Lyr Add: Chicago Bust Rag (from Steve Goodman)

Subject: Lyr Add: CHICAGO BUST RAG (Greg Hildebrand)
From:
Date: 23 Oct 98 - 03:16 AM

This was one of my favorite songs, but it was recorded on tape by a friend and I never knew who did it. It was acoustic guitar, single musician. I suspect it might have been Steve Goodman, but which album? I include all the lyrics below:

I came home last Saturday Night and
Whaddya think I found?
I went to open my kitchen door
And the door had been broke down

I walked into the livin' room
Whaddya think I seen
Four great big, old ugly dudes
Just sittin' there waitin' for me

I said "Gangsters, Burglars
Who the hell are you?"
You look like a bunch of mobsters
Or maybe monkeys from the zoo

If is wasn't for the cut of your crummy clothes
Which has me in some doubt
I'd think you was a bunch of Mafia thugs
Come here to rub me out.”

They said "Beatnik, prevert,
Don't talk that way to me,
We found your roommate with a stash of hash
A couple o' cubes of LSD,

There's a bottle of Miltowns on your dresser
And you're as good as dead
If ya' wanna keep your body all attached
Just keep a civil tongue in your head!"

It was Police, the Police!
By Christ, I shoulda seen
The Mafia men they ain't near as dumb
And nowhere half as mean

Well they threw me up against the wall
I said, "No please don't, stop!
If ya' hit me just about one more time
I swear I'm gonna call a cop!"

It was reefer, reefer, reefer
Hash and LSD,
"Tell us where you got 'em boy
And we promise to set you free.”

I said "Officer I don't know
What you're talkin' about,
Besides you're in such a rush!
I never set foot in this house before
Would ya' like to buy a Fuller brush?"

So hipsters and vipers,
Got some news for you
It's election year in Chicago
Better hide all that Boo!

Tony Spumoni is a narco man
And he's got a nose for grass
(some spoken word and sound effects here)
If Tony ever catches you turnin' on
It's sure gonna be your ass!

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Paul
Date: 23 Oct 98 - 09:13 AM

Sorry, can't help you. I just clicked in here to see if you were bitchin' somebody out.

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Art Thieme
Date: 23 Oct 98 - 10:38 AM

It WAS Steve Goodman. It was on an EARL OF OLD TOWN LP---a compilation of folks around Chicago 25 years ago...probably other recordings too.

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Art Thieme
Date: 23 Oct 98 - 10:43 AM

The real cop's name wasn't Spumoni though---began with an R..... First name is correct.

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Oct 98 - 03:09 PM

Anybody know if this recording is still available? There is so much Steve Goodman stuff out, you'd think every word he ever sang would be on CD.
Too bad so much of Steve's popularity came after his death. My stockbroker brother was a booking agent in Southeastern Wisconsin until he turned 40 and thought he should turn into a grownup. He booked Steve Goodman many times - but always as an opener for some better-known act (often Kristofferson). My brother said Steve always stole the show, no matter who it was he performed with. I never got a chance to see him, maybe because I was too busy being a grown-up Daddy with kids. I think maybe a number of us missed a lot of good music during the years we were busy being parents.
So, anyhow, is the recording available on CD?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 12 Sep 04 - 10:42 PM

This song was written by someone who, with his lady in OZ, are Mudcatters.

I'm gonna resurrect this thread and point them in this direction.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Sep 04 - 10:48 PM

Oddly enough there is a member of the Orillia Song Circle who plays that particular song frequently. It's an amusing relic of those long gone hippy days captured so hilariously by the old Furry Freak Bros. comics.

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 12 Sep 04 - 10:59 PM

I don't want to blow his anonymity here at Mudcat if he don't want that stuff known. But it was a real story. He was living in Chicago then--and Stevie found his song. The man is a fine folksinger too---40 years on...

Art

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: GUEST,Pionke
Date: 12 Sep 04 - 11:17 PM

Greg Hildnebrad is on Mudcat?

