Topic: Hi Henry Brown Lyrics

[LeftyStrat]

Thanks for the help, Chris.  Guess my ears are better than I thought, 'cause I was sorta taking a shot in the dark on a coupla those lines. 

[LeftyStrat]

I've noticed that this song is in the track list of The Essential Charley Jordan set, but the track that actually plays is a repeat of "Titanic Blues" from the first disc.  Anyone know where I can actually hear *this* tune on CD?  Something about the sound of either Henry's vocals, or how his and Charley's guitars sound together has me hooked

[LeftyStrat]

To add on to my post above, I've been listening to this tune off and on all day (it's just so darn groovy, I can't help it LOL), and thought it'd be awesome to try to learn the guitar part, or at least the chords.  Anybody have any suggestions or tabs to share? I would appreciate it very much.

Thanks,
Chris (Lefty)

[LeftyStrat]

Hello all,

Been giving this tune a listen lately and was wondering if someone with ears far superior to mine could help decipher the words that seem somewhat garbled to me.  Here's what I have so far:

(.....Lordy), send me a teasin' brown (x2)
Can't send me a teasin'... fetch me your angel down

Build me a scaffold 14 stories high
So I can see my sweet mama, she comes passin by

Train Time now, baby. Track's all outta line (x2)
I gotta see my sweet mama, if i hafta ride the blind.

I Went to (the ol'/your) station, looked up on (the ol'/your) board (x2)
(cant get this last line)

I'm gonna build me a scaffold 14 stories high (x2)
So I can see my sweet mama when she comes passin' by

Strangely enough, I started out hearing very little of this, but after listening a few times while typing this post, a good bit of it became clear.  Appears to have gone from most of the song to a few words in the first verse and the last line in the fourth. Of course, I may well be mistaken in parts of the rest. 

I welcome your thoughts.
Lefty/Chris

[dj]

A partial suggestion for the last line of the fourth verse"

"I had your (?) ready to me, just to (buy the?) (?)"

[LeftyStrat]

Thanks for the input, DJ.  Been trying to get a clear read on that line for days now and something just may have come clear to my ear this last time I listened. I heard it as:

I asked the operator, (do he run to....)

Still not 100% though.  If it is that or something close, I'm willing to guess and say the last word or so is a city, as if he's asking the conductor if the train's going his way.

Any other thoughts out there?

[banjochris]

I hear the first two lines respectively as
Lord good lordy...
Prayed unto the lordy...

and that last line I agree with "I asked the operator" but I hear
"I asked the operator, show me ?? on board"
Chris

[LeftyStrat]

Many thanks Chris,

Gave it another go just now and my brain *wants* to hear:

"I asked the operator show me a brown skin gal on board", or
"                            ..does he go to Baton Rouge"

Neither of those quite fit though.  Its striking me that Henry was one of those who had an odd accent...or at least it seems that way in this tune.  He's pretty clear in the rest of em, that I can tell (except for Hospital Blues, maybe.  Haven't taken a crack at that one yet.)

Gonna satisfy my ear on this one yet   

[uncle bud]

I've listened and listened to that problem line and still get nothing. That's one whupped record, and combined with Hi Henry Brown's vocal style, you've got quite a task on your hands, Lefty. Chris's suggestion sounds close to me. I wonder if looking at similar verses from other songs might help jar something loose.

[dj]

Hmmm...  Maybe "I asked the operator show me how to buy that road"?

[LeftyStrat]

May be beatin' the proverbial dead horse here, but I said I was gonna try to satisfy my ear on this one  

After a few more attempts at figuring out the little snippet I can't quite get, I'm starting to hear:

"I asked the operator (to) show me, run to ()"

All I can tell for sure is that the () part sounds like 2 words, but what they are hasn't hit my ear clearly enough to figure out yet.  I may've mentioned this a couple of posts ago, but I'm a bit more sure about it now, whereas then, I was just throwing it out there.

Tried a web search on the phrase to see if there were similar lyrics out there (which I'm sure there are), but found nothing, unfortunately.

[LeftyStrat]

After listening to this tune at times to the point of obsessing on the lyric I'm missing, (It's so doggone catchy, just like the others ) I think I've finally got it:

"I asked the operator, show me..(do he) run to (my) rider's door"

The words in parens are just there to attempt to make what I'm hearing make grammatical sense.  Perhaps I'm hearing something that's not there, though.

[ghe]

The original post is so old no one may care any longer, but I figured I'd add this for any newcomers. In listening to the song today, I'm almost certain that the phrase in the second verse is "there's my man" rather than "that's my man."

[uncle bud]

I agree, ghe, it's "there's my man". Welcome to WC, btw.

[blueshome]

Plus "askin' to rest his hat"