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Subject: Duncan and Brady From: Earl Date: 21 Apr 98 - 11:00 AM I'm looking for information on "Duncan and Brady", sung by Leadbelly and others. I assume it is about an actual event. Does anyone know where and when it took place? |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: S. P. Buck Mulligan Date: 21 Apr 98 - 09:59 PM Heard Tom Rush's version from about 1965 - I've always assumed it was New Orleans, shortly after the turn of the century? ("Long comes Brady in his 'lectric car") |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: Jimmy Rose Date: 22 Apr 98 - 09:48 PM Looking for tablature to Duncan & Brady. It can be Dave van Ronk, Tom Rush or any other neat approach Thanks Jimmy |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: murray@mpce.mq.edu.au Date: 23 Apr 98 - 01:21 AM The version of Leadbelly's Duncan and Brady is on the Smisonian Folkways album "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"--Leadbelly legacy vol 1. It is done once with guitar and again a capella. According to the liner notes you can find information about the song from: Moses Ash and Allan Lomax, "The Leadbelly Song Book"--Oak publications 1962 (Anyone know if it was ever reissued?) and Carl Sandburg, The American Songbook--Harcourt, Brace and Co. 1927. I know there is a reissue of that one with an introduction by Garrison Keillor because I have a copy. The Sandburg book, however, doesn't give any information about its history, it just tells how he got the song. By the way. The Leadbelly version says "shinin' star" instead of "'lectric car". Murray |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: Joe Offer Date: 23 Apr 98 - 02:00 AM Sandburg's American Songbag (1927), says a Nebraska-born woman, practicing law in Chicago, gave one verse and a tune from St. Louis. It is a tale of wicked people, a bad man so bad that even after death he went "struttin' in hell with his Stetson hat." Geraldine Smith, another Chicago attorney, heard it from Omaha railroad men. A second text came from the R.W. Gordon collection. Sandburg say, "the snarl of the underworld, the hazards of those street corners and alleys 'where any moment may be your next,' are in the brawling of this Brady reminiscence." -Joe Offer- |
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Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: BRADY (from Carl Sandburg) From: Joe Offer Date: 23 Apr 98 - 02:45 AM This seems to be quite different from the lyrics in the database, and the database doesn't have a tune. -Joe Offer- BRADY (from "American Songbag," by Carl Sandburg, 1927) Version A (from Geraldine Smith) Down in St Louis at 12th and Carr Big Bill Brady was a-tendin' bar; In came Duncan with a star on his chest Duncan says, "Brady you're under arrest." Brady -- why didn't you run? Brady – you should a-run! Brady -- why didn't you run? When you seen Black Duncan with his gatling gun? Version B (from R.W. Gordon collection) Duncan and his brother was playing pool When Brady came in acting a fool; He shot him once, he shot him twice, Saying, "I don't make my living by shooting dice!" Brady won't come no more! Brady won't come no more! Brady won't come no more! For Duncan shot Brady with a forty-four! "Brady, Brady, don't you know you done wrong To come in to my house when my game was going on? I told you half a dozen times before, And now you lie dead on my barroom floor!" Brady went to hell lookin' mighty curious, the devil says, "Where you from?" "East St. Louis." "Well, pull off your coat and step this way, For I've been expecting you every day!" When the girls heard Brady was dead They went up home and put on red, And came down town singin' this song – "Brady's struttin' in hell with his Stetson on! "Brady, where you at? Brady, where you at? Brady, where you at? Struttin' in hell with his Stetson hat!"
