Topic: Mance Lipscomb Lyrics

[Blues Vintage]

There's a rumor he knew around 2000 songs.
If it's true or not he picked up tunes everywhere and had a very good ear, even transposing piano pieces to guitar.

Here's a live version of "Hattie Green" recorded at The Ash Grove, Los Angeles (July 6, 1963).





I know, somebody, gonna miss me when I’m gone
Gonna miss me, from rollin’ in your arms

Hattie Green, Hattie Green, sweetest girl I ever seen
She done moved somewhere, way out in Abilene

Hattie Green, when you marry, why don’t you marry me
I don’t want your money, I just want your stingaree

Well, I’m goin’ up north, gonna stop by Abilene
Gonna ask everybody, have you seen little Hattie Green

You can shake it, you can break it, throw it out the window catch it ‘fore it falls
Give me one stick, Hattie, you can have what falls

I’m goin’ back to Houston, gonna stop on Market Street
Gonna find little Hattie, gonna stop every woman I meet

Oh, goodbye Hattie Green, don’t see you no more
‘Member my footprint, tramping around your door

[Old Man Ned]

I think there's a typo in the first line of the last verse.

I'm hearing "don’t see you no more"

All the Best,
Ned

[Blues Vintage]

Thanks, Old Man Ned. I made the change.

[Blues Vintage]

Mama Don’t Allow

Mance Lipscomb – Vocals, Guitar

Navasota, Texas
August 11, 1960

C position





INTRO

Well, mama don’t allow no, boogie woogie in here
Well, mama don’t allow no, boogie woogie in here
I don’t care what your mama don’t allow, gon’ boogie woogie anyhow
Don’t allow no boogie woogie in here

SOLO

Well, mama don’t allow no, loud talk in here
Well, mama don’t allow no, loud talk in here
I don’t care what your mama don’t ‘low, gon’ loud talk here anyhow
Mama, don’t allow no loud talk in here

Well, mama don’t allow no, boys and girls around here
Well, mama don’t allow no, boys and girls around here
I don’t care what your mama don’t allow, boys, girls, come here anyhow
She don’t allow no boys and girls in here

Well, mama don’t allow no, two-steppin’ ‘round here
Well, mama don’t allow no, two-step in here
I don’t care what your mama don’t allow, gon’ two-step a little bit anyhow
Mama, don’t allow no two-step in here

Well, mama don’t allow no, whiskey drinkin’ ‘round here
Well, mama don’t allow no, whiskey drinkin’ here
I don’t care what your mama don’t allow, gon’ drink a little whiskey anyhow
Mama, don’t allow no whiskey drinkin’ here

Well, mama don’t allow no, banjo pickin’ here
Well, mama don’t allow no, banjo pickin’ here
I don’t care what your mama don’t allow, gon’ pick this banjo anyhow
Mama, don’t allow no banjo pickin’ here

OUTRO

[Johnm]

Hi Blues Vintage,
I think "two-steppin'" in "Mama don't Allow" should be hyphenated. A two-step is a dance, as is a one-step.

[Blues Vintage]

I agree, John. I made the change. Thanks.

[Blues Vintage]

Key To The Highway


Mance Lipscomb – Vocals, Guitar

May 2, 1964
Berkeley, California

E position, standard tuning





INTRO

Got the key to the highway, I’m billed out and I’m bound to go
Gonna leave here running, walking got too doggone slow

I'm going down on the levee, people, where I'm better known
You don’t do nothing, but drive a good man from his home

When the moon gets over the mountain, I'll be somewhere on my way
Gonna roam this old highway, until the break of day

SOLO

I’m going out yonder, look up at that rising sun
Gon’ ask the good Lord, what evil have I done

I’m going down on the highway, try to catch me a ride
Nobody seem to know me, they kept on passing by

SOLO

This time tomorrow, wonder where will I be?
Somewhere walking up and down, man, that old Santa Fe

My best girl she quit me, throwed all my clothes outdoor
That’s alright, woman, you got to reap just what you sow

‘Cause I got the key to this highway, billed out and I’m bound to go
Gonna leave here running, walking got too, too slow

You been running round here, baby, in your brand new automobile
With some other man, you don’t care how you make me feel

SOLO

Six months ain’t so long, two years ain’t no great long time
Got a friend in penitentiary, doing ninety-nine

SOLO

Got the key to that old highway, I say, billed out and I’m got to go
Gonna leave here running, walking is most too slow

'Cause I’m going down on the borders, people, where I'm better known
You don’t do nothing, but drive a good man from his home

SOLO

Give me one sweet kiss, baby, oh, before I go
Gonna leave here, and I ain’t coming back no more

OUTRO

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Mance Lipscomb recorded "Sugar Babe" on his first Arhoolie album, "Mance Lipscomb-Texas Sharecropper and Songster", accompanying himself in E position in standard tuning. The song has a compact 8-bar form which lends itself to coming up with variations, which Mance certainly did in his rendition. I've always assumed the "Buzzard Lope" to be a dance, but don't really know if it was.  Here is "Sugar Babe":



SPOKEN: Here's the first one I learnt.

