Lyr Req: That'll Never Happen No More (Blind Blake

Subject: Blind Blake: 'That'll Never Happen .....
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 17 Jul 02 - 08:08 PM

I have searched all the previous threads on this wonderful blues/ragtime song. They provide (largely erroneous) lyrics, but so far there has been no satisfactory explanation regarding the lines

"Flat broke, was my fault
Used to eating pork chops and leaving the salt"

Those are the exact words that Blind Blake sings, so I would assume it can be taken as the definitive lyric, whatever Dave van Ronk or any other subsequent interpreters of the song may have chosen to sing.

So what exactly is the significance of
"Used to eating pork chops and leaving the salt" ?

Is this a purely culinary reference , or is there, as I suspect, some obscure sexual double-entendre involved?

Murray

Subject: RE: Blind Blake: 'That'll Never Happen .....
From: masato sakurai
Date: 17 Jul 02 - 09:26 PM

According to the transcription I have to a Blind Blake CD, the lines are:

Got broke, was my fault
Been used to eating porkchops and meat and salt

~Masato

Subject: RE: Blind Blake: 'That'll Never Happen .....
From: greg stephens
Date: 17 Jul 02 - 09:30 PM

well Masato's makes more sense. Any other versions?

Subject: RE: Blind Blake: 'That'll Never Happen .....
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 05:03 AM

You've done it again, Masato.

Re-listening to the CD, I realise that that is exactly what Blake is singing.

So, no double-entendre.

Murray

Subject: Lyr Add: THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN NO MORE
From: masato sakurai
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 10:23 AM

The lyrics accompanying the CD (Blind Blake: Southbound Rag, P-Vine [Japan] PCD-2438) are as follows. Is this need some corrections?

THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN NO MORE

I met a girl at the cabaret
Said, "Pretty papa I'm goin' your way"
Her man know what it all about
Waiting at home just to throw me out
Broke my nose, split my chin
"Don't let me catch you here again"
He whipped me from the kitchen back to the door
He beat me with the chair till my head got sore

That'll never happen no more
That'll never happen no more

The wind in Chicago, winter and fall
Is what caused me to wear my overalls
Got broke, was my fault
Been used to eating porkchops and meat and salt
I met a woman, just a pigmeat some
Bit fatmouth-me followed her
She pulled a gun, take my joint
Don't leave me hard, on, didn't get sore

That'll never happen no more
That'll never happen no more

~Masato

Subject: RE: Blind Blake: 'That'll Never Happen .....
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 10:51 AM

Aftere close listening, Masato, I would say that these lyrics do accurately represent what Blake sings with the exception of
"I met a woman, just a pigmeat some"

I am pretty sure that what Blake sings there is
"I met a woman, just a big mean girl"
Given the quality of the recording and Blake's sometimes almost indecipherable accent, it is difficult to be certain about some of his lines.

Murray

Subject: RE: Blind Blake: 'That'll Never Happen .....
From: masato sakurai
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 11:00 AM

Thanks. That line was a puzzle to me.

~Masato

Subject: RE: Blind Blake: 'That'll Never Happen .....
From: GUEST,honestfrankie
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 11:21 AM

I had a version of this song by Roy Bookbinder and he sang"I was used to eating pork chops with a whole lot of salt"

Subject: RE: Blind Blake: 'That'll Never Happen .....
From: GUEST,CraigS
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 05:42 PM

As usual, I can't find the record, so I can't check it - but a Pigmeat Mama or references to pigmeat for sale are usually references to ladies of loose moral status. I'm pretty sure that the word is pigmeat, but I've been puzzling over the following word for over twenty years. On the other hand, it is quite apparent on a lot of old blues that the vocals were unclear because the artist would not be paid for recording if the engineer could clearly understand the improper meaning of the lyrics.

Subject: RE: Blind Blake: 'That'll Never Happen .....
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 05:52 PM

Craig, you may well be right, but if you listen closely to what Blake is singing, it is clear (at least I think it is clear) that the first consonant of the word is a "b" rather than a "p". It requires a certain amount of creative deduction to reconstruct the rest of the line, I agree, but I do NOT think he sings "pigmeat".