MIDI file: BRADY&~1.MID Timebase: 192 Name: Brady This program is worth the effort of learning it. To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here ABC format: X:1
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: Earl Date: 23 Apr 98 - 10:13 AM Thanks Joe, It looks like St. Louis is where it happened. It's interesting that version A has Brady tending bar and Duncan coming in wearing a star. The version I know has it the other way around. |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: murray@mpce.mq.edu.au Date: 23 Apr 98 - 10:46 PM Something I have always wondered about the Leadbelly version, which is now version 2 on the database. Why does he say "grocery floor" instead of "barroom floor" or something like that. Was "grocery" a name for a general store that offered everything including a bar? Murray |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: Sharpe Date: 24 Apr 98 - 08:54 PM Check out version by Koener Ray and Glover (Blue Rags and Hollers). |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,Sharyn Dimmick, sharyn@usisp.com Date: 15 Oct 02 - 12:11 AM Chris Smither has some good verses to this on his CD Drive You Home Again, including one about the doctor who treats Brady and one about the funeral procession |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,Itinerant Genie Date: 15 Oct 02 - 12:46 AM The version I first heard, IIRC, was by Dave Guard and The Whiskey Hill Singers (with Judy Henske and Buck Wheat). It added a refrain, "[because he'd] been on the job too long...". Anyone happen to have their lyrics? Genie |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: masato sakurai Date: 15 Oct 02 - 01:37 AM (1) From G. Malcolm Laws, Jr., Native American Balladry, rev. ed (1964, pp. 250-151): I 9 BRADY (Duncan and Brady) Duncan kills Brady the policeman because he has wrecked Duncan's combination grocery and barroom. Mrs. Brady takes the news calmly and remarks to the children, "Well, all draw a pension when your daddy die". Duncan, Duncan was a-tendin' bar When in walked Brady with a shinin' star; Cried, "Duncan, Duncan, you are under arrest!" And Duncan shot a hole in Brady's breast. Lomax, Our Singing Country, 333, lO, m. (a composite text, with tune from L.C. Record 1865. "Duncan and Brady"). Brown II, 571, 2 and chor. (N.C.); notes and refs. Gordon, 45, 2 sts. Gordon, Adventure, July lO, 1923, frag. of 5 sts. Odum and Johnson, The Negro and His Songs, 208, frag. of 4 sts. Sandburg, 198, frag. of 1d, m. (Neb. via Mo.); 4 sts. and 2 refrains, from R. W. Gordon's collection. Scarborough, 85, fragnents and 7 sts. (Tex.). L.C. Records 1787 A2 (N.Y. Sung by B.L. Lunsford); 3978 B3 (Tex.); 1329 A2 & B2 (Ala.) (2) Meade et al., Country Music Sources (2002, p. 67): 120. DUNCAN AND BRADY LAWS I9 [Ref: (3) Laws (1964), pp. 250-1; (5) 'Brady and Duncan,' Henry Truvillion, July 11, 1933, LC CYL-16-1O, 'Brady, Brady,' sung by negro convicts at the State Penitentiary, Parchman, Miss, 9-1O, August, 1933, LC 1865-A-1, 'Brady,' Bascom Lamar Lunsford, February, 1935, LC 1787-A-2, 'Brady,' Blind Jesse Harris, July 24, 1937, LC 1329-B-2, 'Brady and Duncan,' Will Starks, 1942, LC AFS-6652-Bl.] Been On The Job Too Long (GEX 2456-) - Wilmer Watts & His Lonely Eagles (vcl w/gtr & bjo) - 10/29/1929 NYC. Pmt 321O [1686] NWR 245 Bwy 8248 [1686] Yaz 2028(cd) (3) From The Traditional Ballad Index: Duncan and Brady [Laws I9] DESCRIPTION: Policeman Brady walks into Duncan's bar and attempts to arrest the latter. Duncan, unwilling to have his business ruined, shoots Brady. Neither Brady's family nor those around Duncan seem to care much; Brady's wife looks forward to getting his pension AUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (recording, Wilmer Watts & the Lonely Eagles) KEYWORDS: murder family FOUND IN: US(MW,SE) REFERENCES (4 citations): Laws I9, "Brady (Duncan and Brady)" Sandburg, pp. 198-199, "Brady" (2 texts, 1 tune) Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 596, "Duncan and Brady" (1 text, 1 tune) DT 660, DUNCBRAD RECORDINGS: Wilmer Watts & the Lonely Eagles, "Been on the Job Too Long" (Paramount 3210, 1930; on TimesAint01) CROSS-REFERENCES: cf. "Casey Jones (I)" [Laws G1] (lyrics) File: LI09 ~Masato |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: Sandy Paton Date: 15 Oct 02 - 03:20 AM Paul Clayton sang this verse about the doctor: Brady, Brady, was a big fat man; The doctor caught ahold of Sheriff Brady's hand, Felt for the pulse and then he said, I believe to my