Topic: Henry Thomas Lyrics

[KC King]

I made some of the changes people have suggested,  in the post that I did of the whole song above.
 I don't think it's ragged because the vowel in definitely a long 'a' pronounced like the letters a-e. Someone might pronounce ragged that way but only in upper Wisconsin  but not Texas.
 I put in quotations to show the change of speaker like:

(him) "Yes, these blues, I don't know, keep on chancin' me
Don't let me fall, I've got no dough, 'ver cryin' at your door"
(her)"Well it tain't use you cryin' 'tall, I've got the chance that you ever had"
(him) "I ain't gone one, I don't know, just allow me just a one more chance"

Thanks for all the help!

[Eldergreene]

Long time since I heard this song, but I always thought the line went "Get up and let me in, I won't ask again"

[lebordo]

I don't think it's ragged because the vowel in definitely a long 'a' pronounced like the letters a-e. Someone might pronounce ragged that way but only in upper Wisconsin but not Texas.

One of the many fascinating things about life - different folks hear the same thing differently.  I've listened to that word litterally hundreds of times over and over, and I would make exactly the opposite remark -- it is definitely NOT a long 'a' (and in 'Angel' or 'rage' or 'rake'), but it does sound exactly like the a in 'rag' or 'gag' or 'lag' to me.

As for how a Texan would pronounce "ragged", it sounds to me exactly how I remember Lyndon Johnson talking, less so like Barbara Jordan, and not at all like George Bush (of course, Bush went north to college, so who knows who he really speaks like now).  And friends I've have from Texas have accents all over the board.  In any case, I doubt that many folks today pronounce words like Henry Thomas or his generation of Texas blacks would have.

In the end, you can sing "Rakin'" and I can sing "Ragged" and there's a good chance we're both wrong :-).

[ajd]

One of the many fascinating things about life - different folks hear the same thing differently.

Too true. I keep listening to that line over and over too, and I keep hearing "drunk 'n feelin' dizzy, drunk 'n feelin' dizzy, drunk 'n feelin' dizzy...". I'm probably using my imagination on this, letting the context influence me and hearing what I want to hear, but it sounds to me like "du-RUNK" where the 'd' is slurred and soft (like it was hiccupped, if that makes sense), and I don't hear a distinct 'n' before the 'k' either which hurts my case too.

But after the 'k' I really think it's an 'n' and not a 'd', so I'd put my vote towards something ending in 'n' (wreckin', rakin', drunk 'n). I'd feel better if there were other examples of him saying 'dr' the same way elsewhere, but the other times the 'd' is pronounced, so my only defense here is maybe he's slurring the word intentionally to seem drunk like Emma Lee said (except this isn't the only song of his that's impossible to figure out).? Most of the rest of the blanks have been filled in nicely though, thanks all.

[KC King]

Yep I got to admit if we all just sing it like Henry - it ain't really gonna mater 

[Bunker Hill]

Being a newcomer to these parts I was interested to read the discussion surrounding Bob McKinney by Henry Thomas. I realise this is all water under the bridge (and will probably bore folk hereabouts to tears) but I can't resist posting the lyric transcription and associated notes that Mack McCormick wrote in the fascinating 10 page booklet sewn into the gatefold of the 1974 Herwin double LP, the complete recorded works of Henry Thomas:
BOB McKINNEY
Went down Johnson Street, Bob McKinney come passing by
Going on down that Johnson Street, make trouble in that Line(1)
Wasn't he bad? Yes, Wasn't he bad?
Bobby said to Margaret, "Come to me I said,
If you don't come in a hurry, I'll put a .38 through your head."
Wasn't he bad? Yes, wasn't he bad?
Bobby said to Ben Ferris, "I'm bound to take your life,
You caused trouble between me and my wife."
Wasn't he bad? Yes, wasn't he bad?
Bobby says to the High Sheriff, "Needn't think I'm gonna run,
If I had another load, me and you'd have some fun."
Wasn't he bad? Yes, wasn't he bad?
Oh my babe, take me back.
How in the world, Lord, take me back.
Monday morning, won't be long.
You gonna call me, I'll be gone.
She turned around, two or three times.
Make my bed and take me back.
Take me back (2)
Make my bed and take me back
Oh, make me a pallet on your floor.
Hey, make me one pallet on your floor.
Oh make (me a) pallet on your floor.
Won't you make it so your man never know.
Hey, make it so your man never know. (2)
Ah make a pallet on your -
Won't you make it so your man never know.
Yes, I'm looking for that bully laid me down.
Hey, I'm looking for that bully laid me down.
I'm looking for that bully, that bully, can't be -
Yes, I'm looking for that bully laid me down. (3)
I'm looking for that bully, that bully can't be found.
I'm looking for that bully laid me down.

