Topic: Pillie Bolling Lyrics

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Ed Bell recorded "She Got A Nice Line" as Barefoot Bill at a session in Atlanta in 1930 for which he was joined by his neighbor, Pillie Bolling.  Bolling, who was interviewed by Swedish researcher Bengt Olson in 1975, recalled that Bell wrote the song on the way to Atlanta on the back of a train timetable.  The song is a chorus blues of the "Tight Like That" family, made considerably more interesting than most songs of that type by being rougher and more "country".  To my taste, at least, the less such songs are like conventional Pop music of the era, the more I like them.  This song also shows Bell to capable of playing much closer to the Pop Blues mainstream of his time than his solo songs suggest he might have been.

Bolling, who I believe is handling the lead guitar chores, is working out of G position in standard tuning, and is doing a lot of double octave fretting on the sixth and first strings, dragging his hand up and down the neck to get the melody notes he seeks, much as John Hurt did on his solo for "Casey Jones". 

Bell and Bolling's singing of the refrain is what I would describe as "beneficially loose" in a way you very rarely hear in present-day players of the music.  They often sing slightly different versions of the lyrics and don't sound to be worrying about tight harmonies or spiffy entrances and exits to their vocal phrases.  EDITED, TO ADD, ON 12/4:  In order to give the best idea of how Bell and Bolling sing the refrains, I have listed Bell's singing of the refrains in the body of the lyrics. Here is how Bolling handled his singing of the refrains.
Bolling joins Bell for the singing of the first half of each of the first two lines of the refrains:  "Oh, she got a nice line", but drops out for the second half of those lines and leaves them for Bell to sing alone.  [On one verse, Bolling forgets to come in on the first line of the refrain until "nice line".]  In the final line of the refrains, Bolling generally waits to come in on the word "got", and then sings the remainder of the line, though, as will be seen, he does differ in how he sings the lines from Bell on several occasions.  Here is what Bollling sings for the final lines of his refrains:
   REFRAIN 1:  Got a nice line, you just don't know her stuff
   REFRAIN 2:  Got a nice line, but your mammy don't know her stuff
   REFRAIN 3:  Got a nice line, but your mama don't know her stuff
   REFRAIN 4:  Got a nice line, but your mammy don't know her stuff
   REFRAIN 5:  Got a nice line, but she just don't know her stuff
   REFRAIN 6:  'Cause she got a nice line, just, just don't know her stuff
   REFRAIN 7:  Got a nice line, she just don't know her stuff 

There is more consistency and sense to the way Bell and Bolling approached this than was apparent when I first listened to the song.  Thanks to dingwall for suggestions on how best to communicate the duo's singing of "She's Got A Nice Line".



   The girl I love, live on 18th Street
   She got a new line for every man she meet
   REFRAIN:  Oh, she got a nice line, she used it rough
   Oh, she got a nice line, she can't get enough
   She's got a nice line, your mama don't know your stuff

   To let her tell it, she ain't got no man
   But she hangs around cabarets raisin' sand
   REFRAIN:  Oh, she got a nice line, she used it rough
   Oh, she got a nice line, she can't get enough
   She's got a nice line but  [word omitted] don't know her stuff

   SPOKEN:  Now, do it!  Ah, shucks, now!

   One day we was out, we're ridin' along,
   I asked her, "How about it?", and she walked back home
   REFRAIN:  Oh, she's got a nice line, she used it rough
   Oh, she's got a nice line, she can't get enough
   She's got a nice line, your mama don't know her stuff

   She don't do this, she don't do that
   Rub your hand down her back, she act like a cat
   REFRAIN:  Oh, she got a nice line,, she used it rough
   Oh, she got a nice line, she can't get enough
   She's got a nice line, but just don't know her stuff

   SPOKEN:  Ah, do it, boy!  Boy, that's the way my gal like it!

   She ain't low and squatty, she ain't long and slim
   The only way you'll get it, have to grab you a limb
   REFRAIN:  Oh, she got a nice line, she used it rough
   Oh, she got a nice line, she can't get enough
   She's got a nice line but she just don't know her stuff

   ---t'ain't right, I don't have fun
   This girl I love won't give me none
   REFRAIN:  Oh, I got a nice line, she used it rough
   Oh, she got a nice line, she can't get enough
   She's got a nice line, but just don't know her stuff

   SPOKEN, BELL:  Now, do it--th' last time, boy!  I want you to do it good this time.  You know how you were doin' it last Saturday night down at that booger rooger?
   SPOKEN, BOLLING:  Sure! 
   SPOKEN, BELL:  When my and your gal was there, boy, and your gal hollered, "Do it, Mr. Pillie!"
   SPOKEN, BOLLING:  The whole town just heard.

