"You can't play no blues unless you have some hard times. Young people today, I don'y care whether they're black or white, they didn't come up like Muddy and me, they come up too easy" - Howlin' Wolf to Peter Guralnick, Feel Like Going Home.
I agree with you, Lindy, with the exception that I would leave the "y" out, so it would end up being "miserous", or "miserest" as in either, "having or characterized by having misery" or "most miserable". The vowel sound in the first syllable is a short "i" sound, like in "hit", and there is also a soft "s", almost like a "z" at the end of the first syllable.
As long as we're on the topic of Muddy Waters lyrics, here's one I'm stumped by, his version of Rollin' and Tumblin' on this LP:
I'm perplexed by the verse at about 2:20-2:25. This is what I've always heard:
Well I could-a had a-ligion [sic], this bad old thing __________. Well I could-a had religion, this bad old thing ___________. Well now whiskey and women, would not let me be.
However, sometimes I wonder if I'm hearing a Lady Mondegreen for "a-ligion" and "religion." In the second line I hear a very faint "a" before he sings the "re" in what I think is "religion."
Phonetically, the words in the blank sound to me like "mm-bay" or "nn-bay," which at one time I thought might be "mm babe," but there's no "b" sound in the last part of the word.
FWIW, that ancient bluesman Jeff Beck sings "I could-a had religion in this bad old Sunday."
Muddy recorded several versions of this song, but this is the only one that *I* know contains this verse. I also think he never recorded an acoustic version. If there are any big MW fans out there who know otherwise, do tell.
Hi Lindy, I think he's singing "this bad old same day", which would make it much the same meaning as "this very day" which is sung by other singers at that place in that verse. All best, Johnm
« Last Edit: January 26, 2021, 01:15:27 PM by Johnm »
Well I could-a had a religion, this bad ol' thing, hmm, ba'(be)? Well I could-a had a religion, this bad ol' thing, hmm, ba'(be)? Well now whiskey and women, would not let me be.
I think you are hearing "a religion", Lindy. He phrases it differently, but all the sounds are there. Then he refer's to himself as "this bad ol' thing," and then jokingly asks his woman, "hmm, babe?" A contraction of "babe" to "bay" is not uncommon. I think Muddy was a jokester. He admonished Van Ronk that Hootchie Cootchie Man was suposed to be funny.
Wax
Logged
"People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it." George Bernard Shaw
“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.” Joseph Heller, Catch-22
OK, I'll go with John's input, Chris's "pray," and Wax's "a-religion." Sometimes I still hear the same "thing" word that Wax hears, and sometimes not.
I'll offer these lyrics, all of which are standard in most versions of this song, except for the last verse (which I've never heard in any other song, have you?):
Rolling and Tumbling Muddy Waters (one of many versions, this one from "The Real Folk Blues")
Well I rolled and I tumbled, I cried the whole night long. x2 Well I woke up this morning, didn’t know right from wrong.
Well I told my baby, before I left that town. x2 Well don’t you let nobody, tear my barrelhouse down.
[Hums and scats one verse.]
Well if the river was whiskey, and I was a diving duck. x2 Well I would dive to the bottom, never would I come up.
Well I coulda had a religion, this bad old same day. x2 Well now whiskey and women, would not let me pray.
« Last Edit: January 26, 2021, 05:54:19 PM by lindy »
I'll offer these lyrics, all of which are standard in most versions of this song, except for the last verse (which I've never heard in any other song, have you?):
[snip]
Well I coulda had a religion, this bad old same day. x2 Well now whiskey and women, would not let me pray.
Son House sings it in "Preachin' the Blues Part 1" – I would assume Muddy got it from Son. Chris
My two cents - that recording is so clear, and all the other lyrics so easily understood, that I wonder if Muddy just forgot those words while recording and fudged them.
Maybe there’s another song with that blues couplet somewhere.
Muddy Waters – Vocals, Guitar Jimmy Rogers – Guitar Johnny Jones – Piano Leroy Foster – Drums
Chicago, Illinois Ca. September 1949
Piano in E
Screamin' and cryin' thinkin' about my past life and gone Screamin' and cryin' thinkin' about my past life and gone Well you know I used to have a sweet little mother well boy you know I had such a happy home
Screamin' and cryin' thinkin' about the time have been Screamin' and cryin' thinkin' about the time have been Well you know I used to have seven wives well boys you know I used to have twenty girlfriends
Screamin' and cryin' wonderin' where’s my peoples gone Screamin' and cryin' wonderin' where’s my peoples gone Well you know I feel my poor self sinkin' down child I don’t think I can last very long
« Last Edit: March 05, 2021, 07:51:01 AM by Harry »
Muddy Waters – vocals, guitar Otis Spann – Piano James Cotton - Harmonica Pat Hare - Guitar Andrew Stephens - Bass Francis Clay - Drums
Newport, Rhode Island July 3, 1960
Piano in G
I got my brand on you, I got my brand on you I got my brand on you, I got my brand on you There ain't nothin' you can do, I got my brand on you
Well, you may go away and leave me, but I ‘clare you can’t stay, you gonna come runnin' home, baby, home to me some day I got my brand on you, I got my brand on you There ain't nothin' you can do, I got my brand on you
I don’t put my brand you know, baby, on no certain part, but when I kiss you, darlin’, I’ll stab it in your heart I got my brand on you, I got my brand on you There ain't nothin' you can do, I got my brand on you
Well, you know you can call on your doctor, baby, there ain’t nothin’ he can say, but shake his head, baby you know, and slowly walk away I got my brand on you, I got my brand on you There ain't nothin' you can do, I got my brand on you
GUITAR/PIANO SOLO
Well, you know I got you, baby you know, like a fish out on the line, I can reel you in, darlin’, most any time I got my brand on you, I got my brand on you There ain't nothin' you can do, I got my brand on you