soul Sheriff Brady is Dead. Been on the job too long. Sandy |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: Amos Date: 15 Oct 02 - 12:26 PM The version I learned so many years ago had "Been on the job too long" as the recurring theme tagged to the end of every verse. Glad to see the alternatives! A |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,leo Date: 19 Jan 03 - 03:55 PM the johnson mountain boys did a nice version [mid 90's] on rounder0292 |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: BuckMulligan Date: 19 Jan 03 - 07:23 PM Damn, a thread revived that I was in back in '98. Nothing to add, really, except that Chris Smither's version is very much a carbon copy of Tom Rush's (both fairly close to van Ronk's). Duncan was a barkeep running an illegal game; Brady a (no doubt corrupt) lawman who'd "been on the job too long" - has both "shinin' star" and "electric car" references; Duncan shot a hole in King Brady's chest ("Brady, Brady, Brady, well you know you done wrong, bustin' in here while my game was goin' on") And of course on hearing King Brady was dead, the women all went home and reragged in red (echo of, or echoed in Kweskin's "Ella Speed.") |
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Subject: Lyr Add: BEEN ON THE JOB TOO LONG (Wilmer Watts) From: Stewie Date: 19 Jan 03 - 07:53 PM It appears that no one has posted the Wilmer Watts version, the earliest recorded - 29 October 1929. Here is a start on it. The bits I am uncertain about are in square brackets. Despite repeated listenings, the second line of the penultimate 'Early in the morning ...' stanza eludes me. Any ideas? For a change, it is not the quality of the Paramount pressing, but rather Watts' articulation and accent, that make transcription a challenge. BEEN ON THE JOB TOO LONG Twinkle, twinkle 'lectric star Yonder goes Brady on a 'lectric car Makin' his way to the freedom land He's gonna kill him a sucker like a bullnose man Been on the job too long Brady was a worker on the telephone wire 'Long come Duncan with a shinin' star Looked ol' Brady right through the specs He says, 'There's no use in talkin', Brady, get your check Been on the job too long Brady replied and he answered, 'No' Duncan showed him a sight that was never before Says, 'Now, Brady, you are [running your 'rest'] Oh, Duncan shot a hole through Brady's chest Been on the job too long Brady had a little 25 Kill a man about a half a mile Duncan had a big 44 Well, he laid old Brady in the barroom door 'Cause he'd been on the job too long Early in the morning, just about nine [Horses in the ????? formed a line] White and the black all gathered around They're gonna take Mr Brady to the buryin' ground Been on the job too long Brady went to hell with a crutch under his arm Says, 'Mr Devil, well I ain't here long' Devil says, 'Brady, just this-a way Well, there's never been a sucker here that ever got away Been on the job too long Brady had a little 25 Kill a man about a half a mile Duncan had a big 44 Well, he laid old Brady in the barroom door 'Cause he'd been on the job too long Source: transcription of Wilmer Watts & The Lonely Eagles 'Been On The Job Too Long' recorded on 29 October 1929 in NYC and issued as Paramount 3210 [1686]. Reissued on Various Artists 'Times Ain't Like They Used To Be: Early American Rural Music Vol I' Yazoo CD2028. --Stewie. |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: Amos Date: 19 Jan 03 - 09:04 PM Geeze, talk about variations on themes. The version I learned goes laong this wise: Twinkle, twinkle, little star And along come Brady in his ee-lectric car Big mean look, in his right eye Bound to kill somebody just to see him die -- He'd been on the job too long! Duncan, Duncan, he was tending bar When along came Brady in his shiny star Said "Come along, Duncan, you're under arrest!" And Duncan put a bullet right through Brady's chest. He'd been on the job too long. "Oh, Brady," said Duncan, "You know you done wrong! Come inta my saloon while the games were goin' on Broke down my window, broke down my door -- That why I left you dead on my barroom floor. You been on the job too long!" When Mrs Brady heard King Brady was gone She up and started singing his mourning song. Runnin' round town, and crying up and down In an old Mother Hubbard and a blue night-gown She'd been on the job too long. It's all over town, now, King Brady is dead I called the undertaker, and here's what he said: "Roll out your hearses, your rubber-tired