The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #104571   Message #2146878
Posted By: Stewie
11-Sep-07 - 08:17 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Papa Charlie Jackson Songs
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Papa Charlie Jackson Songs
Unfortunately, I do not have any Papa Charlie reissues, so can't be of much help. However, in his 'Screening the Blues', Paul Oliver comments that Papa Charlie's 'Shave 'Em Dry' is close to Ma Rainey's. He gives a transcription of Ma Rainey's version and the stanza relevant to stanza 5 in Bob's transcription reads:

Don't see how you hungry women can sleep
Shimmies all day without a bite to eat
Eeh, hey, daddy let me shave 'em dry

That may be what Papa Charlie is singing.

Oliver quotes two stanzas of Papa Charlie's version. One is the last in Bob's transcription. Oliver gives 'lay' rather than 'get' for the line: 'Why don't you run here mama, lay back in my arms'.

--Stewie.