Topic: Bo Carter Lyrics

[Blues Vintage]

Thanks Chris.

[Farmboy Williams]

Don see how to put in a suggestion on the lyrics already here on Bo Carter "Baby How Can it Be"

I hear after "Baby I'm doubtful in mind
"I dont believe your sighin'
Is to be all mine"       ( sounds like sign but makes sense referring to her sighing)

Think the other word was a "grafanola" another name for a gramaphone early record player

"I'll get you a grafanola, a radio too"

I just wrote em all down from an original Bo Carter recording and could not find em anywhere to thought to put em here.

[Chezztone]

I don't believe you're assigned just to be all mine.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Bo Carter accompanied himself out of DGDGBE tuning for "Trouble, Oh Trouble".  Formally speaking, the song is a one-off, an 8-bar blues with a unique (at least in my experience) progression.  The first two bars move in a fairly conventional way, going from I to V7, like "Key To The Highway" and many other 8-bar blues, but then in the third bar, Bo returns to the I chord, resolving back to the V7 in the fourth bar.  In fact, Bo ends up just bouncing back and forth between the I and the V7 chord and ends up with the following form:

   |    I    |   V7    |    I    |   V7    |

   |    I    |   V7    |    I    |  I  V7  |

Lyrically, the song starts from a pretty thin premise and keeps returning to the same verse ending.  Altogether, it really seems an odd man out in Bo's recorded repertoire.  I'd appreciate help with or corroboration of the bent bracketed phrase.  Here is "Trouble, Oh Trouble":



INTRO

I mean it's trouble, man, it's old trouble, I never had so much trouble before
Because I b'lieve somebody's bad trouble are right up under my front door

I'm gonna buy, me a frizzley rooster, I'm gonna take him 'round my house, you know
Because I know this frizzley rooster will dig trouble from under my front door

Says, my baby, she ain't good and kind to me, she don't treat me like she used to do
Because I know there's old trouble, it's buried under my front door

SOLO X 2 (Spoken: Yeah, boy, it's trouble!)

Says, I'm going, to the fortune-teller, I'm gonna explain it to him, just so
So he can tell me if old trouble, is buried under my front door

I'm gonna stop, up by the gypsy's, and I'm gonna tell the gypsy, just so
So he can tell me if there's trouble, buried under my front door

I got my baby, bed by my side, a-still I'm never satisfied, you know
Because I know there's old trouble, it's buried under my front door

OUTRO

All best,
Johnm


 

[Suzy T]

https://thefrugalchicken.com/frizzle-chickens/

[Johnm]

Thanks for scouting that out, Suzy!  A frizzley rooster it is!
All best,
Johnm 

[Stuart]

I never cease to be amazed by what I can learn from Bo Carter. Thank you, Suzy.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Bo Carter accompanied himself in dropped-D tuning in D position for "Don't Cross Lay Your Daddy".  This is spectacular playing, even by Bo's elevated standards, so splashy and exciting--he was really going for it!  For whatever reason, he seemed to reserve a lot of his most intense playing for dropped-D.  I'd very much appreciate help with the bent bracketed section of the transcription.  Here is "Don't Cross Lay Your Daddy":



INTRO

I'm tellin' you, baby, what I'd really hate to do, hate to get another woman in the place of you
REFRAIN: I'm cryin', please, don't cross-lay your daddy now
Oh, the way you're treatin' your daddy, don't want your daddy no more nohow

You know I's good, baby, and does all I can, don't wanna be cross-laid by no other man
REFRAIN: So I'm beggin', please, don't cross-lay your daddy now
Oh, the way you're treatin' your daddy, don't love your daddy no more nohow

I catch you cross-layin' I tell you what I'm gonna do, spend the balance of my life just for killin' you
REFRAIN: I'm beggin', please, don't cross-lay your daddy now
Oh, the way you're treatin' your daddy, don't love your daddy no more nohow

SOLO

When you's down, baby, I pick you up again, give you your clothes and a few dimes to spend
REFRAIN: So I'm beggin', please, don't cross-lay your daddy now
Oh, the way you're treatin' your daddy, don't love your daddy no more nohow

Listen to me now, people, if you would, she's a backbitin' baby, don't mean me no more good
REFRAIN: So I'm beggin', please, don't cross-lay your daddy now
Oh, the way you're treatin' your daddy, don't love your daddy no more nohow

CODA

All best,
Johnm

[waxwing]

"I catch you cross-layin' I tell you what I'm gonna do, spend about my last just for killin' you" ?

Wax

[Johnm]

Thanks for the suggestion, wax.  In the course of re-listening to check your suggestion, I finally heard what Bo sang, which is: "spend the balance of my life just for killin' you".  I've made that change.
All best,
Johnm

[waxwing]

You got it.

Wax

[blueshome]

Playing “Boot It” out of drop D following JM’s post

Now listen here boys gonna tell you this fact
Want to tell you something to get your good gal back
You’ve got to boot it, you’ve got to boot sure
Really got to boot it every morning before I go

Oh the women these days getting funny minds
They don’t love you ‘less you take your time
Then boot it, you got to boot it sure
You really got to boot it every morning before you go

Say when I gets to bootin’ I got to boot it right
Boots for these women both day and night
I’m gonna boot it, I’m gonna boot it sure
I’m really going to boot it every morning before I go

Some say high yeller, some likes brown
But jet black girl 'll be with you when they all put you down.
And you can boot it, you can boot it sure
And you really going to boot it every morning before you go

I left home last night, the night before
I boot it every morning just before I go
I’m going to boot, I’m going to boot it sure
Lord, I’mreally going to boot it every morning before I go

[Johnm]

Thanks for posting that one, Phil. I reckon Bo played it in dropped-D tuning, though.
All best,
Johnm

[banjochris]

And Phil, that missing bit is
But jet black girl 'll be with you when they all put you down.

Chris

[eric]

Did Bo record after 1943?