(1) Line = row of taverns, barbershops, pool halls, etc.

Composite. Bob McKinney places-itself in St. Louis through the mention of Johnson Street. Although a case could be made for New Orleans, which also has an important street by this name, St. Louis figures in much of the balladry that grew out of the 1890s and the vital social background for this has been described by Arna Bontemps and Jack Conroy in Anyplace But Here: "There was hardship and want in the St. Louis of 1893. There was also crime and depravity. The Cleveland panic had done its worth among Negroes; they were leaving the South in endless streams, and St. Louis was drawing more than its share of the migrants. The overcrowding which resulted produced intolerable conditions. Sitting space in pool halls became a real luxury. Thousands of vagrants slept on the cobblestones of the levee. Police brutality reached a point seldom equalled. Officers of the law carried night sticks a yard long and learned to hurl them at the feet of fleeing migrants in such a way as to trip them up when they tried to run...out of their brushes with the law grew such popular songs as Brady, He's Dead and Gone and Looking for the Bully."

The recovery of an unknown or previously unidentified Negro ballad is an event of significance considering the slim number of these songs which have survived. Unfortunately, heretofore Bob McKinney has been casually dismissed as merely a variation of Duncan and Brady or of Stackolee. All have much in common, but each tells a separate and distinct story.

A chief requirement of the narrative ballad is that it be brief. Bob McKinney is so brief as, on first hearing, to appear incomplete. However the entire story is here, either stated directly or implicit in the four tersely described scenes as Bob McKinney (1) swaggers down Johnson Street, (2) bullies Margaret, (3) Shoots Ben Ferris, and (4) has a final encounter with the High Sheriff. Nothing more need be said. The outcome is left to the imagination and Henry Thomas drifts into a potpourri of blues and songs favored by the wandering people who congregated in St. Louis.

[uncle bud]

Thanks for the background on Bob McKinney, Bunker Hill.  Indeed, fascinating stuff. Has there been any other recorded occurrence of the Bob McKinney story? Given how Henry Thomas material pops up elsewhere in other guises, one would think aspects of this song would as well, but I can't think of any. (Obviously am referring to the Bob McKinney section only and not the other familiar material.)

I love the economy of the story, nasty and to the point.

Also, thanks for clarifying the second line of the song, "make trouble in that Line".

A belated welcome to WeenieCampbell as well!

[Bunker Hill]

Thanks for the background on Bob McKinney, Bunker Hill.? Indeed, fascinating stuff. Has there been any other recorded? occurrence of the Bob McKinney story? Given how Henry Thomas material pops up elsewhere in other guises, one would think aspects of this song would as well, but I can't think of any. (Obviously am referring to the Bob McKinney section only and not the other familiar material.)

I love the economy of the story, nasty and to the point.

Also, thanks for clarifying the second line of the song, "make trouble in that Line".

I personally don't know of a recorded occurrence of the Bob McKinney story but that doesn't mean much. The song certainly doesn't seem to have been collected? by the like of Odum & Johnson, Newman Ivey White, Dorothy Scarborough and John Harrington Cox circa 1910-1919 or appear in their respective books published in the mid-20s.

