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Author Topic: Little Hat Jones lyrics  (Read 32504 times)

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Offline DavidCrosbie

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Re: Little Hat Jones lyrics
« Reply #120 on: August 09, 2018, 07:11:13 PM »
Somebody called Glen Weiser posted Kentucky Blues on YouTube with some background notes and a transcription which I think is broadly correct. I've made a few changes, then copied a few more changes from Ghost Rider and Dingwall.

Quote
Well whilst we here tryin' to have our fun
'Spose the law jumped up and said, 'Nobody run!'
Well, you know I'm long gone, from Kentucky
Long gone, an' I'm got away lucky
'Cause I'm gonna leave Seguin,
I'll be just like a submarine

Well, my woman poked her head out from way under the bed
Said, 'Please don't let them kill Mister Little Hat dead'
I said, 'No use worryin', sweet mama, I ain't gonna be here long'
Tell her I love to sing this worryin' song
'Cause I'm gonna leave Seguin,
I'm gonna be just like a submarine

Well I once'd to know the man, they call him Austin Jack
Stopped and put the bloodhounds right on my track
'Cause the bloodhounds just could not catch my scent
You know, they couldn't tell where Little Hat went
'Cause I left Seguin,
People, I was just like a submarine

Well here comes the Santa Fe just puffin' and flyin'
Oughta seen me when I reached up and really caught them blinds
They said, 'There's another long gone - from Kentucky
Long gone - an' done got away lucky
'Cause he left Seguin,
He's just like a submarine'

I want to sing this song, ain't gonna sing no more....
'Cause I'm leavin' San Antonio, I declare I ain't coming here no more

Well, I don't play the dozen and neither the ten
'Cause you keep on talkin', I'll ease you in
When you keep on talkin' till it makes me mad
Well I'll tell you 'bout the mothers that your father had
'Cause I don't play the dozen, I declare man, and neither the ten
 
« Last Edit: August 09, 2018, 07:51:35 PM by DavidCrosbie »

Offline Rivers

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Re: Little Hat Jones lyrics
« Reply #121 on: August 09, 2018, 07:18:33 PM »

Offline Slack

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Re: Little Hat Jones lyrics
« Reply #122 on: August 09, 2018, 07:27:32 PM »
"Well, whilst we here tryin' to have our fun, s'posin' the law jumped up and said "Nobody run!""

I had to laugh at the first line... "whilst"?.... musta been one of those bloody English transcribers!!  :P

Offline Rivers

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Re: Little Hat Jones lyrics
« Reply #123 on: August 09, 2018, 07:28:30 PM »
 O0

David, check out page 1 of this thread. We invested an insane amount of hours and brain cells on this many years ago.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2018, 07:29:49 PM by Rivers »

Offline DavidCrosbie

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Re: Little Hat Jones lyrics
« Reply #124 on: August 09, 2018, 08:01:38 PM »
Rivers, it was your link that sent me to this thread. I saw Page 1, and thought that Glen Weiser's version was better.

At first I didn't catch on how long the  thread was, so I posted something before I discovered the versions by Ghost Rider and Dingwall. I've now modified my posting to include what I think are (to my ear) the best bits from those two.

Offline Rivers

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Re: Little Hat Jones lyrics
« Reply #125 on: August 09, 2018, 08:07:19 PM »
I will give it some headphone time, compare and report back. Things don't tend to get promoted to weeniepedia without rigorous debate, and/or annotations indicating disputed hearings, but who knows.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2018, 08:10:31 PM by Rivers »

Offline Rivers

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Re: Little Hat Jones lyrics
« Reply #126 on: August 09, 2018, 08:29:38 PM »
First up, here are the two transcriptions side by side, verse by verse

Proposed changesweeniepediaComments
Well whilst we here tryin' to have our fun
'Spose the law jumped up and said, 'Nobody run!'
Well, you know I'm long gone, from Kentucky
Long gone, an' I'm got away lucky
'Cause I'm gonna leave Seguin,
I'll be just like a submarine

Well, whilst we here tryin' to have our fun
s'posin' the law jumped up and said "Nobody run!"
Well you know I'm long gone, from Kentucky
long gone and then got away lucky
'Cus I'm gonna leave Seguine,
I'll be just like a submarine

Well, my woman poked her head out from way under the bed
Said, 'Please don't let them kill Mister Little Hat dead'
I said, 'No use worryin', sweet mama, I ain't gonna be here long'
Tell her I love to sing this worryin' song
'Cause I'm gonna leave Seguin,
I'm gonna be just like a submarine

Well my woman poked her head out from way under the bed
She said "Please don't let 'em kill Mr. Little Hat dead"
I said "No use to worryin' sweet mama, ain't gonna be here long"
Don't waznn let you sing this worried song
'Cus I'm gonna leave Seguine,
I'll be just like a submarine.

