Topic: Leroy Carr Lyrics

[dj]

Leroy Carr recorded "I Ain't Got No Money Now" in New York City on August 13, 1934.  It's a pop song, in verse and "middle eight" style, played in Eb.  There's a great instrumental verse in which Leroy plays rapid triplets over a boogie bass on the first half while Scrapper solos, then Scrapper chords while Leroy plays some nice treble runs.  Also, Leroy spices up his singing by doing a nifty falsetto on the first syllable of "money" in the last line of several verses.  I've indicated this with CAPS.

When I had plenty money I had friends for miles around
But now I ain't got money and all my friends turn me down
But what can I do?
I ain't got no money now

When I had plenty money then I had plenty friends
But now I'm down and out and all my friendship's at end
But what can I do?
I ain't got no money now

But the sun's gonna shine
In my back door someday
Then I won't have to be dogged around
Mistreated any old way

And it's mighty strange to me without a doubt
Why your friends don't want to know you when you're all down and out
But what can I do?
I ain't got no money now
Whoa babe, I ain't got no MONey now

Instrumental

Now I used to take my friends out for a great big time
Buyin' them booze Champagne liquor and wine
But what can I do?
I ain't got no money now

Sometimes I wonder why my friends want to pass me by
Because I'm down and out I guess that's the reason why
But what can I do?
I ain't got no money now

Some people don't like me
And others they just hear my name
But that's alright
I'll get by just the same

Someday I'll have money and be back on my feet again
Then I'll know just who to take baby for my friend
What can I do?
I ain't got no MONey now
Oh babe, I ain't got no MONey now

 

[Bunker Hill]

Leroy Carr recorded "I Ain't Got No Money Now" in New York City on August 13, 1934.  It's a pop song, in verse and "middle eight" style, played in Eb. 

And in at least three verses seems to have taken its inspiration from "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out."

[GhostRider]

DJ I hope you'll allow this slight diversion but the above observation was from memory but having now listened to Bessie Smith's 1929 recording of the Jimmy Cox composition I just had to transcribe and post. Please feel free to remove.

Hey Bunker:

I did the lyrics to "Nobody Knows..." some time ago.

http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?amp;Itemid=114&topic=669.0

Thankfully we agree. (except I have eagle's grin for your eagle's green)

Alex

[Bunker Hill]

DJ I hope you'll allow this slight diversion but the above observation was from memory but having now listened to Bessie Smith's 1929 recording of the Jimmy Cox composition I just had to transcribe and post. Please feel free to remove.

Hey Bunker:
I did the lyrics to "Nobody Knows..." some time ago.

Thankfully we agree. (except I have eagle's grin for your eagle's green)

Argh, that'll teach me not to perform a forum search on the assumption that non-CB lyrics wouldn't be cited hereabouts. Duh, I'm gonna delete that post since your link provides what's needed.

You are right of course about "grin". I just suspected that in the context of the song it was an allusion to the coin becoming a greenback in better times.

[Stefan Wirz]

no lyrics there, but let me throw in the fact that there's now (the beginnings of) a Leroy Carr discography

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I'm sorry, but the recording I have "Corn Likker Blues" on has nothing in the way of session information, but the song features Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell playing out of D position in standard tuning.  I didn't check the pitch.
Leroy's (and Scrapper's) playing on this song is masterful, but it is Leroy's vocal that really stands out.  His singing reminds me of Lester Young's playing behind Billie Holiday:  sad, sad, sad.  Knowing how and when in his life Leroy died makes the lyrics all the more telling.  They have the ring of truth.  There's such a thing as knowing yourself too well.

   I love my good corn likker, and I really mean I do (2)
   I don't care who knows it, and I really mean that, too

   Now, I been drinking my good corn likker, I mean, don't no one get rough
   I been drinking my good corn likker, now men, don't no one get rough
   I try to treat everybody right, but I mean, don't start no stuff

   Give me another half a pint, and maybe I'll go home
   Ummm, and then maybe I'll go home
   The reason why I'm getting drunk today, I swear my baby's gone

   Some folks like their alcohol, but give me my corn, oh babe, all the time
   Ummm, my corn all the time
   The reason why I love it so well, it's so soothing to my mind

   So give me some old corn likker, if I get drunk just please take me home
   So give me some old corn likker, if I get drunk please just take me home
   I ain't gonna bother nobody, just let the good times, sweet babe, roll on

   Ummmmm, Ummmm,
   Ummmmm, Ummmmm,
   Ayyyyyyyy, Ayyyyyyyyy, Ummmmmmmm

All best,
Johnm   

[Bunker Hill]

Hi all,
I'm sorry, but the recording I have "Corn Likker Blues" on has nothing in the way of session information...

