Latest Update- August 30, 2024
This pancocojams post showcases the 1929 song "Jonestown Blues" by Gus Cannon (Banjo Joe). Information about Gus Cannon is also included in this post. Lyrics for this song & explanations of the vernacular terms used in this song are also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Gus Cannon (Banjo Joe) for his musical legacy. Thanks also to those quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.
Thanks also to Blackbanjo tony for his informative comments that are found in this pancocojams post's discussion thread.
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INFORMATION ABOUT GUS CANNON (BANJO JOE)
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Cannon
"Gus Cannon (September 12, 1883 – October 15, 1979) was an American blues musician who helped to popularize jug bands (such as his own Cannon's Jug Stompers) in the 1920s and 1930s. There is doubt about his birth year; his tombstone gives the date as 1874.[1]
...Cannon began recording as "Banjo Joe" for Paramount Records in 1927. At that session he was backed up by Blind Blake.[2] After the success of the Memphis Jug Band's first records, he quickly assembled a jug band featuring Noah Lewis and Ashley Thompson (later replaced by Elijah Avery).[3] Cannon's Jug Stompers first recorded at the Memphis Auditorium for the Victor label in January 1928. Hosea Woods joined the Jug Stompers in the late 1920s, playing guitar, banjo and kazoo, and also providing some vocals. Modern listeners can hear Cannon's Jug Stompers recording of "Big Railroad Blues" on the compilation album The Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead.
Although their last recordings were made in 1930, Cannon's Jug Stompers were one of Beale Street's most popular jug bands through the 1930s. A few songs Cannon recorded with Cannon's Jug Stompers are "Minglewood Blues", "Pig Ankle Strut", "Wolf River Blues", "Viola Lee Blues", "White House Station" and "Walk Right In" (later made into a pop hit by The Rooftop Singers[3] in the 1960s, and later a hit rock/pop version by Dr. Hook in the 1970s). By the end of the 1930s, Cannon had effectively retired, although he occasionally performed as a solo musician.
He returned in 1956 to make a few recordings for Folkways Records. In the "blues revival" of the 1960s, he made some college and coffee house appearances with Furry Lewis and Bukka White,[3] but he had to pawn his banjo to pay his heating bill the winter before the Rooftop Singers had a hit with "Walk Right In".[4]
In the wake of becoming a hit composer, he recorded an album for Stax Records in 1963, with fellow Memphis musicians Will Shade, the former leader of the Memphis Jug Band, on jug and Milton Roby on washboard. Cannon performs a series of traditional songs, including "Walk Right In," "Kill It," "Salty Dog," "Going Around," "The Mountain," "Ol' Hen", "Gonna Raise A Ruckus Tonight," "Ain't Gonna Rain No More," "Boll-Weevil," "Come On Down To My House," "Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor," "Get Up In The Morning Soon," and "Crawdad Hole" along with his own "Walk Right In," plus various stories and introductions between the songs. The album is almost an audio documentary tour through different corners of Cannon's life and career that, ideally, might've run to several volumes.[5]
Cannon can be seen in the King Vidor produced film, Hallelujah! (1929), during the late night wedding scene."
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SHOWCASE EXAMPLE OF THIS SONG - "JONESTOWN BLUES"
Banjo Joe (Gus Cannon), Feb 21, 2015
Provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises
1990 Document Records
****LYRICS OF JONESTOWN BLUES*
(Gus Cannon, also known as "Banjo Joe")
[instrumental, humming]
Man, I left Lula, went to Jonestown.
Man, I left Lula, went to Jonestown.
Said those Jonestown brown, boy, sure did make my frown.
[Spoken] Play it now boy.
[instrumental; hums the word “hum”.]
Said I left Jonestown, too small a burg for me.
I left Jonestown, too small a burg for me.
Well I left Jonestown, went back to Tennessee.
[instrumental; hums the word “hum”.]
Well, Jonestown ,boy, too small a burg for me.
Said Jonestown, boy, too small a burg for me.
I left Jonestown, boy, made it to Tennessee.
Said, I got to Memphis, I laid my banjo down.
When I got to Memphis, I laid my banjo down.
Said when I got to Memphis, I laid my banjo down.
