Topic: Joe Stone Lyrics

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Joe Stone recorded "It's Hard Time" at a session in Chicago on August 2, 1933.  It has been suggested more than once that Joe Stone was a pseudonym for Jaydee Short.  If Joe Stone was Jaydee Short, he somehow managed on the two titles recorded as Joe Stone (the other was "Back Door Blues") to completely alter his vocal tone production and style, as well as his guitar touch, technique and sense of time.  This would fly in the face of standard practice for blues players recording under pseudonyms, where absolutely no attempt is made to conceal one's musical identity; indeed, most pseudonymous Country Blues performances seem to have been made operating under the assumption that the listener would instantly know the true identity of the performer. 
In any event, "It's Hard Time" was played at a tremendous clip on a National guitar, working out of E position in standard tuning.  Stone's right hand work involves very forceful and controlled pick-strumming, spectacular playing, really, of a type that is far more difficult to reproduce than conventional picking of whatever degree of complexity.  Stone's vocal delivery is expressive and somewhat diffident, with his voice fading away at the end of each line (something Jaydee Short never did).  "It's Hard Time" provided the lyric seed for Lane Hardin's "Hard Times", though Hardin's song doesn't bear a strong musical resemblance otherwise.  I could use some help with the tail end of the opening line of verse 3.  Stone's voice tails away drastically there.  Here is "It's Hard Time":



   And it's hard time here, hard time everywhere
   And it's hard time here, baby, hard time everywhere
   And it's hard time here, baby, it's hard time everywhere

   I went down to the factory where I worked three years ago
   I went down to the factory, worked three years ago
   And the bossman told me, "Man, I ain't hirin' here no more."

   Now we have a little city that they call "down in Hooverville"
   Yes, we have a little city, call "down in Hooverville"
   Ah, they have got so hard people ain't got no place to be

   Don't the moon look pretty, baby, shinin' down through the trees?
   Don't the moon look pretty, baby, shinin' down through the trees?
   I can see my fair brown, swear to God that she can't see me

   Sun rose this morning, I was lyin' out on my floor
   Sun rose this morning, lyin' out on my floor
   Lord, I didn't have no cheatin' faro, baby, not no place to go

   I'm gonna sing this song, baby, I ain't gonna sing no more
   I'm gonna sing this song, ain't gonna sing no more
   'Cause my baby keep on callin' me, "Baby", and I believe I had better go

   SOLO

   And I hate to hear my faro call my name
   And I hate to hear my faro call my name
   She don't call so lonesome but she call so nice and plain

Edited 11/30 to pick up corrections from banjochris, dj and Johnm
Edited 12/2 to pick up correction from Johnm
Edited 12/3 to pick up corrections from Alexei McDonald, Johnm, and unezrider

All best,
Johnm
 
   

[banjochris]

John, after much listening and thinking about the context of homelessness and hard times, in that third verse I think he's singing:

Now we have a little city that they call "down in Hooverville"
And we have a little city, call "down in Hooverville"
Times got so hard people ain't got no place to be. [Live would make more sense here; he's really trailed off by this point.]

Also, I think the fifth verse is:
Cars rolled this morning, I was lyin' out on my floor,
Cars rolled this morning, lyin' out on my floor,
Lord, I didn't have no cheap fare, baby, not no place to go.

See what you think
Chris

[unezrider]

hello friend,
for what it's worth, i think i hear the fifth verse the same as john does. though chris' way makes more sense. because he wouldn't be laying in his bed if he truly had nowhere to rest.
a great performance, but those vocals are hard to pick up.

[dj]

I hear the last line of the third verse as

AH THEY HAVE got so hard people ain't got no PLACE/PLATE to EAT.

[Johnm]

Hi guys,
Thanks very much for the help, Chris and dj.  I think you are dead on with that "down in Hooverville" in the opening lines of verse three, Chris.  The front end of the tagline for that verse sounds more like "Ah, they have" to me, as you had it dj, but I think the line concludes with "be", I can hear the "b" sound pretty clearly, considering it's almost inaudible.  I think your corrections to verse five were right on, Chris, though it sounds like he says "fares" in the plural.  I caught a couple of minor screw-ups I had in verse six, I think.  In the second line, I ditched an "I" following the comma, and in the tagline, his baby was "callin'", not "comin'" as I originally had it.  The substitution of the verb "callin" for "comin'" makes the second "baby" and the tail end of the line make more sense.

I don't believe I could have finished this transcription by myself--in fact I'm sure of it.  Thanks very much for your help.  I love this song and Joe Stone's performance, but his habit of trailing off vocally at the tail end of his lines makes transcription of his lyrics really tough.  I'm going to try to do his other title, "Back Door Blues", too, and based on early listening reconnaissance, it is tougher than "It's Hard Time" (gulp).
All best,
Johnm

[banjochris]

I'm going to try to do his other title, "Back Door Blues", too, and based on early listening reconnaissance, it is tougher than "It's Hard Time" (gulp).

