Topic: lyrics of "I Saw That Man" by Cora Mae Bryant?

[workinblues]

Hi all,
Does anyone of you happen to have -- or if you know the song, understand -- the lyrics of "I saw that man" by Cora Mae Bryant (on the album The last & lost blues survivors, Music Maker Relief Foundation / Dixiefrog)?  Here is "I Saw That Man":



I find it difficult to understand several parts of what she sings.

By the way, if you have never heard of her, she's fantastic.

All help will be appreciated  very much,
Paul

[uncle bud]

Hi Workinblues -

If you post what you have so far, perhaps people can help you decipher the trickier parts, which is generally how we try to deal with lyric transcriptions. It's not likely people will just have this song lying around transcribed on their computer, unless it's LittleBrother, who knew Cora Mae.

[Peter McCracken]

Workinman - ask her:
Cora Mae   Bryant   [deleted]

[uncle bud]

Hi Peter - unfortunately, Cora Mae passed away last year.

[workinblues]

Thanks for your replies so far!

Here's what I have now:

you know saw that man
running cross the field
he was running and shaking
just like an automobile

why are you running so fast
what are you running from
you know i found out
you done somebody wrong

you know i saw that man
walking that back door
somebody was waiting
to carry him away so slow

you know i saw that mother
i saw that mother cry
she looks like she was waiting
to take us all for a ride


I have doubts about several parts, but this is what i have for now...
Hope that those of you who know the song can compare.
Paul

[LB]

Yeah Cora Mae died recently but the family is still going strong. It might be a good idea to remove the private phone number from the public forum though. If you know Cora you'd know what she'd say about that. Let me see if I can help though. I'll go grab the CD and listen. Her son Tony knows every word and I speak with him all the time. We play together about once a week. By the way that's also Georgia guitarist Joshua Jacobsen playing guitar with her and doing a brilliant job. I'll have to ask Tony about the words I underlined (BELOW). Honestly I may have heard these live and understood them better but I'm having trouble with that one place in her music maker recording. I made some light corrections here and there in bold. I'll try to post again with more help

My personal favorite along these lines is her song Moss, McTell Weaver. Lord there's no way anyone else on earth could sing these songs. She really lived them.



you know saw that man
running cross the field
he was running and shaking
just like an automobile

what are you running so fast
what are you running from
you know i found out
you done done somebody wrong

you know i saw that man
walk in that back door
somebody was waiting
to carry him away so slow

you know i saw that mother
i saw that mother cryin
she nobody was waiting (this is the only line I have to guess on)
to take her son for a ride
you know saw that man
running cross that(the) field
he was running and shaking
just like an automobile

[uncle bud]

Yeah Cora Mae died recently but the family is still going strong. It might be a good idea to remove the private phone number from the public forum though. If you know Cora you'd know what she'd say about that.

Done.

[LB]

Hey thanks and I redited my notes above. There's only one line I left unsolved but close.

I spoke with Tony, her son, said he'd be explaining all of this in the near future on his own site. It's going to be coming online I think it will be TonyBryantBlues.com  I'll try to update on it.

[workinblues]

Little brother,
Many, many thanks for your help so far! Tell her son Tony that someone in the Netherlands is thoroughly enjoying her music, learning to play slide guitar along with the songs on the album. What a great gift.
Do you have an idea, or could you ask Tony, what the song is about?
best wishes,
Paul