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Subject: RE: Delia's Gone From: GUEST,Q Date: 14 Dec 02 - 08:52 PM DELIE (Delia's Gone) Delie, Delie, was a-goin' her last round, When ole coon came by An' shot her to the groun'. All I done had done gone. Delie, Delie, why didn't yo' run, When yo' seen dat coon a-comin' Wid his forty-fo' caliber gun? All I done had done gone. Rubber-tired cayage, rubber-tired hack Done took poor Delie to de bone yard, Ain't never brought her back. All I done had done gone. Men in Atalanta tryin' to pass fo' white, Delie's in de bone yard Six foot out o' sight. All I done had done gone. Men in Atalanta drinkin' out a silver cup, Delie's in de bone yard, Ain't never goin' to get up. All I done had done gone. "Reported from Durham, NC, 1924, MS. of M. L. Hamlin, 'from memory of a song taught Frank Goodell of Spartenburg, SC, ... by an old Negro to whom he paid $1.00 to teach him to play the guitar. Learned probably between 1900 and 1904'." Newman L. White, "American Negro Folk Songs, 1925 (and reprints), Folklore Associates, p. 215-216. Connected to Frankie and Albert, but here the woman is shot by the man, instead of vice versa. The following fragment collected 1915-1916, MS. of E. L. Harper, heard in Alabama, "Sung by Negro to guitar." Also from Newman L. White, p. 216. Delia! Delia! raise up your head, Try and take your medicine just like the doctor said. Poor gal, she gone! Poor gal, she gone! In DT: Delia, Delia(2), Delia's Gone. Also compare with "Lilly," thread 48696: Lilly Also has the line, "All I got's done gone." The woman shoots Pauly. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia From: GUEST,Guest Date: 12 May 07 - 01:30 AM I'm not sure if this string is still active, but I must thank Mr. Garst for the information posted here! I've been researching my name --- yes, it's Delia -- and was thrilled to see this. My father and brother used to tease me with their own versions of this song when I was very young. They would have a great laugh once they could get me angry enough to go stomping out of the room. I always thought they had just made up the whole "Delia's Gone" concept. I guess the laugh is on me! I'm not gone! I'm still here alive and kicking! :-) |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia From: GUEST,cmt49 Date: 12 May 07 - 12:40 PM Thanks for the history. Delia was the first country blues number I ever learned. Can't remember where. Funnily enough, I have always sung the culprit's name as 'Curly'. So it's really 'Coony'? I love hearing historical evidence for oral tradition stories like this. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia From: Mrrzy Date: 02 Jun 10 - 03:27 PM If delia died after the first shot, why did they need one more round? |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia From: Leadfingers Date: 02 Jun 10 - 07:11 PM The first time Tony shot Delia she began to roll her eyes The next time he shot poor elia she lay right down and died As performed by Acker Bilk and his Paramount Jazz band cerdited to Blind Blake |
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Subject: RE: Origin: Delia's Gone (J. Cash version) From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Date: 08 Mar 16 - 12:50 AM We have a couple of "Delia" threads going. Following up on my last and posting these wherever the Bahamian branch of the tree gets mention. My Gilbert-Lofthouse sheet music is still MIA. More to follow… hopefully. Delia Gone Tony shot his Delia, on a Christmas night, First time he shot her she bowed her head and died– Delia gone–one more round Delia-gone – Delia gone–one more round Delia gone. Send for the doctor, doctor came too late, Send for the minister to lay out Delia straight. Delia gone, one more round! Delia gone. Delia's mudder dressed herself in brown, Went to the cemetery to see her daughter layed down. Delia gone, one more round! Delia gone. Rubber tired buggy, double-seated hack, Take my Delia to de graveyard an' never brought her back. Delia gone, one more round! Delia gone. Tony axed the jailer, "What is my time?" "Sixty-four years in ------- -------'s mine." Delia gone, one more round! Delia gone. Sixty-four years, that ain't no time! Old Joe Bagstack is servin' ninety an' nine! Delia gone, one more round! Delia gone. All you gamblers that likes to bet, Come down to de courthouse and witness Delia's death. Delia gone, one more round! Delia gone. No doubt this popular tho' tragic ballad has its basis in some episode of Nassau history now forgotten. There is, however, a faint resemblance in theme to a song that originated in St. Louis called "Frankie and Johnnie." "Thomas Beer, in his 'Mauve Decade,' places this ballad as early as 1850, but Emerson Hough dates it fully ten years ealier." – Read 'Em and Weep. One stanza is particularly reminiscent: "O bring your rubber-tired hearses; O bring your rubber-tired hacks. They're takin' your Johnnie to the buryin'ground And they won't bring a bit of him back." McCutcheon, John & Evelyn, The Island Song Book, (Chicago Tribune Tower, private printing, Jan. 15, 1927) p.11 Note: History has not been kind to Thomas Beer and justly so. When did rubber-tired buggies, hearses, hacks and whatevers come to your neck of the planet? |