   I want it right now, please tell me, can I get it?
   I better not catch nobody else with it
   REFRAIN:  'Cause she got a nice line, she used it rough
   Oh, she got a nice line, she can't get enough
   She's got a nice line, she just don't know her stuff

Edited, 11/19 to pick up correction from banjo chris
Edited, 11/21 to pick up corrections from dingwall

All best,
Johnm
   
   
     

[banjochris]

I can't make out the bit in the spoken commentary, but that line in the second verse is

She hangs around cabarets raisin' sand

Chris

[Johnm]

Thanks very much for the help, Chris.  After reading your suggestion, I went back and listened and it was plain as day.  Lots of times when I wind up stumped it ends up being because what was sung was not something I expected, and not necessarily because it wasn't enunciated clearly.
all best,
Johnm

[banjochris]

I know exactly what you mean, John -- that line in Lemon's "Dry Southern Blues" about "Levi Garrett" was a mystery to me for a long time, although he says it perfectly clearly, until I was standing in a grocery store one day and saw a package of it.
Chris

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I've done a fairly major edit to the post on "She's Got A Nice Line" on page four of the thread in order to communicate better Bell and Bolling's singing of the refrain.
all best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Another song on which Ed Bell and Pillie Bolling joined forces was "I Don't Like That", a song played out of G positon in standard tuning by Bolling that falls into the "Tight Like That" chorus blues archetype.  Any help with bent bracketed portions of the lyrics would be appreciated.




   I saw you doin' somethin', don't do it no more, 'cause if I catch you, baby, walkin' slow
   REFRAIN:  I don't like that, no I don't, no,
   I don't like that, no I don't
   It's gonna kill me dead, I don't like that

   SPOKEN BY BELL DURING SOLO:  Now do it!

   You took another man right before my face, and told me that's the one had took my place
   I don't like that, no I don't
   I don't like that, no I don't
   Gwonna kill me dead, I don't like that

   SPOKEN BY BELL DURING SOLO:  Now, do it, boy!  That's good.

   You say you done quit me, now what should I do?  Can't make up my mind I love no one but you
   I don't like that, no I don't
   I don't like that, no I don't
   It's gonna kill me dead, I don't like that

   SPOKEN BY BELL:  No, I don't like it.  See that fella right over there?  He don't like it either. 
   SPOKEN BY BOLLING:  Can't stand it!

   Now, you taken him for your sweetback, me to be your slave, better see the undertaker get someone to dig your grave
   I don't like that, no I don't
   I don't like that, no I don't
   You know it'd kill me dead, I don't like that

   SPOKEN BY BELL:  Aw, shucks!

   You say your suitcase packed, your trunk's done gone, better stop your whoopin', bring it right back home
   I don't like that, no I don't
   I don't like that, no I don't
   You know it kill me dead, I don't like that

   SPOKEN BY BELL:  Aw, just bring it right on back home, mama!  Bring it right on back to papa.

   I knocked on your door and [        ], [          ] ain't got none yet
   I don't like that, no I don't
   I don't like that, no I don't
   It's gwonna kill me dead, I don't like that

   SPOKEN BY BELL:  Play 'em hard, boy!

Edited 1/17 to pick up correction from Andrew
Edited 1/18 to pick up corrections from banjochris
Edited 1/29 to pick up corrections from dingwall

All best,
Johnm

   
       

[uncle bud]

Hi John - In the third from last verse I am not sure but think I'm hearing

Now you take him for your sweet, 'spect me to be your slave

For the last verse I got nothin' so far. That's really tough to hear. I may be hearing the word 'bring' or 'bringin'' somewhere in there towards the end.

[Johnm]

Thanks for the help, Andrew.  I couldn't hear "for your sweet" for anything, but once you suggested it, it sounded perfectly clear.  I made the correction.  I think in the last verse Ed Bell may be doing some kind of onoemopoetic (sp?) word to indicate the sounds going on behind the door.  It is really tough to decipher.
all best,
Johnm

[Oscar Wolf]

Hi Folks, i've got a cd from Ed Bell and there's 2 songs from that guy; Pillie Bolling, i'm tryin' to understand the lyrics, but i think i need some help.




