One more Joe Williams version, this time with Williamson, Ransom Knowling and Judge Riley in 1945
Interesting how Joe throws in the title verse of Another Man Done Gone at 1:40. So I'd assume verses from the two songs were probably interchangeable to him. Somebody could do a thesis on the roots and branches here.
« Last Edit: June 15, 2017, 03:58:35 PM by Rivers »
Hi all, Here's a version for John Lee Hooker in 1959 (there is also a 1949 version by him up on youtube). He sounds to be playing a nylon-string guitar here.
The relationship between Baby Please Don't Go and Another Man Done Gone is explored in Chapter Six of
The Beautiful Music All Around Us Field Recording and the Amercian Experience by Stephen Wade
John and Ruby Lomax recorded Vera Hall in 1940, so it's significant that she sings I'm going to walk your log. Big Joe sang I make you walk the log in his 1941 recording and later ? but not in 1935. So Vera can't have learnt the song directly or indirectly from Big Joe's original record.
Baby Doo Caston also recorded in 1940, and actually begins his version with Gonna walk your log. One theme he shares with Big Joe's 1935 text is
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Down in New Orleans Down in New Orleans: Well the girl I love she take the cold ice cream, She down in New Orleans
Vera Ward learned her song from a husband, who learned it on the Livingston Alabama County Farm. (An inference from John Lomax's notes). Ten years later, Harold Courlander recorded the song from a prisoner on the same farm named Willie Turner, who was actually known to Vera Hall. It was released on
Now your man done gone (x3) To the county farm Now your man done gone
Baby please don't go (x3) Back to Baltimore Baby please don't go
Turn your lamp down low (3) And baby please don't go Baby please don't go
You know I love you so (3) And baby please don't go Baby please don't go
I beg you all night long (3) And the night before Baby please don't go
Now your man done gone (3) From the county farm Now your man done gone
Baby please don't go (x3) Back to Baltimore Baby please don't go
I'm goin' to walk your log (3) And if you throw me off I'm goin' to walk your log
In the same field trip Courlander recorded a woman identified only as Cora. Her version echoes Big Joe's geographical reference a long way from Livingston.
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Got me way down here (3) By the Rolling Fork Treat me like a dog Baby Please don't go
Courlander wrote about these two versions in
Negro Folk Music USA
He took them as examples of how a song could vary formally between singers in a narrow geographical area. Stephen Wade makes a more interesting comparison between What Vera Hall on the one hand and the blues singers and convicts on the other hand made of the same song. The convicts adopted it for its county jail theme ? although the Livingston prisoners were never actually chained. Both blues singers and convicts made it a song of male desire, but for the convicts it was desire mixed with anxiety that the absent lover might not be true. Vera painted a picture which touched her.
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While he (Willie Turner) sings a melody that closely resembles hers, and his lyrics follow the same general pattern, he expresses a different sentiment. If Vera's performance seems more reflective, Turner's sounds more declarative. His personalised approach suggest a greater blues influence, while hers, in its stillness and abstraction, inclines towards the spirituals. These styles correspond with the singers' respective performance environments. Turner sang this piece outside with an all-male road gang. Vera, meanwhile, has taken whatever she heard from her convict play on the guitar, and fitted it stylistically into her domestic and church house repertory. Turner makes a statement of masculine loss, while Vera conveys a message akin to a civil rights anthem.
I don't have the knowledge (and software?) to compress and post a sound file of Willie Turner. Similarly, I can't (now) share with you interesting recording I've now attached a sound file of Willie Turner, and found this YouTube file of Baby Please Don't Go by
Rose Mitchell (1953) re-issued on The History of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues Volume 3 Ain't It A Shame 19953-1955. Rhythm & Blues Records notable for the Latin rhythm
PS Here it is on YouTube:
Also on YouTube, I found this by another woman with a big voice, Big Mama Thornton:
Richard Williams (1978) on Drop Down In Florida: Field Recordings of African American Traditional Music 1977-1980. Dust-to-Digital. like Big Joe's song with boogie addition from his personal repertoire
« Last Edit: September 22, 2017, 10:35:10 AM by DavidCrosbie »
Stephen Wade, Paul Oliver and other writers point to the similarity between the Baby Please Don't Go/Another Man Done Gone family and the Alabama Bound/Don't You Leave Me Here/Elder Green family.