McCormick's general? observation on Thomas's material being that he absorbed what he heard as he roamed around Texas, the South or wherever and came up with composite, half remembered, concatenated songs which he later recorded. The songs collected by the foregoing folklorists would tend to add weight to his observation.

I'm no expert all I know is that the Henry Thomas Origin compilation was one of the first blues records I purchased cheap in 1963 and it got played incessantly.?

[cmr]

Hi all, Can anybody help me out with the lyrics to ? Bull Doze Blues??  This is my first attempt at transcribing.  I know it needs work, but I make out the second or fifth verses. Thanks, Charlie



I?m going away and
I won?t be long.

I?m going away and
I won?t be long.

I?m going away and
I won?t be long.

Break
 
Yes, soon as __________(?)

Yes, soon as __________(?)

Yes, soon as __________(?)

Break

I?ll shake your hand and
tell your papa goodbye.

I?ll shake your hand and
tell your mama goodbye.

I?ll shake your hand and
tell your papa goodbye.

Break

I?m going back to Tennessee.

I?m going back to  (live-in?) Tennessee

I?m going back _______ Tennessee.

I?m going back _______ Tennessee.

Break

This verse just eludes me.

Break

Yes, baby don?t be shaking
Look what a fool I?ve been.

Baby, don?t be shaking, look
what a fool I?ve been.

Baby, don?t be shaking, look
what a fool I?ve been.

Break

Oh my babe, take me back.

I am lonesome (?), take me back.

(I find it amazing that Henry Thomas just changes the song for this last verse)

Break

[Bunker Hill]

Hi all, Can anybody help me out with the lyrics to ? Bull Doze Blues??? This is my first attempt at transcribing.? I know it needs work, but I make out the second or fifth verses. Thanks, Charlie

Here's a scan from the booklet by Mack McCormick which accompanied the 1974 double Herwin album Complete Recorded Works. I haven't got time to double check against listening. It is followed by McCormick's research of the tern bulldoze:
I'm going away, babe, and it won't be long.
I'm going away and it won't be long. (2)
Just as sure as that train leaves out of that Mobile yard. (3)
Come shake your hand, tell your papa goodbye. (3)
I'm going back to Tennessee. I'm going back to Memphis, Tennessee.
I'm going back, Memphis, Tennessee. I'm going where I never get bulldozed.
I'm going where I never get the bulldoze. I'm going where I never get bulldozed.
If you don't believe I'm sinking, look what a hole I'm in. (2)
If you don't believe I'm sinking, look what a fool I've been.
Oh, my babe, take me back. How in the world, Lord, take me back.

Blues. The entry in the Oxford English Dictionary for the word "bulldoze" is illuminating: "1876 American Newspr., If a negro is invited to join it (a society called 'The Stop'), and refuses, he is taken to the woods and whipped. This whipping is called a 'bull-doze', or doze fit for a bull. The application of the bull-doze was for the purpose of making Tilden voters; hence we hear of the 'bull-dozed' parishes. 1880 C. B. Berry Other Side 155 They..pull him out of bed with a revolver to his head...that's called 'bull-dosing' a man. 1881 Sat. Rev. 9 July 40/2 A 'bull-dose' means a large efficient dose of any sort of medicine or punishment. Ibid. To 'bull-dose' a negro in the Southern States means to flog him to death, or nearly to death."

[cmr]

Thanks for the lyrics.  I will listen again, with the Mack McCormick's transcription.  Now I have to learn how to sing and play the Henry Thomas song at the same time.  Its such as wistful and beautiful melody. Cheers, Charlie R.