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 12 Sep 04 - 11:25 PM

If this is Earl, you ought to know that there is no "n" in his name! He's in Australia now. Been there a long time. ;-)

Art

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Sep 04 - 09:31 PM

Ok True-love time to uncover yourself. Greg Hildebrand is indeed my "True-love". It's ok with him to tell you. Thank you Art for heading me towards this thread. I've always liked this song of True-love's.
Little Hawk, he's pleased you like the song and he just loves the Furry Freak Brothers. He says thanks for the compliment.
Steve Goodman always credited Hildebrand with the writing of it. Hildebrand doesn't recall meeting Steve but they were both in the Chicago area at around the same time. Hildebrand went off rambling around the world and Steve tried, for many years, to find him to ask about recording the song and to send him royalties. Hildebrand found out after Steve's death that this song had taken on a life of its own. I'll paste the details of the song from one of my other postings. Joy

Subject: Lyr Add: CHICAGO BUST RAG (Greg Hildebrand)
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Sep 04 - 09:35 PM

Here is the song pasted from another thread. Is that ok Joe?

Joybell has dragged me out of my little outback humpy with the news that somebody wants the words to this song, which i wrote in 1966, and which Steve Goodman later recorded. the tune is a ragtime version of Stagger Lee.

Chicago 1966 (Hildebrand):

Saturday night/ I came home / what do you think i found! I
went to open my kitchen door, but the door was busted down.
looked inside my kitchen.....what do you think i see? I
saw four great big ugly men...they were standin there waitin for me

                                     and i said
burglars? gangsters? who the hell are YOU?   you
LOOK like a bunch of skidrow bums or monkeys from the zoo.
cause if it WASN't for the cut of your crummy clothes, which
leaves me in some doubt ..... I'd
say youre just a bunch of mafia hoods, sent over here to rub us out

                                       and they said
beatnik! junkie! doncha talk that way to me. we found your
roommate here with a stash of hash and cubes of LSD. found a
bottle of Miltown in your room, which means youre as good as dead !
IF you dont want your teeth knocked out, better
keep a civil tongue in your head.

                                           so i said
PO-leese, PO-leeae, by Christ i should have seen.
mafia men aint half as dumb, aint nowhere near as mean. so they
shoved me up against a wall and I just hollered DON'T! STOP!
YOU fellas hit me just one more time, and i
swear i'm gonna call a cop.

                                           so they said
reeeefer! reeeefer! hash and LSD!
just tell us where you get it, fellas, and we
promise to set you free. Well,
OFFICER, i dont know what you mean, you
seem to be in such a rush.......I
never set foot in this house before. would you
like to buy a Fuller Brush?

                                                   now
hipsters, vipers, ive got a few words for you. it's
election year in chicago town, and it's time to hide your boo. Cause
Tony Rigoni is a narco man, and he's got a nose for grass (Yas!)
IF he ever catches you turning on, you KNOW it's gonna be your ass.

(ive presented the words here in a way intended to give some indication of the phrasing and accents. GH)

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Sep 04 - 09:44 PM

Pionke are you a friend from the past? I take it you aren't Officer Rigoni? Well you'd have to be 100 and something so I guess not! Joy

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 13 Sep 04 - 10:40 PM

Greg and Joy,

There is only ONE Pionke!!! But this one is a guest and I cannot be certain -- as nobody can really be sure that I am actually Art Thieme ;-)

I mentioned "Earl" in my reply to the post from Pionke. I did that because, the man himself, EARL PIONKE, was and is THE EARL OF OLD TOWN---owner and head man at the folk club in Chicago with that name where Steve Goodman and Tom Dundee, Fred Holstein and Bob Gibson and and Bonnie Koloc and even I used to Play---along with so many others. That's where Fred Holstein and I took a wasted Johnny Cash one strange Sunday night. I'd be willing to bet that Hildebrand might've gone there a few times.---But I'm just guessing... ;-)

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 13 Sep 04 - 11:11 PM

Steve always sang this song with "Tony Spumoni" being the name of the cop. Tony Rigoni was active back in the 60s--and Steve had to protect himself. I did mention in one post thar "R" was the real first letter of his last name. But now the cat is out of the bag! Thank you Greg.

And this song was sung by Steve Goodman on the album called something like--A Night At The Earl Of Old Town.   Everyone did one or two songs. Also on this LP was the very first recording of Steve doing his own "CITY OF NEW ORLEANS" --- And Fred Holstein did Fred Geis's really fine song called "GOING HOME." The Kingston Trio recorded this song too---and it jumped to number one on the pop charts. It stayed there for a couple of weeks as I recall. THEN someone figured out that the tune of the song was lifted from the opera FAUST by Gounod. (Also, the same tune had been used by the guy who wrote the main song in a stage play/show called LAND OF MILK AND HONEY---a musical about the early state of Israel.)------------------ Well, the Kinston Trio's version of GOING HOME disapeared quicker than a beer on a hundred degree day. I was happy to find a live version of it on a VERY cheap Kingston Trio CD that I lucked onto in a K-Mart sale bin.

