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Country Blues => Weenie Campbell Main Forum => SOTM - Song Of The Month => Topic started by: uncle bud on October 04, 2016, 04:08:36 AM
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Sorry for the delay everyone, I haven't been at my computer. Here's the Song of the Moment for Sept 30:
?Corinne, Corinna? has been done by hordes of people, from the Mississippi Sheiks crew to Dean Martin and beyond. It?s an earworm of a melody that can lead to pretty dreary versions, IMO, but when the players treat it right, it?s capable of being quite beautiful (like Snooks Eaglin?s take further below). Corinne as the subject of songs has been traced back to pre-1920s but not in the versions we?d recognize. Lemon sings about her in 1926 in Corinna Blues, a version of CC Rider. And there was sheet music for ?Has Anybody Seen My Corrine?" published by Roger Graham in 1918.
Bo Chatmon (aka Carter) is sometimes claimed as the originator of the song, though that seems unlikely. He was the first to record it in its now classic form in 1928:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJFRGTP7zwA
Many years later, Sam Chatmon claimed to have written the song about a girl he knew in speaking to Alan Lomax:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouAVXSHhHuY
Thomas ?Jaybird Jones? tells John Lomax he thinks he remembers the song going back to around 1916.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPM7tbMSK2E
The real reason I picked this song was because of how much I love listening to Nathan Frazier and Frank Patterson, in the recordings made by John Work in 1942. Everything they do is hypnotic, energized and brilliant. Frazier is solo here on banjo, probably my favourite version of the song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZEJqcYbtf8
Mance Lipscomb, great as always, adds some boogie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDL5hoBpLjA
Mississippi John Hurt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KBUHwt2vMo
James ?Boodle-It? Wiggins does a very nice piano version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGV1hknOBvQ
Walter Taylor version with kazoo and washboard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx4zz7Nm1t8
And another washboard band version, from Eddie Kelly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM82TShHCKE
Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon on film 1976:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEhHNWb5Z98
Some players turned Corinna into Alberta, like Snooks Eaglin in 1960:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU35pirbSiA
And of course, the Mississippi Sheiks? great version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsmczlYuqDs
And members of the Sheiks gang at it again as the Jackson Blue Boys:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXDWMZHK8Yo
The Sheiks must have really liked the song, as they also did it as ?Sweet Maggie?. Maybe one of them really did write it? None saw the money it?s generated for others:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxJ_y5BvKzw
White musicians were also jumping on the Corrina bandwagon:
Clarence Ashley?s version with the Carolina Tar Heels crew:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0NM1-pruM8
And later, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys in 1941 (I like how they go long on the phrasing):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUcegz51--M
And a few Corrinas/Corinnes/Corinnas that aren?t Corrine, Corrina, but cool nonetheless:
Blind Boy Fuller, ?Corinne, What Makes You Treat Me So? from 1937, done much like his ?Careless Love?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkqMEo-4fhY
I just came across this one on YouTube and am not certain of its origin, but believe it is Short Stuff Macon from the Big Joe Williams record Going Back to Crawford -- perhaps others can confirm. It?s pretty damn cool though:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1ptWP4NF3g
And of course, Lemon?s Corinna Blues:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3-vVVzccas
Here?s the lyrics to Bo?s version:
Corrina, Corrina, where you been so long?
Corrina, Corrina, where you been so long?
Hasn?t been no loving since you been gone.
Corrina, Corinna, where'd you stay last night?
Corrina, Corinna, where'd you stay last night?
Come in this morning, sun was shinin? bright.
I met Corrina way across the sea,
I met Corrina way across the sea,
She wouldn't write no letter, she didn't care for me.
Corrina, Corrina, what you gonna do,
Corrina, Corrina, what you gonna do,
Just a little bit of lovin', let your heart be true.
I love Corrina, tell her what I do,
I love Corrina, tell her what I do,
Just a little bit of lovin', let your heart be true.
Corrina, Corrina, dear pal of mine
Corrina, Corrina, dear pal of mine
Now she left me walkin', tears rollin' and cryin'.
Corrina, Corrina, what's the matter now?
Corrina, Corrina, what's the matter now?
You wouldn't write me no letter, you didn't love me no how.
Goodbye, Corrina, it's fare you well.
Goodbye, Corrina, it's fare you well.
When I came back here, can't anyone tell.
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Great choice, Uncle Bud. I was hoping someone would do Corrine as SOTM as there's so many good recordings. I'm also particularly fond of the Nathan Frazier recording and I thought I'd make a "quick and dirty" attempt on video for the thread:
https://youtu.be/SQ9q1cicuSY
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Nice job on the Nathan Frazier version of "Corinna", Pete! And thanks for the great Song of the Month topic, uncle bud. I'm particularly taken with the Short Stuff Macon version, as well as the Nathan Frazier, Eddie Kelly, Walter Taylor and James Wiggins versions. Lots of variety. It's good to see you around these parts, too, uncle bud, don't be a stranger!
All best,
Johnm
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Don't forget Muddy
http://youtu.be/GM4TsL_pF1M (http://youtu.be/GM4TsL_pF1M)
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I've always had a soft spot for this one ... it was issued on Paramount in 1929 as by the Too Bad Boys; turned out it was the white Westbrook Conservatory Entertainers, fronted by steel-player and singer Walter John Westbrook. The other side of the record was a different, black duo doing Ballin' the Jack. Both reissued on Document DOCD-5277 Rare Paramount Blues.
http://youtu.be/ONqE4SRK0fQ
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Nice find, Al, that's especially nice singing.
I checked on the "Short Stuff" Macon version of "Corinna", uncle bud, and it is from the "Going to Crawford" CD as you surmised.
All best,
Johnm
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Nice version, Pete, enjoyed that. And thanks for confirming the Short Stuff Macon source, Johnm. I think I need that record! (Actually, I thought I had it.)
Al, those Too Bad Boys are definitely odd - but in a good way.
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Al, those Too Bad Boys are definitely odd - but in a good way.
Sure are ... from the "nopw for something sompletely different" departrment, here's another one from the same October 1929 session that produced Corrine Corrina ... http://archive.org/details/WestbrookConservatoryEntertainers-ItCameUponAMidnightClear .
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Big Joe Turner's Corrine Corrina (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l82UWlet3Qo) and Bill Monroe with his son James Corina Corina (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csodffx0ETs) starts at 5,06.
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I came across a version of "Corrina", by Clyde Maxwell.
The melody and lyrics differ quite a bit from most other versions, though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3IS9IuhYsM
Cheers
Pan
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Another Alberta variant performed by the Cajun musician Lawrence Walker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW001n3muc8