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23 Feb 03 - 02:09 PM (#896741) Subject: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: Richie I'm trying to find the origin for the bluegrass song: "I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent." It has been attributed to H. Payne. I thought the lyrics "I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent" originated for blues sources. Is this a PD song or did H. Payne write it? -Richie |
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23 Feb 03 - 02:11 PM (#896742) Subject: Lyr Add: I AIN'T BROKE BUT I'M BADLY BENT (Payne) From: Richie Here are the lyrics: I AIN'T BROKE BUT I'M BADLY BENT (H. Payne?) Well I'm going back to the country I can't pay the rent My mum and dad will sure be mad At all the money I spent Chorus: Now I know Just what they meant I ain't broke But brother I'm badly bent Well I had a lot of money But to the city I went I met a lot of good-looking girls And that's where my money went [chorus] Well when I get back to the country I'll be living in a tent My mum and dad will sure be mad At all the money I spent [chorus] Well I'm a-going back to the country I can't pay the rent Now I know they're going to be mad At all the money I spent [chorus] |
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23 Feb 03 - 03:39 PM (#896812) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: Willie-O Always thought this was a Bill Monroe song. He did sing it, yes? W-O |
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23 Feb 03 - 06:02 PM (#896887) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: Jerry Rasmussen I have this by The Tractors, and it's a great recording... done more like a boogie shuffle.. Jerry |
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23 Feb 03 - 06:04 PM (#896889) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: Richie I don't know about Bill Monroe but here are some artists with recordings: Ricky Skaggs; High Lonesome Sound (Old and Only in the Way) with Jerry Garcia; Vassar Clements - fiddle, vocals David Grisman - mandolin, vocals John Kahn - acoustic bass Peter Rowan - guitar, vocals; Flatt and Scruggs; Delaney Brothers; -Richie |
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23 Feb 03 - 06:12 PM (#896894) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: Stewie Richie The Sugar Hill album 'Bluegrass: The World's Greatest Show' [SH-CD- 2201] has The (almost) Original New South doing this. The lyrics are almost identical with what you have posted, but the attribution in the insert is to M. Ellis (Tannen Music, BMI). The stanza from 'The Panic Is On' posted by Charly Noble in the first of the 'Related threads' linked above surely must be among the earliest use of the expression on a recording: All the landlords done raised the rent Folks that ain't broke is badly bent Where they get the dough from, goodness knows But, if they don't produce it, in the street they goes Doggone, I mean the panic is on The pertinent line is inaccurately rendered in the version in the DT. The DT gives no attribution, but the author of the piece was Hezekiah Jenkins who recorded it for Columbia [Co 14585-D] on 16 January 1931. Paul Oliver has noted that Jenkins' song was 'a remodelling of an earlier theme' and therefore it is possible that the expression did not originate with him. Willie Dixon also used the expression in the chorus of his 'Dead Presidents', but I don't have a date for that. --Stewie. |
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23 Feb 03 - 07:51 PM (#896971) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: Richie Thanks Stewie and all, I used to play Dead Presidents, that's probably where I remember the expression. This still doesn't explain M. Ellis or H. Payne attributed authorships. Anyone? -Richie |
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02 Dec 09 - 03:48 AM (#2778214) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: GUEST Lattie Moore did a great version of this years ago. Not sure if he wrote it or not. |
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02 Dec 09 - 01:12 PM (#2778677) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: PHJim Del Reeves sang: I ain't broke but I'm badly bent I had a little money but that's all been spent When I look back I wonder where it went It ain't no joke I ain't broke but I'm badly bent I went to see a so-called friends To get a little help for the tie I was in I said I'll pay you back someday when my rich uncle passes away But he looked at me kinda foolishly and then he had these words to say He said I ain't broke but I'm badly bent... Then I called my true love on the phone The one I spent my last dollar on I said I'll pay you back someday when my rich uncle passes away But she said I'm through with the likes of you And she had a quite few more words to say She said I ain't broke but I'm badly bent... It ain't no joke I ain't broke but I'm badly bent |
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02 Dec 09 - 01:52 PM (#2778721) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: SINSULL Weird - I just asked Seamus Kennedy if he could tell me more about this song. I learned it as a child from a 78RPM my father brought back from Maryland in 1947. Can't remember the artist but the flip side was The Train That Never Returned Again. Poor Folk Haven't got a nickle Haven't got a dime Wonder why we're poor folk all the time XXXXXX XXXXXX Wonder why we're poor folk all the time What's the use of workin. i can't save a cent Can't say I'm exactly broke I'm just badly bent. poor folk need the XXXX Want a hill to climb Wonder why we're poor folk all the time. |
