Topic: Sleepy John Estes Lyrics

[Bunker Hill]

(cut) and as for the "crawl", I will check it out over this week-end while I'm away, and see how it sounds.? If he used it on a post-rediscovery recording, it seems like that was probably his intent on the original recording too.?

Must admit even on that it's an indistinct drawl and not much like what is heard on the original. So please don't hold too much store by that.? I'm not totally convinced myself. BTW thanks for reminding me of the RBF which I too unearthed to find the insert sheet is peppered with scribbled lyric amendments. Against Needmore I have added the 'harmed many men' refrain with the comment, "Are you deaf?". What an arrogant, sad teenager I must have been forty years ago! There are those who might say some things just don't change.

[Johnm]

Well, you know, Bunker Hill, I don't think most teen-agers are very forgiving of what they perceive as their elders' short-comings.  Don't be too tough on yourself--I don't reckon I was exactly the soul of generosity at that age either.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Sleepy John recorded "Drop Down (Don't Feel Welcome Here)" with Robert Lee McCoy and a washboard player who is not named on the CD where I found the song.  On "Mailman Blues", which I transcribed earlier in this thread, and which also features Robert Lee McCoy, I commented on his open harmonica tone.  John C. suggested that the open tone might be due to playing the harmonica on a rack.  I wasn't sure, because I thought Sleepy John was playing guitar on that number, which would remove any incentive to play the harp in other than the conventional manner.
After listening to "Drop Down" and several other songs featuring Robert Lee McCoy, I now think John C. was right on the money, that Robert Lee was playing both harmonica and guitar on "Drop Down" and "Mailman Blues", and that Sleepy John was handling the vocals only.  Robert Lee was quite a musician.  His harmonica playing was superb, really rhythmically crisp, and with excellent tone, and his guitar-playing interestingly varied.  On "Drop Down" he is playing in E position, standard tuning, and employing a sort of Jump Blues, four-to-the-bar accompaniment strum.  He may be flat-picking or using a thumb pick. 
"Drop Down" is a 12-bar (theoretically) chorus blues.  The aspect that must have made it tricky to accompany Sleepy John is his varied reading of the first line of the chorus, in particular the "aahh", which he stretches to different lengths almost every time he sings it.  The way the chorus is set up, the word "drop" is scheduled to arrive on the downbeat of the fifth bar, at the point in the form at which the IV chord arrives, with "here" arriving on the downbeat of the seventh bar, with the return of the I chord.  In practice, the front end of the chorus is pulled all over the place, and it is really admirable the way Robert Lee McCoy is able to keep the swingy groove clipping along behind such liberties of phrasing--no problem.  If you think this kind of thing is easy to do, try copying it.  You will pretty much have to memorize the entire rendition, and even then you will just have the way they happened to play it at that recording session.  It's one reason why assiduous imitation can only get you so far in this music.



   Now, the old lady, comin' down the line
   She were loaded in front, she were bouncin' behind
   CHORUS:  B'lieve I'll drop down, aahh, I don't feel welcome here
   Now, I'm gon' get me a woman for the brand new in-comin' year

   Went to the barbershop to get me a shine
   Say, "Go away, darkie, to that door down the line."
   CHORUS

   Met a old lady, had, jug of wine
   Say, "Go away, son, you can't play the liar."
   CHORUS

   Look here, baby, see what you done done
   It's, made me love you now your man done come
   CHORUS

   'Way down yonde' in the old West End
   Women down there look like section men
   CHORUS

All best,
Johnm

[Bunker Hill]

Robert Lee was quite a musician.? His harmonica playing was superb, really rhythmically crisp, and with excellent tone, and his guitar-playing interestingly varied.?

For anybody interested here's his entire prewar sessions in chronological order (1936-41) along with one or two 'sound bites':

http://www.baddogblues.com/nighthawk/prewar.htm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I was trolling through the back pages of the Weenie Main Forum today, and on page 9 found a link to one of Stefan Wirz's amazing discographies, on Sleepy John Estes, for anyone whose interest in his music has been piqued by this thread.  Thanks, Stefan!
All best,
Johnm

[MTJ3]

"Lawyer Clark"

"'Nother song was 'Lawyer Clark.'? Yeah.? A lawyer in Brownsville, Huey Clark.? Best lawyer they said, keep you out of jail.? He'd book John out of jail, a lot of times, 'cause John get drunk every holiday and go to jail.? They wouldn't make him pay nothin'.? Let him out when he get sober."

