Lyr Req: Whatcha Gonna Do...(Fiddlin' John Carson)

Subject: 1929 song by Fiddlin' Joe Carson
From: Goody2Shz
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 10:53 PM

I'm still trying to find that damned Sugar Babe.

My husband tells me it is also sometimes called "Whatcha' Gonna Do When The Liquor's All Gone?" He also said Fiddlin' Joe Carson recorded it in 1929.

We have access to the CD, and if nobody out here in CatLand has the lyrics, I'll put on the headset and start scribing.

Thanks in advance for your help.

dmp

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 1929 song by Fiddlin' Joe Carson
From: Sorcha
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 11:02 PM

head set, goody. None of us found the lyrics. Only that Doc Watson did it......sorry. When you get them, please post them, OK? With a Lyr Add: in the "Subject" line, if that's OK.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 1929 song by Fiddlin' Joe Carson
From: Goody2Shz
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 11:07 PM

That sugar babe drank all the liquor and ran off!!!

This has been a tough one, and I promise to post the lyrics once I've gotten them off the CD.

My thanks to everyone who tried to help me this past week. My head hurts from beating it on the pavement!

And...oh, yeah...It's JOHN Carson. Not Joe.

I'll get back to ya' with the lyrics soon.

dmp

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 1929 song by Fiddlin' Joe Carson
From: Sorcha
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 11:10 PM

sheeeesh, goody, you got real probs, don't you? (grin) First you ask for the wrong stuff, then you got the wrong guy.........(just being silly, hon. I have done it too, so don't get in a snit, OK?)

Anything else you would like to ask for, just now.........? (hee hee hee)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 1929 song by Fiddlin' Joe Carson
From: Goody2Shz
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 11:20 PM

Sorcha -- I definitely have problems. I don't know if it's a girl or age thing. OMG -- could it be BOTH????

Me and the headset tomorrow...dmp

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 1929 song by Fiddlin' Joe Carson
From: Sorcha
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 11:22 PM

Been there, done that. Definitely BOTH, honey. (smile) Never stops, either, sorry.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 1929 song by Fiddlin' Joe Carson
From: Goody2Shz
Date: 07 Aug 01 - 11:28 PM

Good thing I don't mind being a girl OR old. LOL

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 1929 song by Fiddlin' Joe Carson
From: Stewie
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 01:20 AM

Goody, the proper title of the Fiddlin' John Carson piece is 'Whatcha Gonna Do When Your Licker Gives Out' OK 45434. It belongs with the song complex 'Crawdad Song' and 'Sugar Babe'. Looking forward to seeing what you and your headset come up with.

Cheers, Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 1929 song by Fiddlin' Joe Carson
From: Sorcha
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 03:33 AM

Stewie, "when your licker(licker) gives out"....??? sorry but that one just caused me to toss some cookies as it were! ROF,here!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 1929 song by Fiddlin' Joe Carson
From: Stewie
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 08:22 AM

Sorry about that, Sorcha, but that's how it appears in the discography. Reminds me of the old joke about the bird telling her friend that her new lover was called Drambuie. The retort was: 'I thought that was some sort of exotic liquor'. 'That's my boy!'

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 1929 song by Fiddlin' Joe Carson
From: Goody2Shz
Date: 08 Aug 01 - 09:14 AM

Just gimme some of that likker before it runs out. I need it.

Subject: Lyr Add: SUGAR BABE (New Lost City Ramblers)
From: GUEST,skip landt
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 01:56 AM

Sugar Babe (if it is the same song you're looking for) was in the New Lost City Rambler's songbook from (the 70's?). Here's what I recall:

I'm going back to Mexico, sugar babe (x2)
I'm goin back to Mexico,
And I'm gettin married fore I go, sugar babe

Whatcha gonna gonna do when the well runs dry, sugar babe (x2)
Whatcha gonna do when the well runs dry
Sit and watch those crawdads die, sugar babe

Whatcha gonna do when the meat runs out, sugar babe (x2)
Whatcha gonna do when the meat runs out,
Sit in the corner with my mouth poked out, sugar babe

Whatcha gonna do when the meat comes in, sugar babe (x2)
Whatcha gonna do when the meat comes in
Sit in the corner with a greasy chin, sugar babe

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 1929 song by Fiddlin' Joe Carson
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 06 Jun 04 - 05:39 PM

WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN YOUR LICKER GIVES OUT, recorded by Fiddlin' John Carson, appears on Carson's "Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 6," Document CD 8019, 1998.

