929).
Information about those songs can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forty-Four_(song). Visit the pancocojams posts which are hyperlinked above for examples of those songs.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THOMAS W. TALLEY
From http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=5507
"Recognized during his lifetime primarily as a chemist, teacher, and administrator at Fisk University, Thomas W. Talley (1870- 1952) was also Tennessee's first African-American folklorist. A native of Bedford County, he began collecting folk songs about 1900, and published many of them in Negro Folk Rhymes in 1922. Later, he compiled the state's first collection of Black folk tales, Negro Traditions. Talley was also a skilled singer and composer."
-snip-
In his published notes in this book, Thomas W. Talley indicated that the songs in his collection were from his memory and his [African American] student's memories. He also indicated that some of these songs were quite old. However, no dates, source names, or demographical information is given for any of these songs.
****
FORTY FOUR
(author unknown; Thomas W. Talley, editor "Negro Folk Rhymes")
If de people'll jes gimme
Des a liddle bit o' peace,
I'll tell 'em what happen
To de Chief o' Perlice.
He met a robber
Right at de dō'!
An' de robber, he shot 'im
Wid a forty-fō'!
He shot dat Perliceman.
He shot 'im shō'!
What did he shoot 'im wid?
A forty-fō'.
Dey sent fer de Doctah
An' de Doctah he come.
He come in a hurry,
He come in a run.
He come wid his instriments
Right in his han',
To progue an' find
Dat forty-fō', Man!
De Doctah he progued;
He progued 'im shō'!
But he jes couldn' find
Dat forty-fō'.
Dey sent fer de Preachah,
An' de preachah he come.
He come in a walk,
An' he come in to talk.
He come wid 'is Bible,
Right in 'is han',
An' he read from dat chapter,
Forty-fō', Man!
Dat Preachah, he read.
He read, I know.
What Chapter did he read frum?
'Twus Forty-fō'!
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm#Page_93 [Pg 71-72]
Thomas W. Talley Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise [New York, Macmillan Press, 1922]
****
Thanks to the unknown composer/s for composing this song. Thanks to Thomas W. Talley for his life legacy.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)