Topic: Geeshie Wiley and Elvie Thomas Lyrics

[uncle bud]

The Yazoo set "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" has me relistening to several songs I'd taken for granted, including this one. JohnM mentioned it recently as another example of a 16 bar blues in the 16-bar blues thread.

While the flipside of this record, Last Kind Words, is the masterpiece, this song is pretty tremendous as well. The lyrics are nasty and sung beautifully. Geeshie was truly outstanding at creating real atmosphere in her music. Just awe-inspiring really.

Am having much trouble with the second verse. I don't expect this to go on as long as the Last Kind Words thread  . But would like any help you can offer. The notes to an older Yazoo record by Don Kent suggest the lyrics come from Boar Hog Blues - without citing any source recordings. Obviously not the Jazz Gillum version which was recorded much later. Is it a reference to Hightower's Night Hawks' version (which I don't have and don't know)?



Skinny Leg Blues  Geeshie Wiley

And I'm a little bitty mama, baby and I ain't built for speed
Cryin' I'm a little bitty mama, baby and I ain't built for speed
Aaaaaaah and I ain't built for speed
I've got everything that a little bitty mama needs

I've got little bitty legs, keep up these noble thighs
I've got little bitty legs, keep up these noble thighs
Aaaaaah, keep up these noble thighs
I've got somethin' underneath them that works like a bo' hog's eye

But when you see me comin', pull down your window blind
And when you see me comin', pull down your window blind
You see me comin', pull down your window blind
So your next door neighbor sure can hear you whine

I'm gonna cut your throat baby, gonna look down in your face
I'm gonna cut your throat babe, gonna look down in your face
Aaaaaaaaa, gonna look down in your face
I'm gonna let some lonesome graveyard be your restin' place


edited to include corrections from Chezztone and Bunker Hill

[Chezztone]

Ah yes. One of my favorites and one of the strangest and most violent of all blues.
I hear it as:

I got little bitty legs, hold up these noble thighs
I got something underneath them that works like a bo' hog's eye.

[Bunker Hill]

The notes to an older Yazoo record by Don Kent suggest the lyrics come from Boar Hog Blues - without citing any source recordings. Obviously not the Jazz Gillum version which was recorded much later.

As nobody has answered this, and at the risk of seeming to like the sound of my own voice, Kent was probably thinking of Texas Alexander's 1928 Boe Hog Blues, sung from the male perspective. Song is not exactly identical but the troublesome verse he renders more coyly thus:

She got little bitty legs, gee, but below her thighs
She got something on-a-yonder works like a bo' hog's eye.

[uncle bud]

Thanks Chezz and Bunker.

On further listening, I'd say it's "keep up these noble thighs" as opposed to "hold."

I wonder if the good folks of Hogeye, Arkansas, know about this...

[Chezztone]

Yes, "keep" is correct. I was going from memory, not listening, when I wrote "hold."
Also, on the following verse, it might be "can't" instead of "can." Not that one can hear the difference, but does it make more sense that way? Pull down the blind so the neighbor can't hear you whine when I cut your throat as I am about to do?

[uncle bud]

I agree it would make sense as "can't hear you whine", although I'm currently hearing "can". She delivers that line quickly though.

I had interpreted that verse more as a sexual thing, the whining being sounds of pleasure. The song plays out a kind of "I can screw you, I can kill you" theme.

[Bunker Hill]

The notes to an older Yazoo record by Don Kent suggest the lyrics come from Boar Hog Blues - without citing any source recordings. Obviously not the Jazz Gillum version which was recorded much later.

As nobody has answered this, and at the risk of seeming to like the sound of my own voice, Kent was probably thinking of Texas Alexander's 1928 Boe Hog Blues, sung from the male perspective. Song is not exactly identical but the troublesome verse he renders more coyly thus:
She got little bitty legs, gee, but below her thighs
She got something on-a-yonder works like a bo' hog's eye.

Sorry folk couldn't resist reactivating this topic in light of something I've just stumbled upon in Jazz Journal, January 1961, which concludes a three part interview between Mack McCormick and Lightnin' Hopkins. What caught my attention was the following:

Mack: You told me about Texas Alexander getting in trouble over a song. What was that?
Sam: The way I heard it, he sung a bad song.
M: What was that?
S: Something about the boar-hog. 'She got box back nitties and all them noble thighs, something that works under cover like a boar-hog's eye.'
M: You think that's why they put him in prison?
S: Well, I don't know. That's what they tell me. After he got out, he never got to make any more records. Except that one time he almost made some but that woman took me to California, she was afraid of him. Say, 'I can't drive to California with that big old man'. So when we went, it was early in the morning. She told him he could go but then we left early?sneaked out of town. That was '46. I went to California for Aladdin records.
M: What's that song mean?
S: ' . . . works under cover with a boar hog's eye'. Now, I don't know what it means.
[yeah sam we'll believe you, thousands wouldn't - BH ]

[Bricktown Bob]

Noticed on the 'pedia that we have Geeshie Wiley's Last Kind Words and Skinny Leg Blues and thought, you know, there's not a whole lot else; maybe we should just wrap it up.  I'm hoping this isn't duplication of effort, though a cursory (and I do mean cursory) search of WC didn't turn up more than mentions of other song by Geeshie and by Elvie Thomas, whom I decided to toss in here too because, well, she's got fewer sides than Geeshie, and they both appear on several.  Y'all understand.

