Topic: William "Cat Iron" Carradine lyrics

[Johnm]

Hi all,
William "Cat Iron" Carradine recorded "Fix Me Right" playing thumb lead in Vestapol tuning, a pretty unusual approach.  It suits the melody very well, though, and he was such a wonderful singer, too.  I'm sorry if this video is not viewable outside of the U.S.  I'd very much appreciate help with the bent bracketed place in the lyrics. 



Good Lord, fix me right
Lord, fix me right
If I die on the battlefield
Lord, fix me right

Good Lord, fix me right
Lord, fix me right
If I die, oh, let me die
Lord, fix me right

Oh, oh, oh,
When I was a sinner
Loved my pistol well
When I come to find out
I was on my road to hell

Good Lord, fix me right
Lord, fix me right
If I die on the battlefield
Lord, fix me right

I'm comin' but the way is hard
Comin' but the way is hard
If I die on the battlefield
Comin' but my way is hard

Oh, please fix me right
Please fix me right
If I die on the battlefield
Please fix me right

I'm going out in Your name
Going out in Your name
If I die on the battlefield
Going out in your name

SOLO

Oh, please fix me right
Please fix me right
If I die, oh let me die
Please fix me right

Oh, Jesus done fixed me right
Jesus done fixed me right
If I die on the battlefield
Jesus done fixed me right

I'm comin' on my bended knee
Comin' on my bended knee
If I die on the battlefield
Comin' on my bended knee

Edited 10/3 to pick up correction from alyoung

All best,
Johnm

[alyoung]

Very tentatively, I say I hear "loved my pistol well". I'm tentative because it doesn't make a lot of sense, and I've never heard the phrase in any other black religious song (and I've listened to a few). But it cld be a reference to leading a violent life of sin. The lyric transcription in the notes to the original album -- presumably by Frederick Ramsey -- does not attempt the question, leaving most of the line blank.

[Johnm]

Thanks for the suggestion, Al, and I think you're right.  I will make the change.  I knew I had heard a verse like this before somewhere, and remembered it was in Boweavil Jackson's "Heaven Is My View", where he sang
   When I was a sinner
   Loved my pleasures well (or precious wealth)
   Then I come to find out
   I was on my way to hell

I wonder if Cat Iron's singing of the verse is either a misapprehension on his part of the original lyrics or simply mis-speaking.  Of course we have no way of knowing now.  I have that old Folkways album, too, and somewhere along the way I lost the insert, which is a drag, because I remember it having some great photographs of him. 

I'll make the change as you suggest, Al, and thanks for the help.
all best,
Johnm

[eric]

SF lets you down load the liner notes for free.  I remember that LP from the long-ago record bins; I never got it but I always thought the name Cat Iron was pretty cool.

https://folkways-media.si.edu/liner_notes/folkways/FW02389.pdf

[Johnm]

Thanks for the tip, Eric.  I need to follow up on that.  Thanks!
All best,
Johnm

[jpeters609]

I always thought the name Cat Iron was pretty cool.
https://folkways-media.si.edu/liner_notes/folkways/FW02389.pdf

Me too! Interestingly, according to Blues World magazine #43 (Summer 1972), the mysterious "Cat Iron" nickname was not actually his nickname at all -- rather, it was a corruption of William Carradine's surname as apparently mis-heard by Frederic Ramsey Jr. Stefan Wirz has this clipping on his Cat Iron discography, found here:

https://www.wirz.de/music/catirfrm.htm

[alyoung]

In southern dialect, Carradine would be pronounced Cah-dine (or similar). So it's easy to see how the error happened. Same with William "Do-Boy" Diamond; it is apparently William Du Bois Diamond (named for the civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois).

[Johnm]

Hi all,
"Cat Iron" accompanied himself out of E position in standard tuning on his song "Don't Your House Look Lonesome".  What a great singer he was, and his playing had a wonderfully relaxed sense of time.  Here is "Don't Your House Look Lonesome":



INTRO SOLO

Don't your house look lonesome, your biscuit roller done gone?
Don't your house look lonesome when your, biscuit roller done gone?
Don't your house look lonesome, find your baby done gone?

Tell me, Corinna, where you stayed last night
Tell me, Corinna, where you stayed last night
Tell me, Corinna, where you stayed last night

I got something to tell you, woman, make the hair rise on your head
I got something to tell you, woman, make the hair rise on your head
I got something to tell you, woman, make the springs cry on your bed

Don't your house look lonesome when your biscuit roller done gone?
Don't your house look lonesome 'en your biscuit roller done gone?
Don't your house look lonesome when you find your baby done gone?

