Topic: Les Blank 's Sprout Wings and Fly starring Tommy Jarell

[drywud]

Thank you all for your help

I worked with an american friend on the transcription. here is the update :

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1mIdjrCoH2BNWJDQmxwWmt5S3c/view?usp=sharing

I have some specific questions :

About this sentence : "This table was my mother?s, which she had 11 children. And we all ate off of it. "

Do you agree that she's saying her mother gave birth to her 11 children on this table ?

When the three women talk about their work, about 14:01. One is saying :

"Woman 1 : I went to work for 3 dollars and 20 cents a day, and I got a grace and a new pair of shoes out of every payday. Now, I can?t do that now. There?s no way."

I think "dress" or "brace" would me more likely but it really sounds "grace". any idea ?

At 14:48, Tommy is saying :
 
"I?ll never stick another plant in the ground for myself. And I never did. I got me some washing tubs and some rivets and I riveted ___them____together and I went right back accross that hill right over there"

I'm missing 1 or two words where you can see the blanks.

One word I'm not completely sure about :

15:53 Back when I was a kid, a boy growing up I remember one time I know for 3 branches, three stills running all at the same time.

Some blanks :

It was all of my first cousin, I?d go to visit one and I?d visit the other, watch him make liquor, you know ____him______ but, I never did try to make my living by it but I?d just be around it a lot you know.

and another mystery word :

I : Why did they have so much liquor up there ?
Well, it had good water to make it, it takes good water to make good liquor downtown. You got to have the good water to make good liquor.

Then one hard part is at 17:51

Also, I would not like to make mistake about the characters names

06:26

And Charlie, he got scared, he went over to Wes Birchum?s, he lived over there not too far. And Wes he come over and stayed with him til daylight.

And Uncle Charley and old man Wiley Cochran was making brandy right up the creek from where this happened.

The other characters are Old man Fountain, Old man Houston, Charlie Burnett Lowe, then I have some doubt about Tommy's girlfriend's name (21:43) (Corinna?) and about the fiddlers names at the end of the movie. May the first one be called "Art Woody" ? I don't know if the old one who is dancing and playing at the same time is any famous but I think he is really good.

Thanks

We will work on it on thursday evening and I will post updated file on friday.

[drywud]

Thank you every one for your help. I didn't work on the transcription for a few month but now it is almost done and i come back to you to ask a little help on some last words that i am not sure of hearing right. There is just a bunch of them. In bold are the most uncertain ones.

you can still see the movie here

 

17:51   
When you went to a dance, your daddy had to go along or your brother one. You weren?t allowed 
out,  y?know. 
to go, you know, with you sweetheart,  you didn?t have a shine of chance to do much  courtin? 
Pop would sing that song about ?come take a trip in my airship? and I said ?shucks? that?s what 
we need now, I said, an airplane;  go  courtin?  and I say everyone?s obvious cause you set your 
eyes right on a girl and she can?t court one bit and he can?t even let him kiss her goodnight.  He 
said ?Oh  you ain?t  old enough to have a be a  courtin?  yet.? 
18:26 
-Well,  better dip 


25:21 
Now, you  aint't  near dead yet ! 
(........that guy up on top of fisher feet is liable to............) have to knock you in the head 
on  judgement  day


27:02
(The whole Tom Brown Green song)

28:43 
- Best i ever heard 
- Oh now you know better than that 
- no, that?s the best... 
-Well it weren?t too damn bad, I don?t reckon....That singing is  sorta  off a little bit 
  -Well none of us are "crucials" are we ? 


29:03 
Who is this making this film ? 
That man right here, Les Blank, he?s from California 
Oh, is he ? 
And Alice right yonder, the lady at the head of the thing, her and  Cece  Conway. 
Oh ! Great ! did they get a grant or something ? 
Yeah 
that?s wonderful 
Yeah they got some money from the government some way I don?t know how they done it 
(............................none of my business) 

You can see the whole transcription here :



Thank you very much for your time and help.

[David Kaatz]

I think you have it correct at 17:51, except:
I said, an airplane;  go  courtin?  in
and since she is hoeing or digging the garden, she probably says
Well, better dig

At 25:21, I think Tommy is saying something like:
Old <name of someone...Elijah ??> up on top of Fischer Peak

I'm not going to attempt the song lyrics.

28:43 matches what I hear.

At 29:03,
I ain't asked them, none of my business.

