Topic: Bo Carter Lyrics

[Blues Vintage]

Some suggestions,

2nd verse
Stingaree typo? or Carter's speech?
2.4 and put the checks chinch on me

3.2  Eh, what she got now is really surprisin'
I thought I heard “Hypnotize” on first hearing  but “appetize” is right I think.

Last verse is tough
Could it be;    I told her things that I want hurry on


Language of the Blues: STINGAREE
https://www.americanbluesscene.com/2017/01/languageoftheblues-stingaree/

[Johnm]

Hi Blues Vintage,
I am dubious of there being a correct spelling of stingeree. I don't hear "chinch" at all--there's no "n" sound in there. What it sounds the most like is "chex" as in the cereal, Wheat Chex. I think "her to "iron" is correct. It doesn't sound like "own" to me or anything else that has been suggested, and I think the "her to" portion of the line is what Bo sings, whatever that last word is. 

[Blues Vintage]

Chris suggested "chinch" in the earlier discussion mentioning a similar Jefferson lyric and I have to agree with that but I'm not sure.
It could be Carter's speech that has it coming out as "checks". Again far from sure. I can totally accept "checks" 'cause it makes good sense in the verse too.

Jefferson sang this;

The first night I stayed in Memphis, chinch bugs turned my bed around.


I really don't hear the "now" in 3.2.

[banjochris]

Yeah but the more I listen to it the more I hear "checks" too. It does make a sort of sense in the sense of "check" as "balk." That last verse is still so weird. Iron and own are definitely the main possibilities; they just make it a weird lyric. But not weirder than "biddy school" or whatever it was in "New Auto"!
Chris

[Johnm]

Good catch on the extra "now" in 3.2, Blues Vintage. I have made that change.

[Prof Scratchy]

In two of the hard-to-decipher verses, I think Bo wants to sing 'jinx' and 'hypnotise' respectively, but mis-articulates both.

[Johnm]

I agree, Prof, that "jinx" would make the most sense there, and it's what I thought Bo said at first. I do think "appetize" makes sense--there are all kinds of appetites.

[Blues Vintage]

That last verse is still so weird. Iron and own are definitely the main possibilities; they just make it a weird lyric.

I'd like to add "earn" as another possiblilty.

I told her things that I want her to earn


Maybe we could utilize Stuart's proposed transcription lay-out for this song (considered during the latest Mississippi Sheiks discussion).

[waxwing]

I think this is a pretty standard Southern pronunciation of "iron"

Most sources I found give "EYE-uhn" as the Standard American pronunciation. In this discussion of Southern Dialects (a bit more of a blog, but time is short) the first thing she states under pronunciation is that Southerners do not say "I" or "eye" they substitute "ah". I think this has come up in another discussion recently.

https://wanderwisdom.com/travel-destinations/A-Guide-to-Southern-Accents

"AH-uhn" sounds exactly what Bo sings in the first line, and then contracts it a bit for the following lines. Requesting wifely duties and asking her to do his lovin' at his house seems to indicate she has so much "surprise" that he wants to marry her.

I think if you listen to various singers sing the line "Starch my jumper, iron my overhauls" (or whichever way it goes) you'll hear similar pronunciations, only because of context "AH-uhn" makes sense.

I don't really hear an "-in' " after any of those "surprise" lines. There's a spoken or hummed 'hm" after the first one, but that seems disconnected. He might have had a wide-eyed face sight gag to go with the word "Surprise" and maybe the "hm" was him realizing in the moment that the gag won't translate over the recording. (Riiight.)

Wax

[Edit to add] Also, I agree with Scratchy that he mispronounces "hypatize" but not about "jinx". I don't think Stingaree has to do with hoodoo. Was there a reference on the linked previous discussion to female genitalia? I always assumed it meant a pronounced clitoris. I think her "surprise" is purely sexual and that's what causes him to want to be faithful, put the checks on, and later ask her to marry. I think this might be Bo being a little true to his own character.

[Johnm]

Re-listening, I agree with you, wax, that it is "surprise" rather than "surprisin'". I will make the change, thanks.

[Stuart]

I think you may be correct about "iron," Wax. My mother's side of the family was from rural NE PA (Bushkill) and many words had southern or Appalachian sounding pronunciations. "Iron" sounded closer to something like "arn."