Chord Req: The Panic Is On (Hezekiah Jenkins)

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Panic Is On (Hezekiah Jenkins)
From: Chris in Portland
Date: 13 Feb 12 - 10:17 AM

Type "the panic is on" on Spotify and hear Mr. J and other originals.

Chris in Portland

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Panic Is On (Hezekiah Jenkins)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 Feb 12 - 07:34 AM

Good work!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Panic Is On (Hezekiah Jenkins)
From: GUEST,chipson
Date: 13 Feb 12 - 02:58 AM

the guest one is what i got by ear as well

Subject: RE: Chord Req: The Panic Is On (Hezekiah Jenkins)
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Oct 10 - 04:24 PM

Guest's version works for me! Thanks!

Re:
Subject: RE: Chord Req.: Panic Is On
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Mar 10 - 01:09 AM

THE PANIC IS ON
C         
What this country is comin' to
C7                  
I sure would like to know
F                         Fmin      
If they don't do something bye and bye,
    C                      A7
The rich will live and the poor will die
D7          G7                   C   F   G7
Dog-gone,    I mean the panic is on

Subject: RE: Chord Req.: Panic Is On
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Mar 10 - 01:09 AM

THE PANIC IS ON
C         
What this country is comin' to
C7                  
I sure would like to know
F                         Fmin      
If they don't do something bye and bye,
    C                      A7
The rich will live and the poor will die
D7          G7                   C   F   G7
Dog-gone,    I mean the panic is on

This is a by ear translation. I just don't hear where he's changing chords every other beat.

Subject: RE: Chord Req.: Panic Is On
From: cptsnapper
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 12:25 AM

My memory was almost right: it was actually The English Country Blues Band and their version was vaguely based on the Hazekiah Jenkins version.

Subject: RE: Chord Req.: Panic Is On
From: cptsnapper
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 12:12 AM

If my memory serves me right Hot Vultures recorded a version of this

Subject: RE: Chord Req.: Panic Is On REDUX
From: babypix
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 11:24 AM

In fact, Larry Hanks recorded this song....TWICE! Once on his solo album, "Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail", and with Mike Marker on "The Truth for Certain", both available at CD Baby and at his website.

Deborah Robins

Subject: RE: Chord Req.: Panic Is On
From: babypix
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 11:13 AM

Listen to the wonderful Larry Hanks and Mike Marker recording of "The Panic is on" on the album, "The Truth for Certain"

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/hanksmarker

Or check out Hanks' website at www.larryhanks.com


Deborah Robins

Subject: RE: Chord Req.: Panic Is On
From: GUEST,Kelt
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 09:49 AM

Hahaha... that's a lot of 7ths and a G diminished? I think it might be a lot easier to play this with a capo... since I doubt folk players would play chords like G#7 and C#m in standard tuning. And a diminished G? there are like 9 different changes on the last line? No thank you Mel Bay. :)

Subject: RE: Chord Req.: Panic Is On
From: Gerard
Date: 07 Jun 04 - 02:52 PM

Chords from Silverman's Mel Bay's Complete Folk Guitar

THE PANIC IS ON
A          A7         D      D7
What this country is comin' to
B7                   Em
I sure would like to know
A                  A7       D       G#7
If they don't do something bye and bye,
    A         C#m          F#7
The rich will live and the poor will die
B7 (*F#-F-E) E7                   A-Gdim-B7-E7
Dog-gone,    I mean the panic is on
(*Note: single notes)

Subject: Lyr Add: THE PANIC IS ON (Hezekiah Jenkins)
From: Stewie
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 08:57 PM

The transcription in the DT has considerable departures from Jenkins' text. I thought I had posted a transcription of Jenkins' original to the forum some time ago, but I can't find it with a forum search. Luckily, I still have it in my database. This is what Jenkins sang:

THE PANIC IS ON

What this country is comin' to
I sure would like to know
If they don't do somethin' by and by,
The rich will live and the poor will die
Dog-gone, I mean the panic is on

Can't get no work, can't draw no pay,
Unemployment gettin' worser ev'ry day
Nothin' to eat, no place to sleep,
All night long folks walkin' the street
Dog-gone, I mean the panic is on.