(By the way, there is no justification for spelling it LICKER rather than LIQUOR. Writers and linguists disparagingly call this "eye dialect." Although the words are pronounced the same, it's supposed to look like dialect because that's how an illiterate supposedly would write it. Like most cutesy illiteracies, I'd bet the record company, not Carson, invented this one. The idea that people who speak a dialect are necessarily illiterate is an abominable stereotype, in my opinion.

(I have enough liking and respect for dialect that I enjoy seeing it written in a way that accurately reflects pronunciation, but I don't like "eye dialect.")

I tried to transcribe the sound sample at Barnes & Noble, but didn't have much success:

... baby, I'm tired o' you, sweet thing.
Whoa, baby, I'm tired o' you,
I ain't came (?) for the ... way you do, sweet thing.

..., sugar babe.

SWEET THING in the DT is obviously related, but not quite the same.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 1929 song by Fiddlin' Joe Carson
From: bluerabbit10
Date: 19 Apr 07 - 09:07 PM

Lulu Belle and Scotty from WLS Barndance in the 40 and 50's sang this:
What you gonna due when the corn is layed-by..sugar babe
Gonna lay in the sun and look at the sky..sugar babek...

Watta you goin to do when well runs dry, sugar babe"....and so on...and on..

Would like to find all the lyrics to this one.
Verne

Subject: LYr Add: SUGAR BABE
From: Goose Gander
Date: 26 Nov 07 - 11:49 PM

SUGAR BABE

What you gonna do when the corn's layed by, Sugar Babe?
What you gonna do when the corn's layed by, Sugar Babe?
What you gonna do when the corn's layed by?
Lay in the shade and look at the sky,
That's what we'll do when the corn's layed by, Sugar Babe.

What you gonna do when the meal gives out, Sugar Babe?
What you gonna do when the meal gives out, Sugar Babe?
What you gonna do when the meal gives out?
We'll go a visiting round and about,
That's what we'll do when the meal gives out, Sugar Babe.

What you gonna do when the meat's all gone, Sugar Babe?
What you gonna do when the meat's all gone, Sugar Babe?
What you gonna do when the meat's all gone?
Sit in the kitchen and gnaw on a bone,
That's what we'll do when the meat's all gone, Sugar Babe.

What you gonna do when your shoes get thin, Sugar Babe?
What you gonna do when your shoes get thin, Sugar Babe?
What you gonna do when your shoes get thin?
You can do the work, and I'll stay in,
That's what we'll do when your shoes get thin, Sugar Babe.

What you gonna do when the weather gets cold, Sugar Babe?
What you gonna do when the weather gets cold, Sugar Babe?
What you gonna do when the weather gets cold?
Do like a ground hog, hunt me a hole,
That's what we'll do when the weather gets cold, Sugar Babe.

By John Lair, sung by Burrhead and Lulubelle.

Source:
100 WLS Barn Dance Favorites (Chicago: M.M. Cole, 1935), p.33

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whatcha Gonna Do... (Fiddlin' John Carson
From: bluerabbit10
Date: 15 Sep 10 - 03:18 PM

Say Goose, just now noticed your post. Thanks so much for the lyrics. I really mean it...Verne

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whatcha Gonna Do... (Fiddlin' John Carson
From: GUEST,999
Date: 17 Sep 12 - 01:50 PM

I do not know that this is what the OP requested.

