Topic: William Moore Lyrics

[Pan]

Hi All

I'm working on this one and would sure appreciate some help. Since I'm not a native English speaker I invite you to be very skeptical on everything I have so far -sometimes I really don't know if it makes any sense at all.
Edited to add: the lyrics have been edited as kindly suggested by BNemerov and Ghostrider



Ragtime Millionaire by William (Bill) Moore, 1928
Document Records DOCD-5062
"Ragtime Blues Guitar 1927-1930":

Refrain:

I'm a rag, I'm a rag, I'm a rag,
I'm a ragtime millionaire.
All you little people take your hat off to me
because I'm a Ragtime Millionaire.

1st Chorus:

Mr Henry's gonna send me a Ford, he must.
Ev'rybody else is gonna take my dust.
Gonna put a little sign on: "In God We Trust".
I don't mean to have no fuss.
All you little people take your hat off to me
because I'm a Ragtime Millionaire.

to refrain

2nd chorus:

Some of the boys say that I'm gonna be late.
No, if you please, I got a twenty-eight.
Some boys say they gonna catch me at last,
but all I got to do is just to step on the gas.
All you little people...

to refrain

3rd chorus:

Gonna take my sweetie to a ball tonight,
make those boys treat her right.
Keep her out 'bout half midnight
I don't mean to have no fight.
All you little people...

to refrain

4th chorus:

Ev'ry tooth in my head is solid gold,
make those boys look icy cold.
I brush my teeth with diamond dust,
and I don't care if the bank would bust.
All you little people...

to refrain

instr. break

to refrain and end.


Can someone please also tell me who are "Those Boys", and what's a "twenty-eight"?
I think I'm managing to add an mp3.

Yours

Pan

[bnemerov]

Pan--
looks to me as if you've got it mostly right.
The second chorus is : "No, if you please.....
                        and   "..catch me at last."

A "twenty-eight" is a 1928 model Ford automobile.
"Those boys" are just generic males who'd like to steal his
girl and/or car. Hard to tell which the singer's proudest of, isn't it?

bruce nemerov

[Pan]

Hi Bruce

Now that was a quick response! Thank you very much indeed!

I'll edit the changes you suggest to the original post.

Thanks also for explaining the terms used.

Gratefully yours

Pan

[GhostRider]

Hey Pan:

Two small suggestions:

In the refrain, third line

..take your hat off to me

Fourth chorus

..care if the bank would bust


Alex

[Pan]

Thank you Alex.

I edited accordingly.

Cheers

Pan

[Bunker Hill]

Moore's song is actually a parody (using the same tune) of Irving Jones's 1900 hit he Ragtime Millionaire. Jones was a very popular and successful black composer c.1895-1905. But I guess this information must be contained in the Document booklet.
Also in 1900 Jones wrote My Money Never Gives Out, which Gus Cannon reworked as My Money Never Runs Out.  Jones also penned You Must Think I'm Santa Claus which became Don't Think I'm Santa Claus by Lil McClintock. Other such examples can be found in the recordings of Earl McDonald's Jug Band.
End of today's Bunker Hill typically boring black music history seminar....

[Pan]

Hi Bunker Hill

Thanks for your output. As usual, you are right, the Document booklet states that "Ragtime Millionaire" was "derived from two 1900 songs by black composer Irving Jones". They don't give any names for the original compositions, though.

Now you got me wondering what the other one might be, and where could one hear them.

By the way, I certainly don't think of your inserts as boring, especially given the absolutely minimal information record companies nowadays care to put in their sleeves.

Cheers

Pan

[a2tom]

my thought precisely was, how do we know that it sounded like (i.e. same melody, was a parody of...) the 1900 Jones hit?  I'm not doubting it, but can the latter heard?  I love Barber Bill and would love to hear his influences...

tom

[Bunker Hill]

Now you got me wondering what the other one might be, and where could one hear them.

As I recall, a line or two from Jones's Money Never Gives Out. One of which I think is the "diamond dust/bank is bust" couplet. Have a listen to The Cannon version and see if you can hear something similar.
All Irving Jones's original sheet music is housed at the Bodleian Library, Oxford! 

[Pan]

You can listen to a short clip of Gus Cannon's version of "Money Never Gives Out" here: http://www.emusic.com/album/10744/10744760.html.
From what I could gather, the chord changes sounded familiar enough.

Better still, here you can hear the "diamond dust" line just in the end. The instrumental break has different chords, though. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000063CLF/qid=1138741820/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_9_3/203-4391061-1296712

Pan

[Bunker Hill]

my thought precisely was, how do we know that it sounded like (i.e. same melody, was a parody of...) the 1900 Jones hit?  I'm not doubting it, but can the latter heard?  I love Barber Bill and would love to hear his influences...

All I know is that in the mid-60s Paul Oliver acquired copies of all Irving Jones sheet music (presumably from the Bodleian) and wrote about the comparisons he found with early jugband music and the like. Had I not been so eager to jump into the thread but take time to look in Songsters & Saints I would have been reminded that he briefly covers Ragtime Millionaire there and reproduces the front of the original sheet music.

[chipmonk doug]

I'm so terrible at figuring out the music from the recording.  Some one please give me some help on how you play it.  If I get a frame work I can mostly get it.

thanks,
doug

[a2tom]

I'm so terrible at figuring out the music from the recording. 

If only there was a simple but powerful computer program to help make this task more approachable.... 


Bunker Hill - thanks for the info.  Be interesting to see that sheet music...

tom

[mr mando]

Some one please give me some help on how you play it.  If I get a frame work I can mostly get it.

It's mainly G7 and C with an A note (2nd fret on 3) added sometimes. 3+3+2 syncopated picking in many places. Listen to it 100 times then it'll get easier.

[Pan]

Hi All

I've started a thread on the chord changes in the "licks" department.

Pan