The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #107006   Message #2214913
Posted By: Janie
13-Dec-07 - 07:57 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Liza Jane
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Liza Jane
Not sure "Liza Jane" and "Goodbye Liza Jane" are the same tunes. Hopefully Q will be along with a comment on that. I think "Charlotte Town is Burning" and "Scarlet Town..." are versions (or visa versa) of "Goodbye Liza Jane."

The following is a cut and paste from http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/GOO_GOW.htm .   I know it's a lot to cut and paste, but it seemed there was enough info and references that it is worth it in the event the other site ever disappears. And maybe this should be posted to the "Goodbye Liza Jane" thread instead. If so, I hope a clone feels free to move it.

Note the reference in the notes to "Liza Jane" and "My Little Donny." Also, the verse, 'going down to Caro" ("Going Down to Cairo")

GOODBYE LIZA JANE [1]. AKA‑ "Liza Jane." Old‑Time, Bluegrass, Western Swing; Breakdown. USA. A Major (most versions): D Major (Silberberg). Standard tuning. AB (Silberberg): AABB (most versions). Two influential recordings were made of the tune in the 1920's which helped spread its popularity among early country musicians, remarks Charles Wolfe (1991). The first was by the east Tennessee string band The Hill Billies, who released it under the title "Mountaineers Love Song," and the second was by another band from the same area, the Tenneva Ramblers, as "Miss Liza, Poor Gal." Bob Wills (Texas), the father of western swing, said this was the first tune he learned (as "Goodbye, Miss Liza Jane") to fiddle.
***
Swing Ma, swing Pa, goodbye, goodbye,
Swing that gal from Arkansas, Goodbye Liza Jane.
***
Chorus:
Oh how I loved her, ain't that a shame,
Oh how I loved her, Goodbye Liza Jane.
***
Swing that gal and don't be late, goodbye, goodbye,
Knock down Sal, big fat gate, Goodbye Liza Jane.
***
Take a chaw of tobacco, spit on the wall, goodbye, goodbye,
Swing that gal clear across the hall, Goodbye Liza Jane.
***
Three wheels 're off and the axel's draggin', goodbye, goodbye,
You can't ride the little red wagon, Goodbye Liza Jane.
***
Other versions go:
***
Charlotte Town is burning down, goodbye, goodbye.
Burning down to the ground, goodbye, Liza Jane.
***
Chorus:
Oh, how I miss you, ain't that a shame,
Oh, how I miss you, goodbye, Liza Jane.
***
Alt. Chorus:
Ain't y'mighty sorry? Goodbye, bye-bye
Ain't y'mighty sorry? Goodbye, Liza Jane.
***
Liza Jane had a dress of red, goodbye, goodbye,
Queen of hearts, or so she said, goodbye, Liza Jane.
***
Liza Jane countin' her toes
You can smell her feet wherever she goes.
***
I got a gal and a hound dog too,
She don't bite, but the hound dog do.
***
Liza Jane 'bout half grown,
Jumps on a man like a dog on a bone
***
Liza Jane, pretty as a rose,
Bites her nails and picks her nose.
***
Goin' down to Caro, goodbye, goodbye,
Goin' down to Caro, goodbye Liza Jane.
***
Well, I blacked my boots and I made 'em shine, goodbye, goodbye.
I blacked my boots and I made 'em shine, goodbye Liza Jane
***
A version of the tune and song, under the title "Rejected by Eliza Jane," was collected by the African-American collector Thomas Talley which he printed in his book Negro Folk Rhymes (1922, reprinted 1991 edited by Charles Wolfe). His lyrics go:
***
W'en I went 'cross de cotton patch
I give my ho'n a blow.
I thought I heared pretty Lizie say:
"Oh, yonder come my beau!"
***
So: I axed pretty Lizie to marry me,
An' what d'you reckon she said?
She said she wouldn' marry me,
If ev'ybody else was dead.
***
An': As I went up de new cut road,
An' she go down de land;
Den I though I heared somebody say:
"Good-bye, ole Liza Jane!"
***
Well: Jes get 'long, Lizie, my true love.
Git 'long, Miss Lizie Jane.
Perhaps you'll sack "Ole Sour Bill"
An' git choked on "Sugar Cain."
***
Sources for notated versions: Bobby Hicks (Brody, Phillips): Plank Road String Band via Delaware Gap String Band (Kuntz). Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 124. Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1987; pg. 339‑340. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; pg. 21. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; pg. 100. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; pg. 54. County 772, Bobby Hicks‑ "Texas Crapshooter." King 787, Reno and Smiley‑ "Banjo Special." Mountain 301, Kyle Creed‑ "Blue Ridge Style Dance Time." Kicking Mule 205, Delaware Water Gap‑ "From the Rivers of Babylon to the Land of Jazz" (1979. Appears as "Liza Jane"). Kapp KS 3639, Bob Wills and Mel Tillis‑ "Mel Tillis and Bob Wills in Person." Victor 21141 (78 RPM), The Tenneva Ramblers (1927, as "Miss Liza, Poor Gal"). Vocalion 5115 (78 RPM), The Hill Billies (1926, as "Mountaineers Love Song").
X:1
T:Goodbye Liza Jane
T:Liza Jane
M:C|
L:1/8
B:Kuntz – Ragged but Right
Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion
K:G
(G|G)F G2 A2 AA|[GB]A [G2B2] [G2c2] [G2c2]|BA G4 G2|FEDC D2 DF|
GFGB AGAc|BABd cBAc|BAGB AGFA|[G2B2] [G6B6] [GB]:|
|:[Dd]|[D4d4] [e3e3]e|B2 (d4 d) (3D/E/F/|G2 [G2B2] [G3A3] [GA]|
[G2B2] [G4B4] [GB] (3A/B/c/|d2d2 e3d|B2 d4 A2|BA G AGFA|1 GEDE G3:|2
GEDB, G,3||

GOODBYE LIZA JANE [2]. Old-Time, Breakdown and Song. USA, Georgia. A version of the famous folksong "Liza Jane." See "My Little Dony," a Mississippi collected version with a fine phrase the same as that on Fiddling John Carson's OKeh recording. OKeh 45049 (78 RPM), Fiddling John Carson (north Ga.).

GOODBYE LIZA JANE [3]. Old-Time. The title given by Kyle Creed for his version of "Whose Black Baby Are You?"