Interview of Yank Rachell.? Richard Congress, Blues Mandolin Man--The Life and Music of Yank Rachell, p. 32.

The Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility of the Supreme Court of Tennessee does not have a record of any Clark who was licensed as a lawyer fitting Yank's description.  Their early records could have been incomplete or Clark could have come up through an apprenticeship program before formal bar admission was required.

[dj]

Sleepy John recorded "Drop Down (Don't Feel Welcome Here)" with Robert Lee McCoy and a washboard player who is not named on the CD where I found the song.

A good guess as to the identity of the washboard player would be Ann (or Amanda) Sortier.  She was Robert Lee McCoy's girlfriend (or wife) at the time, she played washboard, and she was present on vocals and washboard at the Robert Lee McCoy session recorded the day after "Drop Down (Don't Feel Welcome Here)".

Robert Lee was quite a musician.

I'd certainly agree with that.  Check out his Friar's Point Blues.  Not a flashy performance, but everything fits together just right.  It's on the Juke.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Thanks, MTJ3 and dj for the additional information.? If that was Amanda Sortier playing washboard on "Drop Down", she was a hell of a washboard player.? She sounds great!
Sleepy John recorded "Clean Up At Home", playing out of C position, standard tuning, backed by Charlie Pickett, I believe, capoed three frets higher and playing out of A position, standard tuning.? Musically, "Clean Up At Home" is a 12-bar chorus blues, essentially the same as "Diddy Wah Diddy", but with different lyrics and heavier, rougher time.? Sleepy John slightly modifies the chorus following the last two verses.? It's a nice touch and makes the whole thing fresher.?
I need some help with the lyrics on this one.? In verse two, the blank space sounds like "bethted", which makes no sense at all.? I'm also unclear on the bracketed section in the next to last verse.? Any help would certainly be appreciated.? Incidentally, can anyone think of any other country blues songs that make suggestions for building "life skills"?? I can't think of any right off the bat.? "Clean Up At Home" may be a one-of-a-kind song, in terms of its subject matter.



? ?I wash my clothes, I hang 'em by the fire
? ?Get up in the mornin' they be thoroughly dry
? ?CHORUS:? Clean up at home, clean up at home
? ?Clean up at home, I 'clare you can't go wrong

? ?I went to the beer tavern, tryin' to make me a dime
? ?Said, "Go 'way, boy, clean up and git on some time."
? ?CHORUS

? ?Five cents cap and ten cent suit
? ?Then y'all think I'm tryin' to act cute, I want to
? ?CHORUS

? ?I was doin' somethin' that you can't do
? ?Go 'round on State Street, get a woman for a pot of stew, you have to
? ?CHORUS: Clean up at home, you have to clean up at home,
? ?Clean up at home, I 'clare you can't go wrong

? ?I played for the colored, I played for the white
? ?All you got to do, act kinda nice, you got to
? ?CHORUS:? Clean up at home, you got to clean up at home
? ?Clean up at home, 'clare you can't go wrong

Edited 11/29 to pick up phrase from Bunker Hill and dj
Edited 12/2 to pick up phrase from Bunker Hill

All best,
Johnm

[Bunker Hill]

In verse two, the blank space sounds like "bethted", which makes no sense at all.?

In the version recorded at the 1964 Newport Concert he repeats the verse twice and it sound as if he's attempting 'bare t'vert' (beer tavern?) but given the context it doesn't fit.

[dj]

I've always heard the first line of the second verse of "Clean Up At Home"as "I went to the downtown tryin' to make me a dime", i.e. John was going to sing on the street, but listening to it closely now, I'll be darned if I don't hear "I went to the beer tavern", with the v pretty much swallowed.  That fourth verse has got me stumped right now.

One thing that this song illustrates is how atypical Estes's vocabulary was, something he shares with Peg Leg Howell.  I certainly can't think of another blues song of that era that uses the word "thoroughly".