Recorded for Vocalion in St. Louis, 21 February 1934.

[Johnm]

Thanks for that information, Bunker Hill, and for the information on the Wade Walton thread, too.  My hodgepodge remembrances there had some significant gaps and errors.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Leroy and Scrapper recorded "Shady Lane Blues", a beautiful song with the melody that Robert Johnson would later use for many of his "A" tunes like "Me and the Devil Blues".  The duo allows for a lot of solo space in this rendition.  In some ways, I suppose it is an unambitious take, pretty much letting the tape roll with Leroy and Scrapper doing what they will, which makes the power of the take all the more impressive.  This is beautiful singing and playing.  I recorded this song many years ago with a sort of Buddy Boy Hawkinsish approach to the accompaniment.

   Now, I've got a girl, she lives down on Shady Lane (2)
   I love that girl, but I'm scared to call her name

   SOLO

   It's gonna be one of these mornin's, swear, and it won't be long (2)
   I'm gonna catch the first thing smokin', and down the road I'm goin'

   Well, my home ain't here, baby, it's way out in the West (2)
   In the Smoky Mountains, where the eagle builds his nest

   SOLO

   Did you ever love a girl, a girl you hate to lose? (2)
   Don't lose your temper when you've been drinking booze

All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I picked up the new JSP "Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell, Volume 1" set this past week-end and have been enjoying listening to the duo's work, which is much more varied than I had thought.  One lyric that is a real stand-out is that of "Straight Alky Blues Part 3", recorded on March 19, 1929 in Chicago.  To the extent that blues lyrics are generally perceived to be about the singer's life, these lyrics are unusually frank, since they pertain to  performance problems brought on by excessive alcohol consumption.  Leroy Carr sings these beautifully, as was generally the case with him.  He had a quiet, sweet, sad way of singing the blues that reminds me of the way saxophonist Lester Young played the blues. 
For the solo on "Straight Alky Blues Part 3", Leroy and Scrapper break out of the relaxed shuffle they'd been playing in up to that point and switch to a straight eighth, duple "trucking" feel that is very effective, switching back to the shuffle feel for the final four bars of the solo.

   My baby said, "Papa, papa, well you ain't no good at all."
   My baby said, "Papa, papa, well you ain't no good at all."
   "You ain't no steel-drivin' man when you drink straight alkyhol."

   My baby told me she'd go riding with me in my car
   My baby told me she'd go riding with me in my car
   But when my tires go soft, my baby won't ride very far

   Ooooooooh, that alky put ideas in your head
   Ooooooooh, that alky put ideas in your head
   But sometimes your body can't do what those ideas said

   SOLO

   Ooooooooh, that straight alky sure has done me wrong
   Ooooooooh, that straight alkyhol sure has done me wrong
   It took all of my money, and now my baby's gone

All best,
Johnm
       

[Johnm]

Hi all,
A strikingingly different song, really one of a kind, that can be found on the new JSP "Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell, Volume 1" set is "I'm Going Away And Leave My Baby", recorded on December 20, 1928 in Chicago.  The title was never issued, despite being a perfectly clean take, and I think I can see why.  It is not the lyrics that make this song so different from others in the genre but the song's structure.  "I'm Going Away And Leave My Baby" employs a twelve-bar form with a refrain, but it's unlike any twelve-bar form I've previously encountered, because instead of working out as three four-bar phrases, it is in four three-bar phrases.  It's a tribute to how much our musical expectations are conditioned by our listening to songs in the style, because I'd venture to say that anyone who has listened a lot to this music is really going to be thrown by Leroy's vocal entrance in bar four.  He's not early though, he's perfectly regular, and it is the structure itself that is out of the ordinary.  It must be said to Scrapper Blackwell's credit that he is not thrown by the unusual phrasing scheme at all.  The song is played in D flat and works out so:

   |    D flat    | G flat  G flat minor  |     D flat    |

   |    D flat    | G flat  G flat minor  |     D flat    |

   |    G flat    |        G flat minor    | G flat  G flat minor |

   | D flat/A flat  | D flat D flat7 G flat G flat minor |      D flat    |

In the tenth bar, the D flat with an A flat in the bass functions as a V chord.  In the next to last bar, the turn-around progression is played with one beat per chord.  Here are the lyrics.  The refrain happens over bars seven--twelve.  If you have a chance to hear this song, check it out, for it's a real ear/mind-opener.