More of that tangled web we weave...

Art Thieme

Art

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 13 Sep 04 - 11:17 PM

That was one of my faves on the Gathering of the Earl of Old Town album. I still have my vinyl copy.

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Sep 04 - 11:46 PM

hildebrand here. hello Art. dont know if i was ever in the earl of old town. i didnt get around to the venues much -- hung around Poor Richard's, where i used to see fred holstein, and i performed twice at I't's Here, run by the awful Eddie Gunjer. in the spring of 66 i went back to southern indiana.
phil, thank you for the compliment. i think steve did a terrific job on the song, and over time did some highly entertaining variants.
Hildebrand

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 14 Sep 04 - 12:00 AM

Well, at the website where I've stashed all my folk scene photos from the last 4 decades there are shots of all the folks mentioned in this thread just about--including Earl Pionke and a pretty good night shot of the Earl Of Old Town folk club on Wells Street and North Avenue in Chicago--circa 1980s. To see 'em (as I've said before) go to:

http://rudegnu.com/art_thieme.html

Phil Cooper is there too.--- Say Phil, You and Margaret and Kate can sure be proud of the new CD !!! It sounds wonderful. I've always really liked thematic albums.

Art

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Joybell
Date: 14 Sep 04 - 12:01 AM

Ah! Thank you Art, if you are in fact Art. Or even if you are not. The anagram version of Hildebrand's name given by Guest Pionke is the same as the one used on a Steve Goodman website I found that gives the songs sung on the live recording from The Earl of Old Town.
Some websites credit Hildebrand's song to Diane Hildebrand. Seems he's been a bit of a mystery man. Joy

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Sep 04 - 01:38 AM

Well, I found a copy of the Gathering at the Earl of Old Town CD at Tower Records in January, 1999. the database says I paid $9.99 for it - it's $19.99 at Amazon now, and worth every penny. It's a great recording. It also has Fred Holstein singing "The Man Who Sings," probably the ultimate Holstein recording.
Gee, there's some wonderful information in this thread.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 14 Sep 04 - 05:02 AM

so nothing about Jacques Prevert......?

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Joybell
Date: 15 Sep 04 - 02:15 AM

about prevert: of course, there is a hidden message in doctor strangelove, where col bat guano (keenan wynn) accuses peter sellers of trying to start a "prevert revolution". clearly a reference to jacques prevert.
                                          Hildebrand

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Joybell
Date: 15 Sep 04 - 03:05 AM

Just spotted another old thread where someone asked about this song. It would have helped if Hildebrand had given it a name from the start, but he never did.
Steve Goodman usually called it "Chicago Bust Rag".
It's also been called "The Great Chicago Pot-Bust".
Hildebrand sometimes calls it, facetiously, "Officer Rigoni to the Rescue, or How the People of the State of Illinois Saved Me from Myself."
I'm so glad I don't have to sort out these tangled threads. Joy

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Sep 04 - 11:12 PM

Hmmm. I don't know what Bob calls it. I'll have to ask him.

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Joybell
Date: 16 Sep 04 - 07:57 PM

Thanks Little Hawk, we'd be interested. When it was first written Hildebrand's friends just called it "The one about the time you got arrested".
I hasten to add, for the record, that the charges were dropped in court and H wasn't guilty of anything, actually, except a poor choice of room-mates. Joy

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Sep 04 - 09:14 AM

allmusic lists an album called "Gathering at the Earl of Old Town," originally released 1970, reissued most recently on the Drive Archive label, CD 41670, 1998. It says it's Steve Goodman's first album. The song in question is called CHICAGO BUST RAG and it's credited to Hildebrand. The opening lines correspond to what mblarson posted at the beginning of this thread.

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: BK Lick
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 02:46 AM

Talking with Earl Pionke between sets at the Steve Goodman memorial last night, I learned he hadn't known about Art's online photo collection so I urged him to take a look and maybe add some comments.

