Topic: Sam Collins Lyrics

[uncle bud]

Been listening to My Road Is Rough and Rocky lately so am reviving this thread. Besides, Sam Collins deserves it.

A couple of very small differences I hear in the lyrics to this song:

verse 3, it should be "It ain't so pretty but it's built up fine"

verse 5:
I got up in my stockings, tippin? ?cross the floor
Heared them bloodhounds a-rappin? upon my door
And I am gone, I?m long gone
My road is rough and rocky on my way

verse 6:
I have chickens on my back, b?lieve the hounds on my track
I dropped my hat ?n? I couldn?t stop to look back
And I am gone, I?m long gone
My road is rough and rocky on my way

[uncle bud]

Here's Riverside Blues, perhaps my favourite Sam Collins tune. It's like some hybrid Blind Lemon-Jimmie Rodgers-King Solomon Hill thing. A great tune. Played out of C position.  Here is "Riverside Blues":



Riverside Blues  Sam Collins

I went down to the river, spent thirty-one days and night(s)
I went down to the river, spent thirty-one days and night(s)
I?m lookin? for my good gal, come back and treat me right

I ain?t got me nobody carry my troubles to
I ain?t got nobody carry my troubles to
I tell you peoples, I don't know what to do

Just as sure as your train, Lord, backs up in your yard
Just as sure as your train backs up in your yard
I'm going to see my baby if I have to ride the rods

I went away last summer, got back in the fall
Went away last summer, got back in the fall
My mind hadn?a changed, I wouldn?a come back at all

You can press my jumper, iron my overhall
You can press my jumper and iron my overhall
I'm going to the station, meet the Cannonball

[uncle bud]

The Sam Collins tag at the bottom of this thread took me back to JohnM's review of the Yazoo Sam Collins - Jailhouse Blues CD from a couple years ago, where I discovered that John not only mentions Lemon, but Jimmie Rodgers and King Solomon Hill. So obviously there's something weird going on in my head. At least nothing original, anyways...

But I do recommend reading John's review (or rereading, as was the case for me), which has some great insight into Sam Collins' style.

[tenderfoot84]

hi everyone

for verse two of in lonesome road blues i hear

i weeped and i cried on the willow tree
and i filled the deep blue sea

not positive but it makes a lot of sense. very poetic.

[Cooljack]

yeah It sounds like that to me to tenderfoot84

[Cooljack]

Is it just me or can anyone else hear any lyrical similarities between "My Road is Rough and Rocky" and Henry Thomas's Shanty Blues?

[fictioneer]

Is it just me or can anyone else hear any lyrical similarities between "My Road is Rough and Rocky" and Henry Thomas's Shanty Blues?

They're both variations on a song best known as "Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy."  The Sheiks also recomposed it somewhat as "Bootlegger's Blues."  It's most associated with Uncle Dave but was known on both sides of the color line in the middle South.

I remember reading many years ago in the Lomaxes' 1940s book Folk Music USA an assertion that "Skillet," "Reuben's Train/900 Miles," and "In the Pines" were all fairly closely related.  I really don't see it, myself, and they gave no evidence beyond the assertion, but in his two "Road" songs, Collins mixes "Skillet" and "Pines" with a bit of railroad song that might have some kinship with "Reuben."

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I've been meaning for some to to transcribe the lyrics to my favorite Sam Collins song, "It Won't Be Long".  His performance of it is amazing, really one-of-a-kind, with a trancey, ruminative, sort of somnambulatory quality.  He plays it with a slide in his version of Vestapol and surrounds everything with instrumental fills, some of which are really wild.  I'd appreciate help with the bent bracketed section.  Here is "It Won't Be Long":



   I had a gal in this town, now, but she throwed me down, she done throwed me down
   I give her some clothes, she bought a diamond ring, but she can beat me, now,
   And it won't be long, and it won't be long, and it won't be long

   I can take my gun, lay it out in your face, gonna let some graveyard be your resting place
   A-and it won't be long, and it won't be long

   Oh, you gonna miss me when I'm gone, honey, and it won't be long
   You gonna miss me when I'm gone, honey, and it won't be long

   When you think I'm goin', I'm standin' right chere, wit' your water on
   And it won't be long, and it won't be long

   SOLO

   Yeah, and then it won't be long, and it won't be long
   I tell you now, honey, it won't be long

   When I'm gone, don't grieve after me
   Don't you forget I went away

Edited 1/29, to pick up correction from banjochris

All best,
Johnm
 

[Rivers]

I think 'all the yon' is right, as in 'all the yonder while'. I have no idea where or when I heard that phrase.

You're right, that is an incredible song, how did I miss that one. Shimmers like a hot summer day.

[banjochris]

I think the end of that phrase is "with your water on".
Chris

[uncle bud]

I agree with Banjochris that it's "with your water on". Sam sings it "water yon". Coincidentally, this phrase was the subject of one of Chris Smith's Words, Words, Words columns recently, in which numerous examples were cited, though not Collins. A fabulous tune.

[Rivers]

So come on, tell us, what does it mean?

[uncle bud]

So come on, tell us, what does it mean?

Well, that's complicated.  It depends somewhat on the song. Smith cites occurrences from Susie Edwards (Butterbeans and Susie), Leroy Carr ("Papa's Got Your Water On"), Bill Gaither ("I Got Your Water On"), Baby Bonnie ("I Got Your Water On"), the Memphis Jug Band (Papa's Got Your Water On), The Two Charlies (Got Your Water On), etc etc. Basically it comes down to context. In some, it is the threat of violence, like "I've got a .44 to put your waters on" - Lil Johnson, "New Shave 'Em Dry". In others, a more mild "I'm ready to deal with you" kind of meaning, which was Honeyboy Edwards' explanation of the phrase. Smith quotes Gene Tomko, who said Honeyboy explained "it could either be in a good way or a bad (violent) way. Honeyboy told me it came from the time long ago when they had to draw baths for someone - you had to prepare it ahead of time."

Many of the examples are the sort of man/woman bickering kind of violent threat. But then it's used again by the Memphis Jug Band in Fourth Street Mess Around to mean "we're ready to entertain you."

It makes no difference where you were born
The jug band has got your water on
While they're playing that Fourth Street Mess Around.

So, it's complicated. I'd say though that Sam Collins means no good by it.

[Johnm]

Thanks, banjochris, for the correction and uncle bud for the clarification.  I was not even in the ballpark.  Re Sam Collins' fell intent, I've always had the feeling with his rendition that there's no threat like an empty threat.  It sounds like muttering after everybody has left the party and gone home, though no less compelling for that.  This is one of my absolute favorite Country Blues cuts.  He was really an incredible singer and player.
All best,
Johnm 

[banjochris]

One of the great things about this board and threads like this is discovering a tune for the first time -- I've played the Collins Yazoo CD quite a few times but my attention tends to wander. For me at least, he's one of those artists best appreciated one tune at a time. John, thanks for bringing my attention to "It Won't Be Long" -- it really is an arresting performance.
Chris