Topic: Dick Justice lyrics

[LoneWolf]

Does anybody have the lyrics to Little Lulie and One Cold December Day? Thanks!!

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Dick Justice recorded "Brown Skin Blues" at a session in Chicago on May 20, 1929.  He accompanied himself out of E position in standard tuning for the song, and it's a terrifically strong and varied performance.  He certainly had heard and was influenced by Luke Jordan; many of the ideas in his solo derive from "Church Bells Blues", though Dick Justice's time was quite different from Luke Jordan's--much more driving and less straight-up-and-down.  It's a particular shame that Dick Justice never returned to the recording studio for everything he recorded that day, both solo numbers and ones where he backed a fiddler were exceptionally well done.  And ten strong tracks in one day is a spectacular day in the studio.  Here is "Brown Skin Blues":



   Won't you tell me, mama, honey, where did you stay last night?
   Won't you tell me, mama, where did you stay last night?
   With your hair all tatty and your clothes ain't on you right

   Look here, mama, honey, what you have done done
   Look here, mama, honey, what you have done done
   You done made me love you, now your man done come

   SOLO

   Lord, I'm leavin' you now to wear you off my mind
   Lord, I'm leavin' you now to wear you off my mind
   Babe, it's I been drinkin' and I don't mind dyin'

   When I met you, mama, you had no hair at all
   When I met you, mama, you had no hair at all
   Give me back the wig I bought you let your doggone head go bald

   SOLO

   Won't you tell me what time this train runs through your town?
   Won't you tell me what time this train runs through your town?
   I wanta laugh and talk with a long-haired teasin' brown

   One goes up at eight, honey, one goes down at nine
   One goes up at eight, honey, one goes down at nine
   I've got an urge to talk with the long-haired brown of mine

   SOLO

All best,
Johnm



 

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Dick Justice recorded "Little Lulie" accompanying himself out of C position in standard tuning. The song is well-known in the Old-Time tradition, and is most often sung as "Darling Cory".  Dick Justice shines just as well on this material as he did on his more bluesy numbers, and his boom-chang accompaniment is expert, backing the song perfectly.  Here is "Little Lulie":



   Wake up, wake up, little Lulie, what makes you sleep so sound?
   The highway robber's coming to burn your playhouse down

   If I had minded Daddy, Lord, I wouldn't been here today
   Drinking wine and good whiskey has caused me to run away

   I'll go up some dark hollow where the sun don't never shine
   There I'll sit with another man's woman, and I'll know she will never be mine

   I'll build me a steeple, up on the mountain so high
   So I can see little Lulie once more before I die

   I dreamt I saw little Lulie, setting by the sea
   An empty glass beside her and a .44 at her knee

   Young girls, young girls take warning, now take this warning from me
   Don't never leave your father for a gambling man like me

   The last time I saw little Lulie, she had a wine glass in her hand
   Drinking up her troubles and courting some other man

   Now if you see little Lulie, just tell her I am dead
   I'm lying in a lonely graveyard with a tombstone at my head

All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Dick Justice recorded "Old Black Dog" first at his one day in the recording studio, on May 20, 1929 in Chicago.  The song is a 16-bar blues in which a VI--II--V--I progression is played twice, with each chord being held two bars at a time.  Dick Justice played it out of C position in standard tuning, and "Old Black Dog" bears a strong resemblance to "Black Dog Blues", recorded by the mysterious Bayless Rose the following year (though "Black Dog Blues" is one of the only songs I can think of with a VI--II--V--I progression played out of D in standard tuning, and it does not repeat the VI--II--V--I progression in its second eight bars).  An unusual feature of "Old Black Dog" is its refrain; very few circle-of-fifth songs have a refrain.  Dick Justice was such a strong player and an especially nice singer.  It's a shame he didn't record more.  Here is "Old Black Dog":



   REFRAIN:  Old black dog when I'm gone, Lord, Lord,
   Old black dog when I'm gone
   When I come back with a ten dollar bill, and it's,
   "Honey, where you been so long?"

