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Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues (Sonny Terry)

29 Sep 04 - 08:59 PM (#1284517)
Subject: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Amos

I was surprised to find this Sonny Terry/Brownie McGee classic is not int he DT. Does anyone have the lyrics to it?

A


29 Sep 04 - 10:21 PM (#1284576)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Amos

Refresh. Please?


29 Sep 04 - 10:23 PM (#1284577)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Peace

Amos,

I have been lookin'. Nothin' yet. However, have you considered askin' the good folks over at Tweed's Blues if someone there can help?


29 Sep 04 - 10:30 PM (#1284579)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Amos

Thanks brucie....best suggestion yet!! :)


A


29 Sep 04 - 10:43 PM (#1284582)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Peace

PS

Have a good friend who knows a blues musician who knows his business and he too will be lookin'.

I'll let you know soon as, one way or t'other.


29 Sep 04 - 11:07 PM (#1284590)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Peace

Brownie McGhee

Single download avail here for about a buck.

www.ne.jp/asahi/ko-1/crossroads/blues/s/terry.htm


29 Sep 04 - 11:09 PM (#1284591)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Peace

Sorry. Here

www.mainstreetmusic.com/ cgi-bin/msmusic/LA0000503129.html


29 Sep 04 - 11:49 PM (#1284608)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Peace

Song was written by Michael Franks.


30 Sep 04 - 12:27 AM (#1284628)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Amos

Thanks, Brucie!!

Let me know if there is a listing out there of the lyrics. I can transcribe them if not.

A


30 Sep 04 - 09:07 PM (#1285449)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Peace

Amos,

I am thinkin' the lyrics will not appear on the i'net on any music sites. One of the places I got to says that the lyrics are not yet available because the site has not yet been able to obtain a licensing agreement to post said lyrics. I'll keep diggin' but it don't look good. Sent you a PM.

Later,

Bruce


01 Oct 04 - 03:47 AM (#1285716)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Roger the Skiffler

Sorry, Amos (tho' this is my motto!) I checked my books of blues lyrics and I don't have 'em. Will bear you in mind if I find 'em.

RtS


01 Oct 04 - 08:41 AM (#1285914)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Amos

I will have to transcribe 'em. Yes, Rog, I know it has been your motto -- I thought of you when I posted this query, hoping you'd get a grin.

A


01 Oct 04 - 09:38 AM (#1285980)
Subject: Lyr Add: BIG BILL'S GUITAR (Hans Theessink)
From: Roger the Skiffler

Found this one instead!

BIG BILL'S GUITAR

by Hans Theessink
recording of 1994 resp. 1998
from Hard Road Blues (Minor 801047) & Ratzenbeck, Theessink, Langer RTL3, Gitarre x 3, copyright notice

The first time I heard the blues
Some thirty years ago
The first time I heard Big Bill Broonzy
On late-night radio
A total revelation
I was spellbound
Just a white boy lost in the blues
He moved me with his sound

Echoes from another world
Fingers dancing on the strings
One voice and one guitar
How that man could sing
"Just a dream"
"Black, brown and white"
True sounds full of emotion
Sent shivers up and down my spine

Hooked on blues
And Big Bill is to blame
Since that night, his music moved me
My life ain't been the same

I'm flying cross the ocean
To bury a friend of mine
Still can't accept the bitter truth
Memories keep coming to my mind
Once he spoke of bluesmen that he knew
And took me in his car
Showed me an old 000-28 Martin flattop
Used to be Big Bill's guitar

She's in Chicago, old town school of folk music
In a closet, 'hind a door
Since Big Bill's dead and gone
She don't raise her voice no more
I felt a strange sensation
When I first touched those strings
Somehow I still could sense the hands
That used to make this guitar ring

Hooked on blues ...

RtS


01 Oct 04 - 10:24 AM (#1286038)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Roger the Skiffler

Well this is a start (italics are my comments)
(from Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee Sonny & Brownie A&M Records LP AMLH 64379 1973.

