Country Blues > Country Blues Lyrics
Herman E. Johnson Lyrics
Doug:
--- Quote from: Bunker Hill on May 25, 2006, 10:57:01 AM ---I'm no expert but 'anorak' fits me well and I wear it with pride, though the description, 'stuck in a timewarp', suits better. ??? :)
--- End quote ---
I love Weenie Campbell. Not only do I get to read about great blues I would probably never have heard of (thanks Johnm!), I get a free lesson in British slang. I always though anoraks were a type of jacket, so I was wondering why Bunker was wearing a parka with pride until I googled the term... ;)
Bunker Hill:
--- Quote from: Bunker Hill on May 25, 2006, 10:57:01 AM ---I'm no expert but 'anorak' fits me well and I wear it with pride, though the description, 'stuck in a timewarp', suits better. ??? :)
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: Doug on June 13, 2006, 05:21:09 PM ---I love Weenie Campbell. Not only do I get to read about great blues I would probably never have heard of (thanks Johnm!), I get a free lesson in British slang. I always though anoraks were a type of jacket, so I was wondering why Bunker was wearing a parka with pride until I googled the term... ;)
--- End quote ---
As this is way off topic I'll keep it short. In Britain an anorak and a Parka (which I used to wear in mid-60s when riding around on my Lambretta GT) are slightly different items of clothing. An anorak became synonymous with those whose hobby was trainspotting and the term started to be used derogatorily to mean anybody with an obsession for collecting, be it locomotive numbers or record matrix numbers.
Johnm:
Hi all,
Yet another outstanding Herman E. Johnson song is his "I Am Growing Older". He plays it on an electric guitar out of E position in standard tuning, pitched at G, so barring extreme high tuning, he would be capoed at the third fret. Despite his sometimes halting execution, the song accompaniment is beautifully worked out and played consistently throughout the performance.
"I Am Growing Older" employs the phrasing archetype used in Sleepy John Estes' "Airplane Blues", Memphis Minnnie's "Chauffeur Blues" and "Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl". Johnson comes up with some terrific additions to the blues lyric canon, and makes a great point in verse three: no empathy = no imagination. He pronounces "filthy" "filther" in verse five. This is a really blue song, and like most of the lowest blues, it shows the singer in a position of no power. Things look up a bit in the next-to-last verse and then the other shoe drops. Tough. Here is "I Am Growing Older":
I am growing older, I am growing older
But I just can't help, I just can't help myself
After she got all my little pocket change
She run off with someone else
I can't tell hardly, I can't tell hardly
That's Monday from Tuesday, and Tuesday from Wednesday noon
But either Thursday, Friday or Saturday
By Sunday I'll be there soon
Now don't deny me, woman, don't deny me
That's all that I, that's all that I can do
But I want you to remember that
Someday you'll be old too
Now don't mistreat me, now don't mistreat me
Because I am growing, because I am growing old
Now you can have you another boyfriend
Without you being so bold
You treats me mean, gal, you treats me mean, gal,
And you treats me dirt-, filther [sic] and dirty, too
And you know there is no tellin' what
A gal like you won't do
SOLO
I'm gonna leave here walkin', gonna leave here walkin'
But I don't know where, I don't know where I will go
Because the woman I been lovin'
She drove me from her door
I got a gal crosstown, man, got a girl crosstown, man,
And she tall as a syca-, she's tall as a sycamore tree
She walks through the rain cold weather just
Man, just to be with me
But she's deceitful, man, she's deceitful
And she's tryin' to get, get me all worn down
After she get all my little pocket change
She gon' drive me from her town
All best,
Johnm
Johnm:
Hi all,
Herman Johnson played "Leavin' Blues" in the same low-octave sixth string variant of Spanish tuning that he used for "She Had Been Drinking". "Leavin' Blues" is very freely phrased in a call-and-response fashion, going back and forth between the sung lines and the guitar's answer. Some of what Johnson plays reminds me of early Robert Pete Williams ( though far less technical), in that it sounds as though occasionally he had no idea what he was going to play until he had played it. It's a scary way to make music, but if you can get away with it, it can be quite exciting. The singing is wonderful, as I have come to expect from Herman Johnson. The track seems truncated; perhaps Johnson made some mistake later on in the rendition that disqualified it from use, but Chris Strachwitz thought the beginning was strong enough to issue as it was. If that was the case, I'm glad that choice was made. Here is "Leaving' Blues":
I wanted to leave here this evening but I will stay here all night long (2)
Because the girl that I love, she caught that westbound train and gone
And this road is so foggy, Lord knows I can't see the road
This road is so foggy until I can't see the road
It'll take me so long to make it because I'll have to drive so slow
I'll eat my breakfast here, eat my supper in Mexico
I'll eat my breakfast here and eat my supper in Mexico
So goodbye, Miss Corrinna, woman, I won't see you no more
SOLO
So goodbye, Corrinna, girl, I won't see you no more
All best,
Johnm
Johnm:
Hi all,
There can be no doubt about Herman Johnson's "Piano Blues" being truncated, for it ends in a fade. It sounds to be played in conventional Spanish tuning around A. Johnson recycles many of the instrumental ideas he used on his version of "You Don't Know My Mind", and the rendition, up to the point at which it fades, is a particularly strong one. Its two verses are tantalizing. Here is "Piano Blues":
Mama told sister, "Close the piano down." (2)
She didn't have no blues, but she hated to hear the sound
Come here, pretty mama, I wants to whisper in your ear
Come here, pretty mama, let me whisper in your ear
I got something to tell you, I don't want no one to hear
All best,
Johnm
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