   My Daddy, he's a gambler
   He taught me how to play
   Told me to bet my money on
   Ace, deuce, jack and trey

   REFRAIN:  Old black dog when I'm gone, Lord, Lord,
   Old black dog when I'm gone
   When I come back with a ten dollar bill, and it's,
   "Honey, where you been so long?"

   SOLO

   Been all around Kentucky
   The state of poor Tennessee
   Anywhere I hang my hat it'll be
   Home sweet home to me

   REFRAIN:  Old black dog when I'm gone Lord, Lord,
   Old black dog when I'm gone
   When I come back with a ten dollar bill, and it's,
   "Honey, where you been so long?"

   SOLO

   See the train a-coming
   She's packing my casket a-low
   Going to the graveyard, where the
   Grave will be my home

   REFRAIN:  Old black dog when I'm gone, Lord, Lord,
   Old black dog when I'm gone
   When I come back with a ten dollar bill, and it's,
   "Honey, where you been so long?"

   SOLO

All best,
Johnm

[Gumbo]

thanks for this, John. I love the song but hadn't tracked down this version. I know it from a great current St Louis band - Pokey LaFarge and the south city three.

[Johnm]

Hi Gumbo,
You can find Dick Justice's version (and all the rest of his titles) on the Document CD, "Old-Time Music From West Virginia", DOCD-8004, which also has a bunch of stellar cuts from Frank Hutchison.
All best,
Johnm

[banjochris]

John -- Bayless Rose's version is in G, I think -- so it's a III-VI-II-V-I-V-I progression or something like that. The first part of it is sort of in D but then it comes back to G at the end. The only D raggy progression I can think of off hand is the end of Papa Charlie's "Airy Man."

[Johnm]

Oops, right you are, Chris!  What's really weird is that I know I described the progression correctly in the "Rag Blues and Circle of Fifths" thread (found at:  http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?amp;Itemid=128&topic=712.msg5953#msg5953).  Thanks for the catch.
All best,
Johnm

[Gumbo]

thanks John
that is a nice set. I have put it on my shopping list

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Harry Smith chose Dick Justice's recording of "Henry Lee" to open his "Anthology of American Folk Music".  According to the notes to that set, "Henry Lee" was categorized by the folklorist Francis Child as Child Ballad #68, "Young Hunting".  Dick Justice accompanied himself out of G position in standard tuning for "Henry Lee", using a simple boom-chang-chang accompaniment. Hearing his rendition, it's almost impossible to believe that this same musician recorded "Brownskin Blues", "Old Black Dog" and "Cocaine" on the same day in the same session. 
Justice does a really fine job singing the song, with the much-vaunted "objectivity" so highly valued by folklorists--no emoting, just singing strongly and well.  One especially nice Americanism in the version is his use of "plugged" in the second verse.  I'm not sure I have the bent bracketed phrase right; if I do, he pronounced "poverty", "property".  Here is "Henry Lee":



"Get down, get down, little Henry Lee, and stay all night with me.
The very best lodgin' I can afford will be fair better 'n thee."
"I can't get down, nor I won't get down, and stay all night with thee,
For the girl I have in that merry green land, I love fair better 'n thee."

She leaned herself against the fence, just for a kiss or two
With the little pen knife held in her hand, she plugged him through and through.
"Come all you ladies in the town, a secret for me keep,
With a diamond ring held on my hand, I never will forsake."

"Some take him by his lily white hands, some take him by his feet,
We'll throw him in this deep, deep well, more than one hundred feet.
Lie there, lie there, lovin' Henry Lee, 'til the flesh drops from your bones.
The girl you have in that merry green land still waits for your return."

"Fly down, fly down, you little bird, and light on my right knee.
Your cage will be of purest gold, in need of proverty [sic]."
"I can't fly down, nor I won't fly down, and light on your right knee.
The girl would murder her own true love would kill a little bird like me."

"If I had my bend and bow, my arrow and my string,
I'd pierce a dart so nigh your heart your warble would be in vain."
"If you had your bend and bow, your arrow and your string,
I'd fly away to the merry green land and tell what I have seen."

Edited 5/19 to pick up corrections from banjochris.