Papa Charlie Jackson fitted all three themes of the latter into his Alabama Bound
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Stood on the corner, feet got soaking wet I was hollering and crying to every brown, to hell I'm at
I'm Alabama bound, I'm Alabama bound Then if you want me to love you babe, you got to leave this town
When the rooster crowed, the hen looked around Said if you want me to love you babe, you got to run me down
Look here pretty mama, who can your regular be Says the reason I'm blacking out stalling babe, you been so good to me
There's a preacher in the pulpit, Bible in his hand And the sisters was back in the amen corner, hollering that's my man
Now the boat's up the river, can't be floated down But she's way on south now darling babe, Alabama bound
Just like a beefsteak beefsteak, ain't got no bone Then if a man like a good brownskin woman now babe, he ain't got no home
Elder Green's in town, and he's going around And he's telling all the sisters and the brothers he meets, he's Alabama bound
Now don't you leave me here, don't you leave me here Just before you and your partner get ready to go, leave a dime for beer
Jelly Roll Morton recalled singing Alabama Bound in 1904 and characteristically claimed to have composed it.
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I?m Alabama bound, Alabama bound, If you like me, sweet baby, You gotta leave this town.
When that rooster crowed, When the hen ran around, If you want my love, sweet babe, You?ve got to run me down.
She said, ?Don?t you leave me here, Don?t leave me here, But, sweet papa, if you just must go, Leave a dime for beer.?
I said, ?Sweet mama babe, Sweet mama babe, If you must stay, I?ll be gone for days and days.?
Papa Harvey Hull and Long "Cleve" Reed (The Down Home Boys) sang a similar Don't You Leave Me Here
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Spoken: All right, boy, let's go back home
Alabama bound Alabama bound If the boat don't sink and the stack don't drown Alabama bound
Boats up the river, runnin' side by side Well, you got my lovin', kind sweet babe, guess you're satisfied
Don't you leave me here Don't you leave me here Well, I don't mind you goin', sweet lovin' babe Leave a dollar for beer
Spoken: Hey, hey! Let's go, boys
How long, how long, has this train been gone? How long, how long, sweet lovin' babe, has this train been gone?
Kate Adams got ways, just like a man Well, she steals a woman, sweet lovin' babe, everywhere she land
Alabama bound Alabama bound If the boat don't sink and the stack don't drown Alabama bound
Can you tell me how long, Jackson to McComb? Well, it's fifteen miles, sweet lovin' babe, maybe, to my home
Don't you leave me here Don't you leave me here Well, I don't mind you goin', sweet lovin', babe, leave a dime for beer
Alabama bound Alabama bound If the boat don't sink and the stack don't drown Alabama bound
Spoken: Oh, do it, boys
Alabama bound Baby, turned around If the boat don't sink and the stack don't drown Alabama bound...
[See the Forum thread Composer/ publisher credits of the song: Don't You Leave Me Here]
Henry Thomas introduced one or both of the two theme as a chorus
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Don't leave, don't you leave : Don't you leave me here It's all night long, sweet mama : Don't leave me here
I was standing on the corner : a‑talking to my brown I turned around sweet mama : I was workhouse bound
Don't leave, don't you leave : Don't you leave me here It's all night long, sweet mama : Don't leave me here
I'm Alabama bound : I'm Alabama Bound It's all night long, sweet mama: I'm Alabama bound
Says I've got a girl : and she working hard She had a dress she wear loving babe : says it's pink and blue She bring me coffee : and she bring me tea She bring me everything : except the jailhouse key
Don't leave, don't you leave : Don't you leave me here It's all night long, sweet mama : Don't leave me here
Yes I'm going away : and it won't be long Just sure as the train leaves out of the yard : she's Alabama bound
Don't leave, don't you leave : Don't you leave me here It's all night long, sweet mama : Don't leave me here
I'm going away : and it won't be long Just ease your train loving' babe : I'm Alabama bound
Don't leave, don't you leave : Don't you leave me here It's all night long, sweet mama : Don't leave me here
Says the boat's up the river : and she won't come down I believe to my soul pretty mama : she's water bound I look to the east : and I look to the west If she heads to the South great God : she's Alabama bound
Don't leave, don't you leave : Don't you leave me here It's all night long, sweet mama : Don't leave me here
Alabama bound : Alabama bound It's all night long, sweet papa : Don't leave me here
YouTube doesn't have this, but I've now attached a sound file.
YouTube does have a later re-working Don't Ease Me In which is musically the same but without the Alabama Bound refrain.
Jelly Roll Morton also reworked Alabama Bound as recorded for the Library of Congress, and recorded this version as Don't You Leave Me Here ? with a band, and as this beautiful solo:
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Don't you leave me here Don't you leave me here If you just must go, sweet babe Leave me a dime for beer
And the rooster crowed The hen run around She said if you want my fricassee You gotta run me down
Never had No one woman at a time I always had Six seven eight or nine
Don't you leave me here
Blind Lemon Jefferson recorded Elder Green's In Town, but it was never issued. But we do have Charley Patton's Elder Greene Blues ? which doesn't actually include the other two themes.
