Topic: Charlie Patton lyrics

[Blues Vintage]

I'll keep listening. I thought I heard it at one point for 1.1.
Is the North Star (Polaris) visible when the moon goes down?

Apparently this poet heard it too.

POETRY ON THE LOOSE - Moon Goin' Down

http://williamseaton.blogspot.com/2013/05/moon-goin-down-charley-patton.html

[MarkC]

I hear “North Star” too. Not sure if it’s followed by “‘bout” or “bound”.

[Stuart]

Thanks for the link, Blues Vintage. It's interesting. There's a lot of commonality between people who live in different places and at different times. I wonder if he found his way to Patton through Sam Charter's The Poetry of the Blues which was quite popular back in the day. His Chinese references are interesting as well. When it comes to poetic license, it's all fair game. Don't put any artificial limitations on yourself when composing poetry or otherwise, as a late friend and poet used to say.

[Stuart]

Like Mark C, I hear "...North Star bound..."

[waxwing]

I'll keep listening. I thought I heard it at one point for 1.1.
Is the North Star (Polaris) visible when the moon goes down?

Apparently this poet heard it too.

POETRY ON THE LOOSE - Moon Goin' Down

http://williamseaton.blogspot.com/2013/05/moon-goin-down-charley-patton.html

It's not quite explained by the text in the link. Polaris is always directly above the North Pole and therefore as the earth spins on its axis the stars in the sky seem to spin around it. For anyone in the northern hemisphere, it always remains in the same place in the sky, night and day actually, due north and at a height above the horizon determined by your latitude. The moon is carried around with the rest of the stars, dropping back about 15 degrees each night (a littleness than 13 degrees, really). If the moon is somewhat large and waning it goes down in the hours after midnight and before dawn. While a bright moon is in the sky, the stars, including Polaris, will be somewhat dimmed, especially if it is a muggy night with a lot of haze, pretty common in the delta. But once the moon sets, the stars shine bright.

The North Star is particularly important to those descended from slaves in America because when slaves were attempting to escape, being uneducated and therefor ignorant of maps and directions, they would look for the little dipper constellation which has Polaris at the tip of its handle, and 'follow the dipper' to freedom, navigating like a sailor. Charley may only be mentioning the fact that it is easier to navigate the flat delta when the moon is down and the stars are bright.

Wax

[Blues Vintage]

Great post, Wax.

I made some more changes and keep listening. I got my hands on a cleaner version. Send me a pm and I'll send it.

[Blues Vintage]

Re-listened to "Moon Going Down" again and again. Incorporated a few suggestions.
I think we're pretty close now, if anybody still wants to make another change let me know.

[sofingraw]

After listening about 40 times in a row now, and many more times over the past 8 years or so since my first swipe at it, I think this is pretty close for Dry Well. This is one of Patton’s most coherent narratives thematically, and it mirrors High Water as a firsthand account of a specific and real life natural disaster in the delta.

I think he’s telling the world the story, so he stays on topic.

The first verse is speaking generally, saying it’s hard living in this Lula heat, ‘lately’. He could be saying ‘Baby’, but I just can’t be sure. I don’t think he’s addressing his ‘baby’ about something interpersonal. He’s reporting a dire situation to his total audience. He’s telling you through the use of the word ‘our’ trees that he is a Lula resident himself. I don’t think he’s trying to communicate that he was living ‘at ease’ in Lula, even though as an opening line it COULD be used as a comparison to his current situation, the rest of the song clearly describes distress due to the heat and drought, and I think it starts on that theme. Plus, I simply don’t hear ‘at ease’.

Second verse I interpret as his personal complaint. He left another town to live in Lula, and decided to stay in Lula, giving up his living situation in the ‘other town’, and thus, bidding it goodbye. Presumably, just prior to the drought hitting or becoming critically serious. He bemoans his luck for having made that decision and is complaining that, beyond his ability to foresee, he’s come to see the day the Lula well had gone dry. Poor Charlie! What timing! 😩

The third verse is a report of a call for help from the citizens of
Lula, who presumably asked for help to save their poor well (perhaps from the lord, on Sunday? I definitely hear ‘Sunday’, which is
where and when the town would get together naturally, so this really works, IMO). If it’s not ‘Sunday’ as the first word of the last line, then it’s probably ‘So they’ all got together…

Fourth verse goes back to Charlie’s personal situation and complaint. He’s got no money, and now, with the drought and lack of water, no viable home in Lula, (and he bid the other town goodbye of course!) He mentions the ‘hot weather’ again, and this supports the possible earlier use of ‘Hot Weather’ as a phrase in the 2nd verse. I also think he says that most anybody doesn’t have any water, even on the bayou, (pronounced bye). This pronunciation is what Skip James used later on in the 60’s (March 30, 1968 Bloomington, IN) during a live version of ‘Devil Got My Woman’: “and I would tote all of her water, away from the boggy bayou (bye)…”

Fifth verse could either be ‘look down the’ or ‘they tell me’ the country. I support ‘They tell me the country’ because I hear it that way, and ‘look down the’, would make the word ‘the’ pronounced ‘thee’ which I think is awkward and he wouldn’t/didn’t do. I think it’s a short ‘e’, on ‘the’ pronounced ‘thuh’, with the long ‘e’ sound -which is present- being in the word ‘me’, which is much more natural.

Last verse is pretty straightforward, and a wonderful image. I do think he made a booboo and meant to say Lula WOmen in the second line, but just rolled with it. What’s one syllable among a smashing delta blues masterpiece? 😝

Dry Well Blues

Lately livin' at Lula, hard livin', that heat
Lately livin' at Lula, hard livin', that heat
Lord, the drought come and caught us an,
Parched up all our trees.

I just stayed over in Lula, bid another town goodbye,
Stayed, Lula, bid the other, town goodbye,
How would I (could be ‘Hot weather’?) come to know the day, lord, the ah,
Lula well has gone dry?

Lord the citizens 'round Lula, all was doin' very well,
Citizens 'round Lula, all was doin' very well
Sunday, all got together, an’ said, “save our po-or well!”

I ain't got no money, an I, sho' ain't got no home,
Lord I ain't got no money and, sho' ain't got no home,
The hot weather done come in, scorched all the cotton and corn.

Well, they tell me the country, lord, it'll make you cry,
Whole, country, lord, it'll make you cry,
Most anybody, lord, haven't any water on the bayou.

Lord, the Lula womens all, puttin' the Lula men down,
Lula mens, all put the Lula men down.
Lord, you oughta been there, lord
See the womens all leavin’ town.

https://youtu.be/fgFEJfsalvk?si=eJ91tb5nmg7-KsPt

[Blues Vintage]

I did this one about 3 ago.
I don't hear a lot of the changes you made on the first hearings.
In 6.2 he does sings "mens" but meant to sings "womens" as noted.
I'll keep listening, maybe the song needs to be re-examined.

Can you put the YouTube link above the lyrics?

[sofingraw]

Of course one can never be totally sure with Dry Well, but I’ve listened to it… QUITE a bit, and hundreds of those times with the express and singular purpose of trying to decipher the lyrics. I’m confident, if not certain about several of my suggestions. It’s one of my favorite songs, as it is yours as well One day we will get it! 😎