INTRO

Sugar babe, I'm tired of you, ain't you, honey, but the way you do
REFRAIN: Sugar babe, it's all over now

All I want my babe to do, make five dollars and give me two
REFRAIN: Sugar babe, it's all over now

Went downtown and bought me a rope, whup my baby 'til she Buzzar' Lope
REFRAIN: Sugar babe, it's all over now

SOLO

Sugar babe, what's the matter with you? You don't treat me like you used to do
REFRAIN: Sugar babe, it's all over now

SOLO

Went downtown and bought me a line, whup my baby 'til she change her mind
REFRAIN: Sugar babe, sugar babe, it's all over now

SOLO X 3

Sugar babe, I'm tired of you, ain't you, honey, but the way you do
REFRAIN: Sugar babe, it's all over now

CODA

All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Mance Lipscomb's version of "Take Me Back, Babe" comes from his vol. 3 album on Arhoolie, which was recorded in performance. The song was recorded by a host of early players--Lemon Jefferson (as "Beggin' Back"), Frank Stokes, and Henry Thomas among them. Mance played the song in C position in standard tuning as did most people who recorded it. He does some really pretty crooning on this one. Here is "Take Me Back, Babe":



SPOKEN: Here's about the oldest number that I could record back in the days when I was learnin' and heard people play--"Take Me Back".

Aw, baby, take me back, I won't do
Nothin', you don't like. Oh I went

Down, that railroad track, beggin' my
Baby to take me back. Take me

Back, babe, one more  time, won't do
Nothin' to worry your mind. Tote your

Water, and cut your wood, make you a
Fire, if I could. Oh

Baby, a-didn't you say, you gonna
Let me, have my way.

SOLO

'Tain't but the one thing, grieve my mind, my woman
Quit me, in the wintertime. Kill your

Chicken, baby, save me the wing, think I'm workin'
Ain't doin' a thing. I got a

Girl, her, name is Martha, works over
Yonder, in the white folks' yard, she rush me

Chicken, rush me a goose, rush me little
Turkey, when it 'tain't no use

SOLO

Take me back, take me back, won't do
Nothin', baby, you don't like

CODA

All best,
Johnm   
   

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Mance Lipscomb recorded "Ain't It Hard" on his first Arhoolie album, accompanying himself in A minor position in standard tuning. The song has an unusual 16-bar form:

   ||    I minor    |      V7      |    I minor    |    I minor    |

    |    I Major     |      I7      |      V7         |      V7         |

    |    I Major     |     I7       |    I minor    |     I minor   |

    |    I minor     |     V7      |    I minor    |    I minor    |

The song has a dark sound, almost like a minor version of "Careless Love", and Mance played it with tremendous drive. Here is "Ain't It Hard":



INTRO

Ain't it hard, ain't it hard, ain't it hard?
Ain't it hard, ain't it hard, ain't it hard?
Ain't it hard, ain't it hard, man, but you know it's true
You can love some woman and they don't love you

Sometime, sometime, sometime
Sometime I thinks my babe too good to die
Sometime I think, my babe's too good to die
Then again I think she should be buried 'live

Wonder where my friends done gone
Wonder where my friends done gone
Went away in the Fall, didn't come back home at all
Where you went away and you stay sos long?

Got a mother and father, both dead and gone
My mother and father both dead and gone
Got a mother and father, both dead and gone
And they left me in this wide world alone

What the last word I heard Mama say?
When she's layin', on her dyin' bedside
What the last word I heard, my mother say before she die?
"Son, I won't want you to grieve and cry."

"There's one more kind favor I ask of you,
One more, kind favor I ask of you,
When I'm dead, son, and sleeping in the ground,
Would you see, to my grave, kept clean?"

INTERLUDE

When I'm dead and gone, dead and gone
I want you to dig my grave wide and deep
Then two, three sport, just to let me down
And someone to sing a song

CODA

All best,
Johnm




     

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Mance Lipscomb first recorded "Angel Child" on his one reprise album, "Trouble In Mind", accompanying himself in A position in Dropped-D tuning. He really favored Dropped-D for playing A, and it's not hard to see why--that low root on the IV chord sounds like a million bucks and the low root for the V chord is still easily accessible at the second fret of the sixth string. Boy, is this a strong cut, both vocally and instrumentally, Mance is so strong and inventive on it, with three great solos and powerful singing. Here is "Angel Child":



INTRO SOLO

Wonder what's the matter with my little angel child?
Wonder what's the matter with my little angel child?
She left home this morning, come home 'bout half past five

Now if you do like I tell you, girl, you can't go wrong
If you do like I tell you, girl, you can't go wrong
You don't do what I say, little angel, girl, you can't last long

SOLO

All in my dreams I could hear my doorbell ring
All in my dreams I could hear my doorbell ring
When I woke up this morning, couldn't see a doggone thing

Well she made me a promise, she made it to me one day
She made me a promise, made it to me one day
Wonder why my little angel, she would walk away?

SOLO

If I don't never see your smiling face again
If I never see your smiling face again
Want you to tell everybody I once have been your friend

CODA

Edited 3/5/25 to pick up correction from banjochris

All best,
Johnm

 

[banjochris]

One little suggestion, John – I think 4.3 starts with "Wonder why" instead of "Wonder where" – the pronunciation is very similar but I think it is why, and it makes a bit more sense as well.

[Johnm]

Thanks, Chris, I re-listened and agree with you and have made the change. What a strong track!