Well I once'd to know the man, they call him Austin Jack
Stopped and put the bloodhounds right on my track
'Cause the bloodhounds just could not catch my scent
You know, they couldn't tell where Little Hat went
'Cause I left Seguin,
People, I was just like a submarine

Well I once have knowed the man they call him Austin Jack
Stop and put the bloodhounds right on my track
Course the blindest[1] could not catch my scent
Do you know they couldn't tell where the Little Hat went
'Cus I left Seguine, people I's just like a submarine

Well here comes the Santa Fe just puffin' and flyin'
Oughta seen me when I reached up and really caught them blinds
They said, 'There's another long gone - from Kentucky
Long gone - an' done got away lucky
'Cause he left Seguin,
He's just like a submarine'

Well yon' come the Santa Fe just puffin' and flyin'
Oughta seen me when I reached up and really caught them blind
They said "There's another long gone, from Kentucky"
Long gone and then got away lucky
'Cus you left Seguine,
you's just like a submarine

want to sing this song, ain't gonna sing no more....
'Cause I'm leavin' San Antonio, I declare I ain't coming here no more

I'm gonna sing this song, ain't gonna sing no more
[Instrumental lines, x 3]
'Cus I'm leavin' San Antoine, I declare I ain't comin' here no more

Well, I don't play the dozen and neither the ten
'Cause you keep on talkin', I'll ease you in
When you keep on talkin' till it makes me mad
Well I'll tell you 'bout the mothers that your father had
'Cause I don't play the dozen, I declare man, and neither the ten

Well I don't play the dozen and neither the ten
'Cus she keep on talkin' I'll ease ya in
Well you keep on talkin' 'till you make me mad
Well I tell you 'bout the mother that your father had
'Cus I don't play the dozen, I declare, man, and neither the ten


I left out the arrangement data noted in the weeniepedia version on the instrumental breaks. Gettin' late, goodnight, TTYL
« Last Edit: August 09, 2018, 09:01:31 PM by Rivers »

Offline DavidCrosbie

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Re: Little Hat Jones lyrics
« Reply #127 on: August 10, 2018, 07:38:05 AM »

Thanks Rivers. I would never have posted if I'd realised there was such a good 'authorised version'.

There are only two details I feel are worth arguing over.

* blindest/bloodhounds Although it sounds like blindest, i would argue that he's trying to sing bloodhounds with music enough for only one syllable and without much breath.

? and then got lucky/an' done got lucky There's definitely a word before got. It sounds closer to doesn't than anything, but that would make no sense. I'm pretty sure it's a stumble due to breathlessness. Done got lucky makes sense as a Past Tense of get lucky. Compare
Quote from: Blind Willie McTell
I've been shooting craps and gambling : mama and I done got broke
I done pawned my pistol : mama and my best clothes in soak
I've been trawling though got in Taft's Concordance. Almost every use of I got or he got is equivalent to I have or He has (in British English I've got or He's got.) Only a handful of examples of got meaning 'became' or 'received'. And they seem to be confined to got drunk and got a letter ? usually in the formula I got a letter ... How you you reckon it read?.

PS
I've just followed your link to a Leadbelly verse
Quote from: Leadbelly
"You keep on talkin' til you make me mad
I tell you 'bout the puppies that your sister had"
This makes me think again about Elijah Wald's suggestion that Little Hat usually sang
Quote
Gonna tell you 'bout some puppies that your father had
but censored it for the recording. Was and some other have suggested
Quote
tell you 'bout some others
which I'd dismissed as too feeble. But perhaps it's feeble because it's a bowdlerisation.
[/quote]

PPS Wikipedia spells the town as Seguin. Is this right?
« Last Edit: August 10, 2018, 07:39:25 AM by DavidCrosbie »

Offline Rivers

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Re: Little Hat Jones lyrics
« Reply #128 on: August 10, 2018, 12:06:14 PM »
"Seguin" is indeed correct, I'll correct weeniepedia. [later ? done]

Apropos of not very much at all, my mother-in-law is a 'snowbird', flying away to her home in Seguin for the winter and back to NYS for the summer. Smart woman!

Re. "Blindies", a quick search reveals bloodhounds are often functionally blind, regularly bumping into things. You can't let them wander or you risk them getting hit by cars. This is said to be due to their overriding obsession with scent, and their droopy eyelids, long ears, droopy everything in the facial area. They are also prone to canine diseases of the eye. I'm no bloodhound expert but it's not too much of a leap to wonder whether bloodhound handlers and their human quarry may have referred to them as "blindies".

Somewhat bizarrely there is a cartoon character or puppet out there named "Blindy Bloodhound", I noticed but didn't investigate.
« Last Edit: August 10, 2018, 12:44:06 PM by Rivers »

Offline Rivers

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Re: Little Hat Jones lyrics
« Reply #129 on: August 10, 2018, 06:42:51 PM »
Sooo... who among us would like to jump in and compare the two versions with Little Hat's recording?

Based on this recent discussion we can probably nail it down tighter than what we have - for example "Seguin" is now spelled correctly in weeniepedia. Weeniepedia has "San Antoine". Never heard it pronounced that way, maybe should be "San Antone"? Locals tend to say San Antone, not San Antonio, except at job interviews.

Ignore phonetic variations like "Cus..." and 'Cause...", that's just a presentation preference of the vernacular. We decided a long time ago we weren't going to fight over 'dis' and 'dat'; we want the meaningful meat.

I'll pitch in and vote for 'Blindies', based on the research I did while wearing my bloodhound researcher hat. It's a little hat, naturally. :)

Offline banjochris

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Re: Little Hat Jones lyrics
« Reply #130 on: August 13, 2018, 02:51:22 PM »
On the "bloodhounds/blindest" bit, it sounds very clear to me that he's singing "blood'ound" and just not articulating the H sound. He says it quick but I can hear the D at the end.
Chris

Offline Blues Vintage

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Re: Little Hat Jones lyrics
« Reply #131 on: December 11, 2022, 11:57:12 AM »
Did Little Hat Jones forgot the words for the fifth verse of "Kentucky Blues" or was it intended like this?
I think I just skip that bit when I'm singing the song.

 


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