All best,
Johnm

[banjochris]

John, I'm a bit stumped by that line, too. I googled around a bit and see that Lyle Lofgren transcribed it a while back and has it as "in deed of property," which makes sense, but it sounds like Justice says "need" to me.

Two small suggestions, right before the bracketed bit you have "or" instead of "of" which I think is just a typo. And I think the two lines should be "I can't get down, NOR I won't get down."

Great song, very difficult to sing in his key (at least for me).
Chris

[Johnm]

Thanks very much, Chris, for the help.  You're right, I had a typo in that one place.  I like the sense of "nor" in those two places much better than what I had.  I think I'll continue to listen to that bent bracketed passage for a bit and see if any better hearing or ideas happen.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
The last song that Dick Justice recorded at his one recording session was "One Cold December Day".  Like "Henry Lee", it was played in waltz time and accompanied out of G position in standard tuning.  The song takes a kind of left turn from where it starts, and ends up being in the "In The Pines" family.  It would sound really nice with a full band treatment.  Here is "One Cold December Day":



   Down by a Western water tank, one cold December day
   In a bottom of an empty car, a dying hobo lay

   He had a girl in yonder's town, she dressed of silk so fine
   When she heard that poor old George was dead, she laid her silk aside

   "Oh mother, oh mother, let his coffin lay back, and lay his saddle aside
   So that I can kiss his sweet pale lips, well I know he'll never kiss mine."

   SOLO

   The longest train I ever saw was on the Georgy line
   The engine passed at six-fifteen, the cab rolled by at nine

   Look up, look down this lonesome road, hang down your head and cry
   (Guitar finishes verse)

   I see a dove in yonder's hill, she flies from pine to pine
   She's moaning for her own true love, and why can't I moan for mine?

   SOLO

   The longest train I ever saw was on the Georgy line
   The engine passed at six-fifteen, the cab rolled by at nine

   Look up, look down this lonesome road, hang down your head and cry
   (Guitar finishes verse)

All best,
Johnm 

   

[Johnm]

Cocaine - Dick Justice, Here is is:



Go on gal, don't take me for no fool
I ain't gonna quit you, pretty mama, while the weather?s cool
Around your back door, honey, I?m gonna creep
Just as long as you bring me two-and-a-half a week

I've got a girl, she works in the white folks' yard
She brings me meal, I swear she brings me lard
She brings me meat, honey, she brings me lard
She bring me everything, honey, that a girl can steal

Lord, the Barnum Bailey Circus rider came to town
They got the dancers lookin' nice and brown
They didn't know it was against the law
For the monkeys to stop at a five cent store
Well, just around the corner, just a minute too late
Another one standin' at the big back gate
I'm simply wild about my good cocaine

I stood my corner, hey hey!
Here come Sal with her note all tore
The doctor said she couldn't smell no more
Lord,run, doctor, ring the bell
The women in the alley
I'm simply wild about my good cocaine

Furniture man came to my house
It was last Sunday morn
Asked me was my wife at home,
Said she'd long been gone
Backed his wagon up to my door,
Took everything I had
He carried it back-a to the furniture store
Honey, I did feel bad

What in the world does any man got, now,
Messin' with the furniture man?
Got no dough, then for sure
Certainly will back you back
Take everything from an earthly plant
From a skillet to a fryin' pan
If there ever was a devil, boy, without any horn,
Musta been a furniture man

I hear you mama, hey hey!
Here comes Sal with her note all tore
Doctor said she couldn't smell no more
Lord, go doctor, ring the bell
Women in the alley
I?m simply wild about my good cocaine

A-Lord, the baby's in the cradle in New Orleans
The doctor kept a-whippin' till the baby got mean
Doctor whippin' till the baby got sore
Mama said she couldn't smell no more
Lord, go, Doctor, ring the bell
The women in the alley
I'm simply wild about my good cocaine

SOLO

I'm simply wild about my good cocaine

Edited 6/30 to pick up corrections from uncle bud

[uncle bud]

Shit, I really screwed that up. Must have clicked modify instead of quote. Off to repair this. Sorry, John.