[Johnm]

Thanks very much, Bunker Hill and dj, for the lyric suggestion.? I agree with you, David, after having been completely baffled by this line, "beer tavern", can be heard there pretty darn clearly.? I will make the change.? That line has been making me crazy.

I know what you mean about Sleepy John's unusual usages, David.? Another word he liked to use a lot was "probably".? Washington Phillips loved the word "certainly", as in
? ?I had a real good mother and father, they certainly stood the test.
Washington Phillips never missed an opportunity to use that word.
All best,
Johnm

[MTJ3]

Re: Special Agent

Sorry to be late to the party on this.  Great topic.  I just don't have time to read it regularly and thoroughly.

This song was burned in my brain from the old RBF "Country Blues" record and has always been one of my favorites; I'm especially glad Johnm pointed out the metrical irregularity, because I thought it was simply that I was inept at counting. 

John Estes had recorded in Chicago on July 9, 1935, and July 17, 1935.  This song was recorded in NYC on April 22, 1938.  I had always thought of this as a narrative of his trip to one of his Chicago sessions.  In the first line of the first verse, he plainly says "left for Ripley;" in the second line, he could say a heavily elided "for," but it sounds more like "a," which he uses almost as a place holder in "Liquor Store," recorded on the same day as this song (as in "you can get everything you want a in my liquor store").  Centralia, where he is sitting in the fourth verse, is in south central Illinois (and, in fact, was named after the Illinois Central line); he's been caught by the special agent and put off the train, and needs to get to his recording session in Chicago.  The flies in the ointment of that theory are: (1) he didn't record in months that should have been cold when he would have left TN for Chicago for or left from Chicago following a session, and (2) if that is the story, the narrative thread isn't straight (i.e., he'd been put off in the fourth verse and makes his plea to be put off in a favorable location in the fifth verse).  In any case, perhaps it was only semi-autobiographical, he combined a number of incidents, there was poetic license, and all that--so maybe he said "for" in the first verse and really meant it.

In any case, a few comments or suggestions.  1. In verse two, I don'[t hear "97," I hear "manifest," which is slang for a fast train or a freight train.  2. With respect to verse three, "rail box" is sometimes used to mean "box car" (so freight rail box would be sort of redundant).  John had gotten on the train and climbed down through one of the hatches in the roof into the box car and had been surprised by the special agent sneaking over the boards on the box car, whom John didn't hear approach. 3. I don't hear "train" in the last line of the fourth verse (compare train earlier in that verse and in the previous verse).  I think I hear John say "drag," which is slang for a slow probably heavily laden freight train.  Of course, they didn't give him the alternative of riding a slower train; they just put him off, and he could only catch a slow train. 4. B&GR suggests that the accompanist is Son Bonds or Charlie Pickett.  Either way, exciting playing.

Best regards.

[Johnm]

Thanks very much for your careful listening to "Special Agent", MTJ3.  I agree with your corrections in virtually every instance, I think.  "Manifest" is correct for sure.  I had heard "manifest" but knew the term only in its shipping manifest connotation, and thus thought it didn't make any sense.  "Drag" is also dead on the money.  Your knowledge of the railroad terminology is really helpful in figuring out these lyrics.  I will make the changes.
I had not thought the lyrics were describing a particular trip, but it is interesting to hear how the geography as outlined in the narrative of the lyrics would not add up to a trip in sequence, in any event.  Sleepy John is one of the only blues singers I can think of with the consciousness to have a self-referencing line like, "I ought to be recording right now", or in another song, "The reason why, babe, I been so long writing to you is 'cause I been studyin', Lord, how to sing these blues".  He was really great.
All best,
Johnm

[Bunker Hill]

That fourth verse has got me stumped right now.

I've been busting my brains listening to this for half an hour and, don't laugh too loud, but sound to me like:

Go down on State Street, get a woman (f)or a pot of stew

Oh well...

[Johnm]

Hi Bunker Hill,
I'm not liable to laugh at "for a pot of stew", because it beats the hell out of "four-post you", which was what I heard.  That is really a tough phrase to hear.
All best,
Johnm