The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #648   Message #4097999
Posted By: cnd
16-Mar-21 - 08:14 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: House of David Blues
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: House of David Blues
You can hear the Ralph Blizzard version here

You can hear Arthur Smith (nb 'Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, not Arthur 'Guitar Boogie' Smith) sing it with The McGee Brothers here. The lyrics are faithfully reproduced, though it is worth noting that the original recording was released under the title "Singing Those House Of David Blues" and recorded 17 February 1937 in Charlotte, NC (link).

Buck Ryan also performs a number titled House of David Blues with a largely similar (though slightly different), a version of which can be heard here. Despite the claim in the description of the YouTube video, it's notably not the recording on Draggin' The Bow (Rebel Records SLP 1552), which is almost a minute shorter and doesn't have a guitar intro. The Draggin' the Bow version does have some lyrics at about 1:10, but I feel they're not worth transcribing as they're just standard square-dance calls.

As noted in this MusTrad article, the composition was possibly Smith's, however, the song was largely not originally his. Essentially, the earlier song was from 1923 and composed by Elmer Schoebel, Billy Meyers and Irving Mills (though the tune was slightly different), while the tune came from Robert Johnson's 1936 "Hot Tamales (They're Red Hot)" -- however, the article is supremely well-written and worthwhile to read in its entirety.