hacks, Takin' twelve men to the graveyard, bringing eleven back!" He's been on the job too long. Regards, A |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: kendall Date: 19 Jan 03 - 09:22 PM Gordon Bok did a very good job on this. |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: simon-pierre Date: 20 Jan 03 - 01:16 PM Amos - I can't verify now, but it looks like we both learned our songs at Dave Van Ronk's school.. |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: Genie Date: 21 Jan 03 - 01:22 PM Amos, the version you posted is close (but no cigar) to the one I learned in about 1963. IIRC it was done by Dave Guard and the Whiskey Hill Singers (but I may be thinking of a similar song in that regard). It had a verse like: When the women all heard that Brady was dead, They went on home and they re-ragged in red ... Genie |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: Amos Date: 21 Jan 03 - 02:01 PM Cigar? Why would I want a cigar? If I had a nickel for every cigar I haven't won because I wasn't playing the game, I woulda retired by now! :>) A |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,Brady Layman Date: 24 Feb 03 - 09:45 AM I've been fascinated about the song since I realized a few years back that there were so many versions that have been recorded. Here is what I've found so far: Year Artist/Group Format versions I have: 1929 Wilmer Watts & Lonely Eagles CD 1937 Blind Jesse Harris CD 1947 Lead Belly CD (acapella) 1947 Lead Belly CD (with twelve string) 1959 Dave Van Ronk cassette/CD 1963 Tom Rush CD/LP 1963 Koerner, Ray & Glover CD 1963 Dave Guard & Whiskeyhill Singers CD 1963 Judy Henske CD 1964 Hoyt Axton CD 1972 New Riders of the Purple Sage CD/LP 1991 Harvey Reid CD 1993 Johnson Mtn. Boys CD 1993 Morrissey/Brown CD 1997 Geoff Bartley CD 1997 Bob Dylan CD 1998 Ken Hamm CD 1999 Chris Smither CD 1999 Gordon Bok CD 2001 Steven Senderoff CD 2001 Dirty Birds Jug Band CD 2001 Kate Seeger & Dean Spencer CD 2002 Joel Mabus CD versions I don't have: 50s Fred Gerlach Easy Rider 70s Tompall Glaser CD "Outlaw" 50s Paul Clayton 30s Odum & Johnson ? Paul Campbell 2001 Martin Carthy CD Box 2001 Paul Arnoldi CD ? Alan Lomax & the Duprees 30s Will Starks 1976 Tom Akstens LP 200? Elijah Wald CD ? Wollies 45 rpm single ? Mark Crawford in production 2000 David & Roselyn CD 1989 Volo Bogtrotters ? ? Louisiana Grass LP?CD? 1966 Terry Burnett 1999 Dillof, Rice & the Cuyahogians 2001 Jack Norton 195? Win Stracke LP Americana Book References: 1927 Geraldine Smith Sandberg book 1927 R.W. Gordon Sandberg book ? Paul Oliver book? 1964 Native American Balladry Live Performances: 1970 James Taylor 2002 Zen Tricksters Dead cover band ? David Nelson Band DN from NRPS 2000 Paul Brady 2002 Railroad Earth 2000 Gene & Nancy Morgan unconfirmed links: ? Bob Franke ? Michael Cooney ? Jonny Lang ? Seldom Scene Live performance? ? Blind Willie McTell ? Radiators Live performance? ? Quicksilver Messenger Service Live performance? ? LED39 CD? |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: Amos Date: 24 Feb 03 - 09:47 AM Wow, Brady!! Yer namesake would be proud! A |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,Brady Layman Date: 24 Feb 03 - 11:39 AM A few years back I'd hoped to find the origin of the song. I doubt I'll ever learn it for sure. Some are convinced it came from the race riots in East St. Louis of 1917. Others maintain it goes back to "King Brady" in a series of dime novels in New York in the 1890s. It seems that most versions from the 1950s on are derived from Lead Belly's interpretation in the 1940s. One of the more interesting versions is that of Joel Mabus, based on one of the versions in the Sandburg book of 1927. His lyric can be found at www.joelmabus.com |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,Les B. Date: 24 Feb 03 - 12:01 PM To add to your list of recordings - Either the Brothers Four or the Highwaymen (one of those fresh-faced college boy groups) also covered it back in the 1960's. Their lyrics were almost exactly what Amos posted above. I'm not at home or I'd confirm. |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: Steve Parkes Date: 24 Feb 03 - 12:13 PM I was beginning to think the electric car was a farly modern intrusion, unitl I saw the Wilmer Watts version from '29. emeber John Wayne in "The Shootist"? The Bad Guy drove a car: easy to conflate a movie with a song. Another theory bites the dust! Steve |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: Stewie Date: 24 Feb 03 - 08:44 PM Brady You might be interested in this from John Garst, who has posted some info on 'John Henry' to this forum, in the archives the old-timey newsgroup:
Garst also references the following which may be worth your while tracking down: John Russell David, 'Tragedy in Ragtime' 1970s Dissertation about 'Frankie', 'Stagolee', and 'Duncan and Brady'. Available from University Microfilms The above comes from here: Click Here --Stewie. |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,Brady Layman Date: 25 Feb 03 - 01:07 AM Stewie, In the liner notes to his "Thumb Thump" CD Joel Mabus writes about St. Louis, "It was there that Duncan (a black man) shot Brady (a currupt white cop) and a riot erupted." He places it "a few years" before 1899. I have not run across any real corroboration on that story. I'll try to follow the link you provided...thanks! On a different topic...the electric car. It is interesting, many of the versions have Brady driving an electric car (or lectric car)but somehow Harvey Reid has him in a Caddilac car. I believe electric cars were not uncommon from about 1915 to abour 1925. The good thing was they were not hard to start as most of the internal combustion cars of the time...you just turned it on and went. I understand they were popular with Doctors. Bad thing was short range and short battery life resulting in high operating cost. Maybe only Doctors (and crooked cops) could afford them. |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,Brady Layman Date: 25 Feb 03 - 01:16 AM One other frivolous (maybe) thought...it was said that Dave Guard left the Kingston Trio because he was frustrated they would not pursue more authentic, ethnic folk material...that they were "too commercial". On his first LP after leaving and forming the Whiskeyhill Singers he records "Duncan & Brady"! Did this song cause the breakup of the original Kingston Trio?! |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,Uncle Fred Wilson Date: 25 Mar 03 - 11:24 AM This song has been so grassroots popular I told my wife if she wanted to add a "jug band" song to her repetoire this one would be sure to go over well. It is really remarkable how many Leadbelly versions of songs are the ones remembered by the most people. Last year at the annual Rackensack concert I did Titanic just to add a little black-race input to our local folklore. Suzanne will do a killer version of 'Duncan and Brady' , she's been the only blind white woman to perform at several blues festivals, I know they're gonna love it. |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: Coyote Breath Date: 26 Mar 03 - 08:41 AM Hi ho! Groceries commonly sold whiskey and other "ardent" spirits. They also sold other things. Reading "Five Points" (locale of Gangs of New York)now, author says groceries were more prevelant than saloons, the booze was cheaper but not sold by the drink as much as in a saloon. Line from Moonshiner song: "I'll go to the grocery and drink with my friends No woman to follow to see what I spend No woman to follow, no children to squall If you want to stay happy, never marry at all." But you'd find women in a grocery before you would in a saloon. In fact when women went out to drink they were more likely to go to the grocery and do it since women were generally not allowed in saloons unless they were working and I suppose they could always claim they just came by the grocery for some flour. Gee I felt bad about Brady getting shot seeing as he was so ecologically sensitive, driving an electric car and all! CB |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,John Garst Date: 22 Apr 03 - 11:34 AM Following up on Stewie's posting quoting me from another source ... John Russell David's PhD dissertation "Tragedy in Ragtime: Black Folktales from St. Louis" gives an enormous amount of information about the killing of Officer Brady by someone, officially Harry Duncan. This work is readily available from University Microfilms. It is really excellent in its treatment of "Frankie," "Duncan and Brady," and "Stack Lee," all of which are about St. Louis crimes. Russell goes to original sources, newspaper accounts and court records, as well as interviews, etc. |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,Dave Hollowood Date: 10 Jun 03 - 12:54 PM Glad somebody else has heard the Brothers Four version. Heard it when I was just a young'n. Intro verse was: King Brady was a crooked Policeman, One day he got shot, Most people say, He deserved