WHITE BOY LOST IN THE BLUES
(Sonny Terry)

You bought you a nice big Gibson
You bought you a nice big amp
You sing like Muddy Waters
You play like Lightnin' sound
Since I brought you my harp
You feeling mean and confused
Got you chained to your headphones
White boy lost in the blues

(SPOKEN: Gonna play my harp now)

[now I only get pieces]

You got you 44.....soda
Great big horns that....
44.......
But since I did my thing
You been feeling mean and confused
Got you chained to your earphones
You just a white boy lost in the blues

(SPOKEN: I go to play it for you now)

I got my harmony on the side
....feeling the call
......blues in my soul
I'm really cookin'
I been mean and confused
Got chained to my headphones
White boy lost in the blues

(SPOKEN: I can see you got the blues, do your thing baby, yeah yeah)
CODA:
It's got you chained to your headphones
White boy lost in the blues
(repeated twice more to end)

Corrections and gaps filled please!


RtS


01 Oct 04 - 10:36 AM (#1286044)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Amos

I think that was "Got you a '44 DeSoto". You remember those.

Great start Rog!! Thanks!! I'll review them when I get home against my recording of it. You're terrific!

A


01 Oct 04 - 11:11 AM (#1286079)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Roger the Skiffler

Further info from Nerd Central:
Composer is credited as Michael Franks who played acoustic guitar on the session. I don't know if it was written with John Mayall in mind but he shares vocals and harp solos on this recording. It's usually Sonny's vocals that are indistinct (to my one good Brit ear),while I usually find Brownie easy to understand, but it is Sonny who plays the first solo so presumably sang verse one, and Brownie who plays the guitar solo and presumably sang verse two, John M presumably sang verse 3.

RtS ("I gotta right to sing the blues")
(De Soto! I was one year old in 1944! A car- of course!)


01 Oct 04 - 01:46 PM (#1286229)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: GUEST

I used to have this record;it's been years....

<>

Isn't that "You wanna sing like Muddy Waters" ?

<>

"And play like Lightnin' Sam" (as in Hopkins)


01 Oct 04 - 02:47 PM (#1286270)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Amos

OK -- I think these are definitive.

A




WHITE BOY LOST IN THE BLUES

You bought you a six string Gibson
You bought you a great big house
You try to sing like Muddy Waters
And play like Lightnin' sounds

But since I blowed my harp
You feelin' mean and confused.
It got you chained to your earphones,
You just a white boy, lost in the blues.

I'm gonna play my harp, now!!

(Harp riffs)

You got your 44 Desoto
Great big horns that toots,
44 bad buttons on your every-day suit,
But since I bent mah strings
You been feelin' mean and confused
It got you chained to your earphones,
You just a white boy, lost in the blues.

I'm gonna try to bend 'em for you now!

(Guitar riffs)

I got my home on the hillside
Never feel the cold
Got my loving woman
And the bluuuues in my soul
Since I heard you cooking
I been really mean and confused
It got me chained to my headphones
White boy, lost in the blues...

(Yeah, I can see yer lost in the blues -- go ahead and do your thing, baby....)

(Harp riffs) Yes, yes....

It's got you chained to your earphones
Yer jes' a white boy. lost int he blues...

It's got me chained to my earphones
A white boy, lost in the blues...

It's got you chained to your earphones,
A white boy, lost in the blues!


01 Oct 04 - 03:33 PM (#1286300)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Amos

And thanks to Brucie for his untiring pursuit of an answer!!!!


A


01 Oct 04 - 03:41 PM (#1286318)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Peace

I'm gonna find the words yet. I'll keep lookin' Amos. Never fear.


01 Oct 04 - 04:58 PM (#1286367)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Peace

Amos,

Thanks for getting this thread going for two reasons:

1) It taught me that ya can't find EVERYthing on the internet

2) and lots of good music/lyrics are being lost.


