State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 20 May 06 - 04:30 AM

Yes Ebbie...

Requires sufficient talent of certain types that it narrows the field of entrants - as Cyril Northcote Parkinson pointed out was also the case with the Chinese Public Servant Exam, one of the categories was to be able to produce complicated Chinese poetry forms (of acceptable artistic standard too!) on demand.

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 May 06 - 07:53 PM

hahhaha This form is easier to take!

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: Amos
Date: 19 May 06 - 06:51 PM

Oh, SHambles, Shambles, listen here,
It's not as though it isn't clear
The point's so large -- the one you're missin' --
You really don't have a pot to piss in

Unfortunate
Uncomfortable
Kinda makes ya wanta make a mess right here and now.

...

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: Wesley S
Date: 19 May 06 - 05:57 PM

Hmmmmm..............

That almost sounds like you're making judgements about your fellow posters Roger. Hmmmmm.........

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: The Shambles
Date: 19 May 06 - 05:08 PM

There are many questions I ask myself
But if I want to know the state of my mental health
There are plenty of experts
Found around this here Cafe.

I am sure everyone is qualified
Perhaps everyone else is certified?
Or part-time analysts
Or anal part-timers

Or just anal
Talking out of that end
So to speak
Scatologically speaking
No.......shit

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: John Hardly
Date: 16 May 06 - 10:12 AM

Well I was at the computer the other day
Talking with folks from miles away
When my wife yells in from the other room
HEY! You gonna be finished in there soon?!

             I said Wha..(cleverly disguising the fact
             That I was only HALF-way listening to her)..
             OK.   I wasn't listening to her at all.

Anyway, she says "So, what're you doin?"
"Practicing guitar, I'll be done soon"
Well she may be blonde, but she's not dumb'
She fires back in her gentle way,

               Well how come…
               I don't hear…
               A guitar…..?

Well, guitar, I say, is a MENTAL thing
You practice your MIND to make it sing
By then she's slipped into the room
I sense the lowering of the boom

                And she's looking…
                Over my shoulder…
                She's reading…
                                    
Shambles? Little Hawk? Bobert?
Katlughing? Magrath of Harlew?
What-the-heck-is-that?

Well, that there is the Mudcat, dear!
"hmmmmm. So what's a mudcat?" she said.
Well that's a place were people who used to make music
Go to talk instead

Retirement
Rest for the vocal chords
Save money on guitar strings.

So she reads a while and then she says
"Seems like the ones who talk the most
Are the ones who say the least.
"Well" sez I, "there can only be a few gems...

The rest are the black velvet
Against which
You show off the diamonds

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: The Shambles
Date: 16 May 06 - 05:51 AM

Like at the funfair and which to ride
Like to try em all but you gotta decide
How to ride and buy a candy floss too
Or a toffee apple.

To have a the really best day out
You'll be glad to pay out
And to throw at coconuts
Should be worth the price

You pay much
To get them thrown at you?
Or them hard wooden balls
Kinda poor value
Bruisin too...........

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: The Shambles
Date: 16 May 06 - 05:09 AM

You find money for this and money for that
To doctor the dog and castrate the cat
Sometimes it seems like there ain't no end
And then
You find something good and FREE

Well there it is writ-up large
No tricks, no con, no hidden charge
This here Mudcat Cafe - come in and stay
Hoooooray!

But everything has its price
Sure as eggs is eggs
Sure as sure begins with the the letter Z
Free
Yes Siree
A bit like that there new Ramblin Jack
Imposterin.................

Well it ain't all bad - it ain't all good either
It's kinda what you make it.....................

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 16 May 06 - 12:33 AM

"Woody could not possibly spin in his grave since he was cremated and his ashes spread over the sea at Coney Island. "

... and THAT's where hurricanes come from...

