Topic: Texas Alexander's Lyrics

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Texas Alexander recorded "Boe Hog Blues" with Lonnie Johnson backing him, in San Antonio on March 10, 1928, the day after they recorded "Deep Blue Sea Blues".  The sessions those two days were remarkably productive; March the ninth resulted in 9 issued songs, and March tenth yielded an additional three cuts. 
By this time, Lonnie Johnson sounds comfortable accompanying Texas Alexander, at least as comfortable as you could ever be.  Lonnie is getting into some harmonic innovation here, too.  On several songs from these sessions, he is going to the IV chord in the second bar of the 12-bar form, a move I always thought showed up much later in the evolution of the blues.  Moreover, in a couple of instances, he goes to IVminor add9 in the second half of the second and sixth bars, the fingering of which, in his preferred DGDGBE tuning turns out so:
            X-0-0-3-3-5
It's really a pretty sound, and gives things a nice color there.
Texas Alexander had a vocal mannerism of repeating the tag line of a verse occasionally, usually waiting until four bars after the completion of the verse to start the repetition, coinciding with the arrival of the IV chord in the next pass through the form.  He does that here coming out of what looked like it was to be a hummed verse.  The dilemma for Lonnie Johnason as an accompanist is whether he should finish out the form he has started, playing the final four bars of the pass, or bet on Texas Alexander starting his next verse at the conclusion of the four bars containing the repetition.  On "Boe Hog Blues", Lonnie made the second choice, and it turns out perfectly.  On some of the other songs, he opts to complete the form and ends up having Texas Alexander start a new verse over the V chord, in the ninth bar of the pass through the form containing the repetition.  It appears that by this point Lonnie had figured out that you needed to be ready to bail out on the form, if the accompaniment was to match the singer's phrasing. 
Texas Alexander's performance is terrific.  His lyrics are superlative, and cover so much ground that there's almost no way to tie them all together.  To my taste, at least, the frankness of his sexual lyrics is welcome, especially when compared to standard "party" material, which at my time of life is starting to seem like kid's stuff.  As for his last verse, wow.



   Oh, tell me, mama, how you want your rollin' done. (2)
   Set your face to the ground and your noodle up to the sun

   She got little bitty legs, gee, but them noble thighs (2)
   She's got somethin' under yonder, works like a boe hog's eye

   Wanta be your doctor, and I'll pay your doctor bill
   I'll be your doctor, pay your doctor bill
   Says, if the doctor don't cure you, I've got somethin' will

   Mmmm, Mmmm, Lawdy, Lawdy, Lawd
   I say if the doctor don't cure you, I've got somethin' will

   Says, I looked up at the Good Lord in the sky
   Says, I looked up at the Good Lord's in the sky
   Says, I heard a keen voice, says, "Papa, please don't die."

   SOLO:

   SPOKEN:  Ah, tell it to me!

All best,
Johnm

[uncle bud]

Boe Hog Blues, as someone pointed out to me a little while ago (perhaps Bunker Hill or Chezztone), was a source for Geeshie Wiley's Skinny Leg Blues. I can't hear it properly right now from redhotjazz.com, but the line from Geeshie's tune, as we had settled upon in that thread, coming from the second verse here was

I got little bitty legs, keep up these noble thighs

I have to say, John, your timing is excellent (or bad) as I had just been looking for some Texas Alexander and it seems to be out of stock. Might be able to find the Catfish release somewhere.

One nice thing about Texas Alexander is you get to hear Lonnie Johnson with a different singer.    Sorry, but he's often dreadfully dull, IMO, for such an astonishing musician. Little Hat Jones freaks should also take note that Little Hat accompanies TA on some tracks as well, essentially extending the much smaller (compared to Lonnie Johnson) Little Hat repertoire.