02 Oct 04 - 03:23 AM (#1286689)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Roger the Skiffler

Sounds good to me, Amos.
(Now I gotta learn 'em!)

RtS
(Still mean, but no longer confused)


02 Oct 04 - 04:49 PM (#1286999)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Peace

RtS: Where'd you get the words? Transcribed?


02 Oct 04 - 05:28 PM (#1287023)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Amos

Brucie:

The post above where I said "I think these are definitive" contains my transcription of the words from the Sonny/Brownie/Mayall recording. These are the same words I PM'd to you the other day.

A


03 Oct 04 - 03:18 AM (#1287253)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Roger the Skiffler

Listen to Amos, Brucie! I transcribed what I could get from the record I cited and Amos then listened to his copy and did the corrections. He has a better ear for US accents (or perhaps just two working ears!).

RtS
("Damn right I got the blues")


03 Oct 04 - 09:56 AM (#1287368)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Amos

My main blues harp white boy buddy and I laid down a wow rendition of this last night. It's a keeper.


A


03 Oct 04 - 10:48 AM (#1287399)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Peace

That is way cool.


24 Nov 04 - 03:02 AM (#1337333)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Roger the Skiffler

PS
Saw an acoustic set last night by Nine below Zero (the band that emerged from Rory Gallagher's band after he died) who did a great version of this song.

RtS
(got the blues in mah soul)


08 Jan 06 - 01:32 PM (#1644231)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: GUEST,Brad

Is it not "You bought you a great big HOUND"?


26 Jan 06 - 05:22 PM (#1656194)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: GUEST,BORIS

TRY THIS FOR WHITE BOY LOST!!

WHITE BOY LOST IN THE BLUES
(Sonny Terry)

You bought youR a SIX STRING Gibson
You bought youR a GREAT big HOUSE
TRY TO sing like Muddy Waters
play like Lightnin' SAM
Since I brought you my harp
You feeling mean and confused
Got you chained to your headphones
White boy lost in the blues

(SPOKEN: Gonna play my harp now)


You got you 44....CREAM .soda
Great big hornHAUNTED BEACH..
44....CARROT BUTTONS ON YOUR EVERY DAY SUIT...
But since I did my thing
You been feeling mean and confused
Got you chained to your earphones
You just a white boy lost in the blues

(SPOKEN: I go to play it for you now)

I got my HOUSE on the HILLside
NEVER feel the COLD
GOT MY LOVIN WOMAN AND THE blues in my soul
WHEN I HEARD YOU cook IT
I been mean and confused
Got chained to my headphones
White boy lost in the blues

(SPOKEN: I can see you got the blues, do your thing baby, yeah yeah)
CODA:
It's got you chained to your headphones
White boy lost in the blues
(repeated twice more to end)

Off tyhe 'Sonny & Terry " Album which I still have on vynal
I play this number a lot and this is the best I can do on the lyrics

by the way this is one of my all time favourite blues albums
and i always introduce by saying "Ithink this was written for John Mayall - it seems to make sense - of the lyrics


10 Nov 06 - 09:12 PM (#1882775)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: GUEST

haunted beach????
cream soda???????
lightnin'sam????
good try buddy////


14 Dec 06 - 12:14 PM (#1909521)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: GUEST,New Kid In Town

Thanks and congratulations for the collective effort!!!

If I may add my 2 cents, (starting wits Amos' "OK -- I think these are definitive" version)

I would side with the "great big hound" theory.

It would make sense with the line " And play like Lightnin' sounds" wouldn'it?

And as far as the "every-day suit buttons" are concerned, couldn't they be "44 carats"

(even though I think 24 is the max you can have, put it on the account of poetic licence...)

What do y'all think o'that?

NKIT.


