Jumping the queue a little here, but my mp3s are all on the hard drive in a busted machine and I happened to find a CD I'd burned with this one on it, so will do it while it's at hand.

Recorded by the Carters for Decca on 8 June 1936, mx 61137-A, released on Decca 5241 and other labels. I learned it several decades ago from the Decca LP "A Collection of Favorites by the CF." Text as posted about 10 years ago in a thread on the song:

JEALOUS HEARTED ME — Carter Family

Takes a rockin' chair to rock,
Takes a rubber ball to roll,
Takes the man I love
To satisfy my soul,

      REFRAIN (Each stanza)
      Because I'm jealous,
      Jealous hearted me,
      Because I'm jealous,
      Jealous as I can be.

Got a stove in the kitchen,
And it bakes nice and brown,
But I need a poppa
To turn the damper down,

You can have my money.
You can have my home,
But, for goodness sakes, women,
Let my man alone,

Gonna buy me a bulldog
To watch while I sleep,
To watch this man of mine
On his midnight creep,


Cf Charley Lincoln [Hicks], "Jealous Hearted Blues," recorded in Atlanta for Columbia on 4 November 1927, mx 145103-2, released on Columbia 14305-D. Italicized lines are spoken by Hicks, whose laugh was his trademark (some 78s bill him as "Laughing Charley").

Ha, ha, ha, I hate to tell you, mama, but I'm sure here (?)

You can have my money, all I own,
For God's sakes, leave my gal alone
Cause I'm jealous, jealous, jealous-hearted, see
So jealous, I'm jealous as I can be

I got a range in my kitchen, bakes nice and brown,
All I need's someone to turn my damper down

It take a rocking chair to rock, take a rubber ball to roll,
Takes the gal I love satisfy my soul

I know the mens don't like me cause I speaks my mind
Aw, the womens crazy 'bout me cause I takes my time

You need a drummer (?), mama, cause you is, too

I left my wife and baby standin' on the doorstep cryin'
I got a house full of children, ain't nary one mine

I says, I got love like a hydrant in your home
I can keep it turned off, I can turn it on

Says, Hello, Central, give me 239
What takes to get it these hips of mine

Aw, some folks said them blues ain't bad
That must not been them blues I had

I says, I can't help, mama, what you do
You can tell the world I got those jealous-hearted blues

I said, stop still, mama, let me give you my agvice
If I catch you with a man, gonna be too tight

Like his brother, Barbecue Bob, Hicks was an Atlanta-based 12-stringer who worked in open tunings with a mostly frailed guitar line and occasional slide notes. His playing is quite free; the song seems more geared for listening than dancing. His enunciation is not always clear and a couple of words elude me in the spoken lines.

The Carters speeded the song a little and steadied the tempo, driven by one of Maybelle's best flatpicked leads, but they use Hicks' song structure and three of their four verses are in his text. The song may derive directly from Hicks' recording though I suspect there's an intermediary step, perhaps Leslie Riddle.