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03 Dec 09 - 10:05 AM (#2779532) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: leftydee It's a very old expression. I have a letter that my grandfather wrote to his mother during the Spanish-American War that asks for a few cents for postage as " I'm not broke but badly bent". It was 1898, I think. |
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03 Dec 09 - 11:29 AM (#2779610) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: Severn A blues take on the theme called "Badly Bent" shows up on the LP "Official Music" by King Biscuit Boy w/ Crowbar (Paramount PAS 5030), a Canadian blues band who, like The Band previously, had once been a set of Ronnie Hawkins' Hawks up in Toronto. They played together for a while and then King Biscuit Boy (a/k/a Richard Newell) and Crowbar both went on to seperate recording careers. I don't know whatever happened to either after the 70's some time. Maybe a Canadian Catter could fill me in). The song in question was credited to Newell and published by Love-Lies-Bleeding Music BMI |
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03 Dec 09 - 04:40 PM (#2779949) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: GUEST,Songbob Woody Guthrie: One leg up, one leg down, One leg up and a hole in the ground, Lord, Lord, walking down the railroad line. Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, walking down the railroad line. Ain't got a job, ain't got a cent, If I ain't broke, I'm badly bent, Lord, Lord, etc. Passenger car came down the road, Woman and a dog in a big fur coat, Lord, lord, etc. I don't recall the rest of it. Bob |
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14 Apr 11 - 09:31 PM (#3135494) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: GUEST One verse goes: I'd give up this ramblin' life For a good warm bed And a good warm wife, Lord, lord, walking down a railroad line. Lord, lord, walking down a railroad line. |
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04 Feb 12 - 01:00 AM (#3301874) Subject: Lyr Add: RAILROAD LINE BLUES (Woody Guthrie) From: GUEST,Pete Walker Here are the lines I have. Might fill in some holes. One leg up, one leg down, One leg up and a hole in the ground. Chorus: Lord, Lord, walking down the railroad line. Lord, Lord, I'm walking down the railroad line. Ain't got a job, ain't got a cent, If I ain't broke, I'm badly bent. Lord, Lord, etc. From Frisco Bay to old New York, I been lookin' for a job of work. The Susquehanna Railroad's mighty slow Cold wind blows right through the floor. Passenger car came down the road, Woman and a dog in a big fur coat, That Mississippi is full of ice, And I otta know 'cause I fell in twice. Passenger train come down the line, I see how the rich folks ride. I'd give up that road today, For an honest job with honest pay. I'd give up this ramblin' life For a good warm bed and a good warm life. |
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04 Feb 12 - 06:46 PM (#3302295) Subject: Lyr Add: TALKING SUBWAY (Woody Guthrie) From: GUEST,999 Talking Subway by Woody Guthrie I struck out for old New York, Thought I'd find me a job of work. One leg up and the other leg down, I come in through a hole in the ground. Holland Tunnel. Three mile tube. Skippin' through the Hudson River dew. I blowed into New York town, And I looked up and I looked down, Everybody I seen on the streets Was all a running down in a hole in the ground. I follered 'em. See where they's a going. Newsboy said they're tryin' to smoke a rat out of a hole. I run down thirty eight flights of stairs, Boy, howdy! I declare! I rode old elevator twenty two And spent my last lone nickel, too. Feller in a little cage got it. Herded me through a shoot the shoot. Run me through three clothes wringers. So many people down in there I couldn't even fall down. I swung onto my old guitar, Train come a rumbling down the track, I got shoved into the wrong damn car With three grass widows on my back. Two of 'em looking for home relief, Other one just investigating. |
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04 Feb 12 - 07:42 PM (#3302310) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: GUEST Edd Mayfield brought "I ain't broke..." to Bill Monroe and sang it as a solo. It was featured on the radio and live shows (when Monroe would have his lead singer do a solo) and became well known in the mid 50's until Mayfield's tragic and untimely death in 1958. Monroe never recorded it but it passed by oral tradition; Skaggs had a nice version. |
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03 Sep 12 - 02:17 PM (#3399547) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: GUEST I ain't Brokw But I'm Badly Bent Was without doubt written by Lattie Moore from Scottsville, Ky. I knew him. Tom Wilson |
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04 Sep 12 - 04:33 AM (#3399833) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: GUEST,Dave Illingworth A fascinating thread, this. Jake Holmes touched on the theme in his great song BEAM ME UP SCOTTY (1983), wonderfully performed by Tom Rush on his 1984 album "Late Night Radio". "Now the President, he's telling me# The recession came and went. Nobody got broke, We only got bent." |
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15 Dec 12 - 12:55 PM (#3452344) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: GUEST We're putting out a bluegrass album and had to go through the CMRRA (Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency) to obtain rights to press a run. They found it credited to H.Payne and that's who'll the royalties in Canada. kyle forwardmuiscgroup.com |
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05 Oct 15 - 02:07 PM (#3741936) Subject: RE: Origin: I Ain't Broke But I'm Badly Bent From: GUEST,Guest Which artist recorded the one about the dog runnning away?!?!?! |