Topic: Rag Mama Blues - Roy Book Binder's take

[Wailing Wolf]

Roy has 2 great available versions of this, first the recorded version on "the Radio Show" and second the DVD/VHS version from "Roy, the Reverend and the Devil's Music".

Caught the great man performing it live and he substituted a nifty verse on the "two old ladies sitting in the sand, each one wishing the other was a man" theme.



Something like

Two old ladies sitting in the sand
Each one wishing the other was a man
 
Roll over I'll do the best that I can.

Any offers? This must be fairly common currency.

[iplayamartin0016]

I took Roy's class at the FurPeace Ranch a couple of years ago and he played that song a couple of feet from me with those lyrics.  I can't remember them right now but I'll pull out my minidiscs and see if I can hunt it down.

If you get the chance get to the ranch and take his class, it's the best.  One night there was a bad storm so no campfire.  We (about six of us) sat in a room with him and he played and told stories (like how he met Pink Anderson) for about four hours.  The next day I asked him if he could show me a little of Delia (All My Friends Are Gone) and he took an hour after lunch and worked me through the entire thing.  It doesn't get any better than that.

I'll see if I can find the lyric.  That's one I've been meaning to  learn.

[dave stott]

I have been trying to figure out Roy's version of Delia ( all my friends are gone)

it seems to follow a C, F, G chord progression with a E7th.... very similar to RGD  cocaine

But Roy does some florishes up the neck and hammer on's which I simply can not figure out.....

has anyone got it figured out??

if so, please help...

Lost in CT

[Wailing Wolf]

Hi Dave

Try starting with a C chord with the 3rd finger 3rd fret 6th string for a G bass and the pinky on the top E for a high G on top of the chord.  1st measure goes thumb picks G bass finger picks  G 3rd, thumb picks hammer on open-2nd fret on D, finger picksG 3rd fret of  top E which drones whilst thumb picks G on bottom E and D on D.  Repeat as many times as you like, you can use it as a "mark time" vamp.  To resolve it and go on to the change do the same measure but hammer on from C to D on the B string then pinch the chord.  Slide up to a "long A" shape at the 5th fret pinching 4 and 2 for the slide then pick the top note on the 8th fret and fill the thumb part on the G string.  Change to a pinch of a D shape placed on the 5th fret then pick open D in the bass and back down to C with G on the top then to a G partial pinching open top E and B on the A string followed by D on the B string, then pinch Am B and G string A bass straight on to G bass on the bottom E change to F chord alternating 6th and 4th strings, and hammer on from G to A on the G string then sound C on the B, then do the hammer on again followed by C-D on the B string and open top E, pulloff D to C on the B back to A on the G, bass run open bottom E-F-G to G chord arpeggio similar pattern to opening lick but without the hammer-on, then with a hammer-on figure G-A on G string open B open G, resolve on C chord as in the opening lick but hit C on the B string instead of the high G.  Again you can vamp with this until you are ready to go round again.  I learned this years ago from, I think, a Stefan Grossman tab and it's very nearly the same as the Roy version, but it has been dormant because of the difficulty of fitting the vocal over it.  Hope the description is clear, there's probably a shorter way to do it somewhere!  Treat yourself to the new Roy live CD and hear another great rendition of the song.