[Steve Howell]

Bunker:

I'm betting Bob was running around in East Texas, which was Henry Thomas' stomping grounds. From what I've read, he speant most of his time around Big Sandy, Grand Saline and Gladewater. I live East of there and have always been inordinately interested in him. I've recorded Bob McKinney on my CD "Out of the Past." It's at www.stevehowell.ws. Long live Henry Thomas's memory.

Best,

Steve

[uncle bud]

I've tried transcribing this Henry Thomas song, and what a mess it is in parts, so all help welcome. Thomas's version is itself a bit of a mess in that it's at least three songs in one, but it all adds up to a great 3 minutes IMO. The first section has similarities with Honey Won't You Allow Me One More Chance, but is a version of an Irving Jones song called Let Me Bring My Clothes Back Home (according to Paul Oliver in Songsters and Saints) which is itself a response to a popular Jones song called Takes Your Clothes and Go, a song about a woman who has thrown her husband out.



The original has the lines:

His wife said, "Honey, I'm tired of coon
I goin' to pass for white."

Which leads Oliver to transcribe Henry Thomas's less objectionable version as:

My wife said ?Honey, I?m done with beans
I?m gonna pass for green"

I'm not so sure of that myself. I actually hear something like "pass the train". I'm also not convinced of the start of the first line in the Oliver transcription, "Albert turn round, packed his trunk and go" but have no other proposals yet.

I don't know where the middle section comes from (the "Down to church..." section), and can't find anyone who's attempted a transcription yet, probably for good reason! It's tough slogging. I can't find my copy of Tony Russell's Blacks, Whites and Blues right now to see if maybe he has something to say about this song.

The next section of Thomas's Arkansas is based on the song The State of Arkansas, which exists in many versions and comes out of the white minstrel tradition according to Oliver. Thomas's version seems closely linked to Uncle Dave Macon's song Uncle Dave?s Travels Part 1: Misery in Arkansas. Elsewhere on Weenie, John Miller has noted the similarity to Kelly Harrell's My Name is John Johanna, which itself is a version of State of Arkansas as far as I can tell. Some will also notice hints of the song Diamond Joe.

Thomas ends his weird hodge-podge with a Travelin' Man verse for good measure.

I think it all adds up to a crazy masterpiece. Here's the entire transcription with many holes to fill in.

Arkansas ? Henry Thomas

Oh Roberta (turn) round, "pack your trunk and go"
Yes, he came back home last night
My wife said ?Honey, I?m done with beans
I?m gonna [pass the train]? *
Oh my little honey, don't you make me go
I'll get a job if you allow me sure
All crapshooters, I will shun
Good little baby, just let me work
When you buy chicken, all I want is the bone
When you buy beer, I?ll be satisfied with foam
I?ll work both night and day
I?ll be careful what I say
Honey (What?) please, let me bring my clothes back home

Down the track this mornin? she did stroll
Well a accident, her foot got caught in a hole
I?m goin? to tell you the truth
A natural that poor man
Night is young, dresses turn, the railroad track is run??
I?m going to buy ?em all
Cigarettes and chewing tobacco as I can??
And ? the road with a?? [heavy poor man]?

I am a rambler and gambling man, I?ve gambled in many towns
I?ve rambled this wide world over, I rambled this world around
I had my ups and downs through life and bitter times I saw
But I never knew what misery was till I [left old] Arkansas**

I started out one morning to meet the early train
He said, "You better work with me, I have some land to drain
I?ll give you fifty cents a day, your washing, board and all
And you should be a different man for the state of old Arkansas"

I worked six months for the rascal, [Joe Heron] was his name***
He fed me old corn dodger, it was hard as any rock
My tooth?s all got loosened, and my knee-bone ?gin to raw [and the depot can?t be found??]****
That was the kind of hash I got for the state of old Arkansas

Travellin? man, I?ve traveled all around this world
Travellin? man, I?ve traveled from land to land
Travellin? man, I?ve traveled all around this world
Well it tain?t no use ridin? on through ?cause I?ve traveled this land