   Going to leave you, baby, 'cause you treated me wrong
   And when I'm going, baby, I'll be singing this song
   REFRAIN:  Going away and leave my baby, away and leave my baby,
   Going away and I don't mean maybe and I'm leaving, early in the morn

   I'm going to leave you, baby, 'cause all you do is fight
   And I've got another mama, what's a-treating me right
   REFRAIN

   When you say I need you, you know it's a lie
   'Cause I can find more women, than there's stars in the sky
   REFRAIN

   Don't you start to crying, 'cause it won't do no good
   I was a soft papa, but now I'm made of wood
   REFRAIN:  Going away and leave my baby, away and leave my baby,
   Going away and leave my baby and I'm leaving, early in the morn


   You said you loved me, baby, but you know it ain't so
   I've got a cold mama, and I might as well go
   REFRAIN

   Oncet I believed you, baby, when you were telling lies
   I am through, baby, so say your last good-byes
   REFRAIN:  I'm going away and leave my baby, away and leave my baby,
   Going away and I don't mean maybe and I'm leaving, early in the morn

All best,
Johnm
 

   

       

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell recorded the mis-titled "Love Rides All" at a session in Chicago on August 12, 1929.  For the song, Scrapper capoed way up and played out of D position, and his playing is just stellar.  Listen to the first line of the first verse and you see what the song should have been called.  Or perhaps JSP just got the title wrong on their "Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell" set.  Does anyone who has DG&R know how the song's title is listed there?

Love hides all faults, sometimes make you do things you don't want to do
Love hides all faults, makes you do things you don't want to do
Then love sometimes, leave you feeling sad and blue

Now, I once loved a woman, but she did not mean me no good
Now, I once loved a woman, ooooo, but she did not mean me no good
She give me so much trouble, I had to move from her neighborhood

Love is like the faucet, sometimes the water runs cold
Love is like the faucet, sometimes the water runs cold
When the one you love don't love you, that's when your love turns old

If I had someone to love me, just like I could learn to love
If I had someone, oh Lord, to love me, just like I could learn to love
I would give myself to the devil, my soul to the good Lord up above

All best,
Johnm 

[banjochris]

Listed in B&GR/DG&R as "Love Hides All Faults." Document has it as "Love Rides All" as well.

Son House used to sing that first verse quite a bit.
Chris

Edited to add -- Vocalion had it right. JSP probably picked up Document's error:

[Johnm]

Thanks for checking on that information, Chris, I appreciate it.  At first I thought the original record company stiffed the title, but then I found a video with the obvious right title, and it made me wonder if JSP just screwed up.  Thanks for clearing up the mystery.
All best,
Johnm

[Pan]

Hi all,

Sorry if I'm picking the most obvious Leroy Carr tune, but I'm trying to figure out the lyrics to Leroy Carr's and Scrapper Blackwell's 1928 version of "How Long, How Long Blues", and could use some help. Especially the beginning of the 2nd verse is unclear to me. I've seen it transcribed as "Went and asked at the station: 'why's my baby leavin' town?", but it doesn't sound to me like that's what Carr is singing. Any other corrections are of course welcome.
Here's what I've got:

How Long, How Long Blues   -Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell, key of E-flat


How long, babe how long,
Has that evenin' train been gone?
How long, how, how long,
Baby how long?

Here, and I stood at the station, watch my baby leavin' town,
Blue and disgusted, nowhere could peace be found.
For how long, how, how long,
Baby how long?

I can hear the whistle blowing, but I cannot see no train,
And it's deep down in my heart baby, there lies an aching pain.
For how long, how, how long,
Baby how long?

Sometimes I feel so disgusted, and I feel so blue,
Then I hardly know what in this world, baby, just to do.
For how long, how, how long,
Baby how long?

And if I could holler, like I was a mountain jack.
I'd go up on a mountain, and I'd call my baby back.
For how long, how, how long,
Baby how long?

And if someday you gonna be sorry, that you done me wrong
But it will be too late, baby, I will be gone.
For so long, so long,
Baby so long.

My mind get to rambling, I feel so bad.
Thinkin' about the bad luck, that I have had.
For how long, how, how long,
Baby how long?


Here's a YouTube video of the song. Thanks for any help.

Cheers,

Pan



Edited as kindly suggested by Banjochris, Johnm, and Waxwing.