Topic: Memphis Jug Band Lyrics

[slezakjosef]

That's great!
Thank you very much Joe!

[creaminjaysquawkins]

Stanza 3, verses 1 & 3:  from memory "springs and a corset back", surely?  Not that I have any great faith in my memory these days. 

[Suzy T]

This is the hardest song to make out the lyrics! The instrumental intro is just wonderful. The singing too, with the different voices running on a parallel track. When I look on the web, what I read doesn't bear that much resemblance to what I hear.  I'd be curious to know what other people hear. Here is a link to a Youtube:


 
The following is as far as I've gotten with this (not very):

Memphis Jug Blues

Eh Drop drop down mama like the showers of rain
Eh Drop drop down mama like the showers of rain
Boy every once in a while I think I hear my baby call my name
(yes boy what?d she say?)

And she got a man got a ?kid??
?(Hey now)
He went and got so ?. Mama cannot keep it hid
(What kind of gal was that?)

(I said oh now sugar baby)
??like mine?  (hey now)
But every time she?.. behind (lordy lordy now)

I ain?t gonna do it no more
Woman ?my ..

Ah I ain?t gonna do it no more (sugar baby lord)
Ohhh, ain?t gonna do it no more (hey now)
Say if you did not want me mama why don?t you tell me so  (lord lord lord)

Hey I stuck with you mama when you did not have no man at all (I said oh now sugar baby)
I stuck with you baby when you did not have no man at all (what?d you do boy?) (hey now)
Now baby you must want me, for to be your lowdown dog (what?d you tell her)

Oh, baby what?s the matter now (oh sugar baby)
Oh, mama what?s the matter now (hey now)
I said you trying to quit me, mama and you don?t know how (lordy lord lord)

I said you ever dream lucky boy Wake up cold in hand (I said oh now sugar mama)
You ever dream lucky, wake up cold in hand (hey now)
When you dream ?..about woman got another man (lordy lord lord)

[banjochris]

Suzy, here's what I'm hearing:

Eh Drop down drop down mama just like the showers of rain
Eh Drop down drop down mama like the showers of rain
Boy every once in a while I think I hear my baby call my name
(yes boy what?d she say?)

And she got a man on a man done got a kidman on a sheikin' kid
Hey man on a man done got a kidman on a sheikin' kid (other voice says fakin')
(hey now)
Kid man done got so buggy lord partner just won't keep it hid (other voice says can't)

(What kind of gal was that?)

Hey don't you wish your easy roller was little and cute like mine?
(other voice: Lord Lord, Lord, Lord, little and cute like mine)
(I say oh now, sugar baby)
Wish your easy roller, little and cute like mine?
(hey now)
But every time she walk, lord she reel and rocks behind.

Hey, I'm gonna do something for you baby, I ain't gonna do it no more
(I say oh now, sugar baby)
I do something for you baby, I ain't gonna do it no more
I'm gonna start another woman, let my good gal go
(lord lord lord)

Ah, I ain't gonna go tell you no more
(sugar baby lord)
Oh, I ain't gonna tell you no more,
(hey now)
Babe if you did not want me, mama why didn't you tell me so
(lordy lord lord)

And if I stuck with you mama, you did not have no man at all
( [can't make out second voice at beginning] if I say oh now sugar baby)
I stuck with you baby, you did not have no man at all
(what'd she do boy)
Now baby you must want me, for to be your lowdown dog.
(What'd you tell her)

Oh, baby what?s the matter now
(oh sugar baby lord)
Oh, mama what?s the matter now
(hey now)
Oh babe you trying to quit me, mama and you don?t know how
(lordy lord lord)

I said you ever dream lucky boy, wake up cold in hand
(I said oh now sugar mama)
You ever dream lucky, wake up cold in hand
(hey now)
When you ain't got a dollar, lord your woman got another man.
(lordy lord lord)

Chris

[Rivers]