Murray

Subject: RE: Blind Blake: 'That'll Never Happen .....
From: GUEST,Harvey Duffelbag
Date: 13 Feb 05 - 09:19 PM

Over the past 30 years or so I've heard this song played by innumerable "artists" using zillions of variations on Dave Von Ronk's version. Only recently did I finally get hold of Blind Blake's recording.   Sounds to me like he's saying the following:


Live in Chicago.   In winter and fall,
Wind cause me to wear my overalls.
Flat broke. Was my fault.
Used to eating porkchops.   (Now) I'm eating salt.
I met a women dressed in big mink (and) pearls.
Big fat mouth me followed her.
She pulled a gun and take my (joy?)
Didn't eat my heart out. I didn't get sore.


Listening to the recording, it almost sounds like he was determined to make the record on one try, no matter what. The meter is very uneven - the song starts out slow and gets faster and faster as it goes along. I get the impression he might have made some minor flubs in the words he meant to sing and just kept going. This could account for the confusion we all experience when trying to decipher just what it is he is saying.

Maybe he had just made up the song shortly before recording and the words weren't second nature yet.   (We know for sure he wasn't reading the words as he sang.)

Subject: RE: Blind Blake: 'That'll Never Happen .....
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Feb 05 - 10:23 AM

"Pork" and "pigmeat" are common sexual metaphors (meataphors!)in blues music. Blind Boy Fuller in "Black & Tan" sings: "I got me a pigmeat woman, I cannot use sowbelly no more." So Murray, there is an allusion rather than a full double entendre explicit in the line you mention. "Barbeque" is another word and all these words can refer to a woman and/or to the sexual act. "Pussy" is a more modern and generally understood term that has the same useage. For what it's worth, I think Blake sings "...used to eating porkchops, meat and salt"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: That'll Never Happen No More (Blind Blake
From: GUEST,Ebonics Tonics
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 06:45 AM

I think Harvey Dufflebag is very close...
but maybe...

Been used to eatin' pokechops (and eatin' salt), or (and even salt) both of which would give the listener an inclination into the story tellers previous state of having some money.

then...

I Met a woman (just a pigmeat her), or (dressed in big mink fur).. either one could've been a hooker! but I think it's about the mink!


The rest sounds right to me. The only other possibility is in the last line, another reasonable option...

Didn't even holler and didn't get sore.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: That'll Never Happen No More (Blind Blake
From: GUEST,Ove Ofteness - aka O.V. Michaelsen
Date: 28 May 12 - 01:17 PM

Last night I came up with this take on the song.

THAT'LL NEVER HAPPEN NO MORE

(In the "G" formation)

I met a girl at the cabaret.
Said, "Pretty papa, are you goin' my way?"
Her man, he knew what that was about,
He waited home just to throw me out.

Broke my nose and split my chin.
"Don't let me ever catch you here again."
He whipped me from the kitchen, back to the door,
And beat me with the chair till my head got sore.

Oh, that'll never happen no more,
No, that'll never happen no more!

Had a party one Saturday night,
Drinks were flowin', it was goin' all right.
Come the morning I awoke in the bed
With four empty pockets and a pain in my head.

I met a woman with a dazzlin' smile,
She won me over with her grace and style.
Pulled a gun and demanded my dough,
Without my britches, I had nowhere to go.

Well, that'll never happen no more,
That'll never happen no more!

BREAK

Refrain

Look out for trouble, it's all about.
If nothin'll do, you best do without.

That'll never happen no more,
No, that'll never happen to me no more!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: That'll Never Happen No More (Blind Blake
From: GUEST,amusia
Date: 09 Nov 12 - 09:07 PM

Blind Willie McTell sang:

Had to eat my porkchops without no salt

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: That'll Never Happen No More (Blind Blake
From: GUEST,yet another listener
Date: 21 Oct 15 - 03:38 PM

I generally agree with Harvey Duffelbag's transcription of Blind Blake's version. I'd only offer these alternatives:

• I hear "I met a woman with a big mink fur";

• Even though it sounds like "She pulled a gun and take my doy", it must be an unusual (dialectal?) pronunciation of "take my dough" to allow the rhyme with non-rhotic "sore".

I agree with "I'm eating salt" — in my opinion, "salt" refers to "salt pork", which would have been an inferior substitute for someone who was accustomed to eating pork chops.