[Lastfirstface]

25:21 -

"Old Elijah is gonna come down on Fishers Peak, liable to have to knock you on the head on judgement day"
 
After some googling, there is a Fishers Peak in Galax, VA which could be relevent.

27:02 -
The fiddle tune is "John Brown's Dream":

"John Brown dreamed
John Brown dreamed that the devil was dead

Come on Lula, Come on Lula
Eat your hog and your bread"

28:43 -

Walt Koken says:
"None of us are Carusos, are we?"
... as in Enrico, brushing off Tommy's comment about his singing being off

[Lastfirstface]

Also, since you were asking in your previous post about the bluegrass fiddle towards the end, his name was Art Wooten.

[Rivers]

28:43 -
Walt Koken says:
"None of us are Carusos, are we?"
... as in Enrico, brushing off Tommy's comment about his singing being off

I'll have to remember that one.

Thanks for working on this y'all, Les Blank's work deserves this degree of of study, in my opinion.

[Lastfirstface]

I love the simplicity and intimacy of Les Blank's documentaries. Its cool that Criterion managed to reissue most of them as big set a couple years back.

[drywud]

Hey, thank you for your finds. "Caruso" and "Old Elijah on top of  Fisher's Peak" , although I cannot really hear him say "peak".


About the lady speaking at 17:51, I am not sure if she's saying "you didn't have a shine of a chance" or "you didn't have the time..." Does "shine of a chance" sounds like an existing expression to you ?

Also, I have another uncertainty in my transcription :

at 22:00

I like to go places. I like to travel and when I get ready to go I don?t have anybody to say you can
go. All I have to do is pack my ***low britchum*** and throw it in my car and if I got enough money
to buy gas to get where I want to I?ll leave and I?ll come back when I wear my welcome out.

I am not sure what is it she is "packing", maybe a brand of luggage.

Any clue ?

thanks

ps: If you have this criterion set and are willing to share it I am very interested, I found a dozen of les blank films on the internet in low quality but i want to see more and i can't afford the dvds.

[Johnm]

It sounds like "LITTLE britchum" at the 22 minute mark.
All best,
Johnm

[Lastfirstface]

Hey, thank you for your finds. "Caruso" and "Old Elijah on top of  Fisher's Peak" , although I cannot really hear him say "peak".

That's what I'm hearing, and it makes a lot of sense in the context. They're speaking to one another at the Galax fiddlers convention, and from what I could tell Fisher's Peak would maybe even be visible from where they were sitting when that was recorded. 

[banjochris]

It sounds like "LITTLE britchum" at the 22 minute mark.

Pretty sure she's saying "little gritchel." There are a few references to it online if you google it, at least one in the context of a carpetbagger's bag.

I would assume it's a portmanteau of "grip" and "satchel."

[drywud]

Hey thanks for your help. Yes I guess Fisher's Peak really makes sense.

There is another couple of words i'm missing at

15:53
Back when I was a kid, a boy growing up I remember one time I know for 3 branches, three
stills running all at the same time. It was all of my first cousin, I?d go to visit one and I?d visit the
other, watch him make liquor, you know ____him______ but, I never did try to make my living
by it but I?d just be around it a lot you know.

[Johnm]

And HELP him A LITTLE.
All best,
Johnm

[drywud]

thanks to all of you. I got some help on the banjo hangout forum too ( http://www.banjohangout.org/topic/305202/#3864452 )

and I think the whole movie is now transcribed...

banjochris can you send me the webpage you found with the "little gritchel" please ? I couldn't find it myself on google.

I started to translate to french. I will let you know when I will be done with the subtitles.

All your finds are great, especially the "Caruso" one  on the banjo hangout forum they found about "a chinaman's chance" instead of "a shine of a chance" which is a great find too because that old lady was giving me a really hard time !

[banjochris]

banjochris can you send me the webpage you found with the "little gritchel" please ? I couldn't find it myself on google.

http://ashlandbelle.com/Southern.html

https://books.google.com/books?id=kd3p-2PRcYMC&pg=PA70&dq=gritchel+pig+in+a+poke&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CguCVarTJM7GogS-n4HwBg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=gritchel%20pig%20in%20a%20poke&f=false

https://books.google.com/books?id=79c4AAAAMAAJ&q=gritchel&dq=gritchel&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HwuCVfzKA9i3oQTuvqTIDw&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAw