Lyr ADD: Blow Liza Blow (from Lomax, Bahamas 1935)

Subject: RE: I Bid You Goodnight
From: chips1901
Date: 07 Aug 04 - 09:52 PM

I am looking for lyrics to Blow, Liza, Blow which was recorded by Lomax at the same time. Anybody know? Would love to teach the song to others if I could.

Subject: RE: Blow Liza Blow (from Lomax, Bahamas 1935)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Aug 04 - 03:39 AM

Here's the entry from www.folktrax.org:

POOR LITTLE LIZA - Shanty - ROUD#4698 - DAVIS & TOZER pp24-5 - HUGILL SSS 1961 p345 "Eliza Lee" -- J S SCOTT rec by James M Carpenter London c1928: 142 - Group of men from Andros Island, rec by Alan Lomax, Nassau, Bahamas Aug 1935: ROUNDER CD-11661-1822-2 1999 "Blow, Liza, blow" (AAFS 299B)

That Rounder CD is the first of two "Bahamas 1935" CD's in the Rounder Alan Lomax Deep River of Song Series. I have the second of the two. The entry from Hugill, "Eliza Jane," is in the Digital Tradition as Clear the Track (and let the Bulgine Run).

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Blow Liza Blow (from Lomax, Bahamas 1935)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 08 Aug 04 - 04:13 AM

Only one verse is transcribed in the notes:

Now but blow, Liza, blow,
Now but blow, Liza, blow,
O Liza, blow, Liza, blow,
Now but blow, Liza, blow.

Subject: RE: Blow Liza Blow (from Lomax, Bahamas 1935)
From: Roberto
Date: 08 Aug 04 - 04:24 AM

The booklet adds that "except for occasional words, the rhyming verses of the lead singer and the refrain cannot be interpreted".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Blow Liza Blow (from Lomax, Bahamas 1935)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Aug 04 - 10:42 PM

There is a sound sample at allmusic but I find it mostly unintelligible. The only phrases I think I recognize are "spring and summer," "blow, Liza, blow," and "trouble in mind."

The song is sung in a contrapuntal style much like the more familiar I BID YOU GOODNIGHT which is also on the same album.

Lomax should have asked his sources to dictate the lyrics so he could write them down. I wonder if he did?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Blow Liza Blow (from Lomax, Bahamas 1
From: Melani
Date: 18 Aug 04 - 12:17 AM

Hi, Chips--

I never heard it, but if you've got the recorded version, bring it along and we can all try to decipher it. Sometimes that works.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Blow Liza Blow (from Lomax, Bahamas 1935)
From: GUEST,Dean Calin
Date: 19 Feb 16 - 05:50 PM

Bounding Main recorded this song for our Going Overboard CD. Gina researched the song extensively.

http://www.boundingmain.com/lyrics/blow_liza.htm

You can listen to it by scrolling to the bottom of this page: https://soundcloud.com/bounding-main

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Blow Liza Blow (from Lomax, Bahamas 1935)
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Oct 22 - 10:54 PM

http://boundingmain.com/music/lyrics/blow-liza-blow/

Blow, Liza, Blow
Traditional Bahamian Song c. 1935

Anonymous

Chorus
This is the winter,
Every spring and summer,
We need another jolly boy,
To lead this cable over.

Blow Liza blow, (now)
Blow dear Liza blow,
Blow Liza, blow Liza,
Blow Liza blow.

Tell you ’bout my Liza,
That’s a tough-lookin’ woman.
That Liza, she’s blowin’ forever,
Blow Liza blow. (Chorus)

You know what I’m tryin’ to,
Love you Liza, tell you true.
I’ve got the woman I’m gonna love,
Blow Liza Blow.

Callin’ you Liza,
Three pairs and three mates.
One jolly man come back alive,
Blow Liza blow. (Chorus)

Sometimes, people on the land,
Just trouble in mind.
Wind he was mad and called his grip,
Blow Liza blow

Some was workin’,
To the land to him.
Before the high wind strike,
Blow Liza blow.

Up sails,
Try to bring it ’round.
One of them fall right over,
Blow Liza blow. (Chorus)

I got time,
I better dance these girls in town.
People in town just trouble in mind,
Blow Liza blow.

I got time, now all right,
People in the boat.
Turn the yard up to port,
Blow Liza blow.

Now the men calling
Who made ’em in, eh?
All those callin’, “Who come back, hey?”
Blow Liza blow. (Chorus)

No more today,
Tellin’ the tale.
I didn’t see them, I just come back, me,
Blow Liza blow.

I got time,
People swallowed up on the ocean.
I could hear some people cry,
Blow Liza blow.

Tell you,
That boy way young to die.
That’s the word his woman cry’n,
Blow Liza blow.

(Chorus)
This is the winter,
Every spring and summer,
We need another jolly boy,
To lead this cable over.

Now this is the winter,
Commence the spring and summer.
Now we need another jolly boy,
To lead this cable over.

Oh that storm,
That wonderful storm.
Blow Liza, blow Liza, blow Liza, blow.

Oh that storm,
Going to make the men alone.
And that storm will blow today,
Blow Liza blow.

WHERE TO FIND IT
image of album cover for Bounding Main Lost at Sea - click for more info about the album

SONG NOTES
A song from the Bahamas where the sponge fisherman battle the storms every spring and summer which results in losing yet another jolly boy. We have a surplus of jolly boys ourselves and will be donating one soon. — Gina Dalby.

This may be the same storm that spawned the song “Run, Come, See.” It was recorded by Alan Lomax and Mary Elizabeth Barnicle, featuring a group of Andros Island Men in Nassau, Bahamas. It is available to listen to in the American Folklife Center of the American Library of Congress. — Dean Calin

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Blow Liza Blow (from Lomax, Bahamas 1935)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Oct 22 - 11:50 PM

Here's the recording from the Lomax Bahamas 1935 CD - Group Of Men From Andros Island - Blow, Liza, Blow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2WyS0tQ1IU

And from the Lomax archive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfhQVF-qaTM

And from a group called "Bounding Main":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_TvfXIFecg

Live Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkLMjMM25KI

And from a group called "Foghorn":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKcpSwdVDqY

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Blow Liza Blow (from Lomax, Bahamas 1935)
From: Lighter
Date: 28 Oct 22 - 09:25 AM

The Lomax Archive copy is a little more intelligible than the CD version.

In any case, I can't hear any similarity to "Clear the Track" except the use of the name "Liza."