Was Listening to a Merline Johnson LP and came across these two ditties, the second ones a bit of a trifle
Also Jerron's great version: starts about 11:40
Also Jerron's great version: starts about 11:40
|
I saw a whole tree just disappear, sucked under by the current, then saw it shoot up, it must have been a hundred yards away. Looked like a missile fired by a submarine - J.M. Barry, levee worker's account from Rising Tide The Great Mississippi Flood Of 1927
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Was Listening to a Merline Johnson LP and came across these two ditties, the second ones a bit of a trifle
Also Jerron's great version: starts about 11:40 DavidCrosbie
Was Listening to a Merline Johnson LP and came across these two ditties, the second ones a bit of a trifleBut quite an influential trifle. It was covered in 1946 by Blue Lou Barker.. DavidCrosbie
The verse is from Leadbelly. I suspect one of Lonnie Donegan's sources was this recording that Leadbelly made with backing by Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston. Personally I think he sounds better with these white folkies than he does with the black Golden Gate Quartet. The latter were more polished musicians, but didn't have the enthusiasm and deep respect that Woody and Cisco had. At least one of the Quartet spoke rather disparagingly of Leadbelly in an interview. For both recordings he uses the same arrangement featuring the melody line on his guitar in unison with his voice or just solo. Many musicians since have copied this. And he uses more or less the same verses ? though only the recording with Woody and Cisco has an Elder Green verse. By contrast, when he recorded the song for the Library of Congress in 1935, he hadn't worked up the arrangement. And he was a bit stuck for verses. I suspect he subsequently picked up some verses from the Lomaxes. According to this site https://www.songfacts.com/facts/blue-lu-barker/dont-you-feel-my-leg Blue Lu and her husband Danny Barker were co-writers of Don't You Feel My Leg.
DavidCrosbie
Blue Lu Barker's 1938 version was issued as Don't You Make Me High ? the same title as Merline Johnson's record of the same year.
Tags: SOTM
|