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: The Shambles
Date: 15 May 06 - 06:34 PM

Thought that bully really hated me
Thought that I never would be free
I can feel it now
Blind fear in my guts

Wanted to fight and even tried.
Terror gripped me deep inside
Rage and shame
Guilt and blame

Not small stuff
The works
He doesn't know who I am nowadays
Probably didn't then
Didn't hate me - just had other problems

Do I hate him?
He taught me what the word meant.....I hate him for that

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: Bert
Date: 15 May 06 - 06:23 PM

Just bin readin' this new thread
and there is something should be said
Mudcat now is such a mess
this thread should be prefixed BS:
And we need a section for all assholes
that should be prefixed just for TROLLS:

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: BuckMulligan
Date: 15 May 06 - 06:16 PM

Thanks to Dick & Ron for the details; fortunately, this is one of those cases where truth is unconstrained by fact.

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: John Hardly
Date: 15 May 06 - 05:35 PM

I was lookin for truth
Kinda hard to find
But my method was good
The Socratic kind
Ran into lotsa other seekers
They all opined
Is it folk? Songwhiner blues?
It's neither. What? ...you blind?

No conclusions
244 post thread
Not like it use t'be
But it never was...

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: open mike
Date: 15 May 06 - 05:33 PM

I logged on one lonely night
just to find a mudcat fight
mud was a-slinging left and right
all i wanted was a song tonight

we all love a good folk song
why can't we all just get along?
to this family we all belong
dysfunctional though, right or wrong

Think about Woody, don't you see?
What if he were you or me
he would vote for unity
ashes churnin' in the sea...

Sometimes to achieve a finer union
To cure the problem, find the solution
we might need a revolution
to gain a final resolution

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: The Shambles
Date: 15 May 06 - 05:22 PM

C'mon Ron - give us a song.

For that's what youe supposed to think
It'd cause such a big stink
To know where he's a buried
Good and deep

Burnt Rambling Jack instead
Although is wasn't dead
Had to stop him singing someway
Kinda did the trick

Buried Woody alright
Dig it
Not sure who this one is
Some kind of imposter

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 15 May 06 - 05:02 PM

also for the record - Woody could not possible spin in his grave since he was cremated and his ashes spread over the sea at Coney Island.

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: The Shambles
Date: 15 May 06 - 05:00 PM

When you think you thought-up something new
An orignal truth something true
Your feelin real pride
Down deep inside

Always some fella comes along
Cocks an ear to your song
And says - sounds kinda familar
Traditional I reckon

Or maybe Woody?
Kinda forlorn
Perhaps one o mine?
Ain't one o yorn ....Too syncopated

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: freda underhill
Date: 15 May 06 - 04:59 PM

If you want to get to mudcat,
Let me tell you how to do it:
Gotta grease that mouse in a little mutton suet,
Slide right out of the keyboard's hand,
And ooze right over in the Mudcat Land,
Go easy. Make it easy. Not sleazy.

Standin' in the corner by the Union thread,
Watchin the words click past unread;
He oiled his tongue with a little mud grease,
Went slippin' up and down that mudcatpiece.
Huntin' threads. Stray posts. Chewin' it over. Left overs.

Make up the beds, gal, make 'em up nice,
Clean out the house, and chase out the mice,
By the kitchen table, and set it up right,
'Cause old Jerry R's gonna be here tonight.
And Ron. Loves cakes. Loves the music, too.

Standin' on the corner, standin' like a man,
Standin' on the corner was a Chongo man.
Standin' on the corner a banana in his hand
Waitin' for summin from the Shatner man.
'Lasses. Sweetlin' potatoes. Cold biscuits.

Down in the wildwood, singin with a bird,
My finger on the keyboard and my eye on a word.
I pressed that trigger and the post said "blip,"
Jumped on that thread with all my grip.
Ears' a mud eye. not a fly by.

Behind the chatroom the other night
It was awful dark and I had no light.
And Sorcha's dog run out by chance
And he bit a big hole in the seat of my pants.
I jumped gullies. Robe bushes. Plowed ground. Felt funny.

Behind the MOAB on my knees
I thought I heard a catspaw sneeze;
Only Ol Amos talkin' his prayers
And givin' out hymns to that Bush upstairs.
Just preachin'. Hens a-singin'. Little young chickens just a-hopin'...

