Topic: Dennis McMillon Lyrics

[Johnm]

Hi all,
North Carolina musician Dennis McMillon had one day in a recording studio in Linden, New Jersey in August of 1949 at which he recorded four titles.  He really was a wonderful player and singer, and the songs can be found on the JSP set, "Blind Boy Fuller", Vol. 2", a terrific set which also includes all of the early titles of the Cedar Creek Sheik, Rich and Willie Trice, Floyd Council, Sonny Jones and some other players.
McMillon played "Woke Up One Morning" out of Vestapol tuning, using a slide sparingly but effectively in the course of his rendition.  His time, ideas and execution are all stellar, as is his singing.  It's always tantalizing to hear a single performance that is so strongly characterized and inventive by a player working in an alternate tuning that he/she didn't utilize for any other tunes in his/her recorded repertoire.  McMillon accorded just about equal space for vocals and instrumental solos on "Woke Up This Morning".  Here are the lyrics to the song, and I am attaching an .mp3 of of it for folks who don't have access to the recording and have never heard it.  There is not currently any video of this performance up on youtube.  One peculiarity of the recording (or possibly just JSP's re-issue of it) is that it has variable reverb; in the course of the second and third solos, you can hear reverb, which previously in the rendition sounded like normal room sound, come on like gangbusters.  If this was an attempt to "sweeten" the sound, it was completely unnecessary, at least from my point of view.  Here is "Woke Up This Morning":



Well, I ain't got nobody, all I had is gone
Lord, I ain't got nobody, all I had is gone
Well, I don't know nothin', stepped right down and moan

SOLO

Well, I woke up one morning, blues all in my bread
Well, I woke one morning, blues all in my bread
I went to get my guitar, jumped all in my head

SOLO

I ain't got nobody, hold my worried head
I ain't got nobody, hold my worried head
Well, I just went back home, fell down 'cross my bed

SOLO

All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Dennis McMillon recorded "Goin' Back Home" in Linden, New Jersey in August of 1949, the time he did all of his recording.  He accompanies himself out of E position in standard tuning for the song, which is a sort of personalized cover of "Kansas City Blues", minus any reference to Kansas City.  Except for one brief solo, McMillon relegates his guitar to a strict accompaniment role, but his time-keeping is so groovy and alive that his playing remains an absolute treat.  Hearing him sing and play makes one wonder how many thoroughly accomplished musicians there were in the style who either never got an opportunity to record or who only recorded a handful of titles.  He sure was a strong musician.



REFRAIN: She done gone, done gone back home
She done gone, gone back to her home

If you want to know something, tell you how to do
Let your bad bone, boy, make a fool out you
REFRAIN: 'Cause she gone, she done gone back home
She done gone, gone back to her home

That Atlanta River long, deep and wide
Good girl swimmed on the other side
REFRAIN: She done gone back home, she done gone back home
She done gone, gone back to her home

Well, Molly, she told me, Papa told me, too,
Mess with that woman, make a fool out you
REFRAIN: She done gone, she done gone back home
She done gone, gone back to her home

REFRAIN: She done gone, she done gone back home
She done gone, gone back to her home

Well, it's ninety miles back to McComb
Girl done bet that that woman's home
REFRAIN: But she's gone back home, she's gone back home
She done gone, gone back to her home

I'm gonna buy me a poodle dog, twenty greyhounds
Take all them dogs to trot my women down
REFRAIN: 'Cause she goin' back home, she done gone back home
She done gone, gone back to her home

SOLO

REFRAIN: She done gone, done gone back home
she done gone, gone back to her home

All best,
Johnm

[alyoung]

Nice piece. Coupla lyric mods, if I might....


"Well, Mama she told me...." (rather than "Molly".)

I also think it's "take all them dogs to track my woman down" (rather than "trot")

Al Y

[Johnm]

Hi Al,
I expect he meant to say "Mama" in that line--everybody does generally, but there's no interior ms in there.  He does sing Molly.  Same for "trot"--the vowel sound is wrong for "track".
All best,
Johnm

[oddenda]

John -

          McMillon is just one of hundreds of musicians who were recorded "by accident" or sheer dumb luck. Fred Mendelsohn's story was that Dennis was the short-term boyfriend of his family's maid in NJ. He was convinced to record Dennis, did so, and McMillon stuck around a few weeks asking daily how his record was doing. He then disappeared, possibly back to North Carolina.