[Spoken overlap – Oh play it now, Play it.]
I got full of my good whiskey, my good gal made me clown.
[Spoken – Now play it boy.] [instrumental; hums the word “hum”.]”
* August 30, 2024 - *This is my transcription of a sound file entitled "Jonestown Blues' GUS CANNON (1929) Banjo Blues Legend", Uploaded on Apr 21, 2009
That sound file is no longer available on YouTube.
-snip-
EXPLANATION OF CERTAIN TERMS THAT ARE FOUND IN THIS SONG
Jonestown brown - brown skinned women from the city of Jonestown
burg - city
make me clown - made a fool out of me
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from the sound file given above. Additions & corrections are welcome.
Another transcription of this song [or a different version of this song?] can be found at http://www.donegone.net/?p=141. If this is the same rendition of "Jonestown Blues", I disagree with portions of that transcription. For instance, that transcription gives the last line of the first verse as "Those Jonestown browns, boy, make you turn your damper down."
Here's an explanation of "turn your damper down" from
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24332&messages=22
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Mama Tree-Top Tall (Lasses White)
From:GUEST,Arkansas Red-Ozark Troubadour
Date: 03 Jun 13 - 01:29 PM
"From what I understand "turning a damper down" in cooking with a wood stove means to reduce the heat. So the double entendre in this song probably refers to "sweet mama" having "the hots" for other men, and spreading it around, so she is advised to keep her damper turned down and "make it hot" for her man only. This I was told by an [sic] black blues singer who probably knew more double entendres in songs than anybody. Blues are filled with double entendres. That's what makes the blues so great."
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Visitor comments are welcome.
-snip-
EXPLANATION OF CERTAIN TERMS THAT ARE FOUND IN THIS SONG
Jonestown brown - brown skinned women from the city of Jonestown
burg - city
make me clown - made a fool out of me
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from the sound file given above. Additions & corrections are welcome.
Another transcription of this song [or a different version of this song?] can be found at http://www.donegone.net/?p=141. If this is the same rendition of "Jonestown Blues", I disagree with portions of that transcription. For instance, that transcription gives the last line of the first verse as "Those Jonestown browns, boy, make you turn your damper down."
Here's an explanation of "turn your damper down" from
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24332&messages=22
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Mama Tree-Top Tall (Lasses White)
From:GUEST,Arkansas Red-Ozark Troubadour
Date: 03 Jun 13 - 01:29 PM
"From what I understand "turning a damper down" in cooking with a wood stove means to reduce the heat. So the double entendre in this song probably refers to "sweet mama" having "the hots" for other men, and spreading it around, so she is advised to keep her damper turned down and "make it hot" for her man only. This I was told by an [sic] black blues singer who probably knew more double entendres in songs than anybody. Blues are filled with double entendres. That's what makes the blues so great."
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
"Cannon's Jug Stompers were one of Beale Street's most popular jug bands through the 1930s" Not true whatsoever, The band was only a recording unit and never performed anywhere outside the studio. though Cannon played with Woods and Avery for nearly 2 decades in medicine shows, and with Thompson and Lewis when he lived in Ashport Tennessee near where they lived. Lewis came to Memphis once to try to busk with Cannon, but found the town too much for him. Cannon did perform at times in the 20s and 30s with his friends like Will Shade of the Memphis Jug Band or Sleepy John Estes who lived up near where Lewis and Thompson were from. There is no record of any combination of them performing anywhere. Cannon did work in medicine shows in a band led by Hosea Wood's called "Wood's Jazz Band."
ReplyDeleteCannon's recordings were reissued and found largely on the strength of the hit folkies had with Walk Right in, and Cannon's recordings' excellence hit the spot with many folk and blues and banjo enthusiasts, but there is no record that they sold much in the 1920s or 30s. Cannon began being recorded in 1927 when he was 43 or 44, and Victor probably thought his music was a bit old fashioned. Most of the hits that resound with contemporary Blues revivalists like Minglewood Blues were the work of Cannon's younger band mates, Noah Lewis and Ashley Thompson. Especially after Cannon fired Thompson and replaced him with Avery who was even older than Cannon, the drift of their recordings was to early 1900s pop ragtime tunes. "Walk Right In" (credited on the 78 to Hosea Woods, not Cannon) is clearly a remake of Bert Williams' 1910 show tune "Come right in, Sit Right Down, Make Yourself at Home."
