Art

Thanks for the info. I had not come across the other threads where you outlined your theory. Right or wrong, it is surely plausible, and it seems Guthrie Meade was sufficiently convinced to expound it in his tome.

Charlie Butler's lament under this title is something else again - arresting, haunting and ultimately mysterious. It is a far cry from the Georgia Crackers' stomp or even the cowboy's complaint. It deserves a place in the DT, but it is not easy to transcribe. Below is what I can hear of it. Could you, or others who have the recording, give it a listen, fill in the missing line with the question mark and make corrections where I have misheard. Anyone with an interest in folk music who doesn't have a copy of the Wade compilation CD is missing out on treasures indeed.

DIAMOND JOE

Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe

Went up on that mountain
Give my horn a blow
Thought I heard Miss Maybelle say
Yonder come my beau

Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe

Ain't gonna work in the country
And neither on Parchment Farm
I'm gonna stay till my Maybelle come
And she gonna call-a me Tom

Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe

Ain't gonna tell you no story
And neither word or lie
One of them my Maybelle say
Didn't she keep on by

Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe

Diamond Joe, where you ?
Diamond Joe, where you ?
Diamond Joe, where you ?
Diamond Joe

Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe

Ain't gonna work in the country
And neither on Parchment Farm
I'm gonna stay till my Maybelle come
And she gonna call-a me Tom

Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe, come a-getta me
Diamond Joe, my black Joe

Source: recording by John A. Lomax of Charlie Butler in Parchman, Mississippi, 8 March 1937. Reissued in Various Artists 'A Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings' Rounder CD 1500 [Compiled and annotated by Stephen Wade].

Regards, Stewie.