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Green is? Elder Green is gone Gone way down the country with his long coat on With his long coat on (2) Gone way down the country with his long coat on
Elder Green told the Deacon, ?Let?s go down in Prayer There?s a big ?sociation in New Orleans, come and let?s go there Come and let?s go there (2) There?s a big ?sociation in New Orleans, come and let?s go there
I love to fuss and fight (2) Lord and get sloppy drunk off a Bottle an? Bond And walk the streets all night And walk the streets all night (2) Lord and get sloppy drunk off a Bottle an? Bond And walk the streets all night?
Elder Green told the deacon, ?Settle down in prayer You can tak the thing I got Almost anywhere, yeah most anywhere You can take all summer and walk anywhere.?
Elder Green is gone. Elder Green is gone Gone way down the country with his long coat on
If you?ve got a woman, or raise her to your hand Keep away from my woman, Molly ?ham is lonesome Molly Cunningham Molly Cunningham (2) Keep away from my woman, Molly ?ham is lonesome, Molly?
I love to fuss and fight (2) Lord and get sloppy drunk off a Bottle an? Bond And walk the streets at night
[I'm very dubious about 'Molly Cunningham', but whatever he sings sound like what Henry Thomas sings on Don't Ease Me In ? just possibly It's all night long Cunningham.]
Although some performances are more elaborate, they all seem to have at their base the same structure. In British English we call it a eight-bar blues ? I believe Americans would say eight measures. This is split into four musical units, three of them split between vocal phrase and instrumental phrase. At its simplest:
Alabama bound : INSTRUMENT Alabama bound : INSTRUMENT If the boat don't sink and the tank don't drown Alabama bound : INSTRUMENT
Slightly more complicated
Don't you leave me here : INSTRUMENT Don't you leave me here : INSTRUMENT But if you just must go, sweet babe Leave a dollar for beer : INSTRUMENT
But this is also the structure of Baby Please Don't Go
Baby please don't go : INSTRUMENT Baby please don't go : INSTRUMENT Baby please don't go back to New Orleans You know I love you so : INSTRUMENT
Another man done gone : INSTRUMENT Another man done gone : INSTRUMENT Another man done gone from the county farm He had his shackles on : INSTRUMENT
A minor difference is that the opening lyric phrase is repeated as half of the third unit.
Vera Hall uses even more repetition. No instrument, of course, but effective pauses:
Another man done gone : PAUSE Another man done gone : PAUSE Another man done gone from the county farm He had his shackles on : PAUSE
I'm gonna walk your log : PAUSE I'm gonna walk your log : PAUSE I'm gonna walk your log, I'm gonna walk your log I'm gonna walk your log : PAUSE
Stephen Wade suggests another link between all these songs:
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Longing for another place, desiring different circumstances, and wishing not to be left behind figures in many of these pieces.
Someone else who definitely saw a connection between two of these songs was Big Joe Williams. His version of Don't You Leave Me Here uses the tune and arrangement, and a reworking of some of the lyrics of his Baby Pease Don't Go.
« Last Edit: September 22, 2017, 11:14:07 AM by DavidCrosbie »
Hi all, While there may be phrasing similarities between "Baby, Please Don't Go" and "Alabama Bound"/"Don't You Leave Me Here", the melodic and harmonic dissimilarities outweigh any close connection, it would seem to me. While "Baby, Please Don't Go" and "Another Man Done Gone" are either one-chord songs or pre-chordal, depending on how you look at it, all of the songs in the "Alabama Bound"/"Don't You Leave Me Here" group sound like they're derived from Popular music, and are strongly chordal, in the case of "Alabama Bound" operating with an 8-bar progression like so: | I | I | IV | IV |
| V | V | I | I |
In the case of Henry Thomas' "Don't Ease Me In" and "Don't Leave Me Here", the harmonic content is simplified, just bouncing from I to V and back again:
| I | I | V | V |
| V | V | I | I |
For these reasons and for the lack of melodic similarity, with "Baby, Please Don't Go" and "Another Man Done Gone" working from a minor pentatonic scale, melodically, and "Alabama Bound" and "Don't You Leave Me Here" both being squarely major, the connection between these two song families seems very tenuous to me. I just don't hear it. All best, Johnm
« Last Edit: October 08, 2017, 02:53:58 PM by Johnm »
Allen Lowe's 36-disc blockbuster Really the Blues? includes this version by Billy Wright under the title Turn Your Lamp Down Low:
His note is terse enough to quote in full
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Gospel singer does the blues, so what else is new? A lot, in 1951. Slow, slow version of Baby Please Don't Go,and you can feel the pain. Predicts the coming hysteria of Little Richard.