He told me that Utah Phillips, performing last week at the Old Town School of Folk Music, had been praising extravagantly Art's story telling and told the egg-sitting horse story he learned from him. You can find Art's version here.

-- BK

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Joybell
Date: 21 Sep 04 - 09:16 PM

So as recently as 1998, Jim. Just Hildebrand on the credit for this song? I'm curious because I've seen it credited, on several websites, to Diane Hildebrand and on one site to Greg Hildnebrad.

We know that Steve tried to find Hildebrand for years and that he always named him as the author when he performed the song. Once a message with Steve's address almost reached us but it was lost somehow, along the way, before we got to see it. We just heard that Steve was tring to find Hildebrand. Sad that they never met. Joy

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 10:11 AM

I'm getting my information from allmusic.com; I haven't seen the actual album. I assume allmusic usually gets its information electronically from the record publishers. I've noticed that other sites such as amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, etc., if they list an album at all, usually have exactly the same information, including the same misteaks!

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 12:35 PM

Bob didn't show up at song circle this week, but his friend Jives tells me that he calls the song "Chicago Bust Rag".

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Joybell
Date: 22 Sep 04 - 08:14 PM

That would figure, Little Hawk. Bob probably got it from Steve Goodman.
Hildebrand sang it around Boston at the time of the incident. People often asked if they could record him and he always was quite happy about that. He also wrote out song words for people. Steve may have heard Hildebrand sing it, but he would have been very young at the time. It's more likely that he heard somebody else sing it or heard it on a private tape. Hildebrand left Boston, dropped out of university, and went off to Europe. It seems the song took on a life of its own and stayed alive mainly because of Steve Goodman.
It's fun being a part of an urban legend - if only a very minor one. Joy

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Mark Ross
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 11:23 AM

Erik Frandsen(also known as Blind Erik Flatpick)used to sing it. He called it THE GREAT CHICAGO POT BUST). Whether he got it from Steve, of vice versa, I couldn't tell you. Still a great song.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Joybell
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 07:31 PM

Thanks Mark, it's great to hear about how the song got around. Hildebrand says he sometimes called it by that name too. Here in Australia the story behind the song is happily thought of as fanciful. At the time, in America, it was in fact a really scary event. Nothing like a highly charged emotional experience to produce a good song.
                                 Joy

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Joybell
Date: 23 Sep 04 - 09:14 PM

A bit more about the adventures of this song. Hildebrand just remembered that in 1972 (when he was in Sweden) "Singout" asked about the words to "The Great Chicago Pot Bust". There was also a query about Hildebrand's whereabouts. He learned about the article but never got around to doing anything about it. At the time even his mother only got the occaisonal letter.
Later someone touring in Australia in about 1980 spread the song around a bit here. Joy

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 05 Oct 04 - 11:51 PM

refresh----- FOR STEWIE !!

Art

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Joybell
Date: 29 Oct 04 - 07:39 PM

Hello Stewie. Do you have a copy of Hildebrand singing his song? Thank you Art. I understand this song is getting a bit of air-play in Heaven. See thread "Joybell's True-Love becomes and Aussie" Cheers Joy.

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 11 Nov 05 - 12:57 AM

I am bumping this thread in the hopes that my Secert Santa will read it and find a way to send me a recording on tape or CD of this song. it has become one of my dearest wishes ever.

Thanks

Subject: RE: Beatnik, Prevert, don't talk that way to me!
From: rich-joy
Date: 11 Nov 05 - 02:17 AM

Well, wadya know!

Just realised that I have a copy of that very LP : "The Earl of Old Town" - 1976 from Mountain Railroad records - found a coupla years back - two bucks in a Queensland (Down Under) charity shop!!!!
(complete with "Chicago Bust Rag" by Steve Goodman, attributing "Greg Hildebrand")

Who'da thought ...

(now, how do I get that old turntable to work ...)
Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: CHICAGO 1966 'Beatnik, prevert, don't
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 07:56 PM

Rich-Joy - if you know any youngin's who DJ - they can sometimes be persuaded to spin a piece of vinyl for ya and convert it to an analog audio file which can then be tweaked with a little program from Cnet.com to remove hiss and then converted to digital and then... burned.

