Country Blues > Country Blues Lyrics
Tommy Johnson Lyrics
uncle bud:
--- Quote from: dj on February 12, 2012, 06:28:04 AM ---Thanks for the suggestions, doctorpep. Looking back at what I'd posted, I had inadvertently pasted in a down-level transcription. I've corrected that.
That fourth verse is the hardest part of Johnson's Victor recordings to hear and transcribe. Listening to it again (and again and again and again...) I'm now pretty well convinced that the first word in the second line is "Jake", making the line "Jake Alcorub is ... my soul". I just don't hear anything near the "ch" sound that "churnin'" would require. I know "really burn" has been suggested, but I don't hear the second syllable of "really". I'm still open to suggestions on this, and am willing to be persuaded to a different lyric. But in the end, I may just end up putting an asterisk on that line and noting some of the alternate suggestions.
--- End quote ---
I think Canned Heat is going to need those asterisks. I don't agree with the proposed lines. I realize this is likely going to be one of those lyrics that just sound like different things to different people and is unlikely to be resolved, like some Charley Patton, but I'll try making my case another time and just outline the various reasons why I think it is what I've proposed previously. I've also attached a better remastered version than the Document issue for comparison's sake if anyone feels the urge.
Earlier I had posted this interpretation:
Takes Alcorub, baby, to really burn my soul
Take a brownskin woman to do the easy roll
The structure of this pair of lines is pretty standard, with many blues using either a single "takes a _________ to _____" construction or a parallel construction - "takes a _________ to _____, takes a ___________ to ________" etc. These are seen in various permutations in blues lyrics. Ma Rainey's "Jealous Hearted Blues" is one:
It takes a rocking chair to rock, a rubber ball to roll
Takes a man I love to satisfy my soul
Charley Lincoln sang a cover of Ma's tune using the same verse with "gal I love". Kokomo Arnold used the same formula in "Milk Cow Blues":
Takes a rocking chair to rock, mama, a rubber ball to roll
Takes a little teasing brown, mama, just to pacify my soul
Joe McCoy sings in "Cherry Ball Blues":
Takes a gettin' down woman, satisfy my soul
Then there's the "Takes a worried man/woman to _________" formula.
In Canned Heat, I hear "take" at the beginning of both lines, and I believe this is just another example of this typical lyric construction.
I had previously said that in the first line he draws out "real---ly", swallowing the -y. I still think this is the case and that second syllable of "really" is not completely absent. Pretty audible to me, if quick.
Re. "burn my soul". As noted separately earlier as well, according to Calt's Barrelhouse Words, the United States Industrial Alcohol Company made Alcorub, a brand of rubbing alcohol. Calt says they also made Sterno Canned Heat (citing Time magazine) though Wikipedia has different information or lacks this particular detail. Regardless, Tommy Johnson seems to be using the two brand names somewhat interchangeably. Sterno, when used properly and not consumed as a tasty beverage, was of course a fuel to be burned in its can.
Re. Jake Alcorub. Jake was of course the slang name for Jamaica Ginger, a patent medicine. While's it's possible Johnson is conflating the two names, just as he may have used Alcorub and Sterno Canned Heat interchangeably, I think this is a bit more of a stretch. It's a rather different product that was actually meant to be consumed. Are there other examples of "Jake" and "Alcorub" being used together? Alcohol and Jake Blues doesn't do it.
In the second line, the "to" is sung more as "toh" - Johnson's vocal through these lines is all over the place, half-yodelling, multiple falsetto notes, stretching out words. Still "to" to me though.
Re. "easy roll". While there are of course innumerable examples of roll, rolling, roller in blues and lots of examples "easy rider" as well, "easy roll" is not common at all. It sounds like it appears in the last verse of Johnson's Boogaloosa Woman to me, though others have proposed other interpretations for that as well in this thread. "Easy roller", however, does appear in two Memphis Jug Band tunes.
