Topic: Sam Collins Lyrics

[Dr. G]

This number has always intrigued me. It strikes me as pre-WWI. Does anybody know its origins?

Sam Collins' version is wonderfully unique. I have never heard his lyrics anywhere else. (Most of the lyrics sung to this tune are hopelessly pedestrian.)

But I am helpless to figure out some of the verses. Here's my best interpretation. Any and all suggestions HUGELY appreciated.

She has the hesitation stockins, hesitation shoes,
Believe to my soul got my hesitation blues.

              [Refrain:]  How long now will I have to wait? Can I get you now? Honey, have to hesitate.

I can line the track and I can ball the jack
Beat anybody bring my good gal back.

(And) I got a gal  (and)  loves to move [moan?]
Sweet a woman as I have known.

         [This verse later reprised, equally indecipherably]

Round the corner and around the bend
Yonder come that evenin? train.

Molasses on the table, coffee?s getting? cool,
My little gal grinds her meal at home.

         [Hopelessly speculative  interpretation?]

I?m not so good lookin?, got no curly hair
Her Elgin movements take me anywhere.

[Bricktown Bob]

Pre-WWI it is.  "Hesitation Blues" published 1915 as by Billy Smythe and Scott Middleton; republished 1926 as by Billy Smythe, Scott Middleton, and Art Gillham.  W.C. Handy's "Hesitating Blues" also published 1915.  These three apparently use the same traditional melody, but in different arrangements and with different lyrics.

Sorry I can't help with the Sam Collins version.  Wish I had it, but I don't.

[Bunker Hill]

Somewhere in there I can hear in my head a verse along the lines of

Around the curve and around the ben(d)
Yonder comes that L&N.

That incomprehensible repeated verse used to be the subject of much speculation. I think the first line was postulated as something along the lines of "I've got a girl who's learned to be ruled"

....where's Dingwall when one wants him? 

[banjochris]

I think Bunker Hill is right about the L&N verse. Also I think it's Rations on the table...
which is a fairly common line. I think you've got everything else pretty much right (except that one mystery verse) -- can't help much there but I'll keep listening.
Chris

[Dr. G]

Hey BB -- thanks for the historical background. I knew that someone claimed credit for the song, but believed (and believe) that the roots of the song are older.

Bunker Hill -- That is absolutely "L&N" ["evening train" made sense, but I was never happy with it!] Thank you for lifting those particular scales from my ears. Still having trouble making that "learned to be ruled" thing seem right, but am glad for the contribution. Also, I don't feel quite so useless to learn that this verse has been the subject of some study, debate, etc., by others before me.

Banjochris -- Many thanks for the "rations on the table" contribution. This has to be correct. (I had never heard the phrase in the old songs before, despite listening to about a million of 'em. The fact of its existing elsewhere is very compelling, obviously.)

Y'all have made my day. (Any other contributions, however speculative, still most welcome!)

Dr. G

[Rivers]

Should this be moved to the Sam Collins lyrics thread?

[edit, don't answer that, merged]

[Stuart]

Dr. G:

Give a listen to the earlier recorded versions available at Redhotjazz.com:

Jim Europe's Hellfighters: http://www.redhotjazz.com/hellfighters.html

Esther Bigeou: http://www.redhotjazz.com/Bigeou.html

Sara Martin: http://www.redhotjazz.com/martin.html

You'll have to scroll down a bit to find the tracks.

[Bunker Hill]

I've just been driving myself nuts trying to decipher that repeated verse from my only source...the Origin LP!

I give up but just to throw a wrench in the works I reckon he sings in the first verse "She has the hesitatin' stockings, the hesitatin' shoes, the rich and the poor got the hestitatin' blues". Also I hear the start of the fifth verse as "supper's on the table, coffee's gettin' cold".


But what the hell, after all I'm using a 1965 LP as reference! 

[dingwall]

I've appeared, Alan.   Here's my version.  Here is "Hesitation Blues":



She has the hesitatin' stockings, the hesitatin' shoes.
The rich and the poor got the hesitatin' blues.
How long now will I have to wait?
Can I get you now, honey, have to hesitate?

I can line the track and I can ball the jack.
I can beat anybody gettin' my good gal back.

And I've got a gal who's learned to rule.
Seen her rule right by her door.

Around the curve and around the bend.
Yonder comes that L & N.

Supper's on the table, coffee's gettin' cold.
My little gal's from Illinois.

I'm not so good-lookin', got no curly hair.
And elegant movements take me anywhere.

I can line the track and I can ball the jack.
Beat anybody gettin' my good gal back.

I've got a gal who's learned to be ruled.
I've seen her ruled right by her door.
               