I'm lucky that the grad student who rents the one-room attached to my cottage is madly in love with a sweet boy who DJ's part-time. They've done stuff like that for me from time to time. If you had to pay somebody to do it professionaly, it runs about $40(American) per 70 minutes of music for 2 copies on CD. One is a file copy you never play and one is a listening copy.

Ever since I've read this thread I've desperately wanted a copy of the song. turns out a friend of mine who is about 15 years older than me (i'm 41) once had the album you refer to but can't for the life of him recall whose house it's being stored at.

I suppose I could try and buy the album via a search service and lean on my neighbor's sweetheart for a digital favor...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: CHICAGO 1966 'Beatnik, prevert, don't...'
From: Joybell
Date: 14 Nov 05 - 11:48 PM

Dave's Wife, I guess it's Steve Goodman's singing of Hildebrand's song you want. We've got several versions of him singing it - on CD. Steve changed the way he sang it from time to time. I'll PM you about sending you a copy if you want. Great to know how many people like it. Not your Secret Santa - but Could be. Cheers, Joy (Hildebrand's wife)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: CHICAGO 1966 'Beatnik, prevert, don't...'
From: Joybell
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 12:02 AM

Me again Dave'sWife. The Goodman versions are on tape so might take me a bit of time 'till I get it together to put them on CD. I could send you a copy of Hildebrand himself singing it though - to keep you going. It's on a home-made CD of his own songs. Just send me your address. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: CHICAGO 1966 'Beatnik, prevert, don't...'
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 10:12 PM

G'day rich-joy,

If you want to get the vinyl onto CD, there's no need to degrade it through analog tape (which you will ... unless you have top-grade studio deck ... at 15 inchs/sec). Reasonable decks, specifically for sucking all your old LPs into the computer are available in electronic shops ... and cheap programs to work straight from the input to computer abound. (Lots of threads on the 'Cat, by the way).

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: CHICAGO 1966 'Beatnik, prevert, don't
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 10:17 PM

Joybell - have PMed you. i'd happily take ANY version of this song at present!No need to be the Goodman version although someday I'd like a copy of that album.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: CHICAGO 1966 'Beatnik, prevert, don't...'
From: Joybell
Date: 16 Nov 05 - 05:12 PM

On the way Dave's Wife. We don't have that whole album anyway just several versions of Hildebrand's song sung by Steve at various times. Including on that album. They're fun and very well done. Hildebrand's version is more stark - more infused with the fear and anger of an event that actually happened to him. Still funny though. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: CHICAGO 1966 'Beatnik, prevert, don't
From: katlaughing
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 02:32 AM

How kewl is this! Thanks, all, for sharing. I love Art's stories and had somehow missed this one. Great to see just how Hildebrand came out on Mudcat, too!**bg** I am off to listen to the song at allmusic's site. Thanks for the link.

Also, BK, thanks for the link to Art's horse story. I'd missed that one, too!

Great song, Hildebrand!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: CHICAGO 1966 'Beatnik, prevert, don't...'
From: Joybell
Date: 17 Nov 05 - 04:34 PM

Thanks, Kat for Hildebrand. It's his only song written from behind bars! Just as well too, it's safer on the outside. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Chicago Bust Rag (from Steve Goodman)
From: GUEST,Kevin Hall ( Timberline)
Date: 05 Dec 13 - 12:11 PM

I know this is a moribund thread, but can't resist. In 1969 I was gigging in Vancouver at Les Storks' Bunkhouse 70 and ran into a guy who called himself Jolan Q. Lucid. Jolan hailed from a place ( probably fictional) called 'Fritchoffs Swamp, Indiana'. He was about the finest ragtime picker I ever knew, picking the hell out of a wonderful old D-21.   Jolan did the tune as the 'Great Chicago Bust'.

He had apparently played with Maria Muldaur at some point in his checkered career. I remember him crediting Blind Eric Flatpick with the First and Second laws of tuning. The first was "The fineness of the tuning is inversely proportional to the time spent tuning", and the second was " Find the string which is out of tune, and tune all the rest to it".

A couple of years ago I was in touch with my old playing partner, Wanda Mundy, in Vancouver and she mentioned she still saw Jolan around town from time to time. He also played under the names 'Peter McKeef' and 'Yukon Pete' I believe.

KH

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Chicago Bust Rag (from Steve Goodman)
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Nov 16 - 07:49 PM

Does anyone know the chords to this song?