I noticed that myself!! Maybe I'll have a go at it too and we'll see what we come up with.

[banjochris]

Here's my take on Stone's "Back Door Blues." One line has a big gap in it, most of the rest of the bracketed stuff could go either way, I think.  Here is "Back Door Blues":
Chris



Back Door Blues

I'm gonna buy me a little red rooster mama, tie him at my back door
I'm gonna buy me a little red rooster, tie him at my back door
So when the street sweep be passin' by he will flap [pronounced flop] his little wings and crow.

I'm gon' buy me a bulldog 'cause my pistol's number 41
I'm gon' buy me a bulldog 'cause my pistol number 41,
I'm gon' shoot you if you stand still mama, I got a doggone dog to catch you if you run.

Catch the big boat at the [graveyard?] I'm going back to New Orleans
Catch the big boat at the [graveyard?] yard I'm going back to New Orleans,
Because ridin' on the water mama seem just like a kinda dream.

Soon to be buried in the river mama, than to buried in a hollow log,
Soon to be buried in the river mama, buried in a hollow log,
'Cause I got a no good faro, and she treat me just like I am a dog.

When I leave this time mama, please don't hang no hand crepe on my door,
When I leave this time mama, don't hang no hand crepe on my door,
Because I won't be dead, but I ain't comin' back here no more.

I'm as blue this morning mama, just as blue as any man can be,
I'm as blue this morning mama, blue as any man can be,
And I'm wonderin' why mama, that you can't get along with me.

Edited 12/1 with corrections/suggestions from JohnM
Edited 12/3 with suggestion from Alexei

[Johnm]

Hi Chris,
I just hear a couple of things differently, and some of the parenthetic words the same
   * In the second line of verse one, I hear a barely audible, swallowed "mama" after "rooster"
   * In verse three, the opening of the first two lines sounds like,
     Catch the big boat at the GRACE/GRATES YARD
   The final line sounds to me like
     Because ridin' on the water, mama, seem just like a KINDA dream
   * In verse four, the final line,
     'Cause I got a no-good faro and she TREAT me just like I am a dog
   * In verse five, I think "hand crepe" is right on
   * In the last line of verse six, I think it is "wonderin'", not "worryin'"
See what you think.
All best,
Johnm

[banjochris]

John -- thanks -- I picked up most of your changes, except I don't hear that "mama" in line 2 of verse 1. I thought the missing bit was something yard as well, but couldn't think what. I put your suggestions in and maybe someone else will hear it.
Chris

[Alexei McDonald]

In v.3, I hear "catch the big boat at the graveyard", which seems a strange place for a ferry terminal, but there you are...

[LD50]

Re: 'Hard Times Blues', I see problems with this section:

Cars rolled this morning I was lyin' down on my floor
Cars rolled this morning, lyin' down on my floor
Lord, I didn't have no cheap fares, baby, not no place to go

That word isn't 'fares', it's definitely 'faro' (you can hear the extra syllable that 'fares' wouldn't have). That said, I'm not positive what the preceding word is. It really sounds like 'cheatin', but that doesn't really make sense in the context.

Also, I really don't hear 'cars' there -- I think he's actually saying 'sun' both times.

In fact, this is what that line really sounds like to me:

Sun roll this morning I was lyin' out on my floor

That said, I have no idea what 'sun roll(s)' means. 

I also agree that he's saying 'Hooverville'.

[Alexei McDonald]

Surely it's "sun rose this morning"?

[LD50]

Surely it's "sun rose this morning"?

DUH. You're almost certainly right! The misleading thing is that he doesn't pronounce the 'z' sound in 'rose' -- if anything it sounds like 'sun rode this morning'. But 'sun rose this morning' is the ONLY thing that makes sense.

[unezrider]

hello friend,
i'm still hearing "cheatin' faro". & i think if you look at the 4th & 5th verse together you see he went to bed with his baby by his side. & when he woke up, she was gone. hard times, indeed
v.4
"don't the moon look pretty, baby, shinnin' down through the trees
 X2
 i can see my fair brown, swear to god, & she can't see me.
v.5
 sun ro(se) this mornin', i was lyin' down (or out?) on my (bed?)
 sun rose this mornin', lyin' down (out?) on my (bed?)
 lord, i didn't have no cheatin' faro, baby, didn't have no place (??)"

the stuff in parentheses i'm not sure of. this guy makes deciphering charlie patton seem easy 

[Johnm]

Hi Chris,
I agree it is "out", not "down" in those lines, I caught that earlier today.  I'm still working on the front ends of the lines.
All best,
johnm