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Charlie Spand--"Soon This Morning Blues" and Covers/Charlie Spand Lyrics
Johnm:
Hi all,
Charlie Spand's "Soon This Morning Blues", recorded on August 17, 1929 with the backing of Blind Blake, evolved into one of the most covered of all blues, "Early In The Morning", and like other oft-covered songs--Leroy Carr's "How Long, How Long Blues", Walter Vinscon's "Sittin' On Top of the World", and Sleepy John Estes's "Someday Baby", its melody and phrasing were often used as a template for the insertion of new lyrics.
The Spand/Blake version is interesting for a number of reasons. For one, Blake is virtually inaudible, and unusually subdued, with none of his characteristic moves or rhythmic excitement. The tempo accelerates markedly throughout the course of the rendition, which is also uncharacteristic of Blake--maybe it is a different guitarist? Though the song is constructed as a chorus blues, Charlie Spand alters the chorus as he goes to make it fit more closely with each verse. The chorus he uses on the second verse is the one that survived into most of the covers of the song. Spand's use of "soon" for "early" was eliminated in the covers I have heard. Here is "Soon This Morning Blues", and here are Spand's lyrics.
It's early in the mornin', 'bout the break of day,
My head on the pillow where my mama used to lay
CHORUS: Soon this mornin', 'bout the break of day
Gonna get my pretty baby and make my getaway
I love my pretty baby, tell this world I do
I hope some day she'll come to love me too
CHORUS: Soon in the mornin', 'bout the break of day
Gonna lay my head on the pillow where my mama used to lay
My mama told me when I was a lad
"Barrelhouse people gonna be your ruin at last"
CHORUS: Soon in the mornin', just about the break of day
I'm gonna lay my head on the pillow where my mama used to lay
Soon in the mornin', 'bout the break of day
Head on the pillow where my mama used to lay
CHORUS: Soon in the mornin', 'bout the break of day
I'm gon' get my pretty baby and make my getaway
Look-a-here, baby, tell me what you're tryin' to do
Make me kill you, swear I don't want to
CHORUS: Now, it was soon this mornin', 'bout the break of day
Gonna lay my head on the pillow, where my mama used to lay
Now, it's me and my partner, there's two or three more
Gon' follow you most any place you go
CHORUS: Now it was soon this mornin', 'bout the break of day
I'm gonna get my pretty baby and make my getaway
SOLO:
All best,
Johnm
Johnm:
Hi all,
I found a really wild cover of "Soon this Morning Blues" performed by Bill Gaither with piano and guitar accompaniment (players unidentified) on "The Essential Bill Gaither". The song is entitled "Strange Woman", and as in Spand's version, Bill Gaither alters the chorus to suit each verse. Here is "Strange Woman":
Now, I'm gonna tell you about a woman, ain't gonna tell you her name
The way she done me was a low-down shame
CHORUS: Early in the mornin', baby, 'bout the break of day
Well, I turned over on the pillow where that woman used to lay
Now, there's somethin' about this woman that I couldn't understand
She had the nerve to take her mama's man
CHORUS: Early in the mornin', baby, 'bout the break of day
Well, she rolled around the bed, where her mama used to lay
GUITAR SOLO
She told her mama right to her face,
"You done lost Papa 'cause I done taken your place."
CHORUS: "Early in the mornin', Mama, 'bout the break of day
Well, I rolled around the bed, Mama, where you used to lay."
She told here baby sister, "You better keep quiet
I got a date with your husband tomorrow night."
CHORUS: "Early in the mornin', baby, 'bout the break of day
Well I rolled around the bed, sister, where you used to lay."
She went to Cincinnati, learned to do the b.d.
She come back in Louisville and took my gal away from me
CHORUS: Early in the mornin', just about the break of day
Well, it was undertaker, really, the man who laid that gal away
SOLO
All best,
Johnm
Johnm:
Hi all,
Bill Gaither must have particularly liked the "Soon This Morning Blues" archetype, for there is another cover of it, called "Bout The Break Of Day", on "The Essential Bill Gaither". This version turns the chorus's normal sense on its head, for rather than talking about the singer being lonely, it predicts the loneliness of the person to whom the song is addressed. Has anybody found any other covers of this song out there? Here is 'Bout The Break of Day":
You gonna wake up some mornin', about half past three
Turn over in your bed but you won't find me
CHORUS: Early in the mornin', baby, 'bout the break of day
You'll turn over in your bed, mama, where I used to lay
Now listen here, woman, I mean every word I say
I'm doggone tired of your low-down way
CHORUS: Early in the mornin, baby, 'bout the break of day
You gonna roll around the bed, mama, where I used to lay
Well, of course I love you, but you done me wrong
You're a midnight rambler and you're always gone
CHORUS: Early in the mornin', baby, 'bout the break of day
You'll roll over in the bed, mama, where I used to lay
PIANO SOLO
You gonna leave some mornin' about half past four
I won't worry, baby, 'cause you won't be back no more
CHORUS: As in verse two
Well, that's something, baby, that I don't understand
You and my other woman are running hand in hand
CHORUS: Early in the mornin', just about the break of day
I b'lieve she's rollin' 'round the bed, mama, where I used to lay
SOLO
All best,
Johnm
dj:
Hi John,
Jimmie Gordon recorded "Soon In The Morning" in Chicago on July 7, 1935 with Scrapper Blackwell on guitar. Like Spand and Gaither, he varies the chorus to suit the verse. Gordon uses both "soon in the morning" and "early in the morning" in his verses.
Both the fourth edition of Blues & Gospel Records and the notes to The Complete Bill Gaither Volume 1 list the personnel on "Strange Woman" as Bill Gaither on vocals and guitar with Honey Hill on piano.
Johnm:
Thanks very much for the additional information, dj. I'm really having a hard time figuring out why Gaither's guitar playing is so often spoken of dismissively. He sounds fine to me; maybe it's just that he suffers by comparison to Scrapper, and who wouldn't? Honey Hill was an absolute ace, of course.
All best,
Johnm
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