Notes
3.1/2 and 8.1/2  I'm convinced that the verses differ, as shown, and as a pure guess, he may have been correcting his earlier verse.

6.2 'elegant/Elgin'?   Not clear, and could be either here, but I go for 'elegant' because, about 15 minutes earlier (Dark Cloudy Blues), in an almost identical verse, he sings 'elegant' very clearly. 

[Dr. G]

Thanks, all, for more entertaining discussion, tips, and interpretations.

Although I consider myself totally straightened out on a few of my earlier (mis)interpretations, I remain completely unconvinced on "the rich and the poor" [I think "believe to my soul" -- with "soul" pronounced "sool", the way CP does on "Screaming and Hollering the Blues"] is a better fit:

"She has the hesitatin' stockings, the hesitatin' shoes.
[The rich and the poor] Believe to my soul got the hesitatin' blues.
How long now will I have to wait?
Can I get you now, honey, have to hesitate?"

...and I still can't see either "learned to rule" or its accompanying rhyme. I still hear "loves to" in the first line, and stick to my interpretation "Sweet a woman as I have known" as closer to what's coming out of my CD.

"And I've got a gal [who's learned to rule] loves to (moan? move?)
[Seen her rule right by her door] Sweet a woman as I have known."

...I think banjochris got it right with "Rations" on the table (although I prefer my folk process "molasses" image), and no matter how I contort my ears, I cannot hear "Illinois" anywhere in that tag line.

When my "grinds her meal at home" suddenly blasted into my brain (when I was thinking about something totally unrelated) it felt like one of those once-every-few-years epiphanies in old blues lyric interpretation that just feels viscerally correct. I had the same rush that I did back in 1964 (when practically the only CB originals available to us mere mortals were on the Sam Charters' "The Country Blues" LP) and it occurred to me like a thunderbolt that Blind Willie McTell was singing "oughta saw that colored fireman...." and NOT "oughta saw that colafahmin...when he got them boilers hot".

Maybe I'm experiencing a fixed delusion, rather than aural clarity, but I'm sticking with "grinds her meal at home" until someone proposes a more compelling phrase...or gives me a shot of haloperidol. My version of the tag line would also seem to be more consistent with the home cooking imagery of the "rations" (or "supper") on the table and the coffee getting cold (or cool)...although when did consistency of lines A & B ever worry a country bluesman?

"[Supper's] Rations on the table, coffee's gettin' cold.
My little [gal's from Illinois] gal grinds her meal at home."

...and I hear still hear "Elgin", not "elegant". The similar-line-elsewhere theory is very compelling, I admit, and hard to discount. I guess Robert Johnson's "Elgin movements" from head to toe, and my feeling that "Elgin" is a more compelling image, tip the scales for me -- although I still don't HEAR "elegant", even a garbled version.

"I'm not so good-lookin', got no curly hair.
[And elegant movements] Her Elgin movement take me anywhere."

...The jury is obviously still out on a number of these interpretations -- but I sure do feel a lot less dumb about the lyrics than I did when I reprised the Sam Collins thread yesterday! Thank you again, one and all.

Dr. G

[dingwall]

Yes, Dr. G, I now agree with 'Believe  to my soul', so,

She has the hesitatin' stockings, the hesitatin' shoes.
Believe to my soul, got the hesitatin' blues.
 
The rest I still hear as I put it, but in particular, (and apologies for repeating it), I think 'elegant' is very clearly heard in 

I'm not so good-lookin', got no curly hair.
I'm not so good-lookin', got no curly hair.
My elegant movement will take me most anywhere.

which he sang minutes before he sang the similar verse,

I'm not so good-lookin', got no curly hair.
And elegant movements take me anywhere.

There also remains the variation in verses 3 and 8.

[banjochris]

Listening to both Hesitation and Dark Cloudy Blues, I don't hear any "g" sound at all in either verse for "elegant" or "Elgin". In Dark Cloudy it sounds clearly to me that he says "My L&N movement..." and it sounds like that could be the case, much faster, in Hesitation.

I think I've solved the mystery of verses 3 and 8, with the exception of one word that I'm moderately sure of but not 100%. The verse is:

I've got a girl on the Lexington Road,
C&O run right by her door.

He adds "The" at the beginning of the second "C&O" line.

He sings what I think is "Lexington" very quickly, but it seems reasonable to me since both the L&N and C&O went through Lexington, Ky.
Chris

[Dr. G]

I hugely appreciate your persistence, Dingwall. And I hasten to admit that I don't HEAR "Elgin" -- I just like the image!

