Lyr Req: Ragtime Millionaire

Subject: Lyr Req: Ragtime Millionaire
From: GUEST,Janet Geen
Date: 24 Mar 06 - 01:36 PM

Help! I used to sing this years ago, and have promised to give a go again tomorrow night. Now I can't find my copy of the words anywhere. Have done a Mudcat search but the only version listed is nothing like the one I (used to) know. A couple of lines spring to mind:
"I brush my teeth with diamond dust
I don't care if the bank goes bust."
Anyone know this version.
Thanks a lot.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ragtime Millionaire
From: Grab
Date: 24 Mar 06 - 02:01 PM

The one in the forum search must be this one.

A friend of mine plays it - same chorus but different verses (including the lines you mention). I don't know where he got it from, but the two verses he does are:-

Gonna take my girl to the dance tonight
Gonna spin her round, gonna treat her right
(can't remember the 3rd line)
I sure didn't mean to start that fight

Every tooth in my head is solid gold
Make that guy look awful old
I brush my teeth in diamond dust
I don't care if the bank went bust

I'll get that third line off him tonight...

Graham.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ragtime Millionaire
From: GUEST,Fred McCormick
Date: 24 Mar 06 - 02:11 PM

The Document Records website http://www.document-records.com/search.asp lists several performers who sang that title. From what you say, though, there may be more than one song of that title, or perhaps there is just one which has become transmogrified beyond recognition

• Bayless Rose DOCD-5062
• Blind Arthur Blake DOCD-5062
• Chicken Wilson & Skeeter Hinton DOCD-5062
• George Lewis Ragtime Band (accomp.) DOCD-5666
• Tarter & Gay DOCD-5062
• William 'Bill' Moore DOCD-5062
• William Moore (Don't know what that one is. I couldn't get the link open)
• Willie Walker DOCD-5062

DOCD 5062 is called Ragtime Blues Guitar 1927 - 1930, which is why all but two of the above have the same catalogue number

Sorry I can't pinpoint that song precisely, but Document also has a forum. Somebody on there might know. Alternatively, Document tracks are downloadable, which could be an effective, but costly, way of finding the one you want.

Cheers,

Fred McCormick.

Subject: Lyr Add: MAN FROM GOD KNOWS WHERE (Tom Russell)
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 24 Mar 06 - 03:05 PM

Hi Janet

I hope you are both well.

A search on Jeeves produced the following:

THE MAN FROM GOD KNOWS WHERE
Tom Russell

Come gather round me, children. A story I will tell.
I've been around since Jesus met the woman at the well.
I've walked these roads ten thousand years. I'm a ragtime millionaire.
I am the rake and the ramblin' saint, the man from God knows where.

Oh, they hung me in Downpatrick, up near St. Patrick's tomb,
But my ghost rose up in the peat-fire smoke toward the rising of the moon.
Now as I drift through your villages, all the maidens stop and stare.
There goes old Tom the vagabond, the man from God knows where.

So it's rise up, all you ancestors, and dance upon your graves.
I've come to hear your voices now, so maybe I'll be saved.
Cursed are we who forget the past, but pray and don't despair.
My song is might haunt your dreams tonight. I'm the man from God knows where.

I've slept beneath your bridges, near your oil refineries.
I've gambled on your riverboats: Shenandoah, Kankakee.
I'm the homeless lad. I'm the orphan child, leaves of grass sewn through my hair.
Yeah, me and old Walt Whitman, we're the men from God knows where.

I've rode the rods on steam trains with a banjo on my knee
While the ghost of Stephen Foster whispered lines to me
Of the storefront church and the chain-gang choir. Black sorrow filled the air.
Then Stephen died on a dross-house floor, like a man from God knows where.

I've heard the sound of Indian drums. I've heard the bugles blow
Before they rewrote history into a Wild West show.
My kin sailed toward America to steal their Indian ground.
They passed Bill Cody's ships, European bound.

So lock up all your daughters, your whiskey, and your gold.
I have come to claim my bounty, for the lies that I've been told;
And as I look out on this crowd tonight, I see most of you don't care.
Come lift your glass, reveal your past to the man from God knows where.

