Topic: Clara Smith: Clearing House Blues lyrics?

[Oscar Wolf]

Here is "Clearing House Blues":



Clara smith:   Clearing house Blues

There's a gang in town, that hangs around
with a pencil writing numbers down
from  monday morn' till saturday dawn
with a pack to put your numbers on
now folks take my advice
i'd rather roll the dice

oh those clearing house blues, oh  those clearing house blues
now folks it may sound funny
that's how i lost my money
it seems to me as if i 'm all broke down
since i lost my change i lost my feel skin brown ??

oh those clearing house blues oh those clearing house blues
i had all kinds of dream  i planned all kinds of scheme  ??

my clothes all in soap  ?
and my pockets gone broke
i've got those clearing house blues, oh those blues , i got those clearing house blues

[dj]

I don't have this song, but if you attach an mp3 here, I'll take a listen.

[banjochris]

I can't exactly help with the Clara Smith recording, but here's a transcription of the Rosa Henderson version, which is pretty much identical except for two lines. "In soak" means in pawn. Also, Coco, a favor -- when you do transcriptions if you use normal capitalization and punctuation it'll eventually be easier to put the lyrics into Weeniepedia for future reference without someone having to go through and reformat. Thanks!
Chris

There's a gang in town, that hangs around,
With a pencil writing numbers down,
From Monday morn to Saturday dawn,
With a pad to put his numbers on,
Now I'm going to refrain,
I'm never play again.

Oh those clearing house blues, those clearing house blues,
Now folks it may sound funny,
That's how I lost my money,
It seems to me as if I'm all broke down,
Since I lost my change I lost my seal-skin brown.

Oh those clearing house blues, those clearing house blues,
I had all kind of dreams,
I planned all kinds of schemes,
My clothes are in soak,
My pockets gone broke,
I've got those clearing house blues, those blues,
I've got the clearing house blues.

(band plays)

Oh those clearing house blues, those clearing house blues,
Now folks it may sound funny,
That's how I lost my money,
It seems to me as if I'm all broke down,
Since I lost my change I lost my seal-skin brown.

Oh those clearing house blues, those clearing house blues,
I've had all kind of dreams,
I planned all kinds of schemes,
My clothes all in soak,
My pockets gone broke,
I've got clearing house, oh those blues,
I've got clearing house blues.

[Oscar Wolf]

Thanks Bancjochris

That was good help
I wrote the lyrics at the same time i heard the song, i don't know what do you mean with "normal capitalization", i asked for help to complete my work that's all, if you want i can re-write lyrics.

Thanks

Coco

[banjochris]

Coco -- no big deal, I just meant capitalizing the beginning of each line, capitalizing Monday, Saturday etc. Only reason is if we copy someone's transcription to Weeniepedia it saves time.
Chris

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I wonder if anyone who has D, G & R could identify the accompanying instrument and the accompanist on this track (a link to the performance is in the first post in the thread).  It sounds like a tiple, and I wondered if that is what it was.  Thanks very much for any help.
All best,
John

[banjochris]

John –
According to D, G & R, it was recorded 27 April 1924, with Fletcher Henderson on piano and Charlie Dixon on guitar. Interestingly, the first two songs of the session are credited with Henderson on ukulele. It certainly sounds like it could be uke and guitar, but it also sounds to me like there's a very distant piano possibly being played on the track.
Chris

[Johnm]

Thanks very much for that information, Chris.  It sounds to me like a guitar playing boom-chang and the ukulele playing all the lead and treble chordal work.  I definitely do not think that the lead lines and sophisticated chordal work are being played on a guitar--the timbre doesn't sound right for a guitar.
All best,
Johnm

[banjochris]

Thanks very much for that information, Chris.  It sounds to me like a guitar playing boom-chang and the ukulele playing all the lead and treble chordal work.  I definitely do not think that the lead lines and sophisticated chordal work are being played on a guitar--the timbre doesn't sound right for a guitar.

I agree with you on that – likely not listing the uke on that track is a slight mistake either from the book or the original session records.