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 15 May 06 - 04:31 PM

Just for the record, the "Original" talking blues, which established the form, was not written by Woody Guthrie--a gentleman named Chris Bouchillon recorded it a decade or so earlier.

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: Amos
Date: 15 May 06 - 04:28 PM

Now look here, folkies,
What are you thinkin'?
The way you treat this
Boy is stinkin'!
He may be boring, he may be obsessive,
His perseverant moans may be passive-aggressive,
And sure you get tired,
And sure you're annoyed,
But just take it all like Sigmund Freud!

Figger it out,
Analyze it.
Invent some TERminology....

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: GUEST
Date: 15 May 06 - 03:48 PM

Listenin' to all you folks ramble
Makes me think you do like Shambles
True he drives some of ya nuts
But y'all admit he does have guts
His thoughts about the Mudcat site
They may be wrong, they may be right,
But he's as wrong or right as you
At least inside this talkin' blues

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 15 May 06 - 03:48 PM

I'm no songwriter...

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: BuckMulligan
Date: 15 May 06 - 03:30 PM

C'mon Clinton, kick in a verse or two.

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 15 May 06 - 03:25 PM

You can just SMELL the record deals can't you.....

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: Janie
Date: 15 May 06 - 03:16 PM

Well Giok, he roared but the Sham didn't stumble
Guest clapped his hands, shouted "Ready for to Rumble!"
Sham nor Clint knew how to take a hint
Meanwhile us lurkers is really gettin' bent
Some of us cryin' "Why can't we be friends"
Shut the Mudcat down I'm sure to get the bends
I got the Mudcat, Mudcat,
Mudcat Blues

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: John Hardly
Date: 15 May 06 - 03:00 PM

well done, Giok.

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: The Shambles
Date: 15 May 06 - 03:00 PM

Thinking hard about trying write this song
About why folks just don't get along
Even when they ain't even together
Not even in the same room

I sure is funny but it ain't no joke
So many ways to upset some folks
Seem so judgemental
Kinda uptight

Tense
Like a pressure cooker
Gettin up steam
Just cookin.....

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 15 May 06 - 02:55 PM

Well lookin' down that road I see
Max Spiegel a drivin' his old MG
It was runnin' bad, n' Max was wishin
He could kill that MGs bad emissions

It was runnin' wild, and out of control
It didn't rock, it could only roll
It was loud it was bad it was makin' Max suffer
So he fitted it with, an all round muffler

Badge shaped like an octagon
Ought ta gone
A long
Long
Time ago.


Giok

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: BuckMulligan
Date: 15 May 06 - 02:39 PM

Thanks Richard - apparently we have vastly different conceptions of what a "talkin' blues" really is. I suspect Sait Woodie would spin in his grave at the mention of "scansion" in conjunction with the form. Ya makes it fit with the git-tar, sport. Given tha tno two TBs I've ever hear scan exactly alike, I'd say it's perfect.... chocolate covered.... ah, I couldn't'a et a whole one anyway....

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 15 May 06 - 02:36 PM

FIrst and second line last verse need more syllables.    Maybe

Rollin' down hill from the Hammond to the Sham...

Gives the advantage of the half-rhyme of "sham" to "..anche"

In fact scansion generally could do with a bit of polishing.

Over to the Mudcat for developoment of this fine work!

Subject: RE: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: Big Mick
Date: 15 May 06 - 02:31 PM

Buck, I think I really like you.

Subject: State of the Mudcat Union Talkin' Blues
From: BuckMulligan
Date: 15 May 06 - 02:28 PM

Kicking it off; everybody know the talkin' blues form - take it away...

I was browsin' through Mudcat the other day
When I saw this thread from Max to say
That "this here shit's gotta stop and
Some of you go"

So I read on down a message or two
And it wasn't long before I knew
The shit was just gonna roll
And roll and roll

Downhill
From the Shambles,
Gatherin speed and mass
Like an avalanche.