Country Blues > SOTM - Song Of The Month
SOTM 24 June 2016 Salty Dog
Old Man Ned:
I've got a soft spot for old ragtime songs, particularly played on the guitar. For this months SOTM I've chosen Salty Dog. Though I can't determine who originally wrote this I understand it to be an old ragtime song that has got picked up by Jazz bands, songsters, blues singers, country and bluegrass musicians. Enjoy....
First up is the early recording I could find, from 1926 by Papa Charlie Jackson
An example of a couple of Jazz band performances from 1926 by Freddie Keppard
and Sidney Bechet
From the 1930's comes recordings from Sam Collins (1931)
Clara Smith with Fletcher Henderson on piano in 1936
Kokomo Arnold recorded a version in 1937
and Bo Carter in '38
INTRO SOLO
Everybody talkin' 'bout a salty dog, how 'bout you bein' my salty dog?
I'm talkin' 'bout a cute little old salty dog
Everybody wants a little salty dog, how 'bout you bein' my salty dog?
I'm talkin' 'bout a cute little old salty dog
I want you to be my salty dog, how 'bout you bein' my little salty dog?
I'm talkin' 'bout a cute little old redhead salty dog
Everybody wants a little salty dog, how 'bout you bein' my salty dog?
I'm talkin' 'bout a sweet little old salty dog
SOLO
Everybody wants a salty dog, how 'bout you bein' my salty dog?
I'm talkin' 'bout a cute little old salty dog
Everybody wants a little salty dog, how 'bout you bein' my salty dog?
I'm talkin' 'bout a redhead salty dog
I wants me a cute little old salty dog, how 'bout you bein' my salty dog?
I'm talkin' 'bout a sweet little old salty dog
How 'bout you be my salty dog, everybody talkin' about a salty dog
I wants me a sweet little old salty dog
More recent recordings were made by Leadbelly
Blind Willie McTell
and Mississippi John Hurt
though I expect these guys had been playing this tune from way back
and finally, good to see the tune being kept alive by the Carolina Chocolate Drops
All the best,
Old Man Ned
Johnm:
Thanks very much for your Song of the Month choice and the versions you posted, Old Man Ned. It is a great tune, for sure! Here are a couple of more versions:
from the Allen Brothers
SOLO
Come here, mama, what's on your mind?
Daddy wants to love you but you won't give him time
You ain't nothin' but a salty dog, oh salty dog,
Ha ha ha ha, ha ha, hey, hey, hey
I got a gal, she's six feet tall
Sleeps in the kitchen with her feet in the hall
She ain't nothin' but a salty dog, oh salty dog
Ha ha ha ha
SOLO
I got a gal, she's raised in the sticks
She does her lovin' in a Packard twin six
She ain't nothin' but a salty dog, oh salty dog
Ha ha ha ha
I got a gal, she rides a riverboat
She'd make a good mule just leave his oats
she ain't nothin' but a salty dog, oh salty dog
Ha ha ha ha, hey hey hey, blow it, brother, blow it!
SOLO
I got a gal, she looks so bum
But she's got more ways to lovin' than Wrigley's got gum
She ain't nothin' but a salty dog, oh salty dog
Ha ha ha ha ha ha, hey hey hey
Two little nigras layin' in the bed
One rolled over and the other said,
"You ain't nothin' but a salty dog, oh salty dog."
Ha ha ha ha
SOLO
from the McGee Brothers, obviously from Papa Charlie, but wild harmony!
SOLO
Won't you let me be your salty dog, I don't want to be your man at all
Salty dog, salty dog, my honey babe, just let me be your salty dog, salty dog
Salty dog, let me be your salty dog
SOLO
Little pinch of powder and a little pinch of paint, makes your complexion look what it ain't
You salty dog, you salty dog, my honey babe, just let me be your salty dog, salty dog
Salty dog, let me be your salty dog
SOLO
Like lookin' for a needle in a pile of sand, to find a woman ain't got no man
Salty dog, salty dog
Ain't but a-one thing bothers my mind, all these women and none is mind
Salty dog, salty dog, my honey babe, just let me be your salty dog, salty dog
Salty dog, let me be your salty dog
SOLO
Three barrels of whiskey and a four barrels of gin, the headman ain't home and you can't get in
You salty dog, you salty dog, my honey babe, just let me be your salty dog, salty dog
Salty dog, let me be your salty dog
SOLO
Little fish, big fish swimmin' in the water, Come on back here, boy, and give me my quarter
You salty dog, you salty dog, my honey babe, just let me be your salty dog, salty dog
Salty dog, let me be your salty dog
from Flatt & Scruggs. Who is singing lead? It sure isn't Lester!
All best,
Johnm
Lignite:
Fiddler Benny Sims sang lead on the Flatt and Scruggs recording of Salty Dog. The Morris Brothers (Wiley and Zeke) from Old Fort, NC seem to have been the ones who introduced this song to the bluegrass crowd. They recorded it for the Bluebird label in 1938 as Let Me Be Your Salty Dog and re-recorded it for RCA Victor in 1945 as the Salty Dog Blues.
http://picosong.com/x9LY
Lastfirstface:
Nice string band instrumental (plus kazoo!) by the Booker Orchestra:
Prof Scratchy:
Thanks Old Man Ned - so many versions there that were new to me, including ones by very 'mainstream' CB artists.
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