[Johnm]

I'm in agreement with you, Uncle Bud, on the musically beneficial effects of hearing Lonnie Johnson accompany a singer other than himself.  From my point of view, Texas Alexander was the greatest thing that ever happened to Lonnie Johnson in terms of performing blues.  If you hear Lonnie sing Standards from his '60s recordings, he really seems to get into them more than the blues, and they suit his voice and vocal delivery better, too.  He always had a good voice, but with blues he sometimes seems to disappear emotionally, at least in his singing.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Texas Alexander recorded "98 Degree Blues" in 1929, backed by the great Texas guitarist, Little Hat Jones.  I have the song on the early Yazoo anthology "Tex-Arkana-Louisiana Country".
Little Hat Jones backs Texas Alexander out of A in standard tuning, and the Texas sound of that position really suits Alexander's singing.  The two seem very locked in; there are no instances of tentativeness on either one's part.  Jones starts with a very up-tempo intro that concludes with a controlled deceleration into the singing tempo, which is considerably slower.  The song, until the last two verses, follows a 16-bar form that is not like any one we have encountered prior to this.  Instead of repeating the move to the IV chord like most 16-bar blues, this one has four bars of the I chord at the back end of the form to accompany a reiteration of the tag line of the verse.  It works exceptionally well, and flowing into it right after the conclusion of the first 12 bars seems to eliminate much of the guesswork you encounter in tunes with Lonnie Johnson where Alexander waits four bars before repeating the tag line.
Texas Alexander really raises the rafters here, even by his standards.  Once again, his lyrics showed up elsewhere later.  The first verse showed up in Sleepy John Estes's oddly titled, "Who's Been Tellin' You, Buddy Brown Blues".  Re the second verse:  when you're right, you're right.



   I'm gonna get up in the morning, do like Buddy Brown
   Gonna get up in the morning, do like Buddy Brown
   I'm gonna eat my breakfast, God, and lay back down
   I say I'm gonna eat my breakfast, man, and lay back down

   When a man get hairy, know he needs a shave (2)
   When a woman get musty, you know she needs to bathe
   I say, when a woman get musty, oh, you know she needs a bathe

   I've got somethin' to tell you, make the hair rise on your head (2)
   Got a new way of lovin' a woman, make the springs screech on her bed
   I've got a new way of lovin' a woman, make the springs screech on her bed

   If you don't b'lieve I love you, look what a fool I've been (2)
   Woman, if you don't b'lieve I love you, ah, look what a shape I'm in

   Says, I love my baby, my baby, Lord, better than I do myself
   I says I love my baby, better than I do myself
   If she don't love me she won't love nobody else

Edited 9/29 to pick up correction from frankie

All best,
Johnm

[frankie]

If you think of the title of that Ma Rainey tune, Frank, could you let me know?

The Ma Rainey song I was thinking of is "Farewell Daddy Blues."  MR sings it consistently as a 12-bar blues, though.  I guess they could both be variants of CC Rider.

[frankie]

Texas Alexander recorded "98 Degree Blues" in 1929, backed by the great and under-recorded Texas guitarist, Willie Reed.

Is this really Willie Reed?  It always sounded like Little Hat Jones to me - he even does that slowdown thing on songs he sings himself.

[Johnm]

Hi Frank,
Thanks for the title on the Ma Rainey tune, I will have to find that one.  As to whether Willie Reed is the accompanist on "98 Degree Blues", you make a good point about Little Hat starting fast and slowing down on his solo tunes.  The touch sounds a bit more like Willie Reed to me than Little Hat Jones, but I don't have access to the session information on that tune, and just assumed that the personnel reported on the Yazoo anthology was correct.  Do you have information on the session in which "98 Degrees" was recorded, dj?  Thanks for any help.
All best,
Johnm 

[uncle bud]

The notes to the Yazoo CD (I'm guessing you're working from vinyl, John?), Don't Leave Me Here - the Blues of Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, say that it is Little Hat accompanying Texas A. here, so Stephen Calt must have revised them?

I agree that the fast intro, slow down to do the tune is very Little Hat. But you're right, John, the balance of the tune sure sounds a lot like Willie Reed's style of playing in A to me now that you point it out. Am curious to know the answer.

