Topic: Buddy Moss Lyrics

[Johnm]

Hi Scott,
I am wa-ay behind in listening to the songs you've been transcribing, but I'm going to try to start to make a dent in them.  Below are the only things I heard differently from your transcription of "Going To Your Funeral In A Vee Eight Ford", which Buddy Moss played out of the E position in standard tuning.

   1.1 I'm gonna buy you a straight life policy, SICK and accident, too
   1.2 Some ACCIDENT'S gonna happen, baby, and ["it's" deleted] gonna happen to you
   2.3 THEN I'm gonna ride to your funeral, baby in a V8 Ford

Good work!
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi Scott,
This is all I could hear differently on "Can't Use You No More", which had both Buddy Moss and Josh White working out of E position in standard tuning

   3.1 Says I told, told you babe, when you MISTREATED me each and every way
   5.2 I ain't got much money but, THINGS 'bout comin' my way

The rest looks right on.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi Gumbo,
I think I've got a couple of more things on "Daddy Don't Care".

   I think lines 1.2 and 2.2 both begin with an almost-swallowed "My"

   I think the mystery phrase in the third line of verses two and three is "keep a-lovin' "

   I think the word at the end of line 4.3 is "says"

Lots of words in that one!

All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi Scott,
In the course of quoting your post with the lyrics to "Can't Use You No More", your original post of the lyrics ended up being deleted.  I'm sorry about that!  I'll see if you'd prefer to re-post them, or I can put them up.  My apologies.
All best,
Johnm

[Gumbo]

   I think the word at the end of line 4.3 is "says"

Lots of words in that one!

All best,
Johnm

excellent suggestions, Johnm. Now that you pointed me in that direction I'm hearing "sayin' " in line 4.3 - I made the other corrections.

Is there a name for this rag form? - it's pretty common.

[Johnm]

Hi Gumbo,
I don't know of a particular name for the form, but you're right, it's really common.  In addition to "Daddy Don't Care", Buddy used it for "Too Doggone Jealous" and "Tricks Ain't Walking No More", and Blind Boy Fuller really used it for quite a lot of tunes.  I think of it as a 16-bar raggy progression with a variable length tag, most often 2 bars, but sometimes four bars.  The progression works like so:

   |    I    |   VI    |  II  V7  |    I    |

   |    I    |   VI    |    II      |   V7   |

   |    I    |   I7    |    IV      |#IVdim7 |

   |    I    |   VI    | II   V7   |  I    VI   |

   | II  V7 |    I    |

Normally, the same lyric, more or less, will be sung over the first, second and fourth lines, and the only lyrics that change from one pass through the form to the next are those that are sung over the third line.  The tag begins with the VI chord that concludes the 16th bar, which sends you around the circle of fifths one more time.  Buddy Moss would occasionally double up on the tag by going to another VI chord in the second half of the 18th bar and doing another II-V7-I resolution in the 19th and 20th bars.  The progression works most easily out of C and G positions in standard tuning, but works pretty well out of F position, too.
All best,
Johnm

[Gumbo]

haha! I'll just have to settle for that then , if there's no name for it!

Seriously though. Thank you for taking the time to post that up. I pretty much had it except I've been using a IV7 instead of a #IVdim7 which is a great tip. Thanks again.

[Johnm]

You're welcome, Gumbo, and I expect you'll have a lot of fun with that progression and the songs that use it.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Buddy Moss recorded "Baby, You're the One For Me" at a session in New York City on October 23, 1941.  This session was, I believe, his last after having been released from prison until the 1960s.  As usual, he sounded at the peak of his form.  I suppose it is possible to play an East Coast blues in A better than Buddy played this one, but I don't think I've ever heard it done.  He really sounds spectacular here, and his singing was every bit as fine as his playing.



