Topic: Lil' Son Jackson Lyrics

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Two takes of "Charley Cherry" were released by Chris Strachwitz on the Arhoolie Lil' Son Jackson record recorded in 1960.  I will include lyrics for both takes here, since they are fairly short.  This album, which is now available on CD from Arhoolie, was recorded after a number of years of musical inactivity for Lil' Son, who had been working as a mechanic.  It always amazes me to hear recordings by rediscovered bluesmen following periods when they had not been playing, and I find myself marveling at the degree of nuance which you often here in the playing on such recordings.  I suppose the reflexes of a lifetime in music seldom disappear altogether.

"Charley Cherry" is played in E standard,  The guitar is indifferently tuned on the first take.  The playing is better on the second take, though Lil' Son gets a bit disoriented in the middle of the first verse.  His ability to spin endless variations reminds me of Mance Lipscomb.

The song's depiction of a sadistic local cop is simultaneously captivating and sobering.  Cops like Charley Cherry are best heard about in song rather than experienced first-hand.  Verse 4 in take 2 is particularly grim.  Help with the bent bracketed phrase would be appreciated.

   Take 1
   If the shack get raided, ain't nobody run
   If the shack get raided, don't nobody run
   You just stay rightchere [sic] 'til, Charley Cherry come

   Well, he cut you if you stand, shoot you if you run (2)
   You'd better stay rightchere 'til Charley Cherry come

   SOLO

   Well, now, where was you, baby, when the wind blowed cold?
   Well, now, where was you when the wind blowed cold?
   Well now, you was in the bottom, by the red hot stove

   Take 2
   Tell me where was you when, when Charley Cherry come?
   Baby, where was you, now, when Charley Cherry come?
   You know, I was down by the river, did not come back home

   If the shack get raided, ain't no one around (2)
   Stick your head out the window, you better run downtown

   If the shack get raided, don't nobody run (2)
   You can stay rightchere, Charley Cherry come

   Now, he arrested my brother, tied him to a tree
   Well, now, he arrested my brother, tied him to a tree
   You could hear him cryin', "Please don't murder me."

   SOLO

   Well, now, Charley Cherry, meanest man I know
   Well, it's Charley Cherry, meanest man I know
   Well now, you meet him in the morning, you don't know which-a-way to go

Note:  Edited 7/7 to pick up lyric correction from Bunker Hill.

All best,
Johnm

[Bunker Hill]

   Well, now, where was you, baby, when the wind blowed cold?
   Well, now, where was you when the wind blowed cold?
   Well now, you was in the bottom, by the [red house door]

Haven't time to listen but what I can hear my head is "red hot stove" in both instances.

[Johnm]

Good on you, Bunker Hill!  I gave "Charley Cherry" a listen and "red hot stove" is dead on the money.  I will make the change.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Lil' Son recorded "No Money, No Love" for Bill Quinn's Gold Star label and it is available on the same Arhoolie CD that has been mentioned previously in this thread.  It is a slow blues that Lil' Son played out of A position in standard tuning, choosing never to go to a V chord, though he does play notes that suggest it in the treble.  His guitar part is very ingeniously conceived, and made me aware of something I had never remarked upon before.  He plays an intro, ending up in "long A":  0-0-2-2-2-5.  As he opens the verse, he moves the position up three frets, intact, winding up at the following position, 0-0-5-5-5-8, which turns out to be an A minor 7 chord.  This made me realize that you can take an major chord fingered on the first three or four strings and move its position up three frets and you will always wind up with a minor seventh chord off of the original root.  Lil' Son utilizes this idea out of the G6 tuning as well, taking a "D shape" G chord, 0-0-0-7-8-7, and moving it intact up three frets to 0-0-0-10-11-10.  It is a great sound, and he utilizes it to particular advantage on "No Money, No Love".
This is a great slow blues, and the vocal and lyrics really suit it.  Lil' Son's time is beautifully settled; he sounds perfectly secure holding the tempo where it started, something that is not always easy to do on very slow numbers.  I'm not sure I have the front end of the tag line on the first verse correctly--any help is appreciated.

   Ain't no love in your heart for me, baby, sometime I wonder to myself
   Ain't no love in your heart for me, sometime I wonder to myself
   I mean, what can you love me, baby, when I know you lovin' someone else

   You don't care when I'm worried, you even laugh when you see me cryin' (2)
   Well, now, someday I break your heart, baby, just like you broke mine

   SOLO

   Well, your love is like the city water, baby, you can turn it off and on
   Your love is like the city water, you can turn it off and on
   Well, now, you got love from me when I got plenty of money, baby, there's no love when my money gone

All best,
Johnm

       

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Lil' Son recorded "Bad Whiskey, Bad Women" for Gold Star, and I think it sold pretty well for them.  Mississippian Robert Curtis Smith recorded it, I believe, on his Prestige Bluesville album from the 1960s.  The song could be played in either Spanish or G6 tuning; at this point, I think I would lean toward the G6 tuning.  In a certain way, there is nothing special about this song, apart from good lyrics and great singing and playing.  It's good to see a verse with an opening line like the first verse concluded with something other than "with my face all full of frowns".

