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Country Blues => Weenie Campbell Main Forum => SOTM - Song Of The Month => Topic started by: frankie on October 23, 2015, 02:52:36 PM
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Come Back Baby has something of a celebrated status as a guitar piece in the canon of revivalist country blues. Of course, it didn't quite start this way, but we'll see that blues and R&B artists alike found a lot to like in the song, and guitarists in particular seemed to gravitate towards it. In the present, the popularity of this song and the guitar arrangement that accompanies the vocal stems almost uniformly from one revivalist source, which we'll see later.
In the beginning, there was Walter Davis:
https://youtu.be/MwJXav5Y9Qw
Walter Davis made a lot of records, and one can't help but wonder if he would have been surprised at the legs this one grew.
It's an 8-bar blues:
I - I7 - IV - IVm
I - V7 - IV - I
Expressed in the key of E, the key component is the descending line occurring over the first four bars: E - D - C# - C. This could also be expressed as part of a chord voicing, like so: E - E7 - A/C# - Am/C OR: E - E7 - A/C# - C. He recorded it in 1940, and it must have done well for him as he recorded a later "New Come Back Baby" (apologies if this can't be viewed outside the US):
https://youtu.be/JIfMedBq12U
By 1949, Lowell Fulson had recorded it in the context of an electric combo:
https://youtu.be/IHtpVOj3g1E
This is a lovely simmer of a recording, and the sparse playing on it is a wonder - well worth listening to if you've not heard it before. Fulson's guitar is tends to answer the vocal, letting the piano and drums carry the accompaniment. In general, the chordal outline of the Davis original is retained.
In 1954, we find this recording by John Lee Hooker:
https://youtu.be/mOexqQ9th2Y
Hooker's guitar is typically sparse and primitive and the accompaniment eschews the IVm chord, sticking with a IV7 chord. In a couple of instances, the 2nd guitar player plays the IV chord as a IV7b9... interesting. The break is phrased as a 12-bar blues before Hooker returns to the vocal theme. The pace and phrasing on the recording is no less amazing than the Fulson record. Such space!
A little detour into R&B - Ray Charles had a go at the song, too... this is, of course is far afield from the blues recordings we've listened to so far. In fact, it's fair to say that this is a Ray Charles song - only the initial verse is drawn from Davis, and the harmony is TOTALLY different. I've included it here because one of the verses that does not appear in the Davis original appears in later versions... interesting!
https://youtu.be/oGZooKy0UOY
Ray's is a deep, R&B accompaniment - chords separated by "|" get two beats. I can't think of anyone that can play as slow as Ray Charles!
I - I - IV - II | IV7
I | VI7 - II | V7 - I | IV - I | V7
Moving on to 1961, we get this from Lightnin' Hopkins, and by this time, you should start to hear echoes of the arrangement that, as revivalists yourselves, you should recognize. Lightnin' plays the song out of A position - a key that the song has been associated with ever since. Similar to Fulson and Hooker, he does away with the IVm chord, returning early to the I chord:
https://youtu.be/8yy8-jHIDTQ
It's all Lightnin', so of COURSE it's cool.
Which brings us to this 1963 recording from Dave Van Ronk:
https://youtu.be/vjzripSkJf8
This is IT. Just about EVERY revivalist recording of this song from this point forward is a cover of or riff on this arrangement. There's a lot to like about it - his movement of the I to the I7 using a moveable D shape at the 9th and 7th frets is all his own. He certainly quotes a few of Lightnin's A blues ideas, but re-introduces some of the harmonic sophistication of the Davis original, notably the flat VI chord - a stand in for the IVm chord. He also pulls the "holler like a mountain jack" verse from the Ray Charles recording! This also ends up being a mainstay in later revivalist recordings.
There's a Stefan Grossman recording featuring Jo Ann Kelly's vocals - the guitar is a direct quote of Van Ronk:
https://youtu.be/-lLHAd3afRM
Here's a cover by Weenie contributor Waxwing John Cowan:
https://youtu.be/VcWP7AEfR04
Orville Johnson adds some slide in standard tuning, but owes substantial credit to Van Ronk's setting:
https://youtu.be/L1Qj_OjNrQo
This Eric Bibb performance is a near direct quote of Van Ronk's arrangement, but adds some nice touches:
https://youtu.be/bq7R-HYM1VE
I would NEVER have thought I could find this song played on autoharp, but Patrick Couton actually does a nice job of capturing the spirit of the Van Ronk accompaniment:
https://youtu.be/2Iau586TDds
Interestingly, Guy Davis's recording actually has far less Van Ronk in it than any of the other recordings:
https://youtu.be/iOp8IZ8YTIA
Well - there it is... you can certainly find more examples on youtube. I threw this topic together fairly quickly - if any of you know of any compelling antecedents of the Davis recording, I'd love to hear them. I'd also be VERY interested in covers of the Davis recording done between 1940 and 1950.
To close, I sort of backed into a way of playing this song, mainly as a singing exercise... there's no arrangement, per se - just a way that I like to play. Maybe you'll like it:
https://youtu.be/Hg0aojfXd_I
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Funny, I was digging Snooks Eaglin's New Orleans Street Singer this very morning with breakfast. Like all things Snooks, his version of Come Back Baby is really good.
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Great SOTM choice, Frank, and I enjoyed your own take on the song--that IV minor voicing is really nice. Neat to see and hear Wax and Orville's versions, too. Here's a different take on "Come Back, Baby", with apologies to European Weenies who may not be able to watch the video.
https://youtu.be/Xe3QO5pHjS4
All best,
Johnm
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Good call, Rivers!
https://youtu.be/T7AF4i3co1s
John, I was going to post Aretha's version so I'm happy you did. Totally different.
