Salutations! Whoa! Cool effects!I've recently started really intensely listening to Casey Bill Weldon's rendition of the song "Arlena" (
found on YouTube: ).
While transcribing the song (merely as what I thought to be an appetizer) I ran into quite a stubborn issue with my hearing.
In the song (and the singing starts somewhere in the middle of the song) I could hear the following:
Arlena, I've been waiting
Don't refuse me baby(??),(
)
You told me that you loved me
Please don't leave me baby for somebody new
My honest fault for choosing a song with such limitedly bad audio (however good weathered audio sounds).
Now, the first stanza I broke down with the help of Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell's rendition of the song, that's where I got the last passage. I've tried and tried again, but that 2nd passage is so incredibly stubborn. What I might hear is something like:
Don't refuse me baby, only reason you
And it could be that, except that it makes the
least possible sense.
I've tried really hard to draw parallels from Carr's and Blackwell's rendition, but I swear I hear something like "reason" in the last half of the song.
I'm unsure about the "Don't refuse me baby..." part, but I think that's actually said.
Anyhow, next stanza!
You taught me how to love you mama,
I didn't forget
Now, Arlena,
Didn't you forget?
This one was easy to do without the Carr&Blackwell rendition, and it's my favourite stanza by
far since it incorporates such a satisfying but minute change in tempo.
I
think the last stanza is just a repetition of the first stanza, but I additionally think he actually said "Please don't leave me baby for somebody new" in the last passage, so could he be doing the same thing in the first stanza? Now that I think about it, probably.
Arlena
Arlena, I've been waiting
Only teasin', babe, only teasin' you
And you told me that you loved me
Please don't leave me babe, honey, for someone new
You taught me how to love you mama,
I didn't forget
Now, Arlena, teach me to forget
Arlena, I've been waiting
Only teasin', babe, only teasin' you
Let's see what you guys can come up with!
