Topic: Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home

[Buzz]

Johnm:
Lloyd on Hawaiian National steel guitar lap style, myself on mandolin, in G.
We play Gus Cannon's version. I sing.  Every time we play it, month to month, we smile at each other and say how much we love that tune. There is something about the slide, the words, the emotional moment that can be haunting.
 Thanks for the posts about this tune and myriad versions, John.Wax, thanks for bringing up Gus version.
Miller

[Johnm]

Hi Miller,
It's great that you and your friend enjoy playing the tune so much--that's one of the best reasons for playing music together.  I wish you joy in it.
All best,
Johnm

[blueshome]

Joe Callicot includes the Poor Boy verse in his Fare You Well Blues.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I just discovered a version by John Lee Ziegler that he called "Poor Boy", and played in Vestapol with a slide, as he did most of his repertoire.  I really think he had one of the prettiest voices in the blues, right up there with Sam Collins and Lemon Jefferson.  He accords most of the space in his version to his guitar and sings single-line stanzas.  Here is his rendition of "Poor Boy":



INTRO

Poor boy, I ain't got nowhere to go

I'm worried, I'm worried from my home

How long since that evening train been gone?

Take a rider, you sure can't keep her long

Edited 7/27 to pick up corrections from alyoung

All best,
Johnm

 

[alyoung]

A lovely piece, John. I hear the first line as "Poor boy, I ain't got nowhere to go", and the last as "Take a rider, you sure can't keep her long". I'm quite confident on the first line, not so sure on the last.

[Johnm]

Thanks for the catches, Al.  You're certainly right about the first one, and I think you've got the later one, too.  I will make the changes.  Thanks!
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I just found this version of "Poor Boy Long Way From Home", performed by James Henry Diggs and recorded by Ken Davidson and Bill Hale in Roanoke, Virginia on November 22, 1962.  James Henry Diggs' version is a little unusual in that he does not use an open tuning to play the song, opting instead to play it in E position, standard tuning.  If you watch the video, near the end is a photo of Diggs entertaining two detectives after having been acquitted of charges of burglary in 1955.  Life is really odd sometimes.  Here is the performance, and I sure like James Henry Digg's singing:



INTRO SOLO

Poor boy, long way from home
Oh Lord, and I'm a poor child, long way from home
Lord, I'm a poor child, long way from home
Have no place to stay, no place to roam

I'm goin', I'm goin', cryin' won't make me stay
Oh Lord, I'm a-goin', I'm goin', cryin' won't make me stay
I'm goin', I'm goin' your cryin' won't make me stay
For the more you cry, further you drive me 'way

SOLO

I said, take me, baby, try me one more time
Oh Lord, take me, mama, try me one more time
I said, take me, baby, try me one more time
And if I don't suit you, bust my backbone, tryin'

I got a ship on the ocean, goin' 'round and 'round
Lord, I got a ship on the ocean, goin' 'round and 'round
I got a ship on the ocean, going 'round and 'round
Before the gal of mine leave me, I'd jump overboard and drown

SOLO

I said, take me, baby, put me in your big brass bed
Oh Lord, take me, mama, put me in your big brass bed
I said, take me, baby, put me in your big brass bed
Let me lay there, baby, 'til my face turn cherry red

All best,
Johnm

[Prof Scratchy]

Lovely singing voice and great performance!


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[harriet]

Love the James Hemry Diggs as well

[Johnm]

I'm glad you enjoy the James Henry Diggs version, Prof and Harriet.  He sings it with such relish, he just sounds like he loves to sing it.  If you like different versions of "Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home", as I do, if you go to Weeniepedia, in the Song Families category, you will find twenty-three versions of the song transcribed, almost all of which you can find on youtube.
All best,
Johnm