Topic: Buddy Moss Lyrics

[Bill Roggensack]

John - there are lots of song fragments that have been 'borrowed' back and forth in the blues, but the verbatim recurrence of such obscure lyrics was what grabbed my attention. I guess that having recently given 'New Lovin' Blues' some serious listening time made those oddball verses jump out of the McTell material.

There is plenty of material on Buddy Moss in 'Red River Blues' . While the book contains a lot of info that was (fortunately) captured before the sources expired, I found it to be a pretty academic treatise. I tend to be more interested in either analysis of the music/lyrics, interviews or narratives. That said, Buddy's place in the blues pantheon is memorilaized in 'Red River Blues' and the book belongs on the shelf of anyone serious about learning blues history.

[Johnm]

Hi Bill,
Thanks for the tip.  Who was the author of "Red River Blues", and who published it?  I am not familiar with the title.  
All Best,
John

[waxwing]

FP.
I knew what you we're sayin'. I meant that it didn't take anything so oddball to register on my meter.
Thanks for the info on RRB I figure after working my way through the three academic treatise in Yonder Fell The Blues (actually I'm rereading Savannah Syncopaters) RRB shouldn't be to rough. Most of what I've read is pretty Delta oriented, so there'll be lots of new info for me. Perhaps I'm reliving my college years, which, the first time around as a Theatre major, involved very little academic research. And, having been somewhat shocked by the lack of awareness of what is essentially basic US history (Jim Crow era) on the part of many posters on other forums (not to mention directors of PBS specials), I have been inspired to learn as much as I can of the times and people that created the blues, and to present that as a part of my performances. And. hell, I enjoy it. Beats current US history.
All for now.
John C.
P.S. Just notice your post JohnM. Bruce Baskin. It's on our Amazon list.

[Bill Roggensack]

JohnM -
'Red River Blues' (The Blues Tradition in the Southeast) was written by Bruce Bastin, and was published by the University of Illinois Press.
398 pages. 6 x 9 inches
ISBN 0-252-06521-2. $17.95
Music / African American Studies

The book was released in paperback (1995) but may be out of print - so check Powell's first; that's where I got my copy about 3 years ago. Bastin runs this little outfit:

http://www.interstate-music.co.uk/

You might also want to check this one out - finally, Bert Williams CDs!

http://www.archeophone.com/

JohnC - I agree with your observation about the fascinating aspects of history that emerge when you start reading contextual material surrounding the blues. I often wonder why this material can't be used to make history more interesting in middle and high schools. Floods, tunnels, politics, racial repression, hoodoo - all stuff that barely gets mentioned in the conventional curriculum. I have been busy discovering my family's American roots, and just last weekend learned that I am a fifth cousin twice removed of the recently deceased Johnny Cash 9probalby explians my single octave range!). I have a Cash family bible dating to the 1840s in my possession (very ratty and water damaged, but contains records of the usual 'begat' stuff). On another tangent, last year, listmembers sorted out the lyrics to "Johnson City Blues" - it contained references going back into the Civil War. It was very cool to read these lyrics in a cultural, regional and historical context.

[Slack]

The book was released in paperback (1995) but may be out of print - so check Powell's first; that's where I got my copy about 3 years ago. Bastin runs this little outfit:

Ahem FP!  you're supposed to be pointing folks toward our Amazon affiliate book page! (thanks JohnC) ...which has the book for $18.95 and ships in 24 hours.

 

cheers,
slack

[waxwing]

OOPS! You mean it's not Bruce Baskin of Baskin & Robbins? I even looked to check the first name and didn't notice I had the last name wrong.
All for now.
John C.

[Bill Roggensack]

Slack - sorry about missing the Affiliate. It will take me a while to get into this customer loyalty thing. just had good luck with Powell's when looking for used or out-of-print books. I have never tried Amazon in this capacity.

[Johnm]

Hi Bill,
I would have missed the Amazon affiliation too.  I admit to being slow to pick up on the links.  A couple of posts back you remarked on how it was not all that common for one Blues to lift a number of verses intact from a pre-existing recorded number.  Thinking along those lines but more in the realm of pure sound, I think it is amazing how much the Georgia players Fred McMullen, Curley Weaver and Buddy Moss sounded alike when playing slide.  Players generally seem to sound pretty different from each other when playing slide, with regard to tone, vibrato, etc., but these guys were like peas in a pod.  I suppose McMullen was a bit more adroit than the other two, but they were amazingly similar.  It is interesting, too, because it is a whole school of slide (and duet) playing that was very highly evolved and seems to be utterly neglected.  When you hear Fred McMullen play "Wait and Listen" in Open G in the key of D, or "Man of My Own" behind Ruth Willis, it is pretty hard to beat.
Good to see the rapid-fire responses and repartee here lately--it's been a bit slow.  And I'll add, just in case anyone missed it, that a new lesson on Buddy Moss's "New Lovin' Blues", has been posted by John D., and thanks to him.
All best,
John  

[LB]

-Attached mp3 sample and Lyrics rough draft-



Anyone feel like helping me with this one? I have it mostly figured out but some of the meanings and words are not 100% clear to me.

