Hi all,
When Carl Martin recorded "Crow Jane" in 1935, he gave it the same accompaniment in E position, standard tuning that he had used for "Good Morning Judge", recorded less than a month earlier. For the "Crow Jane Blues", recorded for his Testament album of the same name in the mid-'60s, he used instead the accompaniment he had used for "Old Time Blues", which was recorded at the same session as "Crow Jane" in 1935. The "Old Time Blues" accompaniment is actually closer to the way that most people have played "Crow Jane", as an 8-bar blues in E position, standard tuning that goes to B7 in the second bar. His '60s version of "Crow Jane Blues" doesn't have the pedal-to-the-metal super-fast tempo that "Old Time Blues" had, but it's a bit swingier, and he just sounded great. Here is "Crow Jane Blues":
INTRO SOLO
Crow Jane, Crow Jane, don't hold your head so high
For you must remember, got to come down and die
SOLO
I woke up, this morning, blues all 'round my bed
Went to eat my breakfast, blues all in my bed
SOLO
My mama, she told me, when she shook my hand,
"If you get in trouble, son, do the best you can."
SOLO
My mama, she dead, papa won't allow me home
I ain't got nobody, teach me right from wrong
SOLO X 2
When you see, me comin', heist your window high
When you see me leavin', hang your head and cry
Crow Jane, Crow Jane, don't hold your head so high
Say you must remember, got to come down and die
SOLO
All best,
Johnm