   It's bad whiskey and bad women, oh man, 'bout to take me down (2)
   I wake up in the mornin' and I feel like a country clown

   Baby, here I stand, sloppy drunk again
   Here I stand, sloppy drunk again
   Yes, without your love, you know, I ain't got no friend

   SOLO

   Yes, I promised not to holler, oh babe, but it's, hey!
   You know, I promised not to holler, oh babe, but it's, hey!
   You told me when I got drunk, oh gal, I could have my way

All best,
Johnm 

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Lil' Son recorded "Homeless Blues" for Gold Star and it can be found on the Arhoolie collection of Texas Blues.  Lil' Son played it out of A position in standard tuning, and it's kind of a clinic on how to play an A blues, Texas-style.  It would be interesting to know whether he got verse 2 from Robert Johnson's recording of "Me And The Devil", or learned it from some other source.  The tag line on the final verse is unusual.  Blues lyrics that cast doubt on the sincerity or rectitude of preachers are common, but those that profess actual disbelief or an aversion to religion on the part of the singer are much more rare.  Maybe it's a joke, calling the prospect of getting immersed in the rising flood waters "baptism".

   Rocks has been my pillow, baby, you know, gravel have been my bed
   Well now, rocks has been my pillow, oh Lord, gravel have been my bed
   You know, I ain't got nowhere, oh Lord, to lay my poor aching head

   You know, I went out on the highway, I tried to catch myself a ride (2)
   Well, there was noone seemed to know me, oh well, they kept on passing by

   You know, I'm a-ragged, I swear I'm dirty, babe, I got no place to go
   Oh well, I'm raggedy, I swear I'm dirty, babe, I ain't got no place to go
   Well now, I know that you don't love me, baby, and you don't want me no more

   SOLO

   So take me out of this old bottom, baby, before your water rise
   Now, take me out of this old bottom, baby, before your water rise
   You know, I ain't got no true religion, baby, and I don't want to be baptized.

All best,
Johnm


     

[Bunker Hill]

Lil' Son recorded "Bad Whiskey, Bad Women" for Gold Star, and I think it sold pretty well for them.  Mississippian Robert Curtis Smith recorded it, I believe, on his Prestige Bluesville album from the 1960s.  The song could be played in either Spanish or G6 tuning; at this point, I think I would lean toward the G6 tuning.  In a certain way, there is nothing special about this song, apart from good lyrics and great singing and playing.  It's good to see a verse with an opening line like the first verse concluded with something other than "with my face all full of frowns".

   It's bad whiskey and bad women, oh man, 'bout to take me down (2)
   I wake up in the mornin' and I feel like a country clown

This is interesting Dr Ross recorded a song entitled Country Clown for Sun November 1951 (and issued by Chess) which starts with that very verse. Perhaps he got the idea from Jackson. Ross recorded it when he was in London (1965) as Bad Whiskey and Bad Women. I'll have to give the recordings a listen and see if there's other similarity.

[Johnm]

That is a great catch, Bunker Hill.  I got out my "Dr. Ross--Boogie Disease" CD on Arhoolie, and sure enough, there was "Country Clown".  It is definitely a cover of "Bad Whiskey, Bad Women".  It's interesting to see the Mississippi to Texas arc of influence that is often cited moving in the opposite direction.  There is a review of the Dr. Ross disk elsewhere on this site for interested parties.
All best,
Johnm

[Bunker Hill]

I've just spent an hour trying to locate where I had that particular Ross item, found it (1973, 4LP Chess Box set) logged into Wennie to report back only to find I've been beaten to it. Oh well, at least I got to remind myself of that and Ross's 1965 version which is almost identical in lyric. The recordings were done by final year Oxford University students Bob Yates and Tony Russell in a London hotel room, but one would never have guessed it!

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Lil' Son Jackson recorded "Evil Blues" for Gold Star Records.  It is a slowish blues and he played it out of A, standard tuning, in a manner that was pretty evil in its own right, with lots of nasty chordal bends.  The tag line to the second verse is similar to one he used on "Homeless Blues".  Odd.

   People, I'm black, I swear I'm evil, I'm just as evil as a man can be (2)
   You know, I don't care if nobody in this whole round world, oh baby, now, ever think of me

   My daddy, he was a preacher, my mother, she was sanctified
   You know, my daddy, he was a preacher, and my mother, she was sanctified
   Well now, you know I musta been born the devil, because I didn't want to be baptized.