Saw a man this mornin' walkin' down the street
In his BVDs, no shoes on his feet.
You ought to seen the women callin' in they flat
I could hear 'em sayin', 'What kind o' man is that?'
Dog-gone, I mean the panic is on

All the landlords done raised the rent
Folks that ain't broke is badly bent
Where they get dough from, goodness knows
But, if they don't produce it, in the street they goes
Dog-gone, I mean the panic is on

Some play the numbers, some read your mind,
They all got a racket of some kind
Some trimmin' corns off o' people's feet,
They got to do somethin' to make ends meet
Dog-gone, I mean the panic is on

Some women are sellin' apples, some sellin' pies,
Some sellin' gin and rye
Some sellin' socks to support they man,
In fact, some are sellin' ev'rything they can
Dog-gone, I mean the panic is on

I pawned my clothes and ev'rything,
Pawned my jewelry, watch and my ring
Pawned my razor and my gun
So, if luck don't change, there'll be some stealin' done
Dog-gone, I mean the panic is on.

Ol' proh'bition ruined ev'rything,
That's why I'm forced to sing
Here's one thing I want you all to hear:
Until they bring back light wine, gin and beer,
Dog-gone, the panic will be on

Author and performer: Hezekiah Jenkins. Original recording 16 January 1931 Columbia 14585-D.

Source: Transcribed from Various Artists 'Songsters and Saints: Vocal Traditions on Race Records Vol 1' Matchbox Bluesmaster Series MSEX 2001/2002. Compilation by Paul Oliver.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Chord Req.: Panic Is On
From: Stewie
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 08:22 PM

Joe,

The author was Hezekiah Jenkins who recorded it on 16 January 1931 in NYC. It was issued as Columbia 14585-D [on the record, his name was wrongly spelled 'Hazekiah']. In the notes to his 'Songsters and Saints Vol I' set, Paul Oliver noted that Jenkins' composition was a remodelling of an earlier theme to describe the devices used by the poor to hustle through the worst of the Depression. Furry Lewis recorded a song with the same title in 1927 for Vocalion but, since this was not issued and never found, its relationship to the Jenkins piece is unknown. The phrase 'the panic is on' had been used as a catch-phrase for earlier economic failures leading to depressions. It had been applied to the 'Panic' of 1893 when Jacob S. Coxley's 'army' of unemployed marched on Washington. Newman White quoted four 'Panic is on' fragments from 1915 and related them to the panic of 1908-09'. Jenkins' song related, of course, to the panic of 1929. [Info from Paul Oliver 'Songsters and Saints' Cambridge Uni Press 1984].

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Chord Req.: Panic Is On
From: Gerard
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 02:32 PM

Thank you for the chords...

Subject: RE: Chord Req.: Panic Is On
From: Charley Noble
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 08:49 AM

I'm sure Jerry Silverman knows a lot more about this song and its origin but his "practice" seems to have been in the collections he edited to not attribute the songs to anyone, and thus avoid copyright problems. Well, we got the songs to sing, Jerry got his book royalties, and something valuable was lost in the process, in my opinion.

Charley Noble

Subject: Chords Add: THE PANIC IS ON (Hezekiah Jenkins)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Aug 03 - 03:09 AM

PANIC IS ON

  C          C7         F      F7
  What this country is coming to
  D                   Gm
  Some would like to know
  C                  C7       F         B7
  If they don't do something bye and bye
        C        Em           A7        Adim A7
  The rich will live and the poor will die
  D7         G7                 C
  Doggone, I mean the panic is on

Source: American History Songbook, Jerry Silverman

I found this song only in the American History Songbook and in Silverman's Folk Song Encyclopedia and his 62 Outrageous Songs. There's no background information on the song in any of the books, or in the Traditional Ballad Index. Silverman does say its a song of the early 1930's, but that's all he says. Can anyone provide Enlightenment?
If you can do that, could I have a dose of True Inner Peace, too?

But as for the song, it seems to be a modern, composed song; and it seems like we should be able to find a songwriter name. Anne Hills calls it "traditional" on her album with the same title. Oh, and Abby Sale cites it here, indicating that there may be a Library of Congress recording of the song.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: Chord Req.: Panic Is On
From: Gerard
Date: 03 Aug 03 - 04:15 PM

Looking for chords to "Panic Is On".