[dj]

Texas Alexander recorded "Ninety-Eight Degree Blues" as part of an 8 song session on Saturday, June 15, 1929.  The master numbers assigned to the session were 402639 - 402646.  Little Hat Jones was also in the studio that day, recording two titles, master numbers 402647 and 402648 (so immediately following Alexander's masters.  Jones's titles were "New Two Sixteen Blues" and "Two String Blues").  It is not known that Willie Reed recorded anything between December 8, 1928 and December 5, 1929.  This circumstantial evidence points to Jones playing the guitar on "Ninety-Eight Degree Blues". 

The fourth edition of Blues And Gospel Records has Jones as the accompanist on Alexander's sides recorded on this date.  This may be  based on the evidence cited above or on something more concrete.

[Johnm]

Thanks for the clarification, dj.  It does certainly make the most sense that Little Hat Jones was the accompanist on "98 Degree Blues".  Good catch, Frank.  I will make the change.
All best,
Johnm

[frankie]

Attached samples both Texas Alexander's Sabine River Blues and Ma Rainey's Farewell Daddy Blues, just for comparison.  They sound uncannily similar to me in the first strain - then ultimately diverge.  I'm probably thinking too hard, again.

[Johnm]

Thanks for posting the Ma Rainey track, Frank.  I'm away from home for a week, and not on my own computer, so I'll wait to download it, but I think the real beauty in the "Sabine River Blues" is in that opening strain, really the first four notes of the melody, so if that's where the similarity lies, good on Ma Rainey. 
I packed the Texas Alexander CD (I thought) in my luggage to keep doing transcriptions while I was gone, and actually left the CD itself in my CD player at home, so I'm temporarily dead in the water in terms of doing more transcriptions.  Arggh!  I get excited about this stuff and just want to keep going.  Oh, well, soon enough, I suppose.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi All,
Texas Alexander recorded "Double Crossing Blues" in 1929, backed by Little Hat Jones.  I found it on the old Yazoo anthology, "Blues From The Western States".  Little Hat backs Alexander out of the E position in standard tuning, and as was his wont, begins the song with an up-tempo intro, simultaneously flashy and sloppy, before bringing the tempo back down to the singer's preferred pace.  Little Hat's accompaniment for "Double Crossing Blues" makes it a good candidate for "The Influence of Lonnie Johnson" thread over on the Main Forum, for Little Hat  apes Lonnie's preferred IV chord back-up lick (though Lonnie did it out of D rather than E), and also plays Lonnie's signature D run (though, once again, in E) throughout the number.  I have heard post-rediscovery recordings by Eugene Powell (Sonny Boy Nelson) adopting a very similar approach to playing like Lonnie Johnson out of E, in standard tuning.

Texas Alexander is in magnificent voice, here, and seems a perfect example of a "country" Bluesman rather than a "city" one, for sticking to his personalized sense of the blues form rather than conforming to a received sense of the form.  His pet habit of repeating the tag line of a verse after waiting 8 bars flummoxes Little Hat a couple of times.  When Alexander repeats the line, "I says I likes me a woman that do not run around", he is clearly feeling it as the ninth bar of the form, but Little Hat treats it as the first bar of the form, following the end of the line to the IV chord, from where the pass moves abortively into the next verse.  I bring up these issues, not to point up errors or say they should have rehearsed more, but out of interest in what is involved when people make music together, how prior musical experiences condition them to make particular choices in a given context, and how gifted players work to accommodate a great singer whose sense of phrasing does not always mesh with their own. 
Texas Alexander had a quality I associate with Lightnin' Hopkins:  the ability to sing cliched blues lyrics and make them seem perfectly fresh and personal.  I don't know how you do that exactly, except perhaps by being so heavily invested and focused on your singing that you own everything you do, emphatically.



