Topic: Andrew and Jim Baxter Lyrics

[Lastfirstface]

In Abbott and Seroff's book "Out of Sight", they discuss early ragtime in a section starting on p443. There are two parts relevant to discussion of the Baxters, and at two points they are directly mentioned.

In a section discussing Ernest Hogan's 1895 composition "La Pas Ma Las" and contemporaneous dances known as the "Possum" and the "Possumala", the authors bring up the Baxters 1929 recording of "The Georgia Poss" as a late example "... perpetuating a provocative theme from the nineteenth-century black string-band heritage." They also print some words that accompanied the Pas Ma Las that I believe show up in in a Jim Jackson or maybe Lil McClintock recording, but at the moment the title escapes me.

The second mention of the Baxters occurs in the context of 1898 published version of a rag called "40 Drops" arranged for mandolin and guitar. The authors speculate as to whether the sheet music was a transcription of an earlier folk rag, and include newspaper clippings from earlier in the 1890s that mention the tune. The Stripling Brothers recording is also mentioned, though its always seemed to me like a pretty different tune from Andrew and Jim's version. Maybe its a distant cousin derived from the same source.

Pete

[Johnm]

Thank you for that additional information, Pete.  "Pas" makes much more sense in a dance context than does "poss", that's for sure.  It's great that there are researchers who track this kind of stuff down.
All best,
Johnm

[banjochris]

They also print some words that accompanied the Pas Ma Las that I believe show up in in a Jim Jackson or maybe Lil McClintock recording, but at the moment the title escapes me.

The Pas Ma La gets a mention at the beginning of Jim Jackson's "Bye, Bye Policeman." James Bryan and Carl Jones recorded the printed version of "Forty Drops" and it sounds closer to the Striplings' version. The Baxters' version is much more fun than both of the others, IMO.
Chris

[banjochris]

And by the way:

[EricMc]

Hello! Can you say a little more about D in the bass, relative to the pitch at which the guitar is tuned?

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

[Johnm]

Hi Eric,
I'm assuming you are asking about "Done Wrong Blues".  What it means is that in the front end of the form, Jim Baxter is doing one boom-chang in E, hitting the open sixth string and strumming the top of an E chord and then one boom-chang in G, hitting the open fourth string and then strumming the top of a G chord.  Note that this is how the move is fingered, it doesn't sound at those pitches because of being tuned so low.  I hope that helps.
All best,
Johnm

[EricMc]

Thanks! Yes, that helps a lot. 'Sorry for my ambiguous question. I need to learn how to connect a question to a particular post from the app on my phone.

[Guyd]

OMG!!!  Thank you so much for this information. I discovered this music following the trail of recordings for Frazier and Patterson to the Black Fiddlers disk.  There were these four songs that blew me away... and Cuje Bertram too!!! I have nothing to add to this thread but thanks, thanks, thanks... Kind regards.  - Guy

[Johnm]

Welcome to Weenie Campbell, Guy!  I'm glad you've enjoyed the thread.  If you go to the Tags heading at the top of the main page and click, you may find more topics that will be of interest to you.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Andrew and Jim Baxter played "The Moore Girl" out of G, and Andrew really shines on the fiddle on the tune.  Jim's spoken narration is entertaining, but really tough for me to hear, so I'd appreciate some help with it, corrections or corroboration or additions  Here is the Baxters' performance of "The Moore Girl":



SPOKEN: It's the Moore Girl.
This train'll run tomorrow morning at three o'clock.
It's supposed to blow at every station.
It blows something like this.
The next train runs at four o'clock.
It blows like this.
Next train runs at five o'clock.
It blows like this, passenger train.
I went to church last night.
They had a pretty nice service.
Funny when one of the old sisters got happy, she begin to moan something like this.
Her words was this:
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, on my little soul.

Edited 5/7 to pick up corrections from frankie and Johnm

[frankie]

SPOKEN: It's the Moore Girl.

I think he actually says "mogul":

SPOKEN: It's the MOGUL.

[            ] can blow at every station.

Not sure, but it kinda sounds like:

IT'S A HORN can blow at every station.

I went to church last Saturday.

I hear NIGHT here:

I went to church last NIGHT.

Funny when one of the old sisters got a habit to begin to moan something like this.

Funny when one of the old sisters got HAPPY, SHE begin to moan something like this.

Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, on my [      ] soul.

Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Lord, on my LITTLE soul.

I'd prefer to hear WICKED on the last line, but it sounds like LITTLE

This tune qualifies as evidence of telepathy.

[dj]

I think he actually says "mogul"

Good ears, frankie.  I think you're right.  And the lyrics are mainly about trains, not about girls.

For those of you not familiar with railroad terminology, a mogul is a steam engine with two small leading wheels, six large drive wheels, and no small trailing wheels. (2-6-0, as my railroad fan friends like to say.  Enter 2-6-0 in Wikipedia and you'll get a nice article with pictures.)

[Johnm]

Thanks for the help, Frank, and the additional background, dj.  I knew that what was being referred to was a "mogul" (only because it has been discussed here before), but my one remaining question is whether the misapprehension of the name of the engine was the record company's mis-hearing of  Jim Baxter's pronunciation of the name, or Jim Baxter's misunderstanding of the name.  I really think it was the second.  The second syllable of the word as Jim Baxter pronounced it has a definite "r"--it is "girl" as he pronounces it, and the first syllable sounds more like "mo'", with an elided "r", than like "Moe", the impatient stooge.  I think that Jim Baxter thought the name of the engine was "Moore Girl".  Of course, there's no way of knowing now, but I think that makes sense, based on his pronunciation.  I think this one merits a note in Weeniepedia.  I'll make the other changes and asterisk the title phrase.
All best,
Johnm
EDITED TO ADD:  I think that first missing line is:
   IT'S SUPPOSED TO blow at every station

[banjochris]

I would suspect that "Moore Girl" was a deliberate mishearing and used as a nickname for some train or other. Willie McTell sings about the Moore Girl in "Will Fox," too.
Chris

[frankie]

I forgot about mogul/Moore Girl in Will Fox...  thanks for that. I'm also hearing "IT'S SUPPOSED TO blow" plain as day now - excellent.