Here goes.



Pick Poor Robin Clean
as performed by Geeshie Wiley and Elvie Thomas

ET:  Hello there, Geeshie.
GW:  Hello there, Slack.
ET:  What are you doing down here?
GW:  I'm just down here trying to play these boys the new Cock Robin.
ET:  Let me hear it, then.

CH:
I picked poor Robin clean, picked poor Robin clean,
I picked his head, picked his feet,
I woulda picked his body but it wasn't fit to eat
Picked poor Robin clean, picked poor Robin clean,
And I'll be satisfied having a family.

Lord, did that jaybird laugh when I picked poor Robin clean,
Poor Robin clean, picked poor Robin clean;
Oh did that jaybird laugh when I picked poor Robin clean,
And I'll be satisfied having a family.

instrumental chorus

Get off my money, and don't get funny,
Cause I'm a Negra, don't cut no figure
Then old Miss Sadie, she is my baby,
[ET sings "Ah, Miss Sadie"]
And I'm a hustling coon, that's just what I am.

CH: You bet I picked poor Robin clean ...

Ehhhhhhhhh ...

instrumental chorus

Won't be long now.

Ah,
Dah dadila, di da-da,
Dah dadila, da di-dah.
Dah da-da, dah da-da dah.

Ah,
Dah dadila, di di-da,
Dah dadila, di di-dah.
Dah da-da, dah da-da dah.

CH (started hesitantly by ET in harmony, quickly picked up by GW)

instrumental half-chorus.

4/27: incorporated suggestions from Stuart and MrMando

[Bricktown Bob]

Eagles on a Half
Geeshie Wiley



It's a low, it's a low low, lowdown dirty shame,
It's a low, it's a low low, lowdown dirty shame,
I've got a brownskin man but I'm scared to call his name.

I say squat low, papa, let your mama see,
I say squat low, papa, let your mama see,
I want to see that old business, keeps on worrying me.

instrumental chorus

I twisted and I tumbled, I rolled the whole night long,
I twisted and I tumbled, I rolled the whole night long,
I didn't have no daddy to hold me in his arms.

instrumental chorus

I say get back, rider, don't care how you lay,
I say get back, rider, don't care how you lay,
I want to tell you I can't stay here till day.

I say eagles on a half, lord, say in God we trust,
I cry eagles on a half, babe, ah in God we trust,
I love you, daddy, but your dollar's first.

[Bricktown Bob]

Over To My House
as performed by Elvie Thomas (with Geeshie Wiley)



instrumental chorus

Come right on over to my house, ain't nobody here but me;
I been listless for the last six months, and I could not see.
Now you can shake it, you can break it, you can hang it on the wall,
Throw it out the window, run and catch it 'fore it falls.
On over to my house, ain't nobody here but --
I'm crying -- ain't nobody here but me.

Come right on over to my house, 'cause there ain't nobody here but me;
I been listless for the last six months and I could not see.
I say you need not think because you're little and cute
I'm gonna buy you a box-back suit.
Come right on over to my house, ain't nobody here but --
I'm crying -- ain't nobody here but me.

instrumental chorus

Come right on over to my house, 'cause there ain't nobody here but me;
I been listless for the last six months, and I could not speak.
When I was sitting in my parlor just as dumb as a lamb
I wasn't too dumb to hear the back door slam.
Come right on over to my house, ain't nobody here but --
I'm crying -- ain't nobody here but me.

Come right on over to my house, 'cause there ain't nobody here but me;
I been listless for the last six months and I could not see.
I'm gonna grab me a picket off of my back fence
Gonna whip your nappy head until you learn some sense.
Come right on over to my house, ain't nobody here but --
I'm crying -- ain't nobody here but me.

Come right on over to my house, 'cause there ain't nobody here but me;
I been listless for the last six months and I could not speak
I cried ashes to ashes and sand to sand
Every married woman's got a backdoor man.
C'mon over, baby, to my house, ain't nobody here but --
I'm crying -- ain't nobody here but me.

instrumental chorus.

Edited 9/2/20 to pick up corrections from Johnm

4/27: incorporated suggestions from doctorpep, banjochris, mr mando.

[Stuart]

Pick Poor Robin Clean
as performed by Geeshie Wiley and Elvie Thomas

I woulda picked his body if it wasn't too deep

I'm hearing, "I woulda picked his body but it wasn't fit to eat"

Lord, did that jaybird say(?) when I picked poor Robin clean,

I'm hearing, "Lord, did that jaybird laugh..."

[mr mando]

I'm hoping this isn't duplication of effort, .....

Well, it's been done, but not on WC but over at the IGS forum in 2002. Here's the link:
http://www.guitarseminars.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001898.html

[doctorpep]

"I was sittin' in my quarters, just as quiet as a lamb", is what I'm hearing. McTell may have sung the same lyrics in "Come On Around to My House".

[banjochris]

I hear "sitting in my parlor". Also, the lyrics of "Pick Poor Robin Clean" should be around here on a Luke Jordan thread.

[Bricktown Bob]

the lyrics of "Pick Poor Robin Clean" should be around here on a Luke Jordan thread.

I thought so, too, but I can't find them.  Hmph!