INTRO

Went away, babe, and I left you behind
No matter what I do, baby, I can't get you off my mind, said,
REFRAiN: I fished in a-many ponds, and I've traveled from sea to sea
Well, then I done found out, baby, that you're the one for me

I can't be happy, baby, no matter what I do
Every time I love little darlin', b'lieve I think of you, says,
REFRAiN: I fished in a-many ponds, and I've traveled from sea to sea
Well, then I done found out, baby, that you're the one for me

SOLO

I'm lonesome, baby, and blue as I can be
Setting here, wondering do you ever think of me, says,
REFRAiN: I fished in a-many ponds, and I've traveled from sea to sea
Well, then I done found out, baby, that you're the one for me

I met with a babe that would treat a man very well
I met some babes that would lead a man to hell, said,
REFRAiN: I fished in a-many ponds, and I've traveled from sea to sea
Well, then I done found out, baby, that you're the one for me

Look for me, babe, on that early morning train
Never be satisfied 'til I see your face again, said,
REFRAiN: I've fished in a-many ponds, and I've traveled from sea to sea
And I done found out, baby, that you're the one for me

Edited, 7/5 to pick up corrections from ScottN

All best,
Johnm

[ScottN]

Vol. 3 - NYC 8/23/35 - Buddy Moss and Josh White both playing out of E position - "Key to the Highway" progression



Can't Use You No More

Intro

I told, you baby, when you was, doin' me wrong
That someday baby you're gonna, lose your happy home

I took, your doggin', babe for two, years or more
So it's my time now baby, baby and you'll have to go

Solo

Says I told, told you baby, when you mistreated me each and, every way
That the sun was gonna shine, my back door someday

I'm gonna tell, tell you somethin', baby that I wan't, you to know
Said I'm through with you woman, just can't use you no more

Said the sun, is shinin', in my back, door today
I ain't got much money but, things 'bout comin' my way

Solo

Bye, bye baby, gonna leave you, by yourself
I got me another woman you'll have, find somebody(s) else

Because my mama, she told me, when I was a little boy, playin' mumble-peg
Son don't drink no black cow's milk and don't you, eat no black hen's egg


Thanks,
           Scott

edited 7/5/12 with help from Johnm

[ScottN]

Hi Johnm - reposted "Can't Use You No More" with changes and made changes to "Going To Your Funeral In A Vee Eight Ford."  Agree with all your suggestions - Thanks :-)  Scott

[ScottN]

Hi Johnm - just listened to "Baby, You're The One For Me."  A couple of suggestions to consider:

2.2 - maybe [darlin'] instead of "girls" - I can't make much out of the recording but girls didn't seem to fit what I was hearing

4.2 [said] vs "says"
5.2 [said] vs "says"

I like the cool computer savvy way you spell REFRAiN, too...first you get iTunes, last week an iScanner, now it's Katy bar the door it's "i" EVERYTHiNG  ;-)

Thanks,
            Scott

[Johnm]

Thanks for the help, Scott, I think those finds are all right on.  As for my "i" in refrain, that was a weird one on my part--don't know where that came from!
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Buddy Moss recorded "Unfinished Business" at the New York session on October 23, 1941, and as on "Baby, You're the One For Me", he chose to accompany himself out of A position in standard tuning.  Spectacular playing and singing again from Buddy, and the song is notable for its long lyric lines--it just about puts Buddy in a class with Louis Hayes in that regard.



Well, you the strangest woman, most that I've ever seen
Well now, you the strangest woman, strangest woman I've ever seen
Well, sometime you can be so sweet, babe, then again so doggone cruel and mean

But you should realize what you're doin' when you leave your good man alone
You should realize what you're doin', babe, when you leave your good man alone
Because there's a little matter of business, babe, that just got to be carried on

Well then, I know nobody got no blues, I know, like mine
Well then, I know nobody got no blues, I know, like mine
Well, it's sometime I'm s'posed to b'lieve that I'm my Mama's bad luck child (Spoken: Aw, Play it!)

SOLO

Well then, I gave you my money, baby, babe, and you wouldn't stay at home
Well then, I gave you my money, baby, and you wouldn't stay at home
Well, I'm gonna find me somebody, babe, just to carry my business on

Well, you should realize, babe, that one woman ain't got it all by herself
Well, you should realize, baby, that one woman ain't got it all by herself
Well now, I ain't gonna grieve over you, baby, when I can go find me someone else

Edited, 7/7 to pick up corrections from ScottN

All best,
Johnm

[ScottN]

Hi Johnm,

Thanks for doing "Unfinished Business"...seems like an ironic name for a last song to record given we don't here from Buddy again until the 60s (and then even after that we don't get as much as we'd like...).  Also seems like a good name for the biography that should be written...oh well, guess we can blame Pearl Harbor...

A couple suggestions on the lyrics:

3.3 (Spoken: [AH] play it!)
4.3 [gonna] vs. "gone"
5.3 when I can [GO] find me someone else

Thanks,
           Scott