Topic: Frank Stokes Lyrics

[Johnm]

It does help, Ned, thanks! "Dawn" has the benefit of rhyming with "on", too. And announcing that you intend to stay until dark is not exactly establishing one's independence!

[Old Man Ned]

"And announcing that you intend to stay until dark is not exactly establishing one's independence!"......

Unless he was wanting to be home in time for his tea :-)

All the best, Ned

[Blues Vintage]

I hear "dark". I think he sings it in take 1 too, but there it rhymes with "start".

I think 1.3 needs a correction,

1.3 I've got a bad-luck deal, get give me troubles every day

[Old Man Ned]

This is really tricky isn't it as the last syllable of dark/dawn in both takes is barely pronounced. In take 2 'dawn', which I'm hearing, would seem to fit with 'on' in the following line but then in take 1 'dark' kinda fits with 'start'. There are only a couple of verses in common between both takes so there is the possibility that 'dark' is used in take 1 and 'dawn' in take 2 but I don't know. How likely is it that dark was changed to dawn to 'fit' with the last line of the verse? 

[waxwing]

I think it is reasonable to see this as part 1 and part 2, and Frank might have sung several other verses as well when he was playing for dancers and didn't have to worry about a 3 minute format. Stokes has always struck me as a clever guy and pretty word conscious. in spite of similarities at the start, he may have thought of them as two different verses.

Wax

[harriet]

I hear dawn on 2 and dark on 1 -sorry to be late for the party. I would venture the opinion that there's probably alot of factors that could go into musical and lyric changes each time a song was sung back then with this sort of music although the artist might not opt for any. 

[Johnm]

I agree with you, Harriet, and with the point that you and waxwing made that there's no reason to think that the two takes are otherwise the same when they differ in a number of other respects apart from the lyrics to the verse in question. I agree also with the change that Blues Vintage suggested for line 1.3 in take 2 and have made that change in Weeniepedia.

[Stuart]

I listened to both takes several times, slowing them down to see if that provided any additional clarity. I agree that it sounds like "dark" in take 1 and "dawn" in take 2. The vocalic 'a" sounds different and to my ears the final part of dark and dawn is barely discernible. But the vocalic "a" fits the rhyme scheme in each take even though the finals are not exactly clear.

And as Wax points out, the different takes could have been put together from a larger stock of lines and verses that Frank selected from and sang according to his druthers, depending...

--Just another long winded way to say I agree with the consensus.

I found myself getting lost in his songs, forgetting why I started listening to "Downtown Blues." Thank Heavens for Frank Stokes.

[waxwing]

I'm thinking the opening line: "And I'm goin' downtown, gon' stay 'round there 'til..." has the potential for many different rhymes for many different times of day, like noon, six, three, evenin', each with a different third line. You could construct a blues working your way around the clock. Doesn't really have to make much sense. I'll bet there are similar examples out there.

Wax

[Stuart]

Doesn't really have to make much sense.

Like life itself...Perfect! 

[Johnm]

Good thought, wax. Marshall Owens' "Try Me One More Time" does that very thing, working off the opening, "Woke up this mornin', half past ___".

[waxwing]

Right, Johnm. Listening to MO on YouTube I realize I am more familiar with Eleanor Ellis's wonderful cover. The chorus of the chorus blues format is so strong in that song the verses are hard to remember, I guess.

Wax