If you asked me a request today and I didn't know it, I'd go get the sheet music tomorrow and learn it so I wouldn't be caught the next time - Carl Martin, interview with Jeff Todd Titon
This is going to be a "drip feed" SOTM because I'm real busy on the farm getting ready for the chilly season. Plus it might work as a format for these threads going forward anyway, let's see what happens.
Many of us with an ear for music first became aware of the Mama Don't Allow group of songs during the folk blues revival of the early Sixties. But this was long after the song first started appearing on record. For this initial post I'm going to focus on some roots, and maybe comment on the various musical, lyrical formats and cultural aspects.
First up, here's the great Arthur Crudup with his combination of great groove and a voice I could listen to all day:
I think this illustrates one approach to the song. It's very adapted to the player's personal style, presented as a 12 bar blues, and only a single thing his mama don't allow him to do, i.e. "...stay out all night long".
Of course there are a thousand variations on this theme, musically, lyrically and culturally. I look forward to hearing and reading your comments on this song.
Mance has a good 16 bar version. What grabs me about it is he 'goes long' after a nicely discordant roll on the V. I'm finding that particular time shift fiendishly difficult to play but he sure sounds good:
Here's two versions, back to back on the video, featuring Tampa Red. The first is a duet with Georgia Tom on piano, recorded 4 Sept, 1929. The second, (@ 2:50) is Tampa Red and his Hokum Jug Band, recorded a lttle over a month earlier on 23 July, 1929, and features Cow Cow Davenport (probably) on piano, Jasper Taylor on washboard, unknown kazoo and jug, and Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon with the superb vocals and his usual verbal riffing. This jug band version is my fave, and we used these lyrics back in the Hohoppas JB.
Wax
Logged
"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it." George Bernard Shaw
“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.” Joseph Heller, Catch-22
As we know, Mama Don't Allow is a great set piece in a social jam setting, and we always need lots of these when just kicking back with friends. The setup is whoever is currently leading calls out someone(s) instrument or genre for the next solo.
Pushing this idea way over the top is this nicely shot, edited and recorded backstage jam lead by Pokey LaFarge and Dom Flemmons. It's a lot of fun, authenticity be damned. If you haven't seen it before, errr... where you been?
Hi all, Here is a related song by Big Joe Williams, not really the more common 16-bar "Mama Don't Allow" that lists the various things Mama don't allow, but rather a 12-bar chorus blues. Here it is:
All best, Johnm
« Last Edit: September 11, 2019, 08:00:20 AM by Johnm »
Hi all, Here is one from the downstate Delaware musician, Frank Hovington, recorded as "Guitar Frank". I really like everything he did, and there is more stuff of his on youtube than just the record he recorded for Flywright. Here is "Mama Don't Allow":
You're welcome, Simon. I was excited to find it. There is a longer version of the same clip, but on it somebody starts doing a voice-over, essentially interrupting what Booker was doing, so I chose the shorter, uninterrupted version.
All best, Johnm
« Last Edit: September 16, 2019, 05:42:09 AM by Johnm »
Hi all, Here's one from the Kentucky Ramblers that starts out as a cover of Luke Jordan's "Cocaine", morphs into "Mama Don't Allow", and even gets into "Salty Dog" a bit.