          He was one of thousands of "possibles" who generally never met up with anyone to put them on wax/tape for whatever reason. I met with some who were unable or unwilling to play in my decade "in the field": Jack Jordan in NC was described by Danny McLean as as good as Gary Davis. Stroke put paid to that. Curley Weaver's buddy Herman Jordan (no relation) I actually heard play a bit once, but he usually was too drunk to bother with, or never showed up [to Cora Mae Bryant's disgust]. I can vouch that he was very good, though. I interviewed Blind Lloyd Randolph Byrd near Statesboro, a running buddy to McTell. Willie tried to get him to go to record with him a time or two, but couldn't be bothered. His stroke ended his playing days. The list of names mentioned en passant is endless, while the list of all known or unknown is hugely greater than that. We know about way less than the iceberg's tip - musicians were all over the place as folks created their own entertainment for decades, if not centuries.

          Just my list of unrecorded Piedmont players is thirteen pages and counting - the comparable one of recorded folks holds at nineteen.  Being on record was a total act of serendipity, as the late Kenny Goldstein would have styled it. We're fortunate to know what little we DO know! We would probably never have heard the likes of Peg Leg Sam, or Henry Johnson (SC); Ernest Scott, or Eddie Lee Person (GA); Roosevelt May, or Elester Anderson (NC) had I not happened (by whatever means) them with my tape recorder. We would never have known of John Cephas had I not interviewed Big Chief Ellis at his liquor store on DC, stimulating him to play "out' a bit. Sheer dumb luck, I say, and I stand by that statement. Always was and always will be, although the "will-be's" are few and far between these days. Do I hear an "Amen!" to that?

Peter B.

[bnemerov]

Pete,

AMEN!

best,
bruce

[Johnm]

Thanks for that information and perspective, Peter B.  It's good to hear such from one who was "in the trenches" in terms of seeking out and recording such musicians.  It can be exasperating hearing about the ones that "got away", from a distance.  I imagine that at close range, it was all the more frustrating on occasion. 
Still, you found and recorded a lot of wonderful musicians, as did George Mitchell; musicians who pretty certainly would not have been heard by anyone other than their friends and neighbors except for your efforts.  Thanks for the work you did.  For people who love the music, it made for a richer world.
All best,
Johnm

[Prof Scratchy]

Hear, hear!

Sent from my HUAWEI MT1-U06 using Tapatalk

[Johnm]

Hi all,
The fourth song that Dennis McMillon recorded in August of 1949 was "Paper Wooden Daddy".  The song is a chorus blues which he played out of E position in standard tuning.  The meaning of the title is anybody's guess, but it seems possible that the sense of the title was "Paper Woodin' Daddy", as in one who logs for the purpose of getting pulp to make paper, with "paper woodin'" the activity itself.  Since it's a metaphor in any event, it could have been any number of other things, e.g. rattlesnakin' daddy, dough rollin' papa, et al. 
Here is the song.  Dennis McMillon certainly was a lively guitar player and a fine singer.  It's a shame he didn't record more.



REFRAIN: I'm a paper wooden daddy, I'm a paper wooden daddy
I'm a paper wooden daddy, I could cut it all the time

I cut it last night, night before
Woke up this morning, want to cut some more
REFRAIN: I'm just paper wooden daddy, I'm a paper wooden daddy
Wooden daddy, I could cut it all the time

SOLO (Spoken: Cut it, boy!  Cut it now!)

Well, the old folks cut it, them young one, too
They can't cut it like I do,
REFRAiN: I'm just a paper wooden daddy, I'm paper wooden daddy
I'm a paper wooden daddy, I could cut it all the time

Cut it in the house, I cut it outdoors
Paper wooden daddy everywhere I go
REFRAIN: I'm just a paper wooden daddy, I'm paper wooden daddy
I'm a paper wooden daddy, I could cut it all the time

SOLO: (Spoken: Cut it again!  Yeah!)

I cut it in the woods, cut it outdoors
I can build a truck so it can haul a load
REFRAIN: I'm just paper wooden daddy, I'm a paper wooden daddy
I'm a paper wooden daddy, I could cut it all the time

SOLO: (Spoken: Yes, cut it!)

Old folks cut it, them young ones, too
They didn't just learn it like I do
REFRAIN: I'm just paper wooden daddy, I'm a paper wooden daddy
I'm a paper wooden daddy, I could cut it all the time

SOLO

All best,
Johnm