Here's the Little Hat Thread from the old list; I've obfuscated the email addresses for anti spam purposes. It's in a couple of chunks as it was too long for the list engine to accept first time:
-------------------- ?32 ?--------------------
Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 21:37:04 -0400
From: uncle bud
Subject: Re: [BWC] Little Hat Jones
At 11:41 AM 6/5/99 +1200, you wrote:
>I got into Kentucky Blues after I heard Book's live album. I transcribed
>_his_ lyrics - they are on the weenie site in my set and might save you some
>typing but you need to check them against the original, which I didn't have
>at the time. Frank emailed me and pointed out that the town he mentions is
>'Seguine', Texas, not 'Zucchini' (!) which was my guess at the time, and I'm
>sure there are other differences. Hopefully we'll soon be able to replace
>those lyrics with the certified set we're working on now.
>
>It is in E, std tuning, and plays really well.
Yup, it's in E (again, I think it's capoed up a fret). I play it like so:
E chord with a high G, then F# then E in the high E, then some goddawful
chord ;-) for which I substitute an A with the same melodic riff of G, F#,
E, then back to the E pattern. After that it's a C#-like chord: don't know
exactly what it's called but is fretted x4x404 (sliding up from 2nd fret in
the same position) - that Charlie Patton chord :-). Then everything down a
fret for a beat to C with the same chord, then back up to C#. Then an F#7
(fretted xx4320 or thumb over top 2x4320), Am (and add the F# on the high E
for the melody), back to E. Turnaround is the standard E7 position moving
down from the 5th fret of the A string.
So that's E, A, E, C#, F#7, Am, E.
I was just playing this this morning. Don't sing it yet, and those lyrics
are pretty tricky to decipher. I am off to find mark's lyrics from Book's
version right now!
See Frank's message for where to get more Little Hat on CD. I have the 2nd
one he refers to. I must admit, the two Little Hat tunes on the yazoo
compilation are the best of the bunch (tunes I really love). Some of the
other material is similar, not quite as well executed or reproduced. The
Story of Blues is a lot cheaper than the Document here in Montreal.
Cheers,
Andrew
-------------------- ?33 ?--------------------
Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 22:31:33 -0400
From: uncle bud
Subject: Re: [BWC] Little Hat Jones
After checking out Mark's transcription of Roy Bookbinder's version of
Kentucky Blues I've come up with the following for Little Hat's version.
Corrections, dissenting opinions welcome! What with the submarine line? The
fourth verse is a problem too...
Kentucky Blues (Little Hat Jones)
Standard tuning key of E
Well whilst we here tryin' a have our fun,
The law jumped up and said "Nobody run"
Well you know I'm long gone from Kentucky,
Long gone, I'm got away lucky
Cause I'm gonna leave Seguine, I'll be just like a submarine.
Well my woman poked her head from [
] the bed
She said please don't let them kill Mr. Little Hat dead
It's no use a-worryin' sweet mama, ain't gonna be here long
Told her not to sing this worried song
Cause I'm gonna leave Seguine, I'll be just like a submarine.
Well once I knowed a man they called him Austin Jack
Stopped and put the bloodhounds right on my track
Course the [blind] just could not catch my scent,
You know they couldn't tell where the Little Hat went
Cause I left Seguine, he was just like a submarine.
Well in come the [s?
? Peters??] fussin' and cryin'
Oughta see me when I reach up [l?
c?
] [turn blind?]
They said that's another long gone from Kentucky
Long gone and I'm got away lucky
Cause you left Seguine, you just like a submarine.
I'm gonna sing this song ain't gonna sing no more....
Cause I'm leavin' San Antone, I declare I ain't comin' here no more
Well I don't play the dozens and neither the [ten],
Cause you keep on talkin' I'll ease you in
Well you keep on talkin' till it make me mad,
Gonna tell you about your [mothers] that your father had
Cause I don't play the dozens, I declare man and neither the [ten]
Andrew
-------------------- ?34 ?--------------------
Date: Sat, 5 Jun 1999 14:34:46 +1200
From: rivers
Subject: Re: [BWC] Little Hat Jones
Frank inquired:
: Mark, can you take a peek in your copy of Blues & Gospel records? ?I know
: there's scads of Texas Alexander material - can you eyeball it to get an
: idea of how much material LHJ may have played on? ?Is it just a couple of
: tunes?
