Hi all,
I've been thinking about a song that definitely falls into this category that could also be placed in the "8-bar Blues" thread or the "Blues with Minor Chords" thread: Clifford Gibson's "Don't Put That Thing On Me". Despite having known the song for many years, I had never noticed until this morning that it is an 8-bar blues; perhaps it is an indication of how much it diverges from the standard 8-bar progressions and phrasing models that it had never occurred to me that it is an 8-bar blues.
Clifford Gibson plays "Don't Put That Thing On Me" out of E position in standard tuning, pitched just flat of G# (capoed at the fourth fret). The song's progression works out as follows:
| I | I | iiminor | iiminor/I |
| iiminor/I | I | I | I |
So it is that you wind up with an 8-bar blues with no IV chord and no V chord, the only really changes being from E (relative to capo placement) to F#minor. If that doesn't qualify as one of a kind in Country Blues, nothing does!
It is interesting that Clifford Gibson chose to play this song in E standard, because the open fifth and fourth strings, A and D, do not work in support of the song's harmony and, in fact, result in the only awkward point in the song's accompaniment, in the tail end of the fourth bar where Clifford Gibson does a thumb brush of the open strings. The open A and D strings at that point jar with the song's prevailing tonality. In many ways, cross-note tuning, EBEGBE, would have been a more logical choice for the song (but only if you are conversant with it, I guess). You would keep all the fretting on the top three strings intact from standard tuning, including the hammer at the first fret of the third string, but lose that rasty flat7 open D string. When I play this song, I use the tuning DGDFAD, which is like cross-note with the fifth string tuned down a whole step so that you have a convenient low root for the IV chord (though it doesn't get used in this song). Another advantage of this tuning is that not only the top three strings but the fifth and six strings as well have the same relationship to each other that you encounter in standard tuning. The difference from standard tuning is that you end up with an octave you don't have to fret between the open sixth and fourth strings.
Just as the harmony to "Don't Put That Thing On Me" is unique, so is the way the lyrics and melody are phrased. In the first verse, it works out so:
Don't put that
thing on me, don't put that thing on me I swear
| | | | |
I'll be good, kind mama don't put that thing on me Don't care what
| | | | |
Here are the lyrics:
Don't put that thing on me, don't put that thing on me
I swear, I'll be good, kind mama, don't put that thing on me
Don't care what you say, don't care what you do
You sure can't quit your woman she puts that thing on you
She puts that thing on you, she puts it on you right
You can't eat when you get hungry, partner, and you can't sleep at night
You can't sleep at night, you can't sleep at night
You can't eat when you get hungry partner, and you can't sleep at night
I asked a married woman to let me be her kid
She said she swear, she'd put that thing on me, and I couldn't keep it hid
I couldn't keep it hid, I couldn't keep it hid
She say she swear, she'd put that thing on me, and I couldn't keep it hid
My woman quit me, got her another man
And the way she had that thing on me I couldn't raise my hand
Now from my experience, I'll give you your advice
If you've got a good woman, partner, you'd better treat her nice
You'd better treat her nice, you'd better treat her nice
If you've got a good woman, partner, you'd better treat her nice
Clifford Gibson's time on this song has a beautiful relaxed swing and he always had a great tone on his guitar. I think it is my favorite of all of his songs.
Edited to pick up lyric correction from Bunker Hill, 4/6
Edited, 11/5/10 to add: My musical analysis of Clifford Gibson's tuning on the post here is off. He actually played "Don't Put That Thing On Me" in the very same tuning that I describe myself utilizing, though probably a full step higher, at EAEGBE.
All best,
Johnm
I've been thinking about a song that definitely falls into this category that could also be placed in the "8-bar Blues" thread or the "Blues with Minor Chords" thread: Clifford Gibson's "Don't Put That Thing On Me". Despite having known the song for many years, I had never noticed until this morning that it is an 8-bar blues; perhaps it is an indication of how much it diverges from the standard 8-bar progressions and phrasing models that it had never occurred to me that it is an 8-bar blues.
Clifford Gibson plays "Don't Put That Thing On Me" out of E position in standard tuning, pitched just flat of G# (capoed at the fourth fret). The song's progression works out as follows:
| I | I | iiminor | iiminor/I |
| iiminor/I | I | I | I |
So it is that you wind up with an 8-bar blues with no IV chord and no V chord, the only really changes being from E (relative to capo placement) to F#minor. If that doesn't qualify as one of a kind in Country Blues, nothing does!
It is interesting that Clifford Gibson chose to play this song in E standard, because the open fifth and fourth strings, A and D, do not work in support of the song's harmony and, in fact, result in the only awkward point in the song's accompaniment, in the tail end of the fourth bar where Clifford Gibson does a thumb brush of the open strings. The open A and D strings at that point jar with the song's prevailing tonality. In many ways, cross-note tuning, EBEGBE, would have been a more logical choice for the song (but only if you are conversant with it, I guess). You would keep all the fretting on the top three strings intact from standard tuning, including the hammer at the first fret of the third string, but lose that rasty flat7 open D string. When I play this song, I use the tuning DGDFAD, which is like cross-note with the fifth string tuned down a whole step so that you have a convenient low root for the IV chord (though it doesn't get used in this song). Another advantage of this tuning is that not only the top three strings but the fifth and six strings as well have the same relationship to each other that you encounter in standard tuning. The difference from standard tuning is that you end up with an octave you don't have to fret between the open sixth and fourth strings.
Just as the harmony to "Don't Put That Thing On Me" is unique, so is the way the lyrics and melody are phrased. In the first verse, it works out so:
Don't put that
thing on me, don't put that thing on me I swear
| | | | |
I'll be good, kind mama don't put that thing on me Don't care what
| | | | |
Here are the lyrics:
Don't put that thing on me, don't put that thing on me
I swear, I'll be good, kind mama, don't put that thing on me
Don't care what you say, don't care what you do
You sure can't quit your woman she puts that thing on you
She puts that thing on you, she puts it on you right
You can't eat when you get hungry, partner, and you can't sleep at night
You can't sleep at night, you can't sleep at night
You can't eat when you get hungry partner, and you can't sleep at night
I asked a married woman to let me be her kid
She said she swear, she'd put that thing on me, and I couldn't keep it hid
I couldn't keep it hid, I couldn't keep it hid
She say she swear, she'd put that thing on me, and I couldn't keep it hid
My woman quit me, got her another man
And the way she had that thing on me I couldn't raise my hand
Now from my experience, I'll give you your advice
If you've got a good woman, partner, you'd better treat her nice
You'd better treat her nice, you'd better treat her nice
If you've got a good woman, partner, you'd better treat her nice
Clifford Gibson's time on this song has a beautiful relaxed swing and he always had a great tone on his guitar. I think it is my favorite of all of his songs.
Edited to pick up lyric correction from Bunker Hill, 4/6
Edited, 11/5/10 to add: My musical analysis of Clifford Gibson's tuning on the post here is off. He actually played "Don't Put That Thing On Me" in the very same tuning that I describe myself utilizing, though probably a full step higher, at EAEGBE.
All best,
Johnm