05 Jun 08 - 07:27 PM (#2358858)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: GUEST,hooray

hey guys i realize this started years ago but i'm a musicology student w/a lot of experience dissecting this kind of music, this is what i'm hearing:


White Boy Lost in the Blues
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee


Bought you a six-string Gibson
Bought you a great big amp
You try to sing like Muddy Waters
And play like Lightnin' sound

But since I blowed my harp
You feelin' mean and confused
It got you chained to your headphones
You just a white boy lost in the blues

[harp break]

You got your .44 'neath your shoulder (pronounced like "neathshoulda")
Great big horns that toot
44 karat buttons
On your everyday suit

But since I bent my strings
You been feelin' mean and confused
I got you chained to your headphones
You just a white boy lost in the blues

[guitar break]

I got my home on the hillside
Never feel the cold
Got my lovin' woman
And the blues in my soul

But say I heard you cookin'
I been really feelin' confused
Well it's got me chained to my headphones
White boy lost in the blues

[harp/piano break]

repeat refrain a few times. hope this helps, great song.


26 Jan 09 - 10:53 AM (#2549437)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: GUEST,New Kid In Town

AAAAAAAT LAAAAAAAASSSSSTTTTTT!!!!!!

Thanks Man!

The Amp, The Gun, it all makes sense!

Case closed!!!!


26 Jan 09 - 11:07 AM (#2549445)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: Amos

G'wan witchoo. A '44 De Soto has a logical conenction with a great big horn that toots; otherwise what the hell does a big horn that toots have to do with anything?

I also prefer "house" to amp--it sounds plainly like house to me, anyway.




A


24 Feb 09 - 10:09 PM (#2575249)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues
From: GUEST,steep takeoff

Hi All

I am just wonderin how John Mayal gets a credit for this song. On my album its john hammond??
cheers

ps i think amos got it right


12 Apr 09 - 06:21 AM (#2609584)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues (Sonny Terry)
From: GUEST

Verse one

And play like Lightnin' Sam


12 Apr 09 - 08:45 PM (#2609917)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues (Sonny Terry)
From: Art Thieme

...And Michael Franks, as I remember it around Chicago, was, indeed, a white boy lost in the blues. Like Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop and Jim Schwall and Paul Butterfield and Corky Siegel and Nick 'the Greek' Gravenites and Silver Sid etc etc. Michael Franks was around the scene in the '60s. The blues took over their lives. I think he was one of several young white guys that made sure the bluesmen got to gigs playing for the white audiences on the North Side of Chicago. One of those was Blind Jim Brewer from Arkansas who got transported from his home on the south side of Chicago to the NO EXIT COFFEEHOUSE AND GALLERY where he played every Wednesday night for about 15 years. (I did Thursday nights there for at least that long. All in all, I sang folk songs for 37 years there.)

Good times to remember!

Art Thieme

Art Thieme


13 Apr 09 - 07:54 PM (#2610565)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues (Sonny Terry)
From: Art Thieme

...and Charlie Musselwhite too. I don't wanna leave him off the list.


12 May 09 - 10:05 AM (#2629864)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues (Sonny Terry)
From: GUEST,Harplayer

Lightning Sam!! (Sam hopkins aka Lightning hopkins)


11 Sep 09 - 10:24 PM (#2722021)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues (Sonny Terry)
From: GUEST,wrightotcm

Don't know if the song was written for John Mayhall, but he is singing some of the background, you can hear him say "you got me chained TO my earphones, I'm just a whiteboy lost in the blues", it seems to me that they worked the blues for years, and then the "young white guys" come along cut a record and make a million.


12 Sep 09 - 01:53 PM (#2722413)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues (Sonny Terry)
From: Art Thieme

Lightnin was great, a real favorite of mine, but he wasn't white. Wrong thread for him to be listed alongside the white kids.

Bix and Hoagy, Trumbauer, and the Austin High group too, and all the U. of Indiana players; they all did it with jazz in the 20's and 30's -- thirty years before the 1960s white kids lost themselves in black folks' and the blues music of their own era.

Art


20 Jan 10 - 07:47 PM (#2817172)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues (Sonny Terry)
From: GUEST,Bluesmouth

Always thought this song was written for Johnny Winter because of the lyric 'you try to sing like Muddy Waters and play like Lightnin Sam'.