what he got... Oh Duncan, Duncan was tending the bar When in walked Brady with his shiny star Duncan! (Yes?) Duncan! You're under arrest! Duncan shot a hole in Brady's chest! Oh Brady, Brady, Brady Don't you know you done wrong Come'n in to my baroom when the game was on You sprung my lock And you broke my door Now you're lying dead on the baroom floor! There were a couple of other verses, notably the "women runing home and dressing in red. But the one verse that seems to be missing from other versions is: Momma, Momma, I can hear a strange sound There's a bumpin and a thumpin coming up from the ground Well son, oh son, don't you have any fear That's the devil and he's yellin' I Got Brady Down Here! |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: Stewie Date: 28 Jul 03 - 09:09 PM In relation to my transcription of the Wilmer Watts recording in this thread, the New Roanoke Jug Band have a version of it on 'Play it for a long time' Copper Creek CCCD-2003. Although their version has many minor departures from the Watts text, it does clarify the 2 bits that I could not decipher and placed in square brackets. Stanza 3, line 3: Says, 'Now, Brady, you're resisting arrest' Stanza 5, line 2: 'Horses and hacks all formed a line' --Stewie. |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,Jug Band Scott Date: 21 Aug 03 - 12:10 PM Howdy, Someone brought this thread to my attention. I play in the New Roanoke Jug Band & thought I would address the minor departures which Stewie points out. While very little is known about Wilmer Watts, we know he was from the North Carolina Piedmont region, and that some of his other songs (notably Cotton Mill Blues) suggest that he worked the cotton mills in that area. His version of Been on the Job Too Long appears to be a commentary on the labor troubles which took place in the mills in the early 1900s as mill owners fought the organization of unions int their mills. We changed the text to set the song here, where the town constable works at the behest of the mill owner and workers who cause trouble may wind up dead if they persist in their attempts to organize a union. Mostly, we love the songs and playing style of Wilmer Watts and the Lonely Eagles and wish more of their recordings were available on reissue projects. |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: Stewie Date: 21 Aug 03 - 07:06 PM Scott, Thanks for the info. Your 'Play it for a long time' is a most enjoyable album, and it is great to have the four 1929 sides from the Roanoke Jug Band. --Stewie. |
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Subject: RE: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,Tom Akstens Date: 29 Oct 03 - 12:41 PM I just stumbled onto this--and it's kind of amazing that there's so much interest in this song. The only versions I heard before I recorded mine were Van Ronk, Rush and the weird NRPS version. What always appealed to me about the song was the sense of mystery--what was left out of the story-- |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Duncan and Brady From: Lighter Date: 19 Feb 04 - 04:57 PM Harvey Reid's solo performance on "Steel-Drivin' Man" (Woodpecker 107 CD [1991]) has been mentioned in passing. A great recording and a great album. Very much worth hearing. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,JOHN of ELSIE`S BAND Date: 20 Feb 04 - 12:05 PM I have an EP of Alan Lomax doing "Brady", recorded in London with a little rock`n`roll combo during the 60`s - terrific. All interested parties - give me a shout. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,Brady Layman Date: 04 Jul 04 - 10:22 AM I've been trying for over a year without success to find Tom Aksten's rendition. Likewise, John of Elsie's Band, the Lomax recording. In the last year I've managed to collect nearly 20 more versions of the song as well as the David dissertation. David's work is very well documented and suggests that within weeks of Brady's demise there were several songs about the incident being sung in the bars of East Saint Louis. Harry Duncan hung for the death of officer James Brady, but maintained to the end he did not shoot Brady, that it was the bar owner, Charles Starkes. Starkes, on his deathbed, confessed that it was he, not Duncan, that shot Brady. The New Roanoke version and entire CD are a delight. I just got Eddie Pennington's "Walks the Strings" (Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD40146)with another version patterned after the Watts