Topic: Texas Alexander's Lyrics

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Texas Alexander recorded "Gold Tooth Blues" backed by Little Hat Jones, in San Antonio, on June 15, 1929.  Little Hat's accompaniment, played out of E in standard tuning, is much like the one he used for "98 Degree Blues", transferring many of Lonnie Johnson's licks into the position that was more comfortable and familiar for him.  You can hear Little Hat using a dissonant A7flat9, X-0-X-3-2-3, that he similarly used in his own "Kentucky Blues" in the sung line following Alexander's hummed passage.
There are interesting variations on familiar Blues lyrics themes here.  I am not sure I have the last word in the song correct, and any help would be appreciated.  I do not get the sense of the tag line in the third verse.



   I used to have a woman wit' a front tooth crowned with gold
   I used to have a woman, Lord, Lord, front tooth crowned with gold
   Says, I wouldn't mistreat her, not to save nobody's soul

   Oh, tell, me, woman, what's gettin' the matter with you? (2)
   You been actin' so funny and I ain't done nothin' to you

   SOLO:  12 bars

   Woman, the way you've been doin', y' know you can't harm poor me
   Says, the way you've been doin', you can't harm poor me
   Says, the way you got done, you can't stop the Santa Fe

   Mmmm, mmmm w/guitar, 4 bars
   Lord, the way you got doin', can't stop the Santa Fe
   Says, I can beat you doin' what you're tryin' to do to me

   Says, I woke up this mornin', 'tween midnight and day
   I woke up this mornin', 'tween midnight and day
   Say, I thought I heard my woman when she kindly [stayed]

All best,
Johnm
     

[Bunker Hill]

FWIW Eric Townley in his Tell Your Story: A Dictionary of Jazz & Blues Recordings 1917-1950 (Storyville, 1976) on page 296 identified the historical background of the title, St. Louis Fair Blues, thus:

"St Louis, Missouri, was the city chosen for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 which was held on a 1400 acre site in Front Park. This international exposition was held to commemorate the hundreth anniversary of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France."

I'm sure chapter and verse about this event can found on the internet but I'll leave that for others to investigate.

[dj]

I wonder if the 1904 fair is the one Alexander is referring to.  That would have occurred 24 years before St Louis Fair Blues was recorded, when Texas Alexander was four years old.  Of course this could be a song that Alexander learned from some older source, or the 1904 Fair could have still been on peoples' minds in 1928.  But was there some annual fair at St Louis that would have been well known as far away as Texas?  The Missouri State Fair has been in Sedalia since it's inception in 1901, so it wouldn't be that.  There is a Fairgrounds neighborhood in St Louis, on the site of the old St Louis County Fair, which was last held in 1902.  Could Alexander have been singing about a visit to a neighborhood in St Louis and not to an actual fair?

[Johnm]

The length of time between the 1904 Fair and the Alexander recording struck me, too, dj and Bunker Hill.  This song seems a good candidate for some earlier version whose lyrics, at least in the first couple of verses, were lifted by Texas Alexander for his version.  It's hard to believe people would even know what Fair he was singing of, twenty-four years after the fact.  Hmmm.
All best,
Johnm

[dj]

There's a St Louis, Texas, which is now a part of Tyler, about 50 miles east of Dallas, halfway between Dallas and Shreveport, LA.  Was there a fair held there in the 1920s?  Research is ongoing...

[dj]

The East Texas State Fair is held in Tyler (which is actually 91 miles from Dallas).  I haven't been able to determine if it was held there in the 1920s and if so if it was held in or close to St Louis.  If it was, I'd be willing to bet that this was what Texas Alexander was singing about.

Hey, Slack, don't you have vast knowledge of Texas historical trivia?  Help us out here!        

[Slack]

Hey, Slack, don't you have vast knowledge of Texas historical trivia?  Help us out here!     

No, I'm form El Paso, not Texas. 

But I know someone who is a Texas trivia expert -- I'll run it past her.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Texas Alexander recorded "Deceitful Blues" in Ft. Worth, Texas, on September 30, 1934, backed by the duo guitar team of Willie Reed and Carl Davis, who is a new name to me.  The duo gets a very smooth sound with a nice lift in the back-beat that I'm inclined to attribute to Willie Reed.  Both guitarists sound to be playing in dropped-D, a tuning rarely encountered in Texas players apart from Mance Lipscomb.  Carl Davis, who I think is handling the lead guitar and fills, has a nice touch with a pick, and sounds as though he had heard Lonnie Johnson, Walter Vinson and Gene Campbell, though without being obviously derivative of any of them. 
Texas Alexander's singing at this stage of his career continues to sound great, but he appears to be developing a mannerism of eliminating internal pauses in his lines, so that he often ends his lines early, in funny places relative to the pulse.  I suspect this may have been a little disconcerting to his accompanists, for in such instances you begin to doubt your own orientation as to where you are in the form.  Probably the best thing is to listen and accommodate the singer, but not let it worry your mind to much.  Easy advice from our present vantage point!