And thanks for listening to my take on it. I'm kind of stuck on that minor M7 chord... Only just now realized that using cross note, I can voice the M7 of that chord on the 4th string for a slightly darker sound - I'll have to try that.
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Great song and a great choice for SOTM. Of all these versions, my first exposure was to the Snooks Eaglin take on the song, and I just about wore out the grooves of the LP it was on. Every track on that LP is a winner, and Come Back Baby stands out. This song also featured prominently in the folk clubs here in the '60s, largely due to the versions sung by Bert Jansch and by Wizz Jones. Their versions can be found on youtube. Loved your crossnote version - it's a fine arrangement, and great singing too! A recent version I like is by Tom Doughty and Adam Palma:
https://youtu.be/ju28QSuzf-U
Here's a lame piano version I had a go at this afternoon.
https://soundcloud.com/aj0347/come-back-baby-prof-scratchy
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Good choice, lots of versions to be listening to, especially yours, Frank, thanks.
One I've always liked is Mance Lipscomb's take on it, from 1964 I think :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hLlkrqSWw8
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Gorgeous version Frank, maybe your best vocal to date, and that Gibson sings great too!
Also nice version from Wax, Orville and others. Of course I grew up on the van Ronk version which was an absolutely required piece for any aspiring Blues fingerpicker to learn here in NYC in the 60's. Still like it, but boy, Lightnin's hard to beat anytime..What a killer singer he is!
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https://soundcloud.com/aj0347/come-back-baby-prof-scratchy
Loved that on the piano, Prof!
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Still like it, but boy, Lightnin's hard to beat anytime..What a killer singer he is!
I think even Snooks would agree with you!
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Frankie, I LOVE your performance of this song. I could listen to it all day. Thanks for sharing.
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I finally got around listening to all the great versions of this song.
Great topic again, and Frankie's version gives me the goosebumps!
Cheers
Pan
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Thanks Pan and Eddie.
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I've been thinking about this song. There's a lot to like about it musically, as noted. Personally I always pick up on the turnaround, final bar, naturally going to a higher voicing of the I chord instead of a predictable V. It imparts a lot of gravity to the root of the song, brings it home and sets up the next verse just right.
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Wow. Thanks much for the honorable mention, Frank. And I love how you capture the harmonic feel of Davis's original. I think it's worth mentioning (and I'm sorry I can't cite where I read it) that this was Davis's take on Leroy Carr's How Long, How Long Blues. But Davis sure put a big imprint on it with his chilling harmonic sense, creating an equally influential song in it's own right, and that's sayin' something.
Come Back Baby was probably the first blues I ever learned, back when I was about 15 and playing primarily folk stuff, like Gordon Lightfoot, early Donovan and PPM. I started playing with a woman who was about 7-8 years my senior who taught me CBB having learned it from a fellow student at what is now Rowan College in South Jersey. He told her he had taken lessons from Van Ronk. I gave up the guitar for many years, but CBB was one of the few songs I would continue to play from time to time, and when I started getting back to playing, it was CBB that led me to play old country blues. I guess my playing of it changed a bit over the years, but the basics were in my fingers for several decades now.
Great choice for SOTM.
Wax
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I have only watched and listened to one video here so far Frankie and that is your version, I must applaud it, it is really good and slick as well, great ideas and classic riffs... just love it Frankie..... fabulous blues.
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Hi all,
Here are the lyrics for Walter Davis' original version of "Come Back Baby".
Oh, come back, baby, please don't go
Lord, the way I love you, you'll never know
Come back, baby, can't we talk it over one more time?
My heart is full of sorrow, my eyes is full of tears
Lord, we been together for so many years
Come back, baby, can't we talk it over one more time?
You know this world, wasn't made in one day
Can't we talk it over just before you go away?
Come back, baby, can't we talk it over one more time?
Come back, baby, don't break up my home
You know I'm gonna miss you after you've gone
Come back, baby, can't we talk it over one more time?
I begged you all night, all the night before
Please, do never leave me, don't never leave me no more
Come back, baby, can't we talk it over one more time?
Now, you know, babe, you the onliest one I love
Lord, I just as soon to be dead, gone to the Lord above
Come back, baby, can't we talk it over one more time?
All best,
Johnm
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Hi all,
Here are the lyrics to Walter Davis's "New Come Back Baby". If you haven't listened to it, go back to Frank's original post and listen to Walter Davis's solo from 1:09--1:43, it is perfectly amazing; he re-invents the form, and the solo is sort of an object lesson in how big ears and imagination can trump technical fluency. Walter Davis was never a great piano technician like Blind Leroy Garnett or Montana Taylor, but with the ideas he had, the simple expression of them was completely arresting. And has there ever been a sadder blues tagline than "Come back, baby, can't we talk it over, one more time"? There is so much history of difficulty and disappointment in that single short line.
SOLO
Now, you must have a heart like a rock in the sea
I've been beggin' you, baby, baby, please don't leave
Come back, baby, can't we talk it over, one more time?
My nights are getting lonely, my days are getting long
Now, tell me, baby, I did not do no wrong
Come back, baby, can't we talk it over, one more time?
SOLO
I don't want to hurt your feelings, either make you mad
I love you better than anything I ever had
Come back, baby, can't we talk it over, one more time?
I like you, baby, I like to see you smile
But I like to please you, every once in a while
Come back, baby, can't we talk it over, one more time?
OUTRO
All best,
Johnm
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what a great thread!
Thank you Frankie and all, lots to learn!
Z