Mayall makes no sense because his singing style is nothing like Muddy and he rarely plays the guitar.

Had this album 30 some years ago, loved every track. Listen for the song Sail Away featuring Arlo Guthrie on vocals.. fantastic stuff.


18 Feb 10 - 11:31 PM (#2843852)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues (Sonny Terry)
From: GUEST

Defintely, Lightning Sam(Hopkins), Great big amp, Since I bent my strings(his guitar)


13 Dec 11 - 11:02 AM (#3273137)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues (Sonny Terry)
From: GUEST,ewatmusic

ABOUT THE DISCREPANCY of the first lyric of brownie's verse (the second verse) ... it could be a "44 desoto" or ".44 Neath your shoulder"... Keep in mind it was written by Micheal Franks- A smooth jazz singer- SO a 1944 Desoto automobile (they type of car the chess records folks would admire) would make more sense with a HORN that toots.... I don't think it's a 44. Caliber magnum- THOUGH blues musicians of the time were known to carry such weapons as payment insurance (especially in white clubs) ... BUT WHY UNDER YOUR SHOULDER? in a holster..? that's a weird way of concealing a weapon- especially a pistol as big as a 44. magnum... My vote is for A 44 DESOTO... check them out on line- they are beautiful classic vehicles... Other than that, I think the lyrics are pretty discernable... IT's definitely "6 STRING GIBSON" and "LIGHTING SOUND" (IT WOULD BE A REALLY STRANGE PRONUNCIATION OF "Lightin' Sam") PLUS THEY CALL HIM LIGHTIN' HOPKIN'S AT THE END OF THE RECORD DURING "ON THE ROAD AGAIN"


13 Dec 11 - 08:06 PM (#3273377)
Subject: Lyr Add: WHITE BOY LOST IN THE BLUES (Sonny Terry)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)

Since this has come up again, I've had a listen to the track on youtube and I think Amos' post of 01 Oct 04 - 02:47 PM is the closest, with a few changes - all of them mentioned above (and a few minor changes). I've listened closely on phones and I think this is it. I've marked the differences in bold. Only one I'm not sure about I've marked with an asterisk (*); it really sounds like say and that could make sense too, but I don't discount the original Since. amp is pretty clear and the rhyming scheme seems to make Sam the correct choice on the following line (as well as making sense). Desoto is pronounces as Desota and makes perfect sense with the following line. The buttons are definitely 44 carat (or karat, if you prefer).

Mick



WHITE BOY LOST IN THE BLUES

You bought you a six string Gibson
You bought you a great big amp
You try to sing like Muddy Waters
And play like Lightnin' Sam
But since I blowed my harp
You feelin' mean and confused.
It got you chained to your earphones,
You just a white boy, lost in the blues.

I'm gonna play my harp, now!!

(Harp riffs)

You got your 44 Desoto
Great big horn that toots,
44 carat buttons
On your every-day suit,
But since I bent mah strings
You been feelin' mean and confused
It got you chained to your earphones,
You just a white boy, lost in the blues.

I'm gonna try to bend 'em for you now!

(Guitar riffs)

I got my home on the hillside
Never feel the cold
Got my loving woman
And the blues in my soul
Say* I heard you cooking
I been really mean and confused
Well, it got me chained to my headphones
White boy, lost in the blues...

(Yeah, I can see yer lost in the blues -- go ahead and do your thing, baby....)

(Harp riffs) Yes, yes....

It's got you chained to your earphones
Yer jes' a white boy. lost int he blues...

It's got me chained to my earphones
A white boy, lost in the blues...

It's got you chained to your earphones,
A white boy, lost in the blues!



* = Since?


15 Dec 11 - 08:19 PM (#3274516)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: White Boy Lost in the Blues (Sonny Terry)
From: Jim Dixon

I've just listened to the recording and compared it with Mick Pearce's transcription, and I believe it is correct.