Brownskin Woman ( Pillie Bolling )

I've got a brownskin woman, she's allright with me...(2)
bout the finest woman that a man most ever seen

lord i can't stay here, and my lover's gone...(2)
sometimes i wonder my brownskin she won't come home

too old to marry too young to settle down... (2)
But I done couldn't wait me but leave her rambling' round 

Lord these my blues i love to sing my song... (2)
i've got a borwnskin woman lord that she won't come home

but it some folks say the worried blues ain't bad...(3)
But the worst old feeling than a man most ever had

have you ever lied down with your good gal on your mind.. (2)
i've got a brownskin woman keep me bothered all the time

got a freight train hollerin' comin round the bend (2)
if we had no lovin since god knows when

[banjochris]

You've basically got it, except for some missing/changed words, esp. on the repeat of the first line -- and there are some places where you have "But" and he sings "Lord," for instance.

But the missing line is:
Lord I done quit work, baby I b'lieve I'll ramble 'round.

[Oscar Wolf]

Great, Thanks for the help.

Ok the next one is harder...


Shake me like a dog


oh come and shake me like a doggone dog
oh come and shake me like a dog

hey hey woman, where you've been so long
had no lovin since my baby left home

come and shake me like a doggone dog, i'm singin
come and shake me like a dog

now me and my gal went up north
she got married and she drove me off

oh come and shake me like a doggone dog
oh come and shake me like a dog,    i'm singin'
come and shake me like a dog in the evenin
come and shake me like a dog

i ain't gonna marry i ain't gonna settle down
done quit the work lord i believe i ramble round

oh come and shake me like a doggone dog
come and shake me like a dog

yonder come my girl ...??
well she shimmy

come and shake me like a doggone dog
come and shake me like a dog, i'm singin
come and shake me like a dog

now one of these morning, it wont be long
my baby went comin lord i swear i'll be gone

come and shake me like a doggone dog
come and shake me like a dog i'm singin
come and shake me like a dog in the mornin
come and shake me like a dog, in the evening
oh come and shake me like a dog

now it ain't no use to raise?
know you've been rollin with another man

lord come and shake it like a dog
come and shake it like a doggone dog, i'm singin
come and shake it like a dog,  in the evening
oh come and shake it like a dog

[Johnm]

Hi all,
It's been a few years since this topic was posted to, but I thought I'd try to get the lyrics to Pillie Bolling's "Shake Me Like A Dog".  He accompanied himself out of C position in standard tuning for the song, which is similar to "How Come You Do Me Like You Do?".  Here is the song:



Now come and shake it like a doggone dog
How come you shake it like a dog?

Hey, hey, woman, where you been so long?
Had no lovin' since my baby left home
Come and shake it like a doggone dog, I'm singin',
Come and shake it like a dog

SOLO

Now, me and my gal went up North
She got mad and she run me off
How come she shake it like a doggone dog?
Now come and shake it like a dog, I'm singin',
Come and shake it like a dog, in the evenin',
How come you shake it like a dog?

I ain't gon' marry, I ain't gon' settle down
Done quit a-work, I b'lieve I'll ramble 'round
How come you shake it like a doggone dog?
Come and shake it like a dog

SOLO

Yond' come my gal, her dress above her knees
Way she shimmy takin' effect on me
Come and shake it like a doggone dog
Come and shake it like a dog, I'm singing,
Come and shake it like a dog

Now, one of these mornin's, it won't be long,
My baby's gwine come, and Lord, I swear it'll be gone
Come and shake it like a doggone dog
Come and shake it like a dog, I'm singin',
Come and shake it like a dog, in the mornin',
Come and shake it like a dog, in the evenin',
Now come and shake it like a dog

SOLO

Now, ain't no use to raisin' sand
Know you been rollin' with another man, Lord,
Come and shake it like a dog
Come and shake it like a doggone dog, I'm singing,
Come and shake it like a dog, in the evenin',
Now come and shake it like a dog

SOLO

All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
We now have all of the cuts that Pillie Bolling recorded in one thread, including his duets with Ed Bell.
All best,
Johnm