But I think banjochris makes a killer point in observing that there is no "g"-sound at all...neither hard ("elegant") nor soft ("Elgin"). His interpretation "L & N" is elegant in its simplicity -- and would certainly make perfect sense with the subsequent phrase "take me anywhere". Also, Collins has already mentioned "L & N" (as what's coming around the corner and around the bend) -- not "evening train", as I originally thought. I was obviously being "too helpful" in inserting consonants where they had no business being. I made the same mistake in deciding on "Elgin".) Collins SINGS "ellenen" [or "L & N"] in both instances...and I now am completely convinced that that's exactly what he MEANT to sing, and that there is no elision here.

And as for banjochris'

"I've got a girl on the Lexington Road,
C&O run right by her door."

I think that this rendition is both brilliant and correct (in no particular order), as is his geographical justification.

I will sleep very soundly tonight for seeing these mysteries solved. Thank you again, one and all, for sticking with this one to such a satisfying conclusion!

A very appreciative Dr. G

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I realized that we never transcribed Sam Collins's "Dark Cloudy Blues" when we were transcribing so many of his songs a couple of years ago.  Sam played "Dark Cloudy Blues" out of C position in standard tuning, and you could say it falls into his eccentric hot guitar category, somewhat influenced by Lemon, but also with a lot of licks and ingredients that Lemon never recorded.  In the first line of the second verse, I think Sam aborts his first attempt at saying "clearing" and follows through, minus the "c" at the beginning of the word.  In the second line of verse three, I think Sam pronounces "until" like "intil", with an odd pause between the syllables.  I agree with banjochris's comment re Sam's version of "Hesitation Blues", that Sam pretty clearly sings "L & N movement". Corroboration/correction of the lyrics is welcomed.  Here is "Dark Cloudy Blues":



   It's rainin' down, Lord, raining down from the sky
   It's rainin' down, raining down from the sky
   I done got wet all over, I'm gonna lay down and die

   The sky is clear-learin' now, cloud has done gone to rest
   The cloud is clear, Lordy, all done gone to rest
   I b'lieve my soul my good gal done left this town

   Let me be your sidetrack, mama, 'til your mainline come
   Let me be your sidetrack, until your mainline come
   I can do more switchin' than your mainline ever done

   I'd rather be in Atlanta, Lord, any place I know
   Rather be in Atlanta, any place I know
   'Cause I got a home, Lordy, most anywhere I go

   I'm not so good-lookin', got no curly hair
   I'm not so good-lookin', got no curly hair
   My L & N movement will take me 'most anywhere

   Just as sure as my good gal gets back in this town
   Just as sure as my good gal gets back in this town
   I'm gonna quit grievin', it sure ain't gonna slow me down

Edited 12/19 to pick up correction from LD50

All best,
Johnm

   

[LD50]

All looks dead on correct, with the extremely minor correction that in the 3rd verse, he says 'come' both times rather than 'come'. Other than that, perfect!

Hi all,
I realized that we never transcribed Sam Collins's "Dark Cloudy Blues" when we were transcribing so many of his songs a couple of years ago.  Sam played "Dark Cloudy Blues" out of C position in standard tuning, and you could say it falls into his eccentric hot guitar category, somewhat influenced by Lemon, but also with a lot of licks and ingredients that Lemon never recorded.  In the first line of the second verse, I think Sam aborts his first attempt at saying "clearing" and follows through, minus the "c" at the beginning of the word.  In the second line of verse three, I think Sam pronounces "until" like "intil", with an odd pause between the syllables.  I agree with banjochris's comment re Sam's version of "Hesitation Blues", that Sam pretty clearly sings "L & N movement". Corroboration/correction of the lyrics is welcomed.

   It's rainin' down, Lord, raining down from the sky
   It's rainin' down, raining down from the sky
   I done got wet all over, I'm gonna lay down and die

   The sky is clear-learin' now, cloud has done gone to rest
   The cloud is clear, Lordy, all done gone to rest
   I b'lieve my soul my good gal done left this town

   Let me be your sidetrack, mama, 'til your mainline comes
   Let me be your sidetrack, until your mainline comes
   I can do more switchin' than your mainline ever done

   I'd rather be in Atlanta, Lord, any place I know
   Rather be in Atlanta, any place I know
   'Cause I got a home, Lordy, most anywhere I go

   I'm not so good-lookin', got no curly hair
   I'm not so good-lookin', got no curly hair
   My L & N movement will take me 'most anywhere

   Just as sure as my good gal gets back in this town
   Just as sure as my good gal gets back in this town
   I'm gonna quit grievin', it sure ain't gonna slow me down

All best,
Johnm