DINK'S BLUES

Some folks say dat de worry blues ain't bad,
It's de wors' ol' feelin' I ever had.

Git you two three men, so one won't worry you min';
Don' they keep you worried and bothered all de time?

I wish to God eas'-boun' train would wreck,
Kill de engineer, break de fireman's neck.

I'm gwine to de river, set down on de groun',
Ef de blues overtake me, I'll jump overboard and drown.

Ef trouble was money, I'd be a millioneer,
Ef trouble was money, I'd be a millioneer.

My chuck grindin' every hole but mine,
My chuck grindin' every hole but mine.

Come de big Kate Adam wid headlight turn down de stream
An' her sidewheel knockin', "Great-God-I-been-redeemed"

Ef I feels tomorrow like I feels today,
Stan' right here an' look ten-thousand miles away.

My mother tol' me when I was a chil',
'Bout de mens an' whisky would kill me after while.

Ef I gets drunk, wonder who's gwine carry me home,
Ef I gets drunk, wonder who's gwine carry me home.

I used to love you, but, oh, God damn you, now,
I used to love you, but, oh, God damn you, now.

De worry blues am' nothin' but de heart disease,
De worry blues am' nothin' but de heart disease.

Jes' as soon as de freight train make up in de yard,
Some poor woman got an achin' heart.

Tol' my mother not to weep an' mo'n—
I do de bes' I can, kase Ise a woman grown.

I flag de train an' it keep on easin' by,
I fold my arms, I hang my head an' cry.


When my heart struck sorrow, de tears come rollin' down
When my heart struck sorrow, tears come rollin' down.

Worry now an' I won' be worry long,
Take a married woman to sing de worry song.

Ef I leave here walkin', it's chances I might ride,
Ef I leave here walkin', it's chances I might ride.


A levee was being built along the Brazos River in Texas. The contractor had brought his mules and his mule-skinners with him from the Mississippi River. But he had neglected to provide one thing— women; and the men were raising Hell all over the bottom, with midnight creeping, their fighting, and their razor play. It was as distinct hindrance to the progress of work on the levee. So it was the contractor went to Memphis, hired a boatload of women, brought them down the river to the levee-camp, and turned them It was not long before every man had a woman in his tent to wash his clothes, cook, draw water, cut firewood, and warm his bed. Dink was one of these women, and twenty-five years ago, after she had downed nearly a quart of gin, she sang these blues. The tune is lost.
(John & Alan Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs, 1934)

JRO ^^