I know what the first part means about smoking 1 in the morning and another at night and he choked on the first one and held the second one too tight.


The part I'm having trouble with is the part blaming hoover for the economy and the price of Chesterfields. He's saying something about ducks or bucks that he saved. I hear "I raved he's crazy bout the ducks he should have saved". I don't know if he just patched that line together or not. But that and wondering if Golden Grain might have been a brand of cigarettes he had to smoke, or what that might mean.

This song seems set in the 1930 era but recorded in the early 60s. It's a G rag and it's an almost xerox copy of Curley Weaver's Tricks Aint Walkin.

Thanks any advice,
LB


rough draft

Chesterfield Blues ? Buddy Moss ? Rediscovery recordings 1960s Atlanta

Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find
Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find
Smoke one in the morning one at night, choked on?te other un , holt the other one too tight
Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find

I?ve a father who out in Washington hoover?ll be his name, took me of my good chesterfields and he stuck me on golden grain
Now I raved he?s crazy about the ducks they should have saved
Smoke one in the morning one at night, choked on?te other un , holt the other one too tight
Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find, I mean, boys is hard to find

-Instrumental break-

Well it?s Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find
Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find
Smoke one in the morning one at night, choked on?te other un , holt the other one too tight
Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find, you hear me talking, you see me walkin, I mean, boys is hard to find.

-Instrumental break-

Yes, Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find
Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find
Smoke one in the morning one at night, choked ?te other un , holt the other one too tight
Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find, you hear me screaming, Boys is hard to find

Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find
Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find
I?m beginning to wonder why Chesterfields has gone so high
Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find, I mean, boys is hard to find

Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find
Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find
Smoke one in the morning one at night, choked on?te other un , holt the other one too tight
Chesterfield these days, boys is hard to find, I mean, boys is hard to find



[attachment deleted by admin]

[Slack]

I?ve a father who out in Washington hoover?ll be his name, took me of my good chesterfields and he stuck me on golden grain
Now I raved he?s crazy about the ducks they should have saved

Tough one, but I think there are more irreverent religious references.

I've a father who art in Washington.

Now I raved, yes I prayed about the ducks...

What is the duck reference?  weird...

[Bunker Hill]

The song is discussed in Guido van Rijn's Roosevelt Blues (Miss. UP 1997, p.17).

Golden Grain was a cheap powdered rolling tobacco and "duck" a usage for cigarette butt.

[Slack]

Golden Grain was a cheap powdered rolling tobacco and "duck" a usage for cigarette butt.

Thanks BH.  Makes sense now... a cigarette rolled from saved Chesterfield "ducks" is far superior to a rolled Golden Grain. Ah, the joys of nicotine addiction.

[Doug]

I agree with Stack about the "art" -- which makes the line parallel the Lord's Prayer ("Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name") nicely.  I'm not hearing the prayed in the second line though. 

Here's what I hear:

I've a Father who art in Washington, Hoover'll be his name
Took me off my good Chesterfields and he stuck me on Golden Grain
Now I raved, yes I craved, about the ducks they should have saved...

With Bunker's information about what the duck meant (thanks!), I'm actually hearing it where you have: "Choked on'te other one".

I'm hearing something like: "choked my/your duck,and holt the other too tight..." (first verse I hear my, second I hear your)

[Bunker Hill]

FWIW here's GvR's view of it all

It is evident from the blues lyrics that the black population ignored Hoover as much as he did them. Several "hard time" blues were recorded from 1929 to 1933, but President Herbert Hoover's name is mentioned only sporadically, and then in a circumstantial manner. Hoover's name was used as late as 1966 in a blues nominally about Chesterfield cigarettes, which were held up as an example of luxuries that had to be foregone in hard times. The singer was Georgia blues guitarist Eugene "Buddy" Moss (1906-1984), who had sung the blues in Atlanta when Hoover was president:

chorus:
Chesterfield, these days, boys, is hard to find,
Smoke one in the morning, one at night,
Choke my duck and hold the other two tight,
Chesterfield, these days, boys, is hard to find,

Our father, who art in Washington, Hoover will be his name,
Took me off my good Chesterfield, and stuck me on Golden Grain.
Now, I rave,
Yes, I crave 'bout the ducks I should have saved.
I begin to wonder why Chesterfield is gone so high.

For this song the wording of the Lord's Prayer was parodied, a daring gimmick that would not have been appreciated by everybody. As this would certainly have been unacceptable in the thirties, no original recording from the time when Moss probably first sang the song exists. "Golden Grain" was "powder," a cheap rolling tobacco

[uncle bud]

Thanks, BH. I've heard this song many times but never paid attention to the lyrics. Rather witty, aren't they.