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Subject: RE: Origin: Delia's Gone (J. Cash version) From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Date: 08 Mar 16 - 12:57 AM Part II Delia's Gone Words and Music by BLAKE ALPHONSO HIGGS (BLIND BLAKE) 1. Now Delia cursed Tony 'Twas on one Saturday night. And she cursed him such a wicked curse, That he swear to take her life. Delia's gone one more round, Delia's gone. 2. First time Tony shot Delia He shot her right in her side. The second time he shot her, She gave up the ghost and died. Delia's gone one more round, Delia's gone. 3. The reason why Tony shot Delia Because she cursed him a wicked curse And if Tony had'nt shot lil Delia, She might have cursed him worse. Delia's gone one more round, Delia's gone. 4. Now Delia's friend is in prison Drinking out the silver cup Whilest Delia she lying in the grave Fighting her level best to get up. Delia's gone, etc. 5. On monday Tony was arrested, On Tuesday his case was tried, The juryman brought him down guilty, He began to rollin' his goo-goo eyes. 6. A rubber tire buggy A double seated hack Took little Delia to the graveyard And they never brought her back. 7. I went down to the graveyard Just to look in my Delia's face. I said, "Delia girl, you know I love you, But I just couldn't take your place." 8. "Jailor, Oh Jailor!" Tony said, "How can I sleep When all around my bed-side I can hear little Delia's feet?" 9. The man that shot my Delia He was riding on a wheel, He rode that wheel so mighty fast They think it was an automobile. 10. Some give Delia a nickle, Some give Delia a dime, I didn't give her one red cent Because she wasn't a gal of mine. 11. Sixty-four years in prison Tony told the judge that isn't no time, He said my younger brother's in the penitentiary Servin' nine hundred ninety and nine. © Copyright 1952 and 1954 Hollis Music, Inc., New York, N.Y. Patterson, Massie, Heyward, Sammy (eds), Calypso Folk Sing, (NY: Ludlow Music, 1963) pp.26-27 ©1963 Ludlow Music, New York, N.Y. First released on: ART Records, ALP6, 10"LP, AEP6, 2x7"EP gatefold, 1952 (recorded in Nassau.) (Same as mentioned elsewhere with copyrights, dates &c.) |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia From: Joe Offer Date: 08 Mar 16 - 01:24 AM Phil, for a number of reasons, please do not post the same message or the same set of lyrics in two different threads. Pick the one more appropriate thread, and post your lyrics there. As multiple threads on songs continue to increase, I have been combining threads, including the most pertinent information and the most distinctive versions in "origins" threads. Thanks. -Joe Offer, Mudcat Music Editor (and registrar, if you'd like to join)- joe@mudcat.org |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia From: Joe Offer Date: 15 Jun 16 - 12:32 AM There's a nice recording of "Delia Gone" here:It's from the Lomax Deep River of Song collection. The album is titled Bahamas 1935. -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia / Delia's Gone From: GUEST,Ken Brock Date: 15 Jun 16 - 12:30 PM One reason some folks above had trouble finding Delia's Gone in the Kingston Trio database is that they titled their version "One More Round". |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia / Delia's Gone From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Date: 22 Jun 16 - 06:41 PM Artist Alice Pashley's c.1929 version, another by-product of the Peas an' Rice thread: Rubber tyred buggy, double-seated hack, Carry poor Delia to de graveyard and never bring her back. Delia gone, Delia gone. Parson in de pulpit, telling all dem lies; Ebry time a funral pass he roll dem goo-goo eyes, Delia gone, Delia gone. Parson in de pulpit, trying to save his soul, his wife is at de corner selling jelly roll, Delia gone, Delia gone. Ackknowledgement The six songs with music were taken down by Mrs. Alice Pashley. [Defries, Amelia, The Fortunate Islands, (London: Cecil Palmer, 1929, p.xxi)] |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia / Delia's Gone From: Piff Date: 29 Jun 16 - 04:30 PM There is a very attractive and poignant - if somewhat abbreviated - version of the song on Eric Bibb's album "Painting Signs" (which is a great album, by the way!) |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia / Delia's Gone From: Piff Date: 29 Jun 16 - 04:30 PM There is a very attractive and poignant - if somewhat abbreviated - version of the song on Eric Bibb's album "Painting Signs" (which is a great album, by the way!) |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia / Delia's Gone From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Date: 30 Jun 16 - 01:47 AM Eric's father, Leon Bibb, covered Delia in 1960 (Leon Bibb Sings Love Songs, VRS 9073, trk. A7, with John Stauber on guitar.) Mudcat thread: Help: Tell me about Leon Bibb (He passed in October, 2015. Thought there was an obit thread too but no luck finding it.) |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia / Delia's Gone From: GUEST,Joseph Scott Date: 21 May 20 - 04:16 AM _Pieces Of Eight_ by Richard Le Gallienne, 1918 includes “Some gave a nickel, some gave a dime I never gave no red cent, she was no girl of mine Delia gone! Delia gone!” https://pictures.abebooks.com/MBHR/22385404827.jpg |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia / Delia's Gone From: Mrrzy Date: 21 May 20 - 10:49 AM I learned this from Harry Belafonte's Mark Twain album, the one with Man Piaba, which I just found in mp3 format yay. