Lyr ADD: Don't Ease Me In (Henry Thomas)

Subject: Lyr Req: don't ease me in
From: GUEST,gulchero
Date: 12 Nov 07 - 11:37 AM

I recently heard this done as a bluegrass song. Does anyone have the lyrics?

thanks, gm

Subject: Lyr Add: DON'T EASE ME IN (from Grateful Dead)
From: PoppaGator
Date: 12 Nov 07 - 01:34 PM

Here's what I found by Googling the song title plus the word "lyrics": Two slightly different versions, both recorded by the Grateful Dead. Please keep in mind that Jerry Garcia was a very scholarly folkie and a virtuoso bluegrass banjo player before founding the Dead, so the "authenticity" of his version of this song should be beyond question>

One side of the Grateful Dead's first single, released in 1966. Played live right through to 1995, with some variations. Not played by any other Dead-related bands until Ratdog in 2006.

This is the 1980 studio version from "Go To Heaven":

DON'T EASE ME IN
(from Grateful Dead)

Chorus
Don't ease, don't ease
Don't ease me in
I've been all night long coming home
Don't ease me in

I was standing at the corner
Talking to Miss Brown
Well I turned around, sweet moma
She was way cross town

So I'm walking down the street
With a dollar in my hand
I've been looking for a woman, sweet moma
Ain't got no man

[chorus]

The girl I love
She's sweet and true
You know the dress she wears, sweet moma
It's pink and blue

She brings me coffee
You know she brings me tea
She brings 'bout every damn thing
But the jailhouse key

[chorus]

[chorus]
[chorus]

This is the 1966 single version::
Chorus
Don't ease, don't ease
Don't ease me in
I've been all night long coming home
Don't ease me in

I was standing on the corner
Looking all around
Well I turned around, sweet moma
I was way cross town

[chorus]

The girl I love
She's sweet and true
The dress she wears, sweet moma
It's pink and blue

[chorus]

She brings me coffee
She brings me tea
She brings me every darn thing
But the jailhouse key

[chorus]

The live 1966 version on "Birth Of The Dead" has some verses slighly different to the studio version:
I was standing on the corner
Talking to Ma Brown
Well I turned around, sweet moma
I was way cross town

The girl I love
She got my head [??]
And every time I see her
I [leave this town]

She brings me coffee
She brings me tea
She brings me every darn thing
But the jailhouse key

I was standing on the corner
Looking all around
The girl I love the best
Has left this town

This is the acoustic version from Dick's Picks Vol 8 in 1970:
Chorus
Don't ease, don't ease
Don't ease me in
I've been all night long coming home
Don't ease me in

I was standing on the corner
With a dollar in my hand
I was looking for a woman, sweet moma
Didn't have no man

[chorus]

I was walking down Main
Deep [Ellem] too
And all the women down there
They got the Texas blues

[chorus]

The girl I love
She's sweet and true
And the dress she wears, sweet moma
It's pink and blue

She brings me coffee
You know she brings me tea
She brings me 'bout every darn thing
Except the jailhouse key

[chorus]
[chorus]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: don't ease me in
From: GUEST,gulchero
Date: 12 Nov 07 - 07:46 PM

Thanks PoppaGator. That is good work.
gm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: don't ease me in
From: GUEST,Ned at work
Date: 13 Nov 07 - 10:51 AM

Try googling Henry Thomas.

Subject: Lyr Add: DON'T EASE ME IN (from Henry Thomas)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 Nov 07 - 09:05 PM

The bluegrass version you heard was probably by The Steep Canyon Rangers. They sing DON'T EASE ME IN on their album "Lovin' Pretty Women."

The following lyrics come from Michael Taft's Blues Anthology. They're supposed to be what Henry Thomas sang, but it looks like Taft had some difficulty transcribing the lyrics, too.

DON'T EASE ME IN
(from Henry Thomas)

CHORUS:
Don't ease, don't you ease, don't you ease me in.
It's all night, Cunningham. Don't ease me in.

1. Sometimes I walk : and sometimes I talk
I love you girl great God : *till my bluebird talk*

2. I beat my girl : with a singletree
??? up *the winter* street mama : have a watch on me

3. I've got a girl : her name is Joan
She leaves here walking running fast : chocolate to the bone

4. I was standing on the corner : talking to my brown
I turned around sweet mama : I was workhouse bound

5. Girl I've got a girl : and she working hard
She got a dress she wear sweet mama : said it's pink and blue

6. She brings me coffee : and she bring me tea
She bring me everything : except the jailhouse key

7. They got a little town man : all the other men too
They got all the women coming down to the man : *I mean in Texas too*

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: don't ease me in
From: michaelr
Date: 14 Nov 07 - 09:12 PM

"It's all night, Cunningham"? That's hilarious.

Subject: ADD: Don't Ease Me In (Henry Thomas)
From: GUEST,Ldflan
Date: 29 Oct 21 - 01:17 PM

So many absurd versions that us white folks almost a century later hear in Henry Thomas' recording! Here's my take on it:

DON'T EASE ME IN
(from Henry Thomas)

Don’t ease don’t ya ease
Ah don’t you ease me in
It’s all night Cunningham
Don’t ease me in

Sometimes I walk
An’ sometimes I talk
I never get drunk, thank God, ‘cept my (bulldog does?)
Don’t ease don’t ya ease
Don’t ya ease me in
It’s all night long Cunningham
Don’t ease me in

I beat my girl
With a single tree
She hides up the willow sweet mama (maybe: hoists up the window)
Holler "watch on me"
Don’t ease don’t ya ease
A don’t you ease me in
It’s all night long Cunningham
Don’t ya ease me in

I gotta girl
Her name is Doll
She’ll leave ya walkin’ like that
Talkin’ to the wall
Don’t ease don’t ya ease
A don’t ya ease me in
It’s all night long Cunningham
Don’t ease me in

I was standing on the corner
Talking to Ma Brown
I turned around sweet mama
I was way across town
Don’t ease don’t ya ease
Ah don’t ya ease me in
It’s all night long Cunningham
Don’t ease me in

Yes I gotta girl
And she working hard
Said the dress she wears sweet lover
Said it’s pink and blue
She bring me coffee
And she bring me tea
She bring me everything ‘cept the jailhouse key
Don’t ease don’t ya ease
Ah don’t ya ease me in
It’s all night long Cunningham
Don’t ease me in

Got these Texas blues
I got these Texas blues
It’s all night long Cunningham
Don’t ease me in

Says I looked on Main
Old L&N too
And all the women comin’ down, man
Have these Texas blues.


Note:

"Except my bulldog does" is the best I can make of it. No other version I have seen makes a lick of sense. This at least is funny.

"Hoists up the window" makes much better sense that what I hear, but it sure sounds like "hides up the willow" to me.

The line I have rendered "Old L&N too" assumes this refers to the "Old Reliable L&N Railway," as it was called. It sounds like "LMN." I simply do not hear any of the other many suggestions for this line like "Elem" etc.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Ease Me In (Henry Thomas)
From: Levana Taylor
Date: 29 Oct 21 - 01:25 PM

The very skilled listeners at WeenieCampbell.com have a discussion here

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Don't Ease Me In (Henry Thomas)
From: Levana Taylor
Date: 29 Oct 21 - 03:16 PM

@Ldflan: in Texas Blues: The Rise of a Contemporary Sound, page 8, Alan B. Govenar writes: "Some of Thomas's songs are firmly grounded in his Texas roots. His voice has an East Texas intonation... In 'Don't Ease Me In,' he sings ... 'I looked down Main, Old Ellum too' (referring to the Deep Ellum area of Dallas)."