Lyr Req: My Mama Always Talked to Me (Hammond)

Subject: Lyr Req: My Mama Always Talked to Me
From: GUEST,Stew
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 11:22 AM

Looking for lyrics to this great old tune by John Hammond. Many thanks.
Stew

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Mama Always Talked to Me
From: GUEST,Stew
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 10:42 AM

Sorry folks, I'm just trying to keep this request open in the hopes of a response.
Stew

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Mama Always Talked to Me
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Apr 09 - 03:26 PM

Here's what I was able to transcribe from a few sound samples:


MY MOTHER ALWAYS TALKED TO ME (partial lyrics)
John Hammond, 1927

So my mama always talked to me. She give me good advice.
My mama always talked to me. She give me good advice.
She told me quit my rambling and marry me a purty little wife, Lord, Lord,
And marry me a purty little wife.

So my papa always talked to me. I took it all as fun.
My papa always talked to me. I took it all as fun.
He told me I'd ride that Frankfort train before I's twenty-one.

So along on Friday morning about the break of day,....


[Note: The Kentucky State Prison, later known as the Kentucky State Reformatory, was located at Frankfort from 1798 until around 1937.

[The title is given as "...MOTHER..." on the original 78-rpm record, but "...MAMA..." on the CDs where it has been reissued, probably because "mama" is used in the lyrics.]

Subject: ADD: My Mama Always Talked to Me
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Apr 09 - 05:37 PM

Building on what Jim posted, this is what I hear:

MY MAMA ALWAYS TALKED TO ME
(John Hammond, 1927)

So my mama always talked to me. She give me good advice.
My mama always talked to me. She give me good advice.
She told me quit my rambling and marry me a purty little wife, Lord, Lord,
And marry me a purty little wife.

So my papa always talked to me. I took it all as fun.
My papa always talked to me. I took it all as fun.
He told me I'd ride that Frankfort train before I's twenty-one.

So along one Friday morning about the break of day,
So along one Friday morning about the break of day,
They shot and killed poor Johnny, and carried him away.

They shot and killed poor Johnny, they carried him around.
They shot and killed poor Johnny, they carried him around.
They put him in a coffin, and buried him under the ground.

The sheriff soon arrested them, and [took?] them down in jail.
The sheriff soon arrested them, and [took?] them down to jail.
No friends nor money, no one to go their bail.

So along one Monday morning, I heard the jailer knock.
So along one Monday morning, I heard the jailer knock.
His hands full of keys, to [shove?] in the lock.

"Cheer up, cheer up, my prisoners," I thought I heard him say.
"Cheer up, cheer up, my prisoners," I thought I heard him say.
"Ninety days in Frankfort, you know you're bound to stay."



[Note: The Kentucky State Prison, later known as the Kentucky State Reformatory, was located at Frankfort from 1798 until around 1937.

[The title is given as "...MOTHER..." on the original 78-rpm record, but "...MAMA..." on the CDs where it has been reissued, probably because "mama" is used in the lyrics.]

Transcribed by ear from The Mountain Music of Kentucky CD, Yazoo Records.

---

There's a recording at last.fm - anybody else want to make a stab at transcribing it?
-Joe, with the not-so-good ear-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Mama Always Talked to Me (Hammond)
From: GUEST,Joseph Scott
Date: 13 Nov 14 - 01:16 PM

Published by folk song enthusiast Emma Bell Miles in 1904:

"My mammy used to talk to me....
I knew she was a talkin', but I thought it was in fun
But I had to wear the ball and chain
Before I was twenty-one
I'll play cards with a white man
And I'll play with him fair...."

"The Gambling Man" in "Some Real American Songs" in _Harper's_.

"The Gambling Man" also mentions playing cards in England and Spain, which ties in with Bayless Rose's gambling in Cuba and Spain in "Black Dog Blues."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Mama Always Talked to Me (Hammond)
From: GUEST,Joseph Scott
Date: 15 Nov 14 - 02:33 PM

... and Barnes "Peg Leg" Howell's "Skin Game Blues" is also related to "The Gambling Man," published by Miles when Howell was 16.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Mama Always Talked to Me (Hammond)
From: Don Firth
Date: 15 Nov 14 - 03:10 PM

"My mama always told me, 'life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.'"
                               --Forrest Gump

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Mama Always Talked to Me (Hammond)
From: GUEST,Joseph Scott
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 04:09 PM

Sorry, the title of the 1904 article is "Some Real American Music," not "Some Real American Songs."