From "Memphis Jug Blues":
Lord I can stay right here partner and look on [Cardigan] Avenue
Lord I can see everything that, honey, my easy roller do
From "I Whipped My Woman with a Singletree":
Now don't you wish your easy roller was little and cute like mine
Every time she walks, she reels and rocks behind
None of the above confirms what Johnson sings, but there's my case. ;)
dj:
Thanks for your persistence on this, uncle bud. I just spent my lunch break listening to those two lines for half an hour straight. (Hmmm... is that one for the "You can tell a Weenie if..." file?) I adjusted the eq a bit to try to filter out some noise, and played with the speed a bit to try to catch those swallowed syllables. I think you're right. I'll make the change.
dj:
Tommy Johnson's second recording for Paramount was Slidin' Delta. It was a 12 bar blues played out of E position, standard tuning, sounding at F. Slidin' Delta displays several of Tommy Johnson's trademarks: An instrumental first 4 bars followed by a two bar first verse, with the remaining verses being the standard 12 bars, and the repetition of verses from song to song in a session. In this case, the last verse of Slidin' Delta is reminiscent of the first verse of I Wonder To Myself.
Slidin' Delta was coupled with I Wonder To Myself on Paramount 12975 as the second release of material from Johnson's Paramount session.
Uncle bud posted banjochris' transcription of the lyrics to Slidin' Delta back on page 1 of this thread. I can't make the link pointing to the post to come out right, so I'll just repost here. Sorry about that.
Delta slide done been here and gone
Say the Delta slide, baby, done been here and gone
Take me out the delta baby fore the water rise
Take me outta the delta, fore the water rise
And if I don't get drownded baby gonna sure Lord lose my mind
Cryin lord, lord, lord, lord lord
Lord I wonder what is I'm goin' do
Well I can't do nothin but hang my head and cry
Baby when I leave I ain't comin' here no more
When I leave here, comin' here no more
Lord I'm goin' away baby, worry you off my mind
Cryin' lord, lord, lord, lord, lord,
Lord I wonder, wonder to myself
Cryin' good Lord I wonder, and I wonder to myself
uncle bud:
--- Quote from: dj on February 14, 2012, 10:28:20 AM ---Thanks for your persistence on this, uncle bud. I just spent my lunch break listening to those two lines for half an hour straight. (Hmmm... is that one for the "You can tell a Weenie if..." file?) I adjusted the eq a bit to try to filter out some noise, and played with the speed a bit to try to catch those swallowed syllables. I think you're right. I'll make the change.
--- End quote ---
I didn't think I'd convince anyone. :P Regardless of whether we agree, an asterisk is probably still in order. It's something I did with the controversial spots in a few Lemon transcriptions when they went on Weeniepedia.
dj:
The third song of the four song group that Tommy Johnson recorded at the start of his Paramount session was Lonesome Home Blues. Johnson had recorded a song called Lonesome Home Blues for Victor a year and a half earlier, but the two songs have nothing in common except the title. The lyrics, melody, and backing guitar part of the Paramount version of Lonesome Home are entirely different from Johnson's earlier song. This time out, Johnson is playing in E, standard tuning. He must have taken the capo off or retuned his guitar, as this sounds at E. Once again, Johnson uses the first line of his first verse as an instrumental intro before singing the last two lines of the verse.
Waxwing et al. did a spot-on transcription of this five years ago as the second song in this thread. Since I'm cruising through Tommy Johnson's music in order, I'll repost here, but go back to pages 1 and 2 of the thread for some interesting discussion, particularly of the use of the work "acknowledge".
Lonesome place don't seem like 's home to me
Now this old lonesome place, now Mama, (don't) seem like home to me
Now, Lord, I rose this morning, blues all round my bed
Mmmmm, rose this morning, the blues all round my bed
Had them blues so bad, Mama, 'til I couldn' raise up my head
If you wanna live easy, pack your clothes with mine
Mmmmm, wanna live easy, pack your clothes with mine
If you wanna live easy, Baby, pack your clothes with mine
Mmmmm, soon one mornin', blues come fallin' down
Mmmmm, soon one mornin', the blues come fallin' down
Well they fell so heavy that they caused my heart to moan
Well I'm goin' back home gon' fall down on my knees
Mmmmm, goin' back home gonna fall down on my knees
Says, I'm gon' acknowledge pretty baby, that I treat you mean
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version