   Some people say, worried blues, they ain't bad (2)
   But they's the worst old feeling, man, I ever had

   I said, the brownskin woman deceitful, yellow gal, she is worse
   Oh, brownskin woman deceitful, yellow gal she is worse
   I'm gonna get myself a black gal, then play safety first

   Don't you wisht your woman was built up just like mine?
   Don't you wish your woman built up just like mine?
   I say she's tailor-made and she ain't no hand-me-down

   I'm gonna trade this Lincom (sic), get me a Cadillac 8 (2)
   It takes all of my time, tryin' to keep my business straight

   Every time I need my woman, that's the time she's gone
   Every time  I need her, that's the time she's gone
   I'm goin' get my baby, baby, gonna carry it back home

All best,
Johnm

[Bunker Hill]

I wonder if the 1904 fair is the one Alexander is referring to.  That would have occurred 24 years before St Louis Fair Blues was recorded, when Texas Alexander was four years old. 

Yeah, point taken. I've just dug out two LPs the song was first reissued on. Guido van Rijn in his 1982 notes to the Agram just quotes the Storyville entry without comment. GvR is the most punctilious person for fact checking I know and would have done his damnedest to verify this, but no internet then.

The other LP is the second of four TA volumes released by Matchbox (1984) but Paul Oliver skates over the topic with the observation "...even if he was only four years old when the St. Louis Fair took Place". I guess he must have been skeptical, too. As others here have observed, TA probably was referencing a more recent, local event.

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Texas Alexander recorded "Long Lonesome Day Blues" backed by Lonnie Johnson at their first session together, in New York City on August 11, 1927.  Lonnie sounds in very fine form and they work well together. 
Alexander's opening verse is very similar to that used by the Carter Family in their song "Sad And Lonesome Day", but diverges from that point onward, with the Carter Family hewing to a version of "One Kind Favor" and Alexander moving on to more conventional Blues concerns.  I am not sure about the bent bracketed word in the last verse; any clarification, corroboration or correction would be appreciated.



   Said, today have been a long old lonesome day (2)
   But it seem like tomorrow gonna be the same old day

   Ahh, tell me, sweetie mama, how you want your rollin' done?
   Ohh, tell me, sweetie mama, how you want your rollin' done?
   Says, I want to do just like my old-time rider done

   Ahh, umm, Lordy, Lordy, Lord
   Mmmm, mmmm  w/guitar, 8 bars
   I want to do, do do like my old-time rider done

   Don't a woman act funny, she's gonna put you down?  (2)
   She jumps in the bed with her face all full of frowns

   Woman, you done [jelly] your last old time for me (2)
   I said, you done jelly your last old time for me

All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Texas Alexander recorded "Texas Special", backed by Carl Davis at a session in San Antonio on November 27, 1929.  It is the only Alexander song I have heard thus far in which his accompanist backed him out of C position in standard tuning.  Carl Davis gets off to an odd start on this one; after playing a fairly elaborate turn-around in G, Texas Alexander comes in singing in the key of C, and Davis goes right with him.  Davis sounds very well like he might be flat-picking.  His playing is reminiscent of some of Lemon Jefferson's playing in C, some of Ramblin' Thomas's, like "Sawmill Moan", and some of Memphis Willie B.'s playing on the two Bluesville albums Samuel Charters recorded of him in the '60s, without being obviously beholden to any one player for his style.  He has a lot of nice individual touches. 

Texas Alexander is in magnificent voice and comes up with some terrific original (as far as I know) verses here.  I particularly like verses one and three.  The set-up line for verse two occasions a resounding "Huh?".  For the second joint humming/guitar solo, Alexander hums a melody I now realize he sings from time to time on his recordings (I will check which other songs he sings it on) during his hummed solos.  It is quite beautiful, and goes like this, with the note of the scale indicated over the chord against which it is sung:

     III            IV            V            flatVII   
   |      I       |      I      |      I      |      I      |
     VI            V-IV         III
   |     IV      |     IV      |      I      |      I      |
In the ninth bar, Alexander comes back in singing the tagline from the previous verse.

I have been fortunate to have been loaned, by Ryan Leaf, the Agram album of Texas Alexander that Bunker Hill alluded to earlier in this thread.  I have never seen a better put-together Country Blues re-issue, it really is superlative, full of quotes and anecdotes from a variety of friends and family remembering Alexander, including Lightnin' Hopkins, and interesting biographical information, e.g. Alexander's given name was Alger, he died in Richards, Texas, and is buried in the Longstreet Cemetery in Grimes County, Texas.  Photos are included, as well as guitar analysis and lyrics, which I have resisted looking at.  The album has the additional advantage of being a selection of performances recorded by Alexander throughout his career, so there is not the heavy dose of particular accompanists you get from a purely chronological re-issue of his recorded performances.  For anyone who is seriously interested in Texas Alexander, I think this re-issue would be cheap at anything less than $50.00 if you can find it on e-Bay or in a store--it is that good.