Whatcha gonna do when the liquor gives out, sugar babe?
Whatcha gonna do when the liquor gives out,
Stand on the corner with your mouth in a pout, Sweet thing.

Oh now baby, I'm tired of you, sweet thing.
Oh, baby, I'm tired of you,
I ain't came further for the way you do, Sweet thing.

(Fiddle)

*Ain t getting much of that cold corn still, sugar babe
Ain t getting much of that cold corn still,
Till my darlin' did it (well) Sweet thing

Whatcha gonna do when the liquor gives out, sweet thing?
Whatcha gonna do when the liquor gives out,
Stand on the corner with your mouth in a pout, Sweet thing.

Oh now baby, I'm tired of you, sugar babe.
Oh Lord baby, I'm tired of you,
I ain't came further for the way you do, Sweet thing.

(Fiddle)

Standin' on the corner with my hat in my hand, Sugar Babe
Standin' on the corner with my hat in my hand;
Lookin for the woman ain't got no man, Sweet thing.

Whatcha gonna do when the liquor gives out, sugar babe?
Whatcha gonna do when the liquor gives out,
Stand on the corner with your mouth in a pout, Sweet thing.

Oh now baby, I'm tired of you... (Fiddle)* hard to understand this line

file from: www.traditionalmusic.co.uk

##########################################

There is a sixty-second sample at

http://se.7digital.com/artist/fiddlin-john-carson/release/fiddlin-john-carson-vol-6-1929-1930?h=04&d=01

of Fiddlin' John Carson doing the song, and it closely aligns with the one posted earlier in this post. Sound quality is not great.

---

Also at http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/whatcha-gonna-do-when-the-licker-runs-out-.aspx

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whatcha Gonna Do... (Fiddlin' John Carson
From: Joe_F
Date: 17 Sep 12 - 08:23 PM

Slats in the Bed

What you gonna do when the liquor gives out, my honey,
What you gonna do when the liquor gives out, my honey,
What you gonna do when the liquor gives out,
Stand around a corner with your mouth in a pout?
For sometime.

What you gonna do when your shoes give out, my honey,
What you gonna do when your shoes give out, my honey?
When my shoes give out gonna quit the street,
Take a chair and put a fan at my feet,
For sometime.

What you gonna do when your chair gives out, my honey,
What you gonna do when your chair gives out, my honey?
When I got no liquor, no chair, no shoes,
I'll lay 'cross my bed, with my head in the blues,
For sometime.

Slats in the bed go blammety-blam in the morning.
Slats in the bed go blammety-blam in the evening.
Slats in the bed go blammety-blam,
But I'll keep on sleeping like I don't give a damn,
For sometime.

[Note probably written ca. 1957:

-- _Folksong USA_, modified sl. to agree with the version sung at
Putney School, ca. 1951: besides having a different tune, the book's
version has "Sweet thing" where the Putneyites (e.g. Ebbe Borregaard)
have "My honey", and "Sweet thing, sweet thing, sweet thing" instead
of "For sometime".]

Josh White sings a version on DL 8665 that is like the Putney version
& probably the source of it. It differs most prominently in having
"meat" for "liquor" and in having this concluding stanza:

What you gonna do when your man gives out, my baby?
What you gonna do when your man gives out, my honey?
First I'll grab my money, kick him off the place,
Then I'll use the other man I had around just in case,
For sometime.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whatcha Gonna Do... (Fiddlin' John Carson
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Feb 18 - 09:47 PM

I've known this song longer than I can remember and I'm 78 years old. I always associated it with prostitution -- you know, the slats going blam-she-blam because of sexual motions? So recently I changed the last line of the chorus to "Turn out your face like you don't give a damn," to suggest the woman distancing herself from the situation.

As such, the song would fit with the long line of glorious prostitution songs like Edith Piaf's Milor', which I also perform.

In any case this song is a persistent memory for me -- the kind that makes up our repertoire!

Albert Solomon
Tomoy sa Simento Band
Philippines