I don't know what made Grandpa, crazy about my Grandma so
I don't know what made Grandpa, crazy about my Grandma so
She got the same old jelly she had forty years ago

All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
As has been noted elsewhere on this site, Cat Iron's "I'm Goin' To Walk Your Log" shares it's melody and phrasing with "Baby, Please Don't Go" and "Another Man Done Gone".  Like most of the secular songs on Cat Iron's album, it was played out of E position in standard tuning.  His use of the adjective "birly" I have taken to refer to a piece of wood's birls--I don't think "burly" would be used to describe anything other than a person.  I suppose he could be saying "bully", but he doesn't insert an "r" in the middle of other words he pronounces, so I have chosen to stick with "birly".  Here is "I'm Goin' To Walk Your Log":



INTRO SOLO

I'm gonna put it on strong, put my stunts on strong
When I get you back a-from Rollin' Fork, I'll walk your birly log
Walk your birly log, walk your birly log
When I get you back from Rollin' Fork, I'll walk your birly log

Got a girl uptown, treat me like a child
Yes, she feed me off of so many different diets, she 'bout to run me wild
She 'bout to run me wild, 'bout to run me wild
Yes, she feed me off of so many different diets, she 'bout to run me wild

I'm gonna walk your log, gwine to walk your log
When I get you back from Rollin' Fork, I'll walk your birly log

Mary had a lamb, tied him on the track
And every time the whistle blowed, the lamb, he'd ball the jack
Lamb, he'd ball the jack (heh), lamb, he'd ball the jack
And every time the whistle blowed, the lamb, he'd ball the jack

I'm gonna put it on strong, put my stunts on strong
When I get to rollin' in my good girl's arm, I put my stunts on strong

All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Cat Iron played "Old Time Religion" out of Vestapol tuning, not using a slide.  He really utilizes the possibility of engaging in a call-and-response with his guitar in his version, and it is indicated in the transcription.  It is a neat device, for it assumes the listener will be able to fill in the missing words, and in his community, he was probably correct in that assumption.  Here is his rendition of "Old Time Religion":



INTRO

REFRAIN: Oh, give me that old time religion, give me that old (guitar)
Give me that old (guitar), Lord (guitar)
Oh, give me that old time religion, give me that old (guitar)
Give me that old (guitar), Lord (guitar)

Oh, it is good when the world's on fire, it is good when (guitar)
It is good when the world's on fire, Lord (guitar)

Oh, it is good for my dear old mother, it is good for my (guitar)
It is good for my dear old mother, Lord (guitar)

REFRAIN: Oh, give me that old (guitar) give me that old (guitar)
Give me that old (guitar), Lord, it's good (guitar)

Oh, it is good for my dear old father, (guitar)
It is good for my dear old father, Lord, it (guitar)

REFRAIN: Oh, give me that old (guitar), give me that old (guitar)
Give me that old (guitar), Lord, (guitar)

Oh, it is good for the Hebrew children, (guitar)
It is good for the Hebrew children, Lord, (guitar)

Oh, it is good when I am dying, (guitar)
It is good when I am dying, Lord, (guitar)

REFRAIN: Oh, give me that old (guitar), give me that old (guitar)
Give me that old (guitar), oh Lord, (guitar)

All best,
Johnm

 

[Johnm]

Hi all,
The last remaining untranscribed song from the Cat Iron album is his version of "When I Lay My Burden Down", which he played with a slide in Vestapol tuning.  The song must be in the running for the "hymn-most-often-recorded" by Country Blues guitarists.  Cat Iron gets a nice sound by taking the slide along for the ride with the melody at the high point of the chorus, where the melody holds a V note; by bringing the chord along with the melody, the V chord he gets there has an exotic sound.   Here is Cat Iron's version of "When I Lay My Burden":



REFRAIN: Glory, glory, hallelujah
When I lay my, my burden down
Well, glory, glory, oh hallelujah
Oh when I lay my, my burden down

Yes, I'm goin' home to, now live with Jesus
Oh when I lay my, my burden down
Yes, I'm goin' home to, now live with Jesus
Oh, when I lay my, my burden down

You ought to pray so, old God can use you
Oh, any time, Lord, or anywhere
You ought to pray so, old God can use you
Oh, any time, Lord, or anywhere

REFRAIN: Oh, glory glory, oh hallelujah
Oh, when I lay my, my burden down
Glory, glory, oh hallelujah
Oh, when I lay my, my burden down

All best,
Johnm