Lyr Req: Baby Please Don't Go (Big Joe Williams)

Subject: Big Joe Williams song Baby Please Don't
From: GUEST,Alan
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 05:52 PM

I would really like the lyrics from a Big Joe Williams song Baby Please Don't Go. I am having a trouble in finding them.

I hope some of you Blues Fans out there will be able to help me out.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Big Joe Williams song Baby Please Do
From: ddw
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 11:03 PM

Alan,

I'm fairly certain I've got this on a tape in my car — I'll check on the way home and if so I'll copy them out and post them for you tomorrow night, if somebody doesn't beat me to it.

I think I also have a version of it by Mance Lipscomb. I'll check on that too.

david

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Big Joe Williams song Baby Please Do
From: ddw
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 11:15 PM

Actually, Alan, maybe I can do one better. I'm pretty sure this is the song you're looking for. BJW did it, but so did a lot of other people. If my blue clicky thing works, the song's here.

Enjoy,

david

Subject: Lyr Add: BABY PLEASE DON'T GO (Muddy Waters)
From: Max
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 11:31 PM

Whenever possible, please copy the lyrics to the forum rather than link to it elsewhere. Other sites are not guaranteed to exist forever, while the Mudcat is.

Baby Please Don't Go

A classic blues, here credited to McKinley Morganfield (Muddy Waters). From the CD "Luv in the afternoon" (1991).

Baby Please Don't Go (McKinley Morganfield)

Baby please don't go
Baby please don't go
Baby please don't go back to New Orleans
Because I love you so

Turn your lamp down low
Turn your lamp down low
Turn your lamp down low, my heart is beating so
So baby please don't go


Made me weep and moan
You made me weep and moan
You made me weep and moan, don't leave me all alone
Baby please don't go

You got me way down here
You got me way down here
You got me way down here, you didn't shed a tear
Oh baby please don't go

Baby please don't go
Baby please don't go
Baby please don't go

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Big Joe Williams song Baby Please Do
From: ddw
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 12:02 AM

Sorry, Max — hadn't tho't of that. Will in the future.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Big Joe Williams song Baby Please Do
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 03:58 AM

DDW & Max beat me to it. I'll just put in a plug for Mississippi Fred McDowell's version on "I do not play no rock 'n' roll". Some young whippersnappers called the "Rolling Stones" covered it as well, wonder what happened to them...
RtS "just the straight an' natural blue"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Big Joe Williams song Baby Please Do
From: Stewie
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 10:14 AM

I have 2 versions of 'Baby Please Don't Go' by Big Joe Williams: his original 1935 recording and a 1947 reworking that was reissued on the Blues Classics label. They share some of the verses in the Muddy Waters version posted by Max, but there are differences within stanzas - for example, the first stanza ends 'Baby please don't go back to New Orleans/And get your cold icecream' - and there are also other stanzas that don't appear in the above. The 1947 recording is much clearer than the original, but both would present transcription difficulties. I don't have the time to have a go at them at the moment, but I am happy to do so later if no one else can supply. I can't find them at any of the blues lyrics sites.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Big Joe Williams song Baby Please Do
From: Fortunato
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 10:17 AM

Van Morrison did an interesting version of this. you might want to hear the guitar work on it. You'll find it on his greatest hits CD and elsewhere.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Big Joe Williams song Baby Please Do
From: Ritchie
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 12:45 PM

Yeah fortunato,

Your right. It was his band 'Them' that released it as a single in the 60's.It was also covered by the Animals at the start of the very healthy British R&B scene. I've also got a nice version by the Cowboy Junkies !

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Big Joe Williams song Baby Please Do
From: Max
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 12:46 PM

I learned it from Big Bill Broonzy.

Subject: Lyr Add: BABY PLEASE DON'T GO (Big Joe Williams)
From: Stewie
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 09:36 PM

I have had a go at transcribing Big Joe's versions from 1935 and 1947. As mentioned above, the latter is a reworking of his earlier version. The 1947 version is much clearer and I am reasonably happy with the transcription. I am not sure about 'bad rollin' fog', but it fits all right. I will give that version first:

BABY PLEASE DON'T GO

Baby please don't go
Baby please don't go
Baby please don't go back to New Orleans
And get some cold ice cream

Turn your lamp down low
Turn your lamp down low
Turn your lamp down low, now I beg(ged) you all night long
Now baby please don't go
Baby please don't go

You got me way down here
You got me way down here
You got me way down here, bad rollin' fog
You treat me like a dog
Baby please don't go

'Fore I be your dog
'Fore I be your dog
'Fore I be your dog, I get you way down here
And I make you walk the floor
Now baby please don't go

(Spoken) Come here, boys. Now play it for Joe Williams

Another man done gone
Another man done gone
Another man done gone, he left the county farm
And with the long chain on
Now baby please don't go
Baby please don't go

Don't you call my name
Don't you call my name
Don't you call my name, she got me way down here
Wearin' the ball and chain
Baby please don't go

(Spoken) Looky here, boys.

Source: Recorded by Big Joe Williams in Chicago in 1947. Joe Lee Williams (vcl/g); Sonny Boy Williamson (John Lee W) (h); Ransom Knowling (b); and Judge Riley (d). Reissued on Big Joe Williams and Sonny Boy Williamson 'Same' Blues Classics 21.

The original 1935 version is longer and much more difficult to decipher. Hopefully, the words and bits that I am not sure about will print in blue when I post this. Looking forward to hearing others confirm or correct.