And there's another occurrence of that interesting old lyric archetype that loosely goes "did you ever dream lucky and wake up cold in hand" which we have discussed on and off over a long period of time. Searching the site using google yields:

Barbecue Bob - Barbecue Blues
Tommy Johnson - Lonesome Home
Kid Bailey - Rowdy Blues
William Harris - Bullfrog Blues
Bo Weavil Jackson - Some Scream High Yellow
and now...
Memphis Jug Band - Memphis Jug Blues

"Cold in hand" also appears in several songs without the "dream lucky"

You've got to wonder who coined it. I need to work it into my everyday musical conversation, practising various deliveries. I'm thinking Clint Eastwood, Dirty Harry style might work.

[Suzy T]

Thank you Chris, This all makes a lot of sense (at least, as much sense as any MJB song ever does!)

[Chezztone]

I always thought it was:

She got a man on her man, got a kid man on her stinkin kid

In other words, she has a husband and a boyfriend and an outside man on each one of them!

[banjochris]

It sure sounds like sheikin' to me. The use of "fakin'" by the second singer leads me to think it's being used as a euphemism for the f-word.

That said, I agree with you about what the verse is about!

[frankie]

I agree with Chris on "sheikin'" - that's definitely what it sounds like to me and neither suggestion seems to change the overall sense of the line.

I do hear one line a little different...  minor..

Kid man done got so buggy lord partner just won't keep it hid (other voice says can't)

Kid man done got so BUGGISH lord partner just won't keep it hid

[banjochris]

Could very well be buggish. I believe Sleepy John sings buggish. That last line was hard for me to get exactly because of the second voice.

[arlotone]

I was just learning this song and found banjochris's transcription above very helpful!

What was referred to as the "alternate take" above was actually recorded in a different session, in 1932, released as the Picaninny Jug Band, and apparently reissued from an inferior quality record. The higher-fidelity version is from 1934 and has some different personnel, but Charlie Burse sings lead on both.

One small contribution I can offer is that the third verse from the 1932 version is "I'm telling everybody in my neighborhood / I can't quit this girl 'cause she treats me good," or something close to that. Burse sings something similar in the 1934 version of "Take Your Fingers Off It," along with verses about "wouldn't say yes but I can't say no" and "getting loose."

[arlotone]

Every transcription I've ever seen of the Memphis Jug Band's "Cocaine Habit Blues" says, "ask Alma Rose at Minglewood," but in listening recently it doesn't really sound like "Mingelwood" to me. I don't really hear the leading M, and the G sounds more like a J ... like Angelwood or perhaps Englewood.

Am I crazy? Is anything else known about Alma Rose or the rest of the story to associate this with Minglewood? Google didn't turn up anything notable about an Angelwood or Englewood in Memphis, but I have some friends there I could ask.

[Johnm]

Hi arlotone,
I think you have it right.  Just listening now, it sounded pretty clearly "ask Alma Rose down (in) Englewood", with "Englewood" pronounced with a soft g.  Hattie Hart definitely does not sing the word "at" either.
All best,
Johnm

[arlotone]

I asked a friend in Memphis about this and he said there is an Englewood Street, not too far from downtown (also an Inglewood Place, out in the suburbs).

I also asked Preston Lauterbach, who wrote about cocaine chants and Mr. Lehman's drugstore in his book Beale Street Dynasty. He said Englewood Street was a white residential neighborhood at that time and not likely to be a Memphis Jug Band haunt. He suggested an alternative interpretation of the line: "ask Alma Rose that's in the woods," meaning she's gone crazy.

[waxwing]

To me that has always sounded like "Ask Alma Rose an' 'Lijah Wood" as in Elijah, pronounced to rhyme with Elysian Fields. Maybe the 'lysian Wood is next to the field, but that would put it in New Orleans. But phonetically, more like "leejah" than "enjell" I think the an' or at are pretty interchangeable, either ending with an indistinct glottal stop.

Points for naming the extremely famous play that the Elysian Fields of NO is referenced in?

Wax