   SOLO:

   I don't want no jet black woman because she is evil, too
   You know, I don't want no jet black woman because she is evil, too.
   You take when two evil people wake up early in the morning, oh man, ain't no tellin' what they may do

All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
"Gone With The Wind" is another Lil' Son Jackson title recorded for Gold Star in the period 1948-1951.  Like all of the other Gold Star titles already discussed in this thread, it can be found on the Arhoolie "Texas Blues" CD.  Lil' Son played "Gone With The Wind" out E position in standard tuning, and his playing is especially strong on it.  Some of his licks and phrases are reminiscent of both Lonnie Johnson accompanying Texas Alexander and Ramblin' Thomas's "Hard Dallas Blues". 
Lil' Son's phrasing on this song is simultaneously free-form and perfectly natural and controlled sounding.  He does not follow a consistent phrasing archetype from verse to verse.  The first verse has the appearance of a chorus blues, but the second verse does not follow through on that tendency, choosing instead to sing essentially the same long line twice, once over the first four bars, and in repetition of the last eight bars of the form (In fact, bars are not strictly observed here).  The final verse ends early, due perhaps to time constraints imposed by the producer/engineer.  In many ways, the verses are like complex run-on sentences.

   Well, now, some folks say she left with my partner,
   Oh man, I say she left with my best friend
   I don't know where in the world she gone, but she gone,
   Yeah, man, she have gone with the wind
   Well, now, if a woman do wrong, yes, she will do right again

   Well now, she left me this morning,
   Man, I seen when she left out of the door,
   I could see the expression on her face that
   She wouldn't be back no more
   Now, she left me this morning, Whoa, man, I seen when she left out of the door
   Well, I could see the expression on her face she won't be back no more

   SOLO:

   You know, I was looking, I was looking
   Whoa, man, when my gal went away
   Yes, I know when she left me and
   That she wasn't gonna come back to stay
   I was lookin', I was lookin'
   Yes, when that little girl, she went away

All best,
Johnm
   

   

[Johnm]

Hi all,
"The Girl I Love" comes from the album Lil' Son Jackson recorded for Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie in 1960.  Lil' Son played the song out of A in standard tuning, and the accompaniment is substantially the same as the one he used for "Freedom Train Blues".  The guitar playing is wonderfully nuanced here, and Lil' Son's singing is great, as always.  This is a very down blues; as in most of the most down blues, the singer is operating from a position of no power.  There is no exuberant, partying, "I won't be ruled" side to this song.

   Oh now, the girl I love, oh Lord, the girl I crave to see
   Well now, the girl I love, oh well, the girl I crave to see
   Well, that fool, she's up the country, oh man, and she won't write to me

   You know, I'm gon' leave here running, I'm gon' do the best I can
   Yes, I'm gon' leave here running, I'm gon' do the best I can
   If I don't find my little baby, I'm gon' go rolling back south again

   Well, now, my babe she done left me, whoa man, I don't know what to do
   Well, my baby she done left me, oh Lord, I don't know what to do
   Well now, she left me this morning, well now, she broke my heart in two

   Yes, my whole life, baby, whoa, right now belong to you
   Well, my whole life, baby, right now belong to you
   You can take me where you want me, make me do what you want me to do

All best,
Johnm

 

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Lil' Son Jackson recorded "Rollin Mill Went Down" for Arhoolie in 1960.  It is a kind of Jump Blues, played in E standard, with a boogieish bass accompaniment figure.  Normally, the use of such a figure has the effect of locking the phrasing in a strait jacket--not so here, as Lil' Son shifts his phrasing around in a bewildering variety of ways too complex to comment on in detail here.  I will post on the "Vocal Phrasing:  The Long And The Short Of It" thread with regards to this song.
Lyrics to the song are like a lot of Lil' Son's:  working off familiar themes, but with a personal spin of his own.  Help with the bracketed phrase would be appreciated.

   Where was you when the rollin' mill went down?
   Where was you, rollin' mill went down?
   You was in the country, [by the red house] town

   I don't need you, baby, it's plain to see (2)
   If you don't want me, baby, please don't two-time me

   I didn't say nothin', but sot (sic) around all night long
   I didn't do nothin', set around all night long
   Well, the reason I was cryin', my little girl was gone

   Where was you, rollin' mill went down?
   Where was you, baby, rollin' mill went down?
   You was in the country, baby, ten long miles from town

All best,
Johnm
   

[Bunker Hill]

Hi all,
Lil' Son Jackson recorded "Rollin Mill Went Down" for Arhoolie in 1960.  It is a kind of Jump Blues, played in E standard, with a boogieish bass accompaniment figure. 

He recorded "Rolling Mill" for Imperial in 1955. Do you know if they similar in lyric and performance?

[Johnm]

Thanks for the tip, Bunker Hill.  I do have the re-issue of the Imperial recordings and will check to see if the performance there matches the Arhoolie one.  Perhaps the missing line in the Arhoolie lyric will be easier to hear in the Imperial performance.
All best,
Johnm