rendition but with some unique verses. In Eddie's version the dispute is over a woman: "Brady was a fixer of the telephone wire, Duncan was a gambler with a shiney car, Just one pretty woman, two hard men, Lord, Lord, Lord, here we go again. Cause they've been on the job too long. Brady had a little 25,weapon of choice for a midget's suicide, Now Duncan was packin' a big 44, and he laid poor Brady on the barroom floor, Cause he'd been on the job too long." Some that I have located that were not on my earlier list: Tongue and Groove, a 60s SF rock band. The Brother's Four from their 1963 live LP. Hilary James, a blues/jazz/big band sounding version from "Bluesy" on the UK Acoustics label. Jim Page, Seattle folkie, aa solo acoustic version recorded around 1970 in Stockholm. Tom Rush has a new version he credits to "Spider" John Koerner that is very funny and runs over nine minutes long. It is on his newest CD and available only from his web site. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Duncan and Brady From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 04 Jul 04 - 01:23 PM Here is what Odum and Johnson had in "The Negro and His Songs," 1925. Lyrics only. Lyr. Add: BRADY Brady went to hell, but he didn't go to stay, Devil say, "Brady, step 'roun' dis way, I'm lookin' for you mos' every day." Brady, Brady, you know you done wrong, You come in when game was goin' on, An' dey laid po' Brady down. Up wid de crowbar, bus' open de do', Lef' him lyin' dead on pool-room flo'; An' they laid his po' body down. Womens in Iowy dey heard de news, Wrote it down on old red shoes Dat dey glad po' Brady was dead. "The scene is one of a killing in a game of poker or craps. "They laid his po' body down" is the common way of saying they killed him. The expression has been met in a number of verses previously given. Just what the conclusion of the scene with the devil was, the Negro singer does not seem to know." Odum and Johnson, 1925, The Negro and His Songs, Univ. NC Press; reprints by Negro Universities Press, pp. 208-209. The expression "laid" for kill appears in a version of Railroad Bill: Railroad Bill went out west, Met ole Jessie James, thought he had him beat; But Jesse laid ole Railroad Bill. Many of these songs borrow from others. Verses above about the ladies dressed in red often appear in these songs, even in "Casey Jones." Womens in Kansas, all dressed in red, Got de news dat Casey was dead. De womens in Jackson, all dressed in black, Said, in fac, he was a cracker-jack. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Duncan and Brady From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 04 Jul 04 - 01:44 PM Legman, in Randolph-Legman, "Roll Me in Your Arms," had this to say about Brady (p. 470, in 151. Peggy Howatt): "A similar trait exists in another 1910s topical ballad, not bawdy, entitled "Brady" (in Hiler's "Full Dress Suits and Plenty of Whores, manuscript, Paris, 1928), in which the policeman and the badman in East St. Louis, Illinois, both shoot each other simultaneously. And the song ends with the delicate doubt expressed- in what has to be one of the greatest rhymes in the English language!- as to whether either of them will arrive in heaven at all, or perhaps have gone elsewhere, when St. Peter reacts impatiently, after waiting for them far too long: St. Peter standing by the gate Says, Ain't them fellows kind o' late? Seems to me that's mighty curious, Two hot sports from East St. Lourious. Too bad that this manuscript has not been published. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Duncan and Brady From: RWilhelm Date: 18 Aug 04 - 06:18 PM Since this thread has popped up again, I would like to add my speculation on the electric car. The first automobile driven in Manhattan was an electric buggy purchased by Diamond Jim Brady in 1895 (he didn't drive it himself, he was chauffeured). Everything Diamond Jim Brady did was big news; it was front-page news in New York and it would have been known throughout the country. Of course, Diamond Jim had nothing to do with a murder in St. Louis but, since the line is not essential to the song, and the time is about right, maybe with the Brady connection, his electric car found its way into the song. Just a thought. