Topic: Mance Lipscomb Lyrics

[banjochris]

John - some suggestions on "Shorty"

1.3 He died with a sad, broke, ACHIN' heart.

3.3 I'd rather be with YOU, woman, than anybody else (he does kind of swallow "you")


and "Sorry"

3.1 Now, go on, girl, needn't FLIRT, know you done TORE YOUR UNDERSKIRT

4.1 ...got a girl CHANCES gonna pay my way

Chris

[Johnm]

Thanks so much for the help, Chris.  Boy, I wasn't even close on that 3.1 line in "Ain't You Sorry".  When I re-listened to the 4.1 correction in "Ain't You Sorry", I think Mance sings:
   . . . got a girl, chance SHE'S gonna pay my way
It is so much better to have these transcriptions right.  Thanks for all of your help.

[Willie Poor Boy]

Here is a draft of So Different Blues.  There is one line in the “Easy, Mr Tom” interpolation at the end that is obscure to my ears: “Let’s buy.”


 


So Different Blues

Ever wake up with the so different blues, anytime?
Ever wake up with the so different blues?
And you couldn’t get on your Monday morning shoes.
 
Mama, here’s my stockings, go bring me my shoes, I say.
Here’s my stockings, go bring me my shoes.
My girl done quit me, I got to walk ‘em blues. (Or got the walkin’ blues)
 
Yon she go walking down that railroad track, yes she is.
Yon she go walking down that railroad track.
Got all my money, she left me that empty sack.
 
She’s walking down the road with the suit case in her hand, yes she is.
Walking down the road with a suit case in her hand.
She done quit her husband trying to follow some no good man.
 
Baby, you may go, you may try to stay, I say.
You may go, may try to stay.
If you’re thinking about me, you want to come back home some day.
 
Ain’t never loved but the four women in my life, I say.
Ain’t never loved but the four womens in my life.
My mom, my sister, my sweetheart and my wife.
 
Standing at the station when my baby got on board, yes I was.
Standing at the station when she got on board.
Well I couldn’t do nothing but beg her please don’t go.
 
F’I [If I] never see your smiling face again, I said.
Don’t never see your smiling face again.
Tell everybody that I once had been your friend
 
Take your time,
Take your time.
It’s easy,
[If] you know how.
Get your bucket,
Let’s buy
Some girl,
Mr Tom,
Yes, here.
Oh, ask my friend if she just come home
Don’t you turn her down.
 
 
 


 

[Blues Vintage]

Tell everybody that I once had been your friend

Anybody

[Johnm]

Thanks so much for the transcription of "So Different Blues", Willie Poor Boy.  It's always great to get more of Mance's lyrics transcribed.
All best,
Johnm

[banjochris]

A few suggestions on "So Different"


Got the walkin' blues is right in 2.3

5.3 GET TO thinking about me...

8.3 you have EVERYBODY correct, he doesn't really pronounce the R.

In the "Mr. Tom" part he sings
Let's buy
Some BEER (he swallows as he says this so it comes out a little funny)
Mr. Tom
IS here.
Oh, THAT'S my friend AND she just come home...

Chris

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Mance Lipscomb recorded "Hattie Green" for his album on Reprise, Frank Sinatra's label. I've always been curious as to how the album was shopped to Reprise, why they picked it up, etc. Whatever the case, it's a great album, and "Hattie Green" in particular is stellar. I think Mance's playing can be forgotten sometimes with the amount of music available we have today, but returning to his music I'm reminded how very rare it is in this style to encounter a guitarist whose playing keeps changing from beginning to end in his renditions. Mance really was a fount of invention. And working in a short form like "Hattie Green" has, 8-bars, in A position in dropped-D tuning, he had every opportunity to tap all of his resources. Here is "Hattie Green":



INTRO SOLO

I'm goin', up North, gonna stop by Abilene
I'll be on my way, lookin' for, little Hattie Green

Hattie Green, Hattie Green, how come you treat me so mean?
You the meanest woman, girl, I ever seen

You can shake it, you can break it, throw it out the window, catch it 'fore it falls
Let me have what sticks, you can have what falls

SOLO

This time, tomorrow, wonder where on earth will I be?
Somewhere walkin' up and down, that old Santa Fe

SOLO

Hattie Green, is a woman, is a woman I really love
She don't stay here, but somewhere up above

SOLO

I hate, to see, that evenin' sun go down
'Cause I can't see, Hattie nowhere around

SOLO X 2

I love, little Hattie, I just can't help myself
I don't get Hattie, I don't want nobody else

SOLO X 2

Edited 10/25 to pick up correction from Harry

All best,
Johnm



 

[Blues Vintage]

Great song.

4.1 This time, tomorrow, wonder where on earth I will be?   Will I be

[dj]

I've always been curious as to how the album was shopped to Reprise, why they picked it up, etc.

As Mance tells it in "I Say Me For A Parable", he (Lipscomb) was playing in California, and Frank Sinatra heard him.  Sinatra invited him out on a yacht, where Lipscomb played for him and Mia Farrow.  Sinatra then brought Lipscomb to the attention of Warner/Reprise records.

In the book, Mance claimed to have made 3 records for Reprise.  One was released at the time.  Another 12 songs were released about 20 years ago on the Rhino Handmade label.  So there may be more unreleased Mance Lipscomb material in the vaults. 

[Johnm]

Thanks for the catch, Harry, I have made the correction. And thanks, dj, for the information on how Mance came to record for Reprise. It's hard to imagine, first of all, why Frank Sinatra would have been at a Mance Lipscomb performance, and secondly, Mance on a yacht, performing for Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow. Truth is sure enough stranger than fiction, I guess.
All best,
Johnm

[SlowTrain]

I've just joined this website having, only yesterday, stumbled across mance Lipscomb's version of Ella Speed. In a great live version, found on another page of the WeenieCampbell site, I struggled to hear the last line of one of the verses. It goes something along these lines:-

When they all got the news that Ella speed was dead
They goes home and dresses up in red
There was friends and relations, all standing around

I've no idea what the 4th line is but think it finishes with "ground" or maybe "burial ground".

Anyone got an idea? Thanks

[David Kaatz]

Very hard to understand that line.
I think it ends with "in the ground", the rest I'm not getting at all.

D

[Johnm]

Hi,
On that live version, it sounds like it might be:
   Taking my Ella to the burying ground
From "Ella" to the end of the line I'm sure that's what he sang--the first two words I'm less sure.
All best,
Johnm

[SlowTrain]

Thanks David Kaatz and Johnm - I'll go with "Taking my Ella to the burying ground" and hope nobody calls me out!

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I merged the new thread on Mance Lipscomb's lyrics for "Ella Speed" into this pre-existing thread.
All best,
Johnm