Topic: Charlie Poole lyrics

[uncle bud]

Where uncle bud and I part ways is in the second line of the chorus.  I think Poole is singing either "The life I AM A-livin's very high" or "The life I AIM ON livin's very high".  With Poole's accent, the sounds of the two variants are essentially identical, so "you pays your money and you takes your pick" as my parent's used to say.

Could be, dj. AIM ON is what Nate had originally, and AM-A fits the tone for the first chorus occurrence, less so to my ear for the subsequent repeats. There does seem to be an 'ah' sound, like ON or ARE.

Worth noting perhaps that the original lyric was "I knows ma'kind of life ain't very high". Not that Poole is following the original very closely.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Re "Monkey On A String", I'm hearing the following opening stanza:

Most every year when the springtime comes
And the birds begin to sing
An Italian come around this town
With a monkey on a string
And the harmless stuff that monkey said
Was in the grocer's store
The foolish thing that monkey done
He set me in the roar

I think "come" as opposed to "comes" is significant because it places the song's story in the past.  I am not hearing "organ" at all in the fifth line.

All best,
Johnm

[Lastfirstface]

I couldn't find my lyrics to "You Ain't Talkin' to Me" but I did find these



He Rambled

My mother raised three grown sons Buster, Bill, and I
Buster was the black sheep [in] our little family
Mother tried to break him of his rough and rowdy ways
Finally had to get the judge to give him ninety days

And didn't he Ramble, Ramble
He rambled all around
In and out the town
And didn't he Ramble, Ramble
He rambled 'til the butchers cut him down

He rambled in a gambling game and he gambled on the green
The gamblers there showed him a trick that he had never seen
He lost his roll and jewelry and liked to lost his life
He lost the car that carried him there and somebody stole his wife

And didn't he Ramble, Ramble
He rambled all around
In and out the town
And didn't he Ramble, Ramble
He rambled 'til the butchers cut him down

He rambled in a swell hotel his appetite was stout
And when he 'fused to pay the bill the landlord kicked him out
He reached a brick to smack him with and when he went to stop
The landlord kicked him over the fence right in a barrel of slop

And didn't he Ramble, Ramble
He rambled all around
In and out the town
And didn't he Ramble, Ramble
He rambled 'til the butchers cut him down

[bayrum78]

"Nate, did you mean the Georgia Crackers? They also sing "I'm a-gonna live anyhow till I die" in the chorus as Chris notes."

No, I meant the Georgia Yellowhammers, Their version is titled Tenessee Coon.

Here's a YT link to their version but brace yourself, it's AWESOME.



There is a GYH CD out that I highly recommend ( one of my OT CD favorites) and includes Tennessee Coon. Here's the amazon link - http://www.amazon.com/Johnsons-Grey-Georgia-Yellow-Hammers/dp/B002QACCUS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328311697&sr=8-1

[uncle bud]

Thanks for that, Nate. I only had a half dozen Georgia Yellowhammers tracks or so and hadn't heard that version, and I missed it when I looked up the song in Country Music Records 1921-42.

It's interesting that the Georgia Crackers, Yellow Hammers and Charlie Poole all recorded the song within several months of each other (in 1927), all pretty different versions musically.

Wonder what African-American ragtime composer Shepard Edmonds would have thought of these hillbilly versions of his song.

There are a couple pages dealing with Edmonds in Abbott and Seroff's Ragged But Right, for those who might be interested in more background. (pp. 26-28)

[Johnm]

Hi all,
One of the most unusual versions of "Frankie" is Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers' "Leaving Home".  It is dangerously catchy and has lyrics that are revved up rhythmically and fun to sing, sort of like Chuck Berry.  The song really sounds as though it came out of Tin Pan Alley.  Charlie Poole being who he was, the lyrics are sometimes really hard to decipher, every bit as difficult as Charlie Patton, in my opinion.  The band played the song in D.  The fiddler sounds like Posey Rorer, and I'm not sure of the guitarist.  I'd appreciate help in the form of corroboration/correction throughout, but especially in the bent bracketed spots.
Here is the performance:



Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts, they had a quarrel one day
Johnny vowed he would leave her, he said he was goin' away
Never coming home, goin' away to roam

Frankie she begged and she pleaded, "My old Johnny, please stay.
Now, oh my honey I've done you wrong but please don't go away."
Then Johnny sighed, then Frankie cried

REFRAIN: "Oh, I'm goin' away, I'm going to stay, ain't never comin' home
Gonna miss me, honey, in the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow, the ground is covered up with snow
You think of me, you're gonna wish me big, like your lovin' man
Gonna miss me, honey, in the day they say is to come."

