Topic: Ishmon Bracey's Lyrics

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I was able to find links for all of the performances transcribed in this thread.  It's a great thread-so much wonderful collaboration in figuring out Bracey's lyrics, many of which were particularly hard to hear.  I had to edit out a large number of out-of-control questions marks, too!
All best,
Johnm

[Lyndvs]

Trouble Hearted Blues take 2.Last verse.

Anybody aks you, who wrote this worried song
Anybody aks you, who wrote this worried song
Tell 'em you don't know the writer, he `pears(appears)to had his habits on.

Habits are religious garments....Ishmon appears to be making a little joke about a preacher singing the blues.
Makes sense.

[banjochris]

Having your habits on is also slang for being drunk/stoned.
Chris

[Johnm]

Hi all,
In the course of preparation for a book I'm writing, I've been re-visiting our collective transcriptions of the lyrics on a number of songs. We did a lot of hard work on Ishmon Bracey's "Suitcase Full Of Blues", a terrific, but extremely whupped record. We settled on the following line as the tagline for the first verse:

   Lord, my [ ? ] girl quit me, catch that mornin' train

Re-listening to the line, I think Ishmon Bracey sang,

   Lord my BEST girl quit me, catch that mornin' train

This makes the entire first verse:

   Hand me down my suitcase and reach my walkin' cane, walkin' cane, Lord,
   Down my suitcase, reach my walkin' cane
   Lord, my best girl quit me, catch that mornin' train

For the tagline to the last verse, we settled on:

   Says a no good woman, another man got your gal

Re-listening, I believe that tagline to be:

   LOVE a no-good woman, another man GOTS HER NOW

This would make the entire last verse:

   It's hard, hard, hard, I say, it's hard, hard, it's hard, Lord
   Hard it's hard,babe, say it's hard, it's hard
   Love a no-good woman, another man gots her now

Here is a video of Ishmon Bracey's performance so you can listen and see what you think.



All best,
Johnm

 

[dj]

Good ears, John!

For the first line of the last verse, I'd stick a "Lord" on the front, and the first "it's" is almost swallowed:

Lord 's hard, hard, hard, I say, it's hard, hard, it's hard, Lord

[Johnm]

Thanks, dj! I should have listened harder to that first two lines of the last verse, which I now believe to be:

   It's hard, Lord, 't's hard, I say, it's hard, 't's hard, it's hard, Lord,
   Hard, it's hard, baby, say it's hard, it's hard

All best,
Johnm

[tenderfoot84]

Hi all,

How would you characterise the rhythm on Trouble Hearted Blues? It's not a waltz. Is the fourth beat just left hanging? I never really thought about it before but it is very distinctive. I love how precise his wee outro is as well. It really contrasts with the sparse playing in the rest of the performance.

David

[Johnm]

Hi David,
"Trouble Hearted Blues" is a one-off structurally, I believe. Chordally, it is pretty simple, with each verse beginning on a IV chord which rocks to a I chord. That phrase is answered by a second phrase that starts on a V chord which then resolves to a I chord. The meter is mostly 4/4, but with an unusual accenting pattern, with the thumb hitting on beats one and three and the fingers answering the thumb strokes on "+ 2 +" and "+ 4 +", so that if you diagram that with T indicating thumb strokes and F indicating notes struck by the fingers it looks like this:

    1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
    T  F F F T  F  F F

As performed by Bracey, the song's structure ends up being more complicated than what I've described so far, because Bracey "goes long" at the end of some phrases, sticking on two extra beats in the last measure of a vocal phrase in some instances, in others, just vamping for a little while and holding a chord before moving on to the next phrase, and sometimes connecting chords with bass runs and breaking out of the picking pattern. The phrasing is further complicated by Bracey hanging fire from time to time to allow his spoken word accompanist to comment on the song as it is delivered. Taken in sum, it has a looseness and "in the moment" quality that is almost never encountered in present-day music. Here is the song, for folks who have not heard it before or not heard it in a while:



All best,
Johnm