Blind Willie McTell recorded this in 1956, at his "Last Session." He was pretty well lubed with corn whiskey through the session and his lyrics aren't always crystal clear. His first two verses are more or less the same as Will Fay has posted from the singing of Big Bill, but with some occasional differences that may help in working out the song. The last verse would have passed for a smutty one in 1956, let alone the 1930s, and evidently isn't included in the Broonzy version.

Incidentally, this is the song during whose introduction McTell notes how he got his songs: "I used to jump 'em from other writers, but I'd 'range 'em up my way."


Down in Memphis, Tennessee lived a girl named Jenny
She run an eats shop on the block; she always kept good gimme.
That was a meal, was tadpole shield, couldn't resist for tryin'
Every time you pass her door, hear Miss Jenny cryin'.

[chorus is about the same as in the Big Bill version]

Every day about ten o'clock, go down to the station
Folks that come in town she'd give a little invitation.
Every day from noon till night, how she'd keep them selling
Beedle um hot and beedle um cold, you could hear Miss Jenny yellin'.

[For the chorus on this verse, McTell sings:]
'Cause they ain't built tall and not built wide, just built up till a medium size.

[He has one additional verse:]

The gal I love, she won't stand; she loves home brew and toddy.
Every time you take her to a fancy ball, she'll flirt most everybody.
Then I took her out Cadillac ride out to the fields of clover
Tried to make everything pacified when the pleasure all was over.
Then she took me to her home, sat down beside the door
Did keep a raining and I couldn't go home, she was so fine across the floor

CHORUS:
(spoken) And she talked all right
She talked all right
Hugged and kissed till she made me sick
Wringin' and twistin' made me lose my ...*
My Beedle-um-bum, come and see me when you ain't had none
Cause you don't have to worry, you don't have to go
Get a little bit and you'll want some more
Of my beedle um bum, my beedle um bum,
Best beedle um that popped up in Tennessee.


* McTell pinches the strings here with his thumb and fingerpick, between the bridge and the tailpiece, for a high-pitched yelp that replaces the omitted word.

He also frequently breaks the "ee" of "Tennessee" into two syllables, going to falsetto for a sort of yodel effect on the last one.e proud of you For the way you're helping us to carry on."