* as noted above, Paul Oliver has this as "pass for green"
** Oliver has this as the much more sensible "Till I lit on old Arkansas", since Arkansas is the scene of the misery related. But I swear Thomas sings "left old Arkansas" - perhaps not paying attention much to the words?
*** Oliver has "Johanna", a link to the John Johanna songs. A reference I just found on the net refers to the Mack McCormick transcription in the vinyl Herwin Henry Thomas set as having this as "Joe Herrin".
**** Oliver's version is first, what I'm sort of hearing is second, in brackets. The Dave Macon version has this line as "my knees began to knock", i.e. he's weak from starvation.

[edited to add: I've added a file for those who don't have the song]
[edited transcription above to incorporate some changes from Mack McCormick transcription]

As a bonus, here is a version of Dave Macon's Misery in Arkansas I found on the net at http://departments.umw.edu/hipr/www/206/songtext/uncle_dave_macon.txt

Misery in Arkansas

[spoken] Now good people, I'm a-singing this song especially for
my old school mate-friend, Joe Morris of Nashville, Tennessee.
One of the leading clothing men.  He's a man who'll address you
at the door and he'll dress you up before you go out.

I'm just from Nobletown, I've travelled this wild world round,
I've have the ups and downs through life,
And better days I've saw,
I never knowd what misery was, till I come to old Arkansas.

I landed in the Spring, one sultry afternoon,
Up stepped a walking skeleton, and handed me his paw,
Invited me to his hotel, the best in Arkansas.

I followed my conductor unto his dwelling place,
And poverty did picture in his melacholy face,
His bread was corn dodger, his beef I couldn't chaw,
That was the kind of hash I got in the State of Arkansas.

I started out next morning to catch the early train,
He said, "You'd better work for me, I have some land to drain.
I'll give you fifty cents a day, your board and wash and all.
Indeed you'll be a different man, when you leave old Arkansas."

I worked six months for the son-of-a-gun, Jess Harrold was his
name,
He stood six feet two-and-a-half, as tall as any crane,
His hair hung down in ringlets all round a lantern jaw,
Indeed he was a photograph for the gents of Arkansas.

He fed me on corn dodgers as hard as any rock,
My teeth began to loosen, and my knees began to knock,
I got so think on sassafrass tea, I could hide behind a straw,
Indeed, I was a different man when I left old Arkansas.

If ever I see this land again I'll hand to you my paw,
Oh, it will be through a telescope from here to old Arkansas.

I'm just from Nobletown, I've travelled this wild world round,
I've have the ups and downs through life,
And better days I've saw,
I never knowd what misery was, till I come to old Arkansas.



[attachment deleted by admin]

[Bunker Hill]

Oh Lordy UB you did choose a good ?un there to take on didn?t you?

Here?s the way Mack McCormick tackled it in 1974 his booklet to Herwin LP209. Reviewers at the time had a go at suggesting a variety of alternative hearings but...

Oh Roberta (turns) round, "Pack your trunk and go ?
Yes, he came back home last night."
My wife said, "Honey, I'm done with beans -
I'm gonna (catch) a passenger train."
Oh, my little honey don't you make me go
I get a job, if you allow me, sure.
All crapshooters, I will shun
Good little baby just let me work
When you fry chicken all I want is the bone
When you buy beer I be satisfied with the foam.
I'll work both night and day. I'll be careful what I say.
Honey, "What!"
"Please let me bring my clothes back home"
Down the track this morning she did stroll.
Well, a accident; her foot got caught in a hole.
I'm gonna tell you the truth; a natural, (poor man?)
Night is young, dresses turn
The railroad track is run
I'm gonna buy them all
Cigarettes, chewing tobacco - and try again.
I'd like you to know how satan does every poor man.
I am a rambling gambling man
I gambled in many towns.
I rambled this wide world over
I rambled this world around
I had my ups and downs through life
And bitter times I saw.
But never knew what misery was
Till I lit on old Arhansas
I started out one morning, to meet that early train
He said, "You better work with me
I have some land to drain
I'll give you fifty cents a day; your washing, board and all
And you shall be a different man
In the State of Old Arkansas."
I worhed six months for the rascal
Joe Herrin was his name
He fed me old corn-dodgers, they was hard as any roch
My tooth is all got loosened, and my hnees begin to hnoch
That was the hind of hash I got
In the State of Arhansas
Traveling man, I've traveled all around this world
Traveling man, I'll travel from land to land
Traveling man, I'll travel all around this world
Well, it taint no use, writing no news
I'm a traveling man.

