Topic: Mississippi John Hurt Lyrics

[Johnm]

Hi Chris,
Returning to that spoken comment in the solo of the 1928 version of "Ain't No Tellin', it's sounding to me like:

   Hey, hey, that's soupin', declare!

Maybe "soupin'" could be an odd pronunciation of "something", like"somepin" as it's sometimes pronounced. This is just guess work, but I do think "declare" ends the line.
All best,
Johnm

[Blues Vintage]

Sackheim and Shahn (The Blues Line, A Collection Of Blues Lyrics) have "hey, hey: that's scooping the clam".

But I don't hear it. Can't help you with this one.

[Stuart]

Since we're in the realm of guess work at this point, there are a few possibilities that come to mind. I hear, "soupincla[?]," with the final [?] unclear to me. I can understand how one could arrive at "clam" (the mind filling it in from context), but like Blues Vintage, I don't hear it either. Given the subject of the previous verse, one could speculate it might be, "Hey, Hey, That's soupin' the clam," as a comment on dinner.  My Jersey Shore background suggesting he means, "You really know how to make clam chowder!" The meaning fits, but do we actually hear it?

The first couple of times through I thought he might be singing something like, "soup and [x?] [ I ] declare," pronounced as, "soup 'n 'clare," with [x?] and [ I ] dropped out and "declare" contracted.

If I was forced to choose, I'd probably go with, "That's soupin', 'clare" ("That's souping, I declare!"), "souping" meaning "cooking."

Or he could have simply gotten tongue tied, flubbed the spoken line, and the people supervising the session decided it didn't matter.

Edited to add: Another possibility crossed my mind--The spoken line was clear to those present at the time of the recording, but that clarity has been lost in the recording process and in the process of transmission. ("What else is new?" You say...)

As I've said before. my life has been an exercise in pure human incompetence offset by a string of lucky guesses. The daily struggle continues...

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Here is Mississippi John Hurt's recording of "Beulah Land" from his "Mississippi John Hurt--Today" album on Vanguard. He played the song out of E position in standard tuning and his arrangement accords roughly equal time for sung verses and guitar solos, with the time spent featuring the guitar definitely justified, for his playing has so many interesting touches. Here is "Beulah Land":

 

INTRO SOLO

I got a mother in Beulah Land, outshine the sun
I got a mother in Beulah Land, outshine the sun
I got a mother in Beulah Land, outshine the sun
Way beyond the sky

SOLO

Yes, come on, go over to Beulah Land, outshine the sun
Come on and go to Beulah Land, outshine the sun
Come on and go over to Beulah Land, (guitar finishes line)
Way beyond the sky

SOLO

I got a father in Beulah Land, outshine the sun
I got a father in Beulah Land, outshine the sun
I got a father in Beulah Land, (guitar finishes line)
Way beyond the sky

SOLO

Oh, come on and go over to Beulah Land, outshine the sun
Come on and go to Beulah Land, outshine the sun
Come on and go over to Beulah Land, (guitar finishes line)
Way beyond the sky

SOLO

Oh, I got a sister in Beulah Land, outshine the sun
I got a sister in Beulah Land, outshine the sun
I got a sister in Beulah Land, (guitar finshes line)
Way beyond the sky

Yes, come on and go over to Beulah Land, (guitar finishes line)
Come on and go to Beulah Land, (guitar finishes line)
Come on and go over to Beulah Land, outshine the sun
Way beyond the sky

Edited 8/27 to pick up corrections from banjochris

All best,
Johnm

[banjochris]

One little thing, John – in the "come on" verses, in line 2, he consistently doesn't sing the "over" there each time –
Chris

[Johnm]

Sure enough, Chris, I missed that. I will make the corrections, thanks.

[lindy]

I'll throw this out for y'all to chew on, though I doubt if a consensus will be reached.

I've always heard the second verse as "Come on go home to Beulah land."

But the sound I hear is "Come on go ho" or "Come on go O." Sometimes I hear a very slight hint of an "m" in the first instance, but that may be a case of my wanting to hear it because that's how I've been singing it for ten years. In the second instance (third line) it sounds more like "Go ho." But I do not hear the "ver" of "over," I only hear one syllable there.

In terms of meaning, "Going home" is a very common way in the blues and gospel of saying "return to God" or "go to heaven" or go somewhere sacred after death.

Lindy

[Johnm]

Hi Lindy,
I considered go "home" as opposed to "go over" in a couple of places, and the usage is just as you say. The fact that he aspirated an "h" at the front end of almost all of the lines in which he clearly said "over" convinced me to stick to it consistently throughout.
All best,
Johnm
 

[Blues Vintage]

Would you call this a straight 16 bar blues? Like Jefferson's One Dime Blues (also played in E postition)?
I'm not sure if he ever really goes to the V in the fourth line though.

[Stuart]

But the sound I hear is "Come on go ho" or "Come on go O."

In the interest of hanging the jury, that's what I hear as well. He could be simply drawing out the "o" in "go" in a different way than he does in other lines. Or as John says, it could be the first part of "over." (I don't hear the final "r" sound.) Or it could be the first part of "home." (I don't hear a final "m" sound.) Pronunciations vary.

[lindy]

It's a tough call, Stuart. My bias is that I only hear one syllable there, which suggests "home," but it's far from slam dunk evidence.

[Stuart]

Hi Lindy: I only hear a single syllable as well where John interprets it as "over." But that doesn't necessarily mean John is incorrect as it could be an abbreviated pronunciation, with "over" the word Mississippi John had in mind. --Tough call is an understatement.

[Johnm]

Hi Blues Vintage,
"Beulah Land" does have a 16-bar blues form, but I don't see it as a 16-bar blues, but a hymn. In the most common 16-bar blues forms, like "One Dime Blues", you go to the IV chord twice, at the beginning of the second and third four-bar phrases. "Beulah Land" only goes there once, at the beginning of the second four-bar phrase. Lyrically, it does conform to one 16-bar blues vocal phrasing, which would be AAAB as in "One Dime Blues", but not as in a 16-bar chorus blues, which has an A line right across the first four bars, the chorus starting on the second four bar phrase, repeating that line in the third four-bar phrase, and having a tagline to the chorus in the final 4-bar phrase. This song has a kind of simple hymn form that you find in a lot of Blind Joe Taggart's songs and Skip James's post-rediscovery recordings of religious songs.
All best,
Johnm

[waxwing]

It's similar to the pronunciation of 'over' that Patton uses in Down The Dirt Road Blues.

Wax

[Blues Vintage]

Thanks for that explanation, John.