Lyr Req: Back, Back, Back to Baltimore

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Back, back, back To Baltimore
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Apr 07 - 08:21 AM

Azizi: May I make a suggestion regarding the posting of lyrics?

I notice you left in the hyphens that you no doubt found in the sheet music (e.g. "min-strel"). In sheet music, the convention is that syllables are separated to make them line up with the notes above, and hyphens are inserted ("min - strel"). There is no need for the hyphenation (I think; others might disagree) when only the words are given, so I recommend closing it up ("minstrel"). My reason is that someone might search for "minstrel" someday and they won't find it if the spelling is "min-strel".

I suppose it's only fair to point out that I expressed this opinion once before, and someone else objected that they LIKE the hyphens. I guess you won't find 100% agreement on anything at Mudcat.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Back, back, back To Baltimore
From: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 05:14 PM

Azizi-

I don't think we've got those lines correct yet:

I think they read:

Some fellow mean, Said "Mr. Green,
You'se the most comical man
I have seen,...

I think I've got it right now!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Back, back, back To Baltimore
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 04:28 PM

Not pertinent, but I am amazed at the number and variety of songs written by Williams and Van Alstyne. After a stint in vaudeville, they worked for Tin Pan Alley kingpin Remick. Among their hits was "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree."
I just finished copying another of their songs because the title is the name of the town where I was raised.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Back, back, back To Baltimore
From: Azizi
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 12:35 PM

Oldtimer, fwiw, I personally don't consider this song to be racist.

I've read lyrics to songs on Mudcat threads that made me flinch, but I didn't feel that way about "Back, Back, Back to Baltimore".

Btw, I'm speaking for myself as one African American. I'm definitely not speaking for the entire African American race. But there's no one person who can speak for an entire race, so that's a throwaway point.

The Back, Back, Back to Baltimore" songwriter may or may not have meant the song to be one that made fun of a Black man struggling to become a success as a performing artist. But I decided not to waste my energy on worrying about that possiblity. I decided to focus on the story told by the "Back Back Back To Baltimore" song and not on the negative connotations of the word "coon".

I hasten to say that I do believe that if the word "coon" was used nowadays in a song to refer to Black people, I would consider it to be in poor judgement and insensitive, if not downright racist.

**

Here's a correction that I've just noticed in the lyrics that I transcribed from the website whose link Peace had provided:

"Some fellow mean Said "Mr. Green,
You'se the most comical man
I've ever seen, "

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Back, back, back To Baltimore
From: GUEST,old timer
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 11:12 AM

Many thanks to peace and azizi. This song is very racist but played at a fast tempo without the words, it makes a great tune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Back, back, back To Baltimore
From: Azizi
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 12:50 AM

The storyline of that song reminds me of these two R&B songs:

http://www.superseventies.com/sl_midnighttriaintoga.html

MIGNIGHT TRAIN TO GEORGIA
Jim Weatherly

(As recorded by Gladys Knight & The Pips)


L.A. proved too much for the man
So he's leavin' the life he's come to know
He said he's goin' back to find what's left of his world
The world he left behind not so long ago

He's leavin' on that midnight train to Georgia
Said he's goin' back to find the simpler place and time
I'll be with him on that midnight train to Georgia
I'd rather live in his world than live without him in mine

He kept dreamin' that someday he'd be a star
But he sho' found out the hard way that dreams don't always come true
So he's pawned all his hopes and he even sold his own car
Bought a one-way ticket back to the life he once knew

Said he's leavin' on that midnight train to Georgia
Said he's goin' back to find the simpler place and time
I'm gonna be with him on that midnight train to Georgia
I'd rather live in his world than live without him in mine

Oh he's leavin' on the midnight train to Georgia
Said he's goin' back to find the simpler place and time
I've got to be with him on that midnight train to Georgia
I'd rather live in his world than live without him in mine

All aboard, all aboard, all aboard
On the midnight train to Georgia
I got to go
I got to go
I got to go

(c) Copyright 1971, 1973 by Keca Music, Inc. International copyright secured.
All rights reserved.

- SONG HITS, Summer 1974.

-snip-

MESSAGE TO MICHAEL
{as reorded by Dionne Warwick}

Spread your wings for New Orleans
Kentucky bluebird, fly away

And take a message to Michael, message to Michael
He sings each night in some cafe
In his search to find wealth and fame
I hear Michael has gone and changed his name

It's a year since he was here
Kentucky bluebird, fly away

And take a message to Michael, message to Michael
Tell him I miss him more each day
As his train pulled out down the track
Michael promised he'd soon be coming back

Oh tell him how my heart just breaks in two
Since he journeyed far
And even though his dreams of fame fell through
To me he will always be a star

Spread your wings for New Orleans
Kentucky bluebird, fly away

And take a message to Michael, message to Michael
Ask him to start for home today
When you find him please let him know
Rich or poor, I will always love him so

Fly away, Kentucky bluebird
Fly away, Kentucky bluebird
Fly away, fly away, fly away, fly away...

http://www.lyricsdownload.com/dionne-warwick-message-to-michael-lyrics.html - 24k -

Subject: Lyr Add: BACK BACK BACK TO BALTIMORE
From: Azizi
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 12:31 AM

BACK BACK BACK TO BALTIMORE

Respectfully dedicated to the Kings of Black face-McIntyre & Heath

Words by Harry H. Williams; Music by Egbert Van Alystyne
Copyright, 1904 Shapiro, Remick & Co.


March tempo

1.
Forty below coon from a show,
Sits by a water tank out in the snow,
He looped the loop with a cheap troupe
And then the man-a-ger he flew the coup,
why does he wait, out there so late,
Just for a com-mon old ev'ry day freight,
He's broke you know so is the show
And thats why he cries, this much is so.

Chorus

I'm going back back back
To Bal-ti-more
This act-ing bus' ness
cert'n-ly makes me sore.
A black face song or a mins-trel joke
won't entice this fool-ish moke.
I ne-ver cared for home so much be-fore,
They said we'd stop at swell ho-tels gal-lore,
we on-ly stopped at them out-side the door,
The next man says I'm tal-en-ted,
I'll put a dent right in his head,
If I get back to Bal-ti-more.
Back Back

2.
Some fellow mean Said "Mr. Green,
You're the most comical man
I've ever seen, But he took a reef,
in his belief That I was as funny
as McIntyre Heath I went and spent
seven weeks rent.For a plug hat,
now I aint got a cent,
Here I am broke,that hat in soak,
If I act again, I hope I choke.

Chorus

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Back, back, back To Baltimore
From: Peace
Date: 21 Apr 07 - 11:31 PM

No offense, oldtimer, but if you don't know about enlarging a page, etc, I will be glad to transcribe the lyrics. But I could take me a few days.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Back, back, back To Baltimore
From: Peace
Date: 21 Apr 07 - 11:30 PM

Sheet music can be seen here. All six pages, with words.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Back, back, back To Baltimore
From: Peace
Date: 21 Apr 07 - 11:27 PM

You can hear it here, but the sound is not great.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Back, back, back To Baltimore
From: Peace
Date: 21 Apr 07 - 11:22 PM

"Back, Back, Back to Baltimore"
Written by Harry Williams and Egbert Van Alstyne, 1904

Subject: Lyr Req: Back, back, back To Baltimore
From: GUEST,old timer
Date: 21 Apr 07 - 01:44 PM

I am trying to find lyrics to the 1904 song "Back, back, back to Baltimore" by Harry WillIams. Can anyone help? Thanks
old timer