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,Eric Date: 21 Dec 05 - 06:19 AM Several contributors here have mentioned the references to the women dressing in red. I know it from "Ella Speed," which Buck Mulligan refers to (19 Jan. '03). Can anyone help me here. In the lines The women all heard that Ella Speed was dead, And they all went home and re-ragged in red... what is the meaning of "re-ragged in red"? They all went home and dressed in red. Why? In the Duncan and Brady song, I could see it meaning a celebration -- good riddance to Brady, let's dress up! But in "Ella Speed" the women are most likely grieving over Ella Speed, who has just been murdered downtown. Was there some custom? |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Duncan and Brady From: Brian Hoskin Date: 21 Dec 05 - 06:56 AM Eric, Dressing in red was/is apparently the accepted dress for funerals in some African(-American) traditions (I don't pretend to know the details of this!). This is also mentioned in John Hurt's song Louis Collins: When they heard that Louis was dead All the women folk they dressed in red Angels laid him away Brian |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Duncan and Brady From: Azizi Date: 21 Dec 05 - 08:26 AM Brian Hoskin,I'm far from an expert on African religions or anything else. However, my interest in traditional West African folklore has led me to gather information about the Yoruba orisas {pronounced "orishas" whose tales read like stories of the Greek & Roman gods and goddesses. See this excerpt from a Mudcat post I made in the Folklore: Are Bright Colors Evil? thread: "One explanation for the number of traditional African American songs about religious people dressed in red {such as "whose that yonder dressed in red/must be the people that Moses led"} is the association of West African deities with colors. See this online passage: "Shango by Micha F. Lindemans The god of thunder and the ancestor of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. He is the son of Yemaja the mother goddess and protector of birth. Shango (Xango) has three wives: Oya, who stole Shango's secrets of magic; Oschun, the river goddess who is Shango's favorite because of her culinary abilities; and Oba, who tried to win his love by offering her ear for him to eat. He sent her away in anger and she became the river Oba, which is very turbulent where it meets the river Oschun. Shango is portrayed with a double axe on his head (the symbol of thunder), with six eyes and sometimes with three heads. His symbolic animal is the ram, and his favorite colors are red and white, which are regarded as being holy. In Brazil, Shango is worshipped as a thunder and weather god by the Umbandists. In Santeria, Shango (Chango) is the equivalent of the Catholic saint St. Barbara. Shango was once the fourth king of Yoruba, immortalized after death." Source: http://www.pantheon.org/articles/s/shango.html" -snip- In that thread I also mentioned the orisa Osun {Oshun} who is the Yoruba {Nigeria, West Africa}goddess of vain, flirtatious love, among other things. Although her color is the yellow of honey, there are images which depict her wearing a red piece of material around her waist. Of course, none of this may have anything to do the question of why the reference to the color red shows up in early African Americans folk songs... The color red is decidedly NOT a color that is wore to funerals by contemporary {or even 20th century}Christian African Americans. Females might wear red dresses or red suits to church during Christmas or a Valentine day social event, but in those contexts, the color red has no religions significance. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Duncan and Brady From: Brian Hoskin Date: 21 Dec 05 - 09:22 AM Thanks for that Azizi. Just to add another reference to this, Paul Oliver in his book Blues Fell This Morning, makes reference to the wearing of bright red mourning gowns and quotes from Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup's song 'Death Valley Blues': "Tell all the women, please come dressed in red, Then goin' on 61 Highway, that's where the poor boy he fell dead" |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Duncan and Brady From: Brian Hoskin Date: 21 Dec 05 - 09:40 AM Like so many topics on the Mudcat, the issue of dressing in red at someone's death has been discussed before: here |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Duncan and Brady From: GUEST,John of Elsie`s Band Date: 21 Dec 05 - 10:35 AM Brady Layman, If you wish I can do you a CD of my Alan Lomax recording of "Brady". Let me have your postal address and I`ll see what I can do. Regards, John |
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