Topic: Bo Carter Lyrics

[bluesgotus]

I'm brand new to this list.
Does anyone have the lyrics for Bo Carter's "Arrangement For Me Blues"?



bluesgotus

[uncle bud]

Hi bluesgotus,

Welcome to WeenieCampbell. Here's what I have for Arrangement for Me.

Arrangement for Me Blues - Bo Carter
G6 tuning


Babe I?ll split your kindling, you know I?ll build your fire
I will pack your water from the boggy bayou
Hey now tell me sweet baby, who may your manager be
For many more questions, won?t you please make arrangements for me

Your hair?s so doggone curly and your eyes ain?t blue
That?s why sweet baby I?m makin? a fool about you
Hey now tell me now baby, who may your manager be
For many more little old questions, won?t you please make arrangements for poor me

Says I ain?t good lookin?, babe I don?t dress fine
When you come to lovin?, I?ll pacify your mind
Hey now tell me baby, who may your manager be
For many more little old questions, won?t you please make arrangements for poor me

yes gal

solo

Here?s another little thing baby, want you to bear in mind
When I get my paycheck, I give you my last dime
Hey now tell me baby, who may your manager be
For many more little old questions, won?t you please make arrangements for poor me

I wished I was like a little fish in the deep blue sea
So a woman like you could take a little fish at me
Hey now tell me now baby, who may your manager be
For many more little old questions, won?t you please make arrangements for me

[bluesgotus]

Thanks Uncle Bud.

[chipmonk doug]

OK this is what I've got.

I'd like some help on how to play it too.



She?s Your Cook She Burn My Bread Sometime ? Bo Carter


I said she?s your cook, man, she burn my bread sometime
She give me all the mixin?s, to make things go on just fine
Now I ain?t said, man, just to be so bold
But I really like the way she twist her sweet jelly roll
Because she?s yo girl, she burns my bread sometimes
I said she?s yo cook, man, she burns my bread sometimes
She give me all the mixin?s, to make things go on just fine
Now look-e here cook, I think we?re going to fast
Your man gonna step right on your yas yas yas
Because you?s his cook , you burn my bread sometime

I mean she burns it when you gone fellow

I don?t mean at night either

I said she?s your cook, man, she burn my bread sometime
She give me all the mixin?s, to make things go on just fine
I was git in your pasture, but when you left home
As soon as you gone, we got the good work on
Because she?s yo girl, she burns my bread sometimes
I said she?s yo cook, man, she burns my bread sometimes
She give me all the mixin?s, to make things go on just fine
Now look-e here, man,  you really ought to know
I?m using your money and your sweet jelly roll too
Because she?s yo cook , she burn my bread sometime

[Pan]

Hi Doug

Your take on the lyrics sounds convincing to me -but then again I'm not very good with English lyrics.

What advice do you need playing the song? For starters I think Bo Carter plays many of his chord voicings unusually high on the neck.

The basic changes roughly are:

Intro:

[| C A7 | F D7 | G7 C | C  |]

A -part:

[|: C Am | D7 G7 | C | % |

| C Am | D7 | G7 | % |

| C   |  %  |  F  |  Ab  |

| C A7 | D7 G7 | C  |  C  :|]

B -part:

[|: C  |  Cdim7 |  C  |  Cdim7 |

| C A7 | D7 G7 | C  G7 | C  :|]

After the instrumental B -part it sounds to me that in the A -part the Am chords are changed to A7:ths.

Yours

Pan

[chipmonk doug]

Danm but you are good, Pan.  It would have taken me 6 mo. to work that out, now I'll be able to play it in a week.

thanks,
doug

[MuddyBuddy]

Hi
I wasn't sure if Bo is saying little or thing in the verses. Any ideas?
any tabs around for this? Someone on IGS mentioned this is in G6 tuning, but i don't even know what that is!

cheers
BERT in Sweden




I Want You To Know - Bo Carter  (Armenter Chatmon)

Babe I want you to know, Babe I want you to know
That little/thing you been doin? Lord, Baby don?t you do it no more.
 