ReplyDeleteBlackbanjo tony, thanks for sharing that information about Cannon's Jug Stompers and other musicians/singers of that time.
DeleteI appreciate it.
Hello, Blackbanjo Tony, I'm a Cannon researcher writing a dissertation, in part, about him. Might it be possible for me to contact you directly? I'd be very grateful. And are you Tony Russell? :) With thanks, Anne Garner annegarner@gmail.com
Deletewe are working on new liner notes and essay for the Document Records 2 volumes of Cannon and bandmates recordings so we have a lot of new information. I was lucky enough to visit people who knew Cannon for years in Memphis years ago and so that contributes to a new knowledge. Cannon presented a public image and demeanor especially with folkies that he did not present for local musicians Black and white, so reaching some of them before they passed helped lead us to good places thanks foir your work!
ReplyDeleteBlackbanjo tony, you're welcome and please keep us informed about when the new liner notes for Gus Cannon will be available to the public and where.
DeleteKeep on keeping on!
The confusion here is that Cannon Recorded Jonestown Blues twice. His 1927 recording for Paramount done in Chicago I think in November was the only recording Cannon ever made as a solo banjo player with just banjo on it other than field recordings people made in the 50s and 60s that were not commercially issued. It illustrates the inherent problems of the 5 string banjo played as Cannon did in the Guitar Banjo Style.
ReplyDeleteYou seem familiar only with the 1929 Recording for Victor Records made in Memphis for which your lyrics are close enough. In that same session Cannon also recorded the "Wolf River Blues" which has an identical melody and pacing.
A contrast between the 1927 solo recording and the 1929 recording would illustrate the problems of the 5 string banjo attempting the blues and why a band was so necessary for Cannon to make decent recordings and to be able to play for dances. The contrast between the beat of the 27 and 29 recordings can illustrate the musical weakness. After the Paramount first cut, Paramount ended the session and sent Cannon home with guitarist and blues singer Blind Blake to work out accompaniment for the rest of his Paramount recordings. Cannon always recorded with a band or a guitar accompaniest for the rest of his commercial recordings. As noted previous, Cannon's Jug Stompers (a name devised by Ralph Peer and never used in Memphis or anywhere else to describe units Cannon performed in) was purely a studio band who whomever Cannon and Peer could get together in the studio when Peer made his annual recording Journey to Memphis. Probably no one in Memphis ever heard of the Jug Stompers because it only appeared on record labels. Cannon himself billed himself as "Banjo Joe" in his work in medicine shows that traversed the country. This is the name his 1927 Paramount Recordings. He was also billed as a member of "Hosea Woods Jazz Band" in at least one newspaper account we have from that group performing in 1919 in Kentucky. The name Cannon's Jug Stompers only appeared on record labels and Victor Records advertisements. No one in Memphis except record buyers ever heard from such a group. The studio aggregations for the 4 or 5 recording sessions Cannon made for Paramount, Victor, and Brunswick records all had different personnel with Cannon being the only person in all the sessions.. The constant in all the Memphis Victor sessions was the brilliant Harmonica Player Noah Lewis who was on all the sessions. Second in frequence was Cannon's main pal, sometime housemate, and musical partner Hosea Woods who played guitar and mandolin on the later Victor Sessions and on his Brunswick sessions with Cannon (as the "Beale Street Boys"). Cannon had the great backup work of Blind Blake on his first Paramount Sessions and in turn played on a recording issued as by Blake. His first Memphis session used the brilliant guitarist and singer Ashley Thompson on guitar and some vocals, but Cannon apparently did not think Thompson's guitar provided enough bottom, and told Thompson the wrong date for the train that was supposed to take him to the second Victor session, and had Elijah Avery replace Thompson using both guitar and banjo guitar for for the 2nd Victor Session. Hosea Woods joined the 2nd Victory session on kazoo and jug when he arrived in Memphis, and therafter played guitar and or mandolin and jug on the subsequent Jug Stompers sessions.
Thanks for your great work