Composite. This selection shifters through three or four songs, all doubtless well know at the time. A Georgia version of Baby, Let Me Bring My Clothes Bach Home appeared in the Journal of American Folk-Lore, July September, 1911, p. 281, and a New Orleans version is in Coffee in the Gourd, p. 61 (Austin, 1923). In both of these the departing wife decides "to pass for white."

Versions of The State of Arkansas are plentiful. See the references in Malcolm Laws, Native American Balladry. Early recordings run to over a dozen, including those by Uncle Dave Macon (available on Decca 4760) and The Golden Melody Boys (available on Historical 2433-2). Traveling Man is equally well known with recordings by Coley Jones, Virgil Childers, Luke Jordan, Dock Walsh and Jim Jackson (this last available on Collector's Classics 3).

Henry Thomas' role here seems to be that of an editor, deftly bringing together a sequence of comic songs to describe an odyssey - from the breakup of a home to trials of a wandering laborer.

[uncle bud]

Thanks BH. I was feeling masochistic.    I've incorporated many of Mack McCormick's lines, particularly that middle section. Some stuff I just don't agree with, and I'd be curious to hear from others.
     -Not sure about "passenger train"
     -I hear "buy chicken" not fry though either would do. 
     -I don't hear "and try again" after the chewing tobacco
     -and I really don't hear "I'd like you to know how satan does every poor man". 

Some other minor differences and still one or two blank spots and some question marks. I still hear "left old Arkansas" but this would obviously been an error on Thomas's part.

(your scanner software seems to have subbed 'h's for k's.)

Speaking of Mack McCormick and his notes to the LP there is a section from them that was reprinted in Martin Scorcese Presents The Blues, the companion book to the tv series. It's a story I don't think I'd heard before, certainly didn't remember it if I did, and imagine I would have since it's told in such vivid detail. Apparently in 1949, McCormack saw and then spent some time with a tall old black hobo with a guitar on the streets of Houston who told him of riding trains and sleeping under bridges. "many of his teeth were missing and it was difficult to understand what he said." (Tell me about it!) He was wearing three overcoats, and McCormick has a vague recollection of the man claiming to have made records. He played a bit for McCormick but his guitar was out of tune, the strings were old, and the man was obviously past his prime as a performer, though some people passing by tossed him some coins.

McCormick writes, "Over the years a number of things have come to suggest that the man on the street was in fact 'Ragtime Texas' Henry Thomas...." The old man favoured D position songs, and used a capo up high, from 3 to seven frets, and would have been of the same age and time period as Thomas. McCormick later says:

"For me, the question of who it was that I stopped on the street that day in 1949 has never been answered to complete satisfaction. It cannot be settled, although the doubt has diminished - though not ended - since seeing copies of the original advertisements for his records 'John Henry' and 'Texas Easy Street Blues,' which appeared in black newspapers when the records were first released. One of these advertisements contains a mottled photograph and the other a line drawing of a figure with the same physique and that egg-shaped head I first saw near Houston's Union Station."

Quite a tantalizing thought. In 1949, McCormick would not have heard Thomas's recordings yet, since the first ones he heard were on the Harry Smith Anthology. Imagine having encountered Henry Thomas.

The entire story by McCormick is definitely worth reading.