When they took me to the studio first - that was Joe McCoy and Mayo Williams - they let me wait about for hours because the studio wasn't free. So I said to myself "What the hell's the use of this; I better go home to see to my customers and give them that moonshine" - Kokomo Arnold, in Paul Oliver's Blues Off the Record
I'm being fooling around with this for a while, it being perhaps Joe Holmes most accessible song in terms of trying to come up with a playable version, and so I just wanted to check out my version of the lyrics. The guitar is so integrated I've tried to show where it picks up the lines in place of vocal. Here is "Tell Me Baby":
Tell Me Baby, played out of Vastapol, ~E
1. Guitar intro verse
2. Ah, tell me baby, what fault you find by me? I'm gonna find my suitcase, beat it back to Tennessee
3. gtr...hold my hands and cry...gtr.....I've been treated so sly, now Tell me baby, what fault you find of me? I'm gonna pack my suitcase ......gtr...
4. Nickel is a nickel, dime is a dime, wish I had a lovin mama by me all the time Call her baby! I'm gonna pack my suitcase .....gtr....
5. Nickel is a nickel, dime is a dime, got a house full of children, nair one of them mine Oh tell me baby......gtr....
6. Baby I can't se, Honey to save my life, why we can't get along as just man and wife Ah tell me baby, what fault you find of me I'm gonna pack my suitcase ....gtr..
7. My Momma told me, Poppa told me too, told me whiskey and women gonna be ruin of you I call my baby, what fault you find.....gtr......
8. Gtr verse
9. Gtr verse - end hurried. (I suppose the red light came on)
« Last Edit: August 18, 2020, 11:40:48 AM by Johnm »
7. My Momma told me, Poopa told me too, all these Western women gonna be round on you
Phil -- I think you've got most of this right, excepting a few words here and there (I'm pretty sure it's "beat it back" in the chorus, for instance), but this one line is pretty different -- it should be:
I say Mama told me, Papa told me too, told me whiskey and women gonna be the ruin of you, etc. Chris
Thanks Chris, I've edited the above to include the changes. I knew it was "beat it" but always fall back on S.J.Estes' "ease it" hence to error. Richard, I'll find the CD and post an mp3 because it's agreat performance and he has a terrific slide tone.
Apart from wit and abuse, Richard and I offer a nice line in cheap surgery. We've got a rusty old knife and fork, plus a hammer (for the hammersthetic) so you don't have to worry about the expense. As a friend, we might even offer you a freebie.
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"I ain't good looking, teeth don't shine like pearls, So glad good looks don't take you through this world." Barbecue Bob
Trying my luck with this title here...what do you think? In the middle it changes the AAB-format. I think it?s a great song, like it much more than the flipside. Edited in corrections by banjochris, June 9. Here is "Times Has Done Got Hard":
King Solomon Hill - Times Has Done Got Hard
[spoken]*Knocking* That?s the rent man! You know it must got tough if he comin? here befo? rent?s due!
Aaaah baby, darling, we got to move, (2x) It?s something wrong, must be no good, that mailman is ridin? through.
I say, that rent man, he won?t stand no square, I say, that rent man, he say he ain?t goinna stand no square, And I ain?t gonna stand none of his foolishness, I?ll move before I?ll stay here.
Time has got so tough, I can?t pay my rent, And my old brownskin worries me so bad that I ain?t got my real good sense.
I done spent my money, then I done pawned my clothes, Soon as I told my brownskin ?bout it she kicked my clothes outdoors.
[spoken] Boys, these times is tough!
[record skips]
Hmmmm, I won?t be bad no more, Mama, don?t get mad with me, yet you kick my clothes outdoors.
Lord, I?m blue, I won?t try that kid no more, I say doggone a woman ain?t got no more care than to kick my clothes outdoors.
[spoken] Baby, these tough times will make you do most anything! Won?t me!
I?m goin? sing this song, I?m goin? moan for joy, I say goodbye brownskin, hello high brown, hello boys, (end???) From Brewers Hill, Milwaukee, I?m goin? back to Chicago.
« Last Edit: August 22, 2020, 10:03:45 AM by Johnm »
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You canīt trust your baby when the ice man comes hanging around
2.2 he SAY HE ain't gonna stand no square 2.3 And I ain?t gonna stand none of HIS foolishness, I?ll move before I?ll STAY HERE.
4.2 Soon as I told my brownskin 'BOUT IT she kicked my clothes outdoors.
6.1 Lord I BELIEVE, I WON'T TRY THAT KID NO MORE 6.2 I say doggone a woman ain?t got no more CARE than to kick my clothes outdoors.
spoken -- I think he says WON'T ME at the end, in other words the tough times won't make him stoop so low
7.1 I?m goin? sing this song, I?m goin? moan FOR joy,
All additions highly welcome. Yes, the second last line causes me a lot of headache.
There is an essay by Alex van der Tuuk on the Paramount?s Home-site and he cites the very last line with the "from Milwaukee to Chicago" in it. I?ll look for it, it was about some suburb of Milwaukee, and maybe edit it, too. EDIT Done. I guess I should have thought of this before, he is THE authority on the Paramount label : http://www.mainspringpress.com/nyrl-L.html
Quote
Artists were sent to Milwaukee?s black district, around Third Street, close to the railroad station, known as Brewers Hill. .. On King Solomon Hill?s recently found Pm 13125, ?Times Has Done Got Hard,? Hill refers to this district:
From Brewers Hill, Milwaukee, I?m going back to Chicago.
« Last Edit: June 09, 2011, 04:53:45 PM by Blind Arthur »
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You canīt trust your baby when the ice man comes hanging around
It's Open-G. Tell Me, Baby is one of the best examples of a vocal-guitar exchange: sometimes he sings a line, sometimes he plays it; his high voice only serves to accentuate this. Absolutely brilliant! Even though there's a sameness to most of his recordings (Gone Dead Train, the exception), they're very haunting.