Topic: Mississippi John Hurt Lyrics

[banjochris]

I think "staub" is the French pronunciation, Chris.

Mais oui!

[frailer24]

I have a live version on tape and it is definately "planted".

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I merged the thread on John Hurt's version of "I Shall Not Be Moved" with the Mississippi John Hurt Lyrics thread.
All best,
Johnm

[simonjandrews]

Just a quick question,

The lyrics of Louis Collins makes reference that all the people came out dressed in red when they heard that louis was dead.

Was just wondering if there was a tradition of dressing in red upon someones death. In the Uk the custom is black as a sign of mourning?

[Bunker Hill]

Was just wondering if there was a tradition of dressing in red upon someones death.

Apparently so. Many years ago this cropped up on PWBG and Catherine Yronwode, gave a lengthy historical use of this. I'm sure somebody here will recall it. If not perhaps it can be found on Cat's Lucky Mojo website.

[Rivers]

Courtesy of the tag index, there's a 'dressed in red' discussion here: http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=1105.msg8196#msg8196 --- I'll merge this into it after a while.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
John Hurt recorded "Casey Jones", accompanying himself on a 12-string guitar out of G position in standard tuning on his first post-rediscovery album, originally released on the Piedmont label, but now available on Rounder as "Avalon Blues".  John Hurt's rendition has a powerful driving rhythm and accords a lot of solo space for the guitar.  I love the personal touches in the story-telling, like the second line of the third verse.



SOLO X 2
 
Casey Jones was an old engineer
He told his fireman to not to fear
"All I want, give my water and my coal,
Look out the window, see my drive wheel roll."

Early one morning, came a shower of rain
'Round the curve, I seen a passenger train
In the cabin, it was Casey Jones
He's an old engineer, but he's dead and ---

SOLO

Casey's wife, she got the news
Setting on the bedside, she was lacing up her shoes
Said, "Go way, children, and hold your breath
Gonna draw a pension at your Daddy's death."

SOLO

"Children, children, get your hat."
"Mama, oh Mama, what you mean by that?"
"Get your hat, put it on your head.
Go down in town see if your Daddy's dead."

SOLO

Casey said, before he died,
"Fix the blind so the bums can't ride.
If they ride, let them ride the rod.
Trust thei' lives in the hands of God."

Casey said, before he died,
One more road that he want to ride
People wonder, "What road could that be?"
"The Colorado and the Santa Fe"

All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
John Hurt recorded "Let The Mermaids Flirt With Me" for the first time in his post-rediscovery period, and it can currently be found on the Rounder CD, "Mississippi John Hurt-Legend", Rounder CD 1100.  John Hurt played the song out of C position in standard tuning, and he gives equal space to solos and sung verses in his rendition.  To play the song as he did is unusually tricky, because his thumbwork in the right hand is intermittent, and there are many measures in which he omits one or more beats with the thumb.  I thought I had figured it out pretty faithfully years ago, but returning to his rendition in preparation for a lesson I found that I had missed quite a lot of what he was doing.  The song is a real charmer, especially as he sang it.



SOLO

Blues all on the ocean, blues all in the air
Can't stay here no longer, have no steamship fare
REFRAIN: When my earthly trials are over, cast my body out in the sea
Save all the undertakers bills, let the mermaids flirt with me

SOLO

Wife controls our unhappy home, my sweetheart I can not find
The only thing I can call my own is the trouble and the worried mind
REFRAIN: When my earthly trials are over, cast my body out in the sea
Save all the undertakers bills, let the mermaids flirt with me

SOLO

I do not work for pleasure, early peace I'll see no more
The onliest reason I work at all is drive the wolf from my door
REFRAIN: When my earthly trials are over, cast my body out in the sea
Save all the undertakers bills, let the mermaids flirt with me

All best,
Johnm

[ScottN]

Hi John,

There is also a version on "Last Sessions" that is essentially the same but also adds another set of lyrics in sung verse 4.  It also reverses verses 2 and 3 from "Legend" and repeats verse 1 as sung verse 5. Below is the additional verse:

Blues all in my body, my darlin' have forsaken me
If I ever see her face again I have to swim across the sea
When my earthly trials are over, cast my body out in the sea
Save all the undertaker's bills let the mermaids flirt with me


Thanks,
           Scott

[Johnm]

Thanks for that additional verse, Scott.  I forgot about that version.  Nice to have more verses to sing on this one.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
John Hurt's recording of "I Been Cryin' Since You Been Gone" can be found on his "Worried Blues-1963" CD on Rounder, Rounder CD 1082, which was originally John Hurt's second Piedmont album released.  It was recorded live at the Ontario Place, a long-defunct club in Washington D.C.
The song is very mysterious.  John Hurt accompanied himself out of E position in standard tuning for the song, and he was in absolutely top form, playing with a great deal of nuance and utilizing some really nifty moves.  This song, along with "Cow Hooking Blues", which was taken at a much slower tempo, is about as close to trance music as John Hurt got.  If the sound of it is not already in your head, it is definitely worth seeking out.  I know of no other song that sounds like it in his repertoire.  The guitar takes the last line of each verse.



SOLO

Oh baby, oh baby, please come on home
Come on home

Come on home, come on home, please come on home
Won't you come on home?

I've been sighin', I've been cryin', since you been gone
You've been gone

Comin' home, baby comin' home, no more to roam
No more to roam

Baby, come home, won't you come on home, won't you come on home
Please come home

I been sighin', I been cryin', since you been gone
Since you've been gone

No more to roam, no more to roam, no more to roam
No more to roam

That's my baby, that's my baby, want her to come on home
Please come home

Baby, I've been sighin', honey, I've been cryin', since you've been gone
Since you've been gone


All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
John Hurt played his version of "Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home" out of C position in standard tuning.  It has a raggy, danceable feel quite different from other versions of that song that I've heard.  John Hurt either didn't have many verses for the song or could only recall two when he recorded it.  His version of the song is unfamiliar to me, and I didn't know he played it.



I'm a poor old boy and a long ways from home
Feel like I ain't got no friend
(guitar finishes verse)

SOLO

I'm a poor old boy and a long ways from home
I feel like I ain't got no friend
I'm a poor old boy and a long ways from home
I feel like I ain't got no friend

Oh please, please, let me stay all night
I'm a poor old boy and a long ways from home
Oh please, please, let me stay all night
I'm a poor old boy and a long way from home

SOLO

All best,
Johnm

[mutantmoose]

On "I've Been Cryin'", are you sure that it isn't in Vestapol tuning? I hear a lot of similarity to the licks in "Payday", and the way he slides up his hand in almost a barre to make the chord shanges makes me wonder if he is in an open tuning. Playing the occasional C on the 5th string is the only oddity with what I propose.

It sure would be nice to hear a complete tape of this performance, the entire show, especially with any moments where he retunes.

[uncle bud]

It is played out of E standard, IMO. That's where I play it. You can hear the hammer into the G-sharp on the third string. There's some atypical (for Hurt) stuff going on but all quite doable in standard and neatly worked out. It's also on the Memorial Anthology as Comin' Home.

[mutantmoose]

I can see that now. What a bewitching song.

MJH seems to have this incredible vocabulary of licks that he just combines in different ways, in different keys and tunings. There are such depths to be explored in his music.

Lyrical content - my friend remembers MJH doing "Richland Woman" in private gatherings, and the line "Any dude will do" was changed to "Any cock will do".