Subject: Lyr Add: RAGTIME MILLIONAIRE (William Moore)
From: Dave4Guild
Date: 24 Mar 06 - 03:16 PM

Here's a version I cribbed from John James some years ago - I actually ended up playing it on stage with him one night!

RAGTIME MILLIONAIRE - William Moore, 1928

You don't need no ticket, don't need no dough.
Just find yourself a corner and give 'em a show.
Make it sound so good, the people in the town
Will leave their bettsies a-wobbling down.
Telling all the little people, take your hat off to me.
I'm a ragtime millionaire.

CHORUS: Oh, I'm a rag, yes, I'm a rag,
Oh, I'm a rag, I'm a ragtime millionaire.
Now all you little people, take your hat off to me.
I'm a ragtime millionaire.

Now hear me syncopate it, shuffle it, and pick it up slow,
Then bring it back around and around I go,
Swingin' it easy in two/four time.
I'm flush, I'm loaded, but I ain't got a dime.
So all you little people. take your hat off to me.
I'm a ragtime millionaire.

Now you see me in the street with a feather in my hat.
Everyone's saying, "Now who is that?"
I'm a-ringing these strings for all to hear.
Yes, I'm that ragtime millionaire.
So all you little people, take your hat off to me.
I'm a ragtime millionaire.

Every foot of my hair is made of gold,
And when I kiss you, gonna kiss you cold.
I don't care if the banks go bust.
I'm gonna spit out loads of gold dust.
So all you little people, take your hat off to me
I'm a ragtime millionaire.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ragtime Millionaire
From: GUEST,Janet Geen
Date: 24 Mar 06 - 03:52 PM

Thanks a lot, guys. Isn't it interesting that there are so many slightly different versions of the same song. I'm sure I can put something together so I don't make an idiot of myself tomorrow.   Just shows, though, what age does to you. Ten years ago I would probably recalled most of the verses without any trouble.
Thanks again.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ragtime Millionaire
From: GUEST,Fred McCormick
Date: 25 Mar 06 - 05:17 AM

Just a quick follow up to my suggestions regarding the versions on Document. If you go to Amazon Music http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/5174/104-2197498-6532753 and search for Ragtime Blues Guitar, it should bring up a tracklist complete with soundclips. They're very short, but should be long enough for you to work out which one it is.

Next question. Did Woody Guthrie know the Man From God Knows Where ? Sure looks to me like he mighta reworked it into Pretty Boy Floyd.

Cheers,

Fred McCormick.

Thanks a lot, guys. Isn't it interesting that there are so many slightly different versions of the same song. I'm sure I can put something together so I don't make an idiot of myself tomorrow.   Just shows, though, what age does to you. Ten years ago I would probably recalled most of the verses without any trouble.
Thanks again.

Subject: Lyr Add: RAGTIME MILLIONAIRE (William Moore)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 Mar 06 - 01:01 PM

I've been listening to sound samples, and came up with these transcriptions. Because they all come from short excerpts, I don't know if I got all the verses, or if the verses are in the right order.

RAGTIME MILLIONAIRE - William Moore, 1928

CHORUS: I'm a rag, I'm a rag,
I'm a rag, I'm a rag—time millionaire.
All you little people, take your hat off to me.
Because I'm a ragtime millionaire.

Ever' tooth in my head is solid gold,
Make those boys look icy cold.
I brush my teeth with diamond dust,
And I don't care if the bank went bust.
All you little people, take your hat off to me
Because I'm a ragtime millionaire. CHORUS

Mister Henry's gonna send me a Ford ...(?) [or "forty-..."?]
Ever'body else is gonna take my junk.
Gonna put a little sign on it: "In God We Trust."
I don't mean to have no fuss.
All you....

Some o' the boys say that I'm gonna be late.
No, if you please, I got a twenty-eight.
Some boys say they gonna catch me at last,
But all I got to do is just to step on the gas.
All you....

