Lyr Req: Black Mountain Blues (from Bessie Smith)

Subject: Lyr Req: (On) Bald Black Mountain Blues
From:
Date: 21 Nov 03 - 12:24 PM

I am trying to find the full lyrics to "On Bald Black Mountain...the children the spit in your face....
and on.. to all the babies cry for whiskey...all the birds sing bass"
It's wonderful and I can't remember 2 or three verses!
CFR

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (On) Bald Black Mountain Blues
From: ddw
Date: 21 Nov 03 - 05:16 PM

CFR,

I think you're juxtaposing a Bessie Smith song, Black Mountain Blues, and a Copland (?) piece called Night On Bald Mountain -- which I believe Walt Disney used in his Fantasia.

If the you want lyrics to Black Mountain Blues, here goes -- from my memory of Tom Rush's version.....



BLACK MOUNTAIN BLUES
Up on Black Mountain little child will spit in your face (X2)
All the babies cry for whiskey and all the birds sing bass

Up on Black Mountain people mean as they can be (X2)
They call for a little gunpowder just to sweeten their tea

Up on Black Mountain, they can't keep a man in jail (X2)
Jury find him guilty and the judge gonna go his bail

I had a gal on Black Mountain, sweetest little woman in town (X2)
She met a sweet city man, then she throwed me down

Going back to Black Mountaiin, me and my razor and my gun (X2)
Gonna cut her if she stands, shoot her if she runs

REPEAT VERSE I.




Just as an aside, Bessies version, in addition to reversing the genders, has a different second-last verse. She sings:

Going back to Black Mountain, me and my razor and my gun (X2)
Gonna shoot her if she stands, cut her if she runs.

If you think about it, that would take a person with a lot more vengeful intent....

cheers,

david

Subject: Lyr Add: BLACK MOUNTAIN BLUES (from Bessie Smith)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Nov 03 - 11:40 AM

Here's my transcription from the sound file at Red Hot Jazz.

(I can't quite get the word at the beginning of verse 3. Horns? Homes? Others have rendered this as "On the Black Mountain" but I don't think this is correct. The song seems to be about the town of Black Mountain, North Carolina, not the mountain; therefore in Black Mountain is appropriate, not on the Black Mountain.)

BLACK MOUNTAIN BLUES
(H. Cole)
(As recorded by Bessie Smith, 1930)

Back in Black Mountain, a child will smack your face. (2x)
Babies cryin' for liquor, and all the birds sing bass.

Black Mountain people are bad as they can be. (2x)
They uses gun powder just to sweeten their tea.

... in Black Mountain can't keep a man in jail. (2x)
If the jury finds them guilty, the judge'll go they bail.

Had a man in Black Mountain, the sweetest man in town. (2x)
He met a city gal, and he throwed me down.

I'm bound for Black Mountain, me and my razor and my gun. (2x)
I'm gonna shoot him if he stands still, and cut him if he runs.

Down in Black Mountain, they all shoots quick and straight. (2x)
The bullet'll get you if you starts to dodgin' too late.

Got the devil in my soul and I'm full of bad booze. (2x)
I'm out here for trouble. I've got the Black Mountain blues.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (On) Bald Black Mountain Blues
From: Amos
Date: 22 Nov 03 - 11:58 AM

Bessie sings "Up on Black Mountain", I am fairly sure, in verse one, at least as I heard it long ago on a Decca 78. This has always been one of my favorites. I have never minded that there was a rationale conflict between town and mountain. Interssting question.


A

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (On) Bald Black Mountain Blues
From: ddw
Date: 23 Nov 03 - 02:35 AM

I grew up in Black Mountain, NC (well, actually in Montreat, which is two miles north). and I have never been able to establish any connection between the town and the song, except that it pretty accurately describes how Montreaters (read the summer visiting Old Money Presbyterians of the southern U.S. and lots of retired missionaries) viewed local residents.

I was always caught between the summer folk and their opinion of the locals and the locals and their opiinion of the summer snobs. I still have the house in Montreat that I was born in, but I have as little to do with the people of the community as I can get away with....
david

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E-mail sent with copy of first five messages. -Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (On) Bald Black Mountain Blues
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Nov 03 - 03:46 PM

By the way, "Black Mountain Blues" was here all the time, in the DT. But I think that's Janis Joplin's version, not Bessie Smith's.