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia / Delia's Gone From: GUEST,Bob Coltman Date: 23 May 20 - 07:06 PM I believe the first US singer to introduce "Delia's Gone" (by that title) to American folk circles was Pete Seeger on a Folkways 10" LP, album title not remembered, in the early 1950s. His version uses the Blind Blake refrain (as compared to the several others that use different refrains) but the lyrics are condensed and somewhat different. Whether the divergencies are recomposition by Seeger or are due to some intermediate party I don't know. The Seeger version was enormously influential at the time. Blake's quite popular Behamian recordings reached the US via tourists, but were much less widely heard. Bob |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia / Delia's Gone From: GUEST,Gerry Date: 23 May 20 - 07:29 PM According to the discography in David Dunaway's biography of Pete Seeger, How Can I Keep From Singing, Seeger recorded Delia's Gone in 1950 on We Sing – Vol. 1, on MDH records, a bootleg album recorded live in concert at Reed College. It was also on Pete Seeger Sampler, FA 2043 10-inch, released in 1954 – that's most likely the album Bob Coltman is referring to. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia / Delia's Gone From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Date: 24 May 20 - 03:08 PM Could have sworn the Le Gallienne lyric was already in one of the other threads but no, good catch! Snow Smith & His Bahama Minstrels - Songs of the Bahamas, 1940 Burl Ives didn't record it until 1961 but he picked it up earlier when he worked a bit (as 'Ken McGehen') with Snow Smith. ART Records (Miami) labelmate George Symonette And His Calypso Sextette covered it two years after Blind Blake. Belafonte recorded two songs with 'Delia' in the title. Delia ( "Mark Twain" And Other Folk Favorites, RCA, 1954) is credited to 'Fred Brooks' (aka Fred Hellerman – Weavers) and Lester Judson. Not the same song. Delia's Gone (Love is a Gentle Thing, RCA, 1959) is credited to Milt Okun and Bob Corman (aka Robert Romero De Cormier, Jr.) Will Holt's 1957 cover got a lot of attention at the time as well, but for the Yanks it was mostly Belafonte. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia / Delia's Gone From: Charmion Date: 27 May 20 - 11:35 AM I learned it from Johnny Cash . |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia / Delia's Gone From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Date: 05 Mar 25 - 09:23 PM Lofthouse/Smith sheet music for the above at YorkU, Toronto: Delia Gone, One More Roun', Delia Gone By. L. Charles* As Sung in NASSAU, THE BAHAMAS By picturesque “SNOW” SMITH Delia left Tony, On a Saturday night, It made him sore and so he swore to shoot her down at sight. [chorus] Delia Gone, One More Roun' Delia Gone. Delia Gone, One More Roun' Delia Gone. Delia Gone, One More Roun' Delia Gone. Delia left Tony on a Saturday night. Delia Gone, One More Roun' Delia Gone. She came 'round the mountain, In her “ca-bri-o-lay.” While he was aiming at the mountain, she got in the way. [cho.] The first time he shot her, She was hit in the side. The second time his gun went off, she bowed her head and died. The reason he shot her, Was because of a curse. And if he had not shot her down, she might have cursed him worse. Delilah clipped Samson – That's what Delia had done. Now Tony was no Samson but he sure could aim a gun. Though Tony once loved her, She went out on the loose. She vowed she would not cook for Tony, so he cooked her goose. A two-seat buggy, Just a broken-down hack – Took Delia to the graveyard and it never brought her back. On Monday arrested, Tuesday – Tony was tried. The found him guilty, so he also took a one-way ride.” [Edward B. Marks Music Corporation, 1940] [Sheet music.] *Charles Leonard Lofthouse |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia / Delia's Gone From: GUEST,Guitarfumbler Date: 06 Mar 25 - 05:11 PM I remember hearing Derek Brimstone singing 'Delia' on a live folk club broadcast on Radio 2's 'Folkweave' program back in th mid 1970's. His version was the 'and all the friends I ever had are gone' one. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Delia / Delia's Gone From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Date: 08 Mar 25 - 12:06 AM Ancestry.com: Moses "Coony" Houston (1886-1929) Mentioned in the John B. thread way back in 2020.: "...The ever popular “Hoist the John B. Sails,” without which the programme would have been incomplete was the last item on the programme. Needless to say it met with the heartiest applause and as an encore the Orchestra gave “Delia” also a well-known local air set to music by Mr. Prouty....” [The Nassau Guardian, (NP) 4 April 1903, p.2] Notes: Prouty's Orchestra played the winter season at the St. James Hotel, Jacksonville, FL., 1883-1900 before moving to the Hotels Colonial & Royal Victoria, Nassau for seven years. There's sheet music for John B. Nothing so far for Delia. |
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