Glad to. There's a nice feature of B&G - the x-ref'd alternate indexes (i
know - indices). I looked him up in the index to accompanists and also the
main index by artist. Here it is:
Little Hat Jones as accompanist:
Backing Texas Alexander (only LHJ as accompanist session listed BTW):
Sat 15 June 1929, San Antonio TX
Double Crossing Blues, OK 8745
Ninety-Eight Degree Blues, OK 8705
Second take of Ninety-Eight Degree Blues originally unissued, reissued on
CDs: RnB CK47467, RnB(Eu) 468770-2, RnB(J) SRCS5678
Someday Baby Your Troubles Is Gonna Be Like Mine, OK 8771
Water Bound Blues, OK 8785
Awful Moaning Blues - Part 1, OK 8731
Awful Moaning Blues - Part 2, OK 8731
Gold Tooth Blues, OK 8705
Johnny Behren's Blues, OK 8745
Little Hat Jones' sessions as the primary artist:
Sat 15 June 1929, San Antonio, acc. own guitar
New Two Sixteen Blues, OK 8712
Two String Blues, OK8712
Fri 21 June 1929, San Antonio, acc. by unknown female vocal:
Rolled From Side To Side Blues, OK 8794
Hurry Blues, (may be mislabelled, prob should be Worried Blues), OK 8735
Little Hat Blues, OK 8794
Corpus Blues-1, OK 8735
Sat 14 June 1930, San Antonio
Kentucky Blues, OK 8815
Bye Bye Baby Blues, OK 8815
Cross The Water Blues, OK 8829
Cherry St. Blues, OK 8829
If you want any matrix numbers let me know.
Mark.
-------------------- ?35 ?--------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 22:38:49 -0400
From: frankie
Subject: Re: [BWC] Little Hat Jones
Andrew writes from allthewayupthere in Canada:
>E chord with a high G, then F# then E in the high E,
I'm with you so far... ;-)
>then some goddawful chord ;-) for which I substitute
>an A with the same melodic riff of G, F#, E,
Hey! ?Ok, I admit that it's dissonant, but it's cool! ?Try this:
x02323
yup, that's a Bb on the third fret of the G string. ?Think of this change -
E7 -> Edim, except with the A in the bass, creating all that groovy tension.
>So that's E, A, E, C#, F#7, Am, E.
I find this easier to explain in TAB (apologies to those with delicate,
artistic sensibilities who find TAB existentially objectionable). ?Use a
fixed pitch font to view:
?E (add melody) ? ?C# ? ? ?** ? ? ? ?F#7 ? ? B7/A ?E
?1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & ? 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & ? 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
e-3---2-0---------|---4-----3-4-----|-0---0---0-2---0-
B-----------------|-----------------|---2---2------(0)
G-----------------|---4-4---3-4-4---|----(3)------2-1-
D-----------------|-----------------|-----4-------1---
A-2---2---2---2-3s|-4-------0-------|---------0-------
E-0---0---0-------|-----------------|-2---------------
?1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & ? 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & ? 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
e-------0---0---0-|-0---------------|-----------------
B-----------------|-----------------|-----------------
G-----4---3---2---|-1---------------|-----------------
D-----------------|-----------------|-----------------
A-2---5---4---3---|-2---------------|-----------------
E-0---------------|-0---------------|-----------------
** there wasn't really enough room to say this up there - this isn't really
a "chord change" so much as it is an example of parallel motion. ?The notes
on the 1st and 3rd strings are moved one fret down while the open A string
is struck. ?If I *had* to give it a chord name, I'd call it Edim/A, but I'll
swear I didn't mean it
. ?The turnaround is likewise a familiar example of
parallel motion as Andrew pointed out.
So, the chords as I've trotted them out would look like:
E ? ? ?- 022100