   When the Blues come to Texas, they come 'round through the woods (2)
   Then they stopped by my house, done all the harm they could

   When I leave this time, paint your windows green
   When I leave this time, paint your window green
   Said, if I don't never die, woman, I'll be-e-e seldom seen

   I'd rather see my coffin rollin' up to my back door
   I'd rather see my coffin come rollin' up to my back door
   Than to hear my woman say she can't use me no more

   Mmmm, mmmm w/guitar, 8 bar solo
   Than to hear my woman say she can't use me no more

   I'd rather see my brother come in staggerin' drunk (2)
   Than to see my woman, Lord, packin' up her trunk

   Mmmmm, mmmmmm w/guitar, 8 bar solo
   Than to see my woman packin' up

All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Willie Reed and Carl Davis collaborated as accompanists for Texas Alexander again on "One Morning Blues", recorded in Fort Worth on September 30, 1934.  Reed takes the lead here, I believe, with a very smooth archetypal-sounding "Texas A" accompaniment.  Davis's seconding is very discreet, he gives the back-beats a nice lift and the two guitarists really listened to each other exceptionally well.
I love Alexander's opening line; his invocation of God in non-conventional contexts in a lot of his verses is unusual and striking, I think.  The set-up line in verse two sounds like it is describing hysteria.  I can't recall such language elsewhere in blues lyrics.  Any help with the bent bracketed phrase at the tail end of the tagline of the second verse would be appreciated.



   One morning, one morning, when God began to break his day (2)
   I was settin' here wonderin', "Where is my babe today?"

   She went away laughin', wringin' her hands and cryin' (2)
   Says, "I believe my man, he's on the [Johnny run]."

   One morning, one morning, when God began to break day
   One morning, one morning, when God began to break his day
   Says, I wonder, I wonder who's been layin' in my old woman's place?

   I said the graveyard, graveyard, is a low-down dirty old place (2)
   They'll put you in it, pat dirt all in your face

   What in the world's gettin' the matter, I can't sleep at night? (2)
   I had the blues so bad 'til I losed my appotite (sic)

All best,
Johnm
   

[Bunker Hill]

Any help with the bent bracketed phrase at the tail end of the tagline of the second verse would be appreciated.
   She went away laughin', wringin' her hands and cryin' (2)
   Says, "I believe my man, he's on the [Johnny run]."

Guido van Rijn in his transcription in the Agram booklet gives "Johnny Ryan" which was a topic of discussion some years prior to that LP's release when the usage was discovered in another song. Trouble is at present I can't for the life of me think of the context/explanation given. I'll worry away at it and the light bulb might glow!

[Johnm]

Hi Bunker Hill,
If anyone can remember where else Johnny Ryan appeared, I reckon you can.  I will wait for the other shoe to drop.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Texas Alexander recorded "Texas Troublesome Blues" in San Antonio on June 9, 1930, backed by the Mississippi Sheiks, or at least a version of the Mississippi Sheiks.  The Angram release alluded to earlier in this thread cites the Sheiks' personnel for this session as Bo Chatman (sic), violin, Sam Chatman, guitar, and Walter Vinson, guitar.  If this is, in fact, Bo playing fiddle on this track, he played a hell of lot like his brother Lonnie, the Sheiks' regular fiddler, and I mean a hell of lot.  The fiddle tone on this track is identical to Lonnie's.  The guitars back the fiddle out of Bflat with Walter Vinson, I believe, doing the heavy rhythm playing, and Sam, if it is indeed him, doing a high guitar part living on the top four strings.  There is a thread on the site entitled "Sheiks Mystique", I believe, that gets into the rhythm-playing approach of the Sheiks' rhythm guitarist (most often Walter Vinson).
On the face of it, the pairing of the Mississippi Sheiks with Texas Alexander was an odd one; they were from two different parts of the world and the Sheiks' background was much stronger in Pop than Alexander's.  His forte was certainly blues.  The combination turned out great, though.  Texas Alexander sounds perfectly comfortable backed by the heavy time of Walter Vinson, and I think his degree of comfort is indicated in the extent to which he sings the repetitions of his set-up lines with variations almost every time.  He doesn't sound like he feels he needs to adhere strictly to his script.  This is a very strong track.



   Says, I've been worried, almost bothered in mind
   I've been worried, almost bothered in mind
   Says, I want to see my woman that I left behind

   Sometime I think my woman to good to die
   I say, sometime I think my woman too good to die
   Then again I think she ought to be buried alive

   Said, love me, woman, love your good man just right
   I said, love me, woman, love your man just right
   You can give me plenty lovin' but we won't have no fuss and fight

   SOLO

   My woman, she told me, told me, 'fore I ever left home
   I said, she told me, told me, 'fore I ever left my home
   Say, you got a new way of jellyin', I declare, carry you away from home

   Says, I know my baby, baby, sure gonna jump and shout
   Lord, I know my baby, baby, sure gonna jump and shout
   Ahh, when the train rolls 'round, Lord, I come walkin' out

All best,
Johnm