This is MY version of Little Sadie (or Bad Lee Brown). The mention of Frankfort which was the location of the prison Lee Brown was sent to, makes me think the event might have taken place in Kentucky. I'm not sure where I picked up some of the verses but the majority came from Clarence Ashley's singing of it. I play it in G modal minor but I've been toying with doing a "gangsta" version of it.


LITTLE SADIE

Late one night I was makin' my rounds
Met Little Sadie and I blowed her down
Ran back home and jumped into bed
A 44 smokeless all under my head.

Woke up next morning at quarter to nine
The cabs and hacks was standing in line
Sports and gamblers standing all 'round
Gonna carry Little Sadie to her burying ground.

I got to thinkin' 'bout the deed I'd done
Grabbed my hat and away I run
Made a good run but a little too slow
They over took me in Jericho.

I was standing on the corner readin' the bill
       (hand bill about the murder)
Up came the sheriff from Jericho Hill
He said "hey fella, is your name Brown?
Remember the night you blowed your Sadie down?"

Yes sir, yes my name is Lee
You got me for murder in the first degree
First degree or the second degree
If you got any papers won't you read 'em to me?

They took me to the station dressed in black
Put me on the train and sent me back
Had no money for to go my bail
So they crammed me back in the county jail.

Judge and the jury made me take the stand
The judge held the papers in his right hand
Forty one days and forty one nights
Forty one years to wear the ball and stripes.

Took me to Frankfort, I been there before
Made me wear the chain 'til my ankle was sore
Gave me forty one years to life
And all I did was kill me wife.

Now all you young men take my advice
Never take another poor girl's life
It will cause you to weep, it will cause you to mourn
Cause you to lose your home-sweet-home



Maybe a rap version of Little Sadie is a bit over the top but a few years ago I altered Willow Garden and Pretty Polly so the singer seems a bit deranged and possibly a serial killer of young women. First time I sang it I got goose bumps. I know it's taking liberties with our sacred folk idiom but I was struck by the idea that most songs of death and destruction, murder and suicide, resonate with current news stories. Charlie Lawson, The Damsel's Lament, Knoxville Girl, Willow Garden, Pearl Bryant, Little Sadie, Omie Wise, Fatal Flower Garden and many more sound like events covered by the evening news or at least The National Enquirer.

CB