Babe I want you to know, Honey I want you to know
That little/thing you been givin?  Lord Baby don?t you give it no more 

BRIDGE
?Cause I?m a stranger here just dropped in your town
Ain?t none of these women Lord turn me down
They crying Baby, Honey

They want you to understand, Honey want you to understand
I don?t need no more good now, please give it to another man.

instrumental 2 times through and bridge and once

Babe I want you to know, Babe I want you to know
That little/thing you been doin? Lord, Baby don?t you do it no more.
 
Babe I want you to know, Honey I want you to know
That little/thing you been givin?  Lord Baby don?t you give it no more 

BRIDGE
?Cause I?m a stranger here just dropped in your town
Ain?t none of these women Lord turn me down
They crying Baby, Honey

instrumental out....

[Slack]

Hi Muddy,

Here is a topic on Bo's tuning:

http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?amp;Itemid=100&topic=819.0

Hard for me to tell what he is saying - phonetically it sounds like "Lillya" which makes no sense.

Cheers,

[GerryC]

Hi Bert. The G6 tuning Carter uses on this is (bottom to top) D-G-D-G-B-E: the same as open G but with the top string left as normal. I'm fairly sure that he sings "that thing you been doing" in each of the verses, but Woody Mann transcribes it as "that little bit"; if you slur the vocal as if you were drunk it could sound that way. Woody transcribed the song in his book Six Early Blues Guitarists (Oak Publications 1973 - I don't know if it's still in print) but he used Open G as the tuning. However, he has since said that he now believes G6 is correct. There is another version of the same song which Bo Carter recorded as Don't Do It No More. It's almost identical as regards the guitar part but the lyrics are different and were the subject of a Weeniethread a while back.

Hope this helps.

Cheerily,

Gerry C

PS  Don't Do It No More will appear on my next CD, which will be escaping from protective custody soon...

PPS Cool website! I think that's the first time I've ever seen Eric Bibb without a hat.. Check out my site at www.gerrycoopermusic.co.uk

[MuddyBuddy]

Thanks Slack and Gerry for the tips! This place is really a goldmine for information and anecdotes.
Gerry, I checked out your website and am listening to Mississippi Blues right now... which I will be putting on my next cd too, just got the basic track finished.

Well Eric never had on hats when I knew him in the 70's and 80's. Haven't laid eyes on him since that last jam at my house when he used my old Duolian 1991. But I suspect that most guitar players with hats have them for a reason... ;-) I know several that just can't get used to not having the hair they used to. It doesn't bother me, comes with the age... as long as the fingers don't stop!

all the best
Bert

[Chezztone]

Yes, "little" is what he says. Someone said it sounds like "lillya." Yes. Contraction of "little you" as in "The little you been doing..."

[LB]

Hi All, LTNS, 

Well I guess I've been singing this one wrong for years and decided to iron out the words a little better and found some lyrics on the web that seem wrong. But some of the lines in their lyrics made me question my own version. I placed some ** marks in my version first and then pasting theirs. I'm actually really surprised how they came to such different conclusions about what was being sang. I've never heard of a bootlegger want to "make it in this world if you can" as in the second versio, but I darned sure know any country boy running from someone is going to be heading to the woods. I also know Bo is singing "Hear those 44's ring" as in guns from the sherriff running him down on the road and again he's running for the woods... I also know good and well he's saying "Mess with a bottle of corn". I grew up my whole life listening to these dialects and somethings just strike you instantly as correct. But with the way these singers sometimes fumbles words by accident or even changed them on purpose the lyrics dont always make perfect sense. I often crack up when I hear two words in a verse get accidentally reversed because I make the same mistakes trying to sing live sometimes. Anyway, I just know many of you have incredible ears and if there ever was the right place to ask on the web it's gonna be Weenie Campbell. Thanks ahead of time. Below is my version with markups and then the one I found on the web. I'll try to attach a slowed down mp3 if it will let me.