   Some mens like doggin', I just declare I don't (2)
   Baby, if you think I'm gon' stand you mistreatin' me, I declare I won't

   PARTIAL SOLO:
   I say, if you think I'm gonna stand you mistreatin' me, woman, I declare I won't

   Let's stop our foolishness, baby, and try to settle down
   Let's stop our foolishness, and try to settle down
   Says, I always wants a woman that do not run around

   PARTIAL SOLO:
   SPOKEN:  Jam it!  Jam it!
   I says, I likes me a woman that do not run around

   I used to have me a woman, good as any in this town (2)
   She had so many men, she kept me always a-cryin'

   Mmmmm, Mmmmmmmmm
   She had so many men she kept me always cryin'

All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
For "I Am Calling Blues", recorded on November 20, 1928 in New York City, Texas Alexander was accompanied by the great early Jazz guitarist Eddie Lang.  Lang backs Alexander, as his sometime playing partner, Lonnie Johnson, did, out of D, though Lang used standard tuning where Lonnie used his modified dropped-D tuning.  Lang's approach to accompaniment is more chordal and less linear than Lonnie's, and his time has less tension and snap than did Lonnie's, but Lang's chordal approach is really beautiful, and he gets some nifty transitional passages.  He varies the chordal progression somewhat as he goes, but in the main, it goes like this.  I've indicated how many beats each chord is held in the progression with the vertical marks above the chords:
        |      |        |        |       |  |  |     |   | |     |         |        |      |     |    |
   |  D over F#  Daug over F#|  G     Gmin| D  Fdim7 A7overE| D over F# D9/A |
      |    |    |   |    | | |    |     |       |        |          |      |   |     |      |
   |      G           | G    Gmin|  D over F# Fdim7 A7overE| D/F# Eflat dim7|
      |   |   |    |    |  |  |    |    |      |        |        |        |         |          |       |
   |     A7          |Bflat7    A7| D over F# Fdim7 A7/E | D/F#Eflatdim7 A7/E D dim7/Aflat|

For those of you who are interested, Lang uses the following chordal positions:
   * D over F# (his "home" chord):  X-X-4-2-3-2
   * D aug over F# (or F# aug):  X-X-4-3-3-2
   * G:  3-5-5-4-3-X
   * G Minor:  3-5-5-3-3-X
   * F dim 7:  X-X-3-4-3-4
   * A7 over E:  X-X-2-2-2-3
   * D9 over A:  X-0-4-5-5-5
   * Eflat dim 7:  X-X-1-2-1-2
   * B flat 7:  X-1-3-3-3-4
   * D dim7/Aflat:  4-X-3-4-X-X
Lang moves between these chords with a wonderful economy.  He resolves the D dim7/Aflat at the end of the form up by a half-step into D7 over A.  Interestingly, a lot of these moves turn up later in the work of some of the more sophisticated blues guitarists.  Scrapper Blackwell uses the D dim7/Aflat to D7 over A resolution, one whole step up, in his '60s recording of "Going Where The Monon Crosses The Yellow Dog", and Snooks Eaglin often uses the Eflat dim7 to A7 over E move, but in the key of A rather than D, where it ends up being Bflat dim7 to E7 over B.  Lang plays some nice linking runs in his accompaniment, too.  Like everyone else who accompanied Texas Alexander, he gets caught one time, for Alexander begins the final verse in the ninth bar of a hummed solo pass.

 

   Listen here, woman, I'm calling on your name
   Oh, listen here, woman, calling on your name
   You've got me in trouble, and you say you ain't to blame

   Mmmmmm, Mmmmmmm guitar answers
   Mmmmmm, Mmmmmmm guitar answers
   Now you've got me rin (sic) trouble and you say you ain't to blame

   Don't you never drive a stranger from your door (2)
   He may be your best friend, mama, says, you don't know

   Mmmmmm SOLO:

   My woman got somethin' and I ain't ashamed (2)
   When I loves my woman it puts me in a trance

   SOLO:

All best,
Johnm
   
   

   

[dj]

...the ability to sing cliched blues lyrics and make them seem perfectly fresh and personal.  I don't know how you do that exactly.

Reading the lyrics you've posted in this thread, John, I think one of the ways to do this is to form the cliches into a coherent narrative.  Texas Alexander is remarkably good at this.  I'm not nearly familiar enough with Texas Alexander, but from what I've read here he didn't tend to "start singin' about that shoe there and wind up singin' about that banana", as Son House accused Charley Patton of doing.