Jaze, after I heard and noticed this yesterday, I did a search on the forum and found this old thread. I was a bit dismayed (well, not really) to see that ddw had mentioned this in the very last post back in June of '01; I hadn't "discovered" it mayself after all! (He used "All Around the Water Tank," the opening line, as the title, but we're both talking about Jimmie Rodgers' "Waiting for a Train.") However, I went ahead and made the post anyway, refreshing this old discussion. Glad you found it worthwhile.

David, I have been playing both Creole Belle and Richland Woman Blues since the late 60s. I always considered them similar but not really the same tune -- now that you've prompted me to think about it, there's really just one line in RLB, in the middle of each verse, that makes it any different at all from the much simpler Creole Belle. ("Hurry home sweet daddy...")

Upon even further reflection, I *think* that there's similar minor difference between "Mermaids" and "Train." Jimmie Rodgers ends the 2d-to-last line of each verse on a fairly unconventional chord (A-major with playing in key of F) -- that would be on the word "pain" in "...and my heart is filled with PAIN / I'm a thousand miles away from home, just witin' for a train. I've been trying to re-listen to John Hurt doing Mermaids in my mind's ear, and don't believe he used that little wrinkle. Otherwise, of course, the tune is pretty much the same.