Thanks
Doug aka LB

MY VERSION

Bootlegger Blues (Make it to the woods if you can)

** Bag (or Pack)  a whiskey on my back and the sherrif is on my track
I?m gonna make it to the woods if I can

I taken his words to go my bail, brother to go to the county jail **
You better make it too the woods if you can

If you can, If you can
You better make it too the woods if you can

If you want to have to leave home, you just mess with a bottle of corn
You've got to make it too the woods if you can

You may think they?z doing you wrong, but they?ll send you to the county farm
You better make it too the woods if you can

If you can, If you can
You better make it too the woods if you can

When you go out for a load, sherrif will stop you on the road
You?ll have to make it to the woods if you can

It?s a real surprising thing that to hear those 44s ring
You better make it too the woods if you can

If you can, If you can
You better make it too the woods if you can

Ever since that state went dry the bootleggers have to ** shine
They gonna keep out the ** if they can

If they can , if they can
They gonna keep out the **  if they can






========================================


THE WEB VERSION I think has many more mistakes

I got whiskey on my back,
and a sheriff's on my track
I'm gonna make it through this world if I can

I take a walk to go my bail,
brother took off to the county jail
You better make it through the world if you can

If you can
If you can
You better make it through the world if you can

If you want to have to leave home,
you just stick with a bottle of corn
You got to make it through the world if you can

You may think they're doin' you wrong,
but they'll send you to the county farm1
You better make it through the world if you can

If you can
If you can
You better make it through the world if you can

When you go out for a load,
the sheriff will stop you on the road
You have to make it through this world if you can

It's a real surprising thing,
that to hear those boys will drink
You better make it through the world if you can

If you can
If you can
You better make it through the world if you can

...they sure got to hear about liquor

Ever since this state went dry2,
the bootleggers have their shine3
They gonna keep out of the way of the jail if they can

If they can
If they can
They gonna keep out of the way of the jail if they can

__________
Note 1: county farm, a prison farm where convicts had to work of their time. Probably the most famous/notorious among these prison farms was Parchman Farm. The state prison in Parchman, Mississippi. Parchman was a complex of 15 labor camps covering a large area in Mississippi, a closed society of black men who were offered as "contract" labor to farms, railroads and industries of many sorts, passed around to do labor for the financial benefit of both the contractor and the state who sold them.;
Note 2: Ever since this state went dry, with the Prohibition Act sales and use of liquor was forbidden by law and under penalty;
Note 4: shine, short for moonshine, a home made whiskey made from corn
 

[LB]

Attaching slowed down 860k MP3 file below as reference.... ends and solo cropped. Only lyrics play.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[uncle bud]

Hi LB,

I've always thought of this as a Mississippi Sheiks song. Can't remember whether Bo is listed as playing on it, but it's sure Walter Vinson singing. Bo is maybe doing the second guitar part up the neck?

Here's my take on the lyrics:

Stash/sack? of whiskey on my back and the sheriff is on my track
I?m gonna make it to the woods if I can

I?ll take your word to go my bail rather to go to the county jail
You?d better make it to the woods if you can

If you can, if you can
You?d better make it to the woods if you can

If want to have to leave home, you just mess with a bottle of corn
You got to make it to the woods if you can

You may think they?s doing you wrong, but they?ll send you to the county farm
You?d better make it to the woods if you can

If you can, if you can
You gotta make it to the woods if you can

When you go out for a load, the sheriff will stop you on the road
You?ll have to make it to the woods if you can

It?s a real surprising thing, that?s to hear those forty-four ring
You?d better make it to the woods if you can

If you can, if you can
You?d better make it to the woods if you can

spoken: Boys, they sure get to [jail] about liquor

Ever since that state went dry, the bootleggers have to stand shy
They gonna keep out the way of the sheriff if they can

If they can, if they can
They gonna keep out the way of the sheriff if they can

[LB]

What a relief, I didn't have that main line wrong and I really thought I heard him saying "Shy" instead of shine. Your version really does match what I hear. Thanks for the sanity check and corrections, that was a great help Uncle Bud. Can't thank you enough. Oh and thanks for the tip on it being the Sheiks. I may have even labeled it wrong in my mp3 folders. I immediately think of "Pay Day" on this melody and music. Also this is killer for open D slide. My other favorite song in that set is "Baby How Can it Be". Bo Carter and anyone related to the Sheiks, Chatmon family etc just slays me like a bull dozer.

LB