The following verse was transcribed from a recording by Lighnin' Wells:

Gonna take my sweetie to the ball tonight.
Gonna make all the boys treat her right.
Gonna keep her out about half o' the night.
You know I don't mean to have no fight.
All you....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ragtime Millionaire
From: Stewie
Date: 26 Mar 06 - 07:55 PM

See Paul Oliver 'Songsters and Saints' pp58-60 for a discussion of this song in his chapter relating to songs from the ragtime era. The original was written in 1900 by Irving Jones. Oliver comments that it may be 'the first by a black writer to make reference to the blues not as a song form but as a condition'. He also writes: 'The Tappahannock barber, William Moore, no doubt entertained his clients with his version of the song, suitably updated, expressing his dreams of owning a new car. He seems to have had some knowledge of 'My Money Never Gives Out' [recorded by Gus Cannon] for certain key lines have been incorporated in the song'.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ragtime Millionaire
From: 12-stringer
Date: 27 Mar 06 - 12:05 AM

See here for a recent discussion of the song.

http://weeniecampbell.com/mambo/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=74&topic=2027.0

Similarity to "My Money Never Runs Out" is explained by both songs being written by the same guy (Irving Jones, a Tin Pan Alley composer back in the days of 1900). There's a committee-vetted set of lyrics that is pretty damn close to what William Moore seems to be singing on the record (as I hear it).

You can listen to/download Moore's original recording at www.juneberrys78s.com, but in order to do so you'll have to get a password to the Blues and Gospel section of the Roots Music Listening Room there. It's a painless process but they ask you to limit yourself to 15-20 downloads a day.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ragtime Millionaire
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Mar 06 - 10:56 PM

Lyrics copied from a forum at WeenieCampbell.com: (Hey! That site looks worth bookmarking!)

RAGTIME MILLIONAIRE
William (Bill) Moore, 1928

CHORUS: I'm a rag, I'm a rag, I'm a rag,
I'm a ragtime millionaire.
All you little people take your hat off to me
Because I'm a ragtime millionaire.

1. Mr. Henry's gonna send me a Ford; he must.
Ever'body else is gonna take my dust.
Gonna put a little sign on: "In God We Trust".
I don't mean to have no fuss.
All you little people take your hat off to me
Because I'm a ragtime millionaire. CHORUS

2. Some o' the boys say that I'm gonna be late.
No, if you please, I got a twenty-eight.
Some boys say they gonna catch me at last,
But all I got to do is just to step on the gas.
All you little people.... CHORUS

3. Gonna take my sweetie to a ball tonight,
Make those boys treat her right.
Keep her out 'bout half midnight
I don't mean to have no fight.
All you little people.... CHORUS

4. Ever' tooth in my head is solid gold,
Make those boys look icy cold.
I brush my teeth with diamond dust,
And I don't care if the bank would bust.
All you little people.... CHORUS, BREAK, CHORUS

[As sung by William 'Bill' Moore on "Ragtime Blues Guitar 1927-1930," Document Records DOCD-5062. Note: His pronunciation is "mill-yo-naire."]

Subject: Lyr Add: MY MONEY NEVER GIVES OUT (Irving Jones)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Mar 06 - 10:36 PM

It looks like Bill Moore took most of his 4th verse from the 2nd verse of this song, found at The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music:

MY MONEY NEVER GIVES OUT.
Words and Music by Irving Jones, 1900.
"Sung With Tremendous Success by Clarice Hance"

1. I am a coon who is a financier.
I'm known as the ragtime millionaire.
I wake up with a million dollars ev'ry morn',
And throw 'way ev'ry dollar that is soiled or torn.
If all of my money was stacked up high,
I know that my coin would reach the sky.
For Vanderbilt or Gould I care nothing about.
I've got so much money it never gives out.

CHORUS: My money never gives out.
Rich food is making me stout,
'Cause ev'ry meal for quail on toast I shout.
I live good all the time.
I don't drink no cheap wine.
I'm always flush and my money never gives out.

2. When you've got money, it's a pleasant treat.
My only occupation is to sleep and eat.
I have ev'rything to eat a king could wish.
On Fridays, I even eat fried goldfish.
I make all the warm coons look ice cold.
Ev'ry tooth in my mouth is solid gold.
I clean my teeth with pure diamond dust.
It wouldn't jar me if all the banks would bust.

3. If a coon slurs me, I hold a grudge.
I've got plenty money to pay the judge.
Some coons need a sign on food wanted within.
While they're drinking plain water, I'm a-drinking Tom-jin.
Almost ev'ry hour I change my hat.
A poor coon I've hired as my doormat.
I step on that coon going through the door,
So I won't spoil the velvet carpet on my floor.