SOLO

Frankie done said to her Johnny, "Say man, your hour's come."
Underneath her silk kimono, she drew a .44 gun
These love affairs, what a lot to bear

Johnny, he fled down the stairway, cryin', "Oh Frankie, don't shoot!"
Frankie just aimed the .44, five times with a-rootie-toot
As Johnny fell, then Frankie yelled

REFRAIN: "Oh, I'm goin' away, I'm going to stay, ain't never comin' home
Gonna miss me, honey, in the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow, the ground is covered up with snow
You think of me, you're gonna wish me back, your lovin' man
Gonna miss me, honey, in the day they say is to come."

SOLO

"Send for your rubber-tired hearses, send for your rubber-tired hacks
Carry little Johnny to the graveyard, I've shot him in the back
With a great big gun, as he went to run."

"Send for some policeman, to take me right away
Lock me down in the dungeon cell and throw the key away
For Johnny's dead, just 'cause he said."

REFRAIN: "Oh, I'm goin' away, I'm going to stay, ain't never comin' home
Gonna miss me, honey, in the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow, the ground is covered up with snow
You think of me, you're gonna wish me back, your lovin' man
Gonna miss me, honey, in the day they say is to come."

Edited 12/5 to pick up corrections from Rivers, dj, Lyle Lofgren, banjochris and Johnm

Edited 12/6 to pick up correction from Gumbo

All best,
Johnm

[Rivers]

My hearings for the bent brackets are, just suggestions:

These love affairs, [what-all hard] to bear

What a lot to bear

With a great big gun, as the [                       run]

had no place to run

For Johnny's dead, [she's 'call he said]

That's all she said ('that' pronounced 'thet')

Great, great performance, can't help but remind me of my introduction to Charlie Poole by the Holy Modal Rounders circa 1969 or so. For which I remain eternally grateful.

[dj]

I'd suggest: "With a great big gun, as HE WENT TO RUN"

[Lyle Lofgren]

REFRAIN: "Oh, I'm goin' away, I'm going to stay, ain't never comin' home
Gonna miss me, honey, in the day to come
When the winter winds begin to blow, the ground is covered up
And so you think of me, you're gonna wish me big, like your lovin' man
Gonna miss me, honey, in the day they say is to come."

"...When the winter winds begin to blow, the ground all covered up with snow,
You think of me ..."

That's fairly clear after a few hundred listenings. The New Lost City Ramblers mis-heard that line, and re-creators have been following it ever since. In all fairness to the NLCR, Charlie jams a lot of words together there.

Without checking again, I believe the end of the last line is:

"Gonna miss me, honey, in the days they say to come."

Lyle

[Lyle Lofgren]

REFRAIN: "Oh, I'm goin' away, I'm going to stay, ain't never comin' home
Gonna miss me, honey, in the day to come
When the winter winds begin to blow, the ground is covered up
And so you think of me, you're gonna wish me big, like your lovin' man
Gonna miss me, honey, in the day they say is to come."

I just noticed one more error: In line 3 of the chorus, "big" should be "back."

Lyle

[banjochris]

I'd suggest: "With a great big gun, as HE WENT TO RUN"

Agree on this one. Also
Frankie just aimed the .44, by time with the rootie-toot

I would suggest
Frankie just aimed the .44, FIVE TIMES WENT-A ROOTIE-TOOT

[Johnm]

Thanks to Rivers, dj, Lyle and banjochris for all the suggestions, I got something from everybody.  "What a lot to bear" helped out, Mark, as did "the ground is covered up with snow", Lyle.  I think Charlie stiffed the lyrics in the first chorus because he does sing, "you're gonna wish me big, like your lovin' man", unlike all the other refrains where he sings, "you're gonna wish me back, your lovin' man".  It sounds, too, like it is "days" early in the chorus and "day" in the last line of the chorus.  "As he went to run" is right on, dj, as is "five times with a-rootie-toot", Chris.
The one remaining portion of the lyric that I don't feel like we have yet is at the end of the last verse before the final chorus.  It sounds like "recall he said" or "before he said".  It does sound pretty clearly to be "he said" rather than "she said".  Anybody hearing that line well?
All best,
Johnm 

[Gumbo]

I've always heard "Just 'cause he said" for that line, John, with just being pronounced "jist".

[Johnm]

Wow, I reckon you got it, Gumbo, thanks so much!  I've been listening to that song for a long, long time and never heard that line right.  I will make the change.
All best,
Johnm

[Gumbo]

Excellent! I've had a few revelations myself on this one!