BABY PLEASE DON'T GO

Now baby please don't go
Now baby please don't go
Baby please don't go back to New Orleans
And get your cold ice cream

I b'live that a man done gone
I b'live that a man done gone
I b'live that a man done gone to the county farm
Now with the long chain on

Turn your lamp down low
You turn your lamp down low
Turn your lamp down low, I cried all night long
Now baby please don't go

I begged you the night before
I begged you the night before
Begged you the night before, turn your lamp down low
Now baby please don't go

I b'live my baby done lie(d)
I b'live my baby done lie(d)
I b'live my baby she lied that she didn't have a man
Now while I had my time (could be 'turn')

'Fore I'd be your dog
Now 'fore I'd be your dog
'Fore I'd be your dog, I'd pack my trunk this morning, baby
Go back the road I come

I b'live I'll leave you here
I b'live I'll leave you here
I b'live I'll leave you here, 'cos you got me way up here
And you don't feel my pain

Now baby please don't go
Oh baby please don't go
Now baby please don't go back to New Orleans
You know I love you so

I see you're tryin' to leave me here
Why leave your daddy here
Why leave your daddy here, you drive me way down low
You don't feel my pain


Source: Recorded by Big Joe Williams in Chicago on 31 October 1935. Joe Lee Williams (vcl/g); Chasey Collins (vln); Henry Townsend (g); and 'Kokomo' (wbd). Reissued on Big Joe Williams 'Baby Please Don't Go' Bluetime BT 2007.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Big Joe Williams song Baby Please Do
From: GUEST,12-stringman
Date: 06 Mar 06 - 06:19 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Big Joe Williams song Baby Please Do
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Mar 06 - 06:24 PM

Stewie, these lines proved a problem.

I b'live my baby done lie(d)
I b'live my baby done lie(d)
I b'live my baby she lied that she didn't have a man
Now while I had my time (could be 'turn')

'Fore I'd be your dog
Now 'fore I'd be your dog
'Fore I'd be your dog, I'd pack my trunk this morning, baby
Go back the road I come


"Now while I had my time" should be "Not while I had my turn." It is also not "Go back the road I come" Its supposed to be "Go back to Rolling Fork"

The first line of the last verse should be, "I b'lieve you're tryin to keep me here"


Just thought I could help.

-Larry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Big Joe Williams song Baby Please Do
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Mar 06 - 03:54 PM

Allmusic.com lists 468 recordings of BABY PLEASE DON'T GO. For most of them, authorship is credited to J. L. Williams, a.k.a. Big Joe Williams.

Other recordings were done by AC/DC, Aerosmith, Mose Allison, The Amboy Dukes, Eric Andersen, Pink Anderson, Beausoleil, Big Bill Broonzy, Paul Butterfield, The Cowboy Junkies, Michael Doucet, Bob Dylan, Gary Glitter, John Hammond Jr., Lightnin' Hopkins, B. B. King, Al Kooper, John Lennon, Mance Lipscomb, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Brownie McGhee, Van Morrison, Ted Nugent, The Orioles, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Sonny Terry, Muddy Waters, and Bukka White.

Subject: Lyr Add: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE (James Brown)
From: Azizi
Date: 11 Mar 06 - 10:15 PM

I'm wondering if anyone ever asked James Brown if he based his song "Please Please Please" on the title song for this thread.

See the lyrics for James Brown's song:

Please, please, please, please me (You don't have to go)
Baby please, baby please, please me (You don't have to go)
Baby please, baby please don't go (You don't have to go)
Don't go, I said baby, don't baby
I love you so (You don't have to go)

Baby, you know you broke my heart when you went away (You don't have to go)
I said, I said, I said I'll see you some other day (You don't have to go)
I said, baby, baby, please, don't go (You don't have to go)
Don't go, no baby, no baby
I love you so (You don't have to go)

Take this pain from my heart

Baby, let me take you by the hand (You don't have to go)
Baby, baby let me, let me be your lover man (You don't have to go)
Baby please, baby please don't go (You don't have to go)
Don't go, I said baby, don't baby
I love you so (You don't have to go)

Please, please, please, please me (You don't have to go)
Baby please, baby please, please me (You don't have to go)
Baby please, baby please don't go (You don't have to go)
Don't go, I said baby, don't baby
I love you so (You don't have to go)

Source: http://www.lyricsdownload.com/james-brown-please-please-please-lyrics.html

****

I've never heard any of the recordings listed above so I'd be interested in knowing if they sound anything like the James Brown song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Please Don't Go (Big Joe Williams)
From: Tigger the Tiger
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 07:31 AM

Big Joe Williams was a friend of mine. He never mentioned having written this,but I would not be surprised. I hardly jeard him do anything the same twice;sometimes he really got going. Some people had trouble understanding his speech,but I did not after I got to know him.It was always better if I was face to face. He did not read or write and got paid in cash.I imagine they paid in cash when he did an album,signing something he did not understand.I wish I had been older so I would have realized he needed help to get paid for things.Cooked great fried chicken.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Please Don't Go (Big Joe Williams)
From: melodeonboy
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 07:48 AM

I also sing these two verses:

Faut pas t'en aller (x2)
Faut pas t'en aller a New Orleans, tu sais je t'aime beaucoup

Let me ride in your mo' (x2)
Let me ride in your mo', baby, please don't go, you know I love you so

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby Please Don't Go (Big Joe Williams)
From: Tigger the Tiger
Date: 09 Nov 11 - 08:28 AM

It is interesting to see the different versions put together here. Most times when he did this live,it could be a combination of the two. Then again,he would just put in anything he felt like adding at the time;sort of interchangable verses with other songs.When he got going,sometimes he just did not like to stop.