Lyr Req: Baby-O (Jimmie Driftwood)

Subject: Lyr Req: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept with..
From: Gern
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 05:37 PM

An old goofy song, I know, but I always liked it and associate it somehow with Jimmy Driftwood: "I Wish I'd Slept with the Baby-O"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept with..
From: Peace
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 05:43 PM

Do you have any of the lyrics? Any at all?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept wit
From: Gern
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 05:48 PM

No, but a wayfarer is offered a room for the night, if he wants to sleep with "the baby-o." No, he'd just as soon sleep in the barn. Next morning at breakfast he meets a beautiful girl that "Pa calls 'the baby-o." Driftwood then introduces himself as "the fool who slept in the barn last night." I'm only guessing on the title, but it's repeated at the end of each verse.

Subject: Lyr Add: BABY-O (from Grandpa Jones)
From: Peace
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 05:52 PM

BINGO, thanks to your posting of "the fool who slept in the barn last night".



BABY-O
-Grandpa Jones

I went down to Riggso town,
I met an old man and his name was Brown
He said you can sleep in the shanty-o
but you have to sleep with the baby-o

When I got there i's froze to death
and I didn't wanna smell no baby breath
So I looked at him and I said by darn
if you don't mind I'll sleep in the barn

CHORUS: night was cold and the wind did blow
smoke poured out of the shanty-o
shivered and I shook with a frostbit toe
and I wished I'd slept with the baby-o

Mornin came and I took me a look
when I heard somebody cry sook by sook
standin on the frozen taw
was the prettiest gal in Arkansaw

I looked at her she looked at me
I said young lady who might you be
She said my name is Mary Jo
but the old man calls me the baby-o

She milked the cow and went to the shack
and had a big breakfast of razorback
I stood by the fire and I thawed my toe
and I couldn't help lookin at the baby-o

I was just about fixin to leave
she said what might your handle be
I held her hand and I told her right
I'm the fool that slept in the barn last night!

That is from www.sam-hane.com/sass/songs/023.htm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept wit
From: Gern
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 05:58 PM

Twelve minutes--a personal best. Thanks, Peace. Hope your name catches on.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept with..
From: Peace
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 06:01 PM

Thanks for starting this thread. Learned that Driftwood wrote "The Battle of New Orleans" as well as thousands of other songs, three hundred of which were recorded by other artists.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept with the baby-o
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 08:01 PM

;~)

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept with the baby-o
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 08:04 PM

So, is it established that Driftwood also recorded this song, or is it strictly a Grandpa Jones song?
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept with the baby-o
From: Arkie
Date: 27 Aug 07 - 09:47 PM

Driftwood wrote the song and Grandpa Jones, who was a friend of Jimmy's, recorded it.   Jimmy also recorded the song and sang it many times here in Mountain View. The town mentioned in the first line is Riggsville town. Riggsville was the orginal settlement southeast of the present Mountain View.   It had a mill, two churches, a general store, and a bonded whiskey still.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept with the baby-o
From: GUEST,Stewart
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 05:55 PM

Is this tune sung to the same melody as "What will we do with the baby-o" as done by numerous oldtimey players. Thanks.
Stewart

Subject: RE: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept with the baby-o
From: Arkie
Date: 28 Aug 07 - 07:14 PM

The tunes are not the same. Jimmy did often borrow tunes for his songs and the tune to Baby-0 sounds familiar but I have never identified it.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept with the bab
From: Gern
Date: 29 Aug 07 - 11:14 AM

Not at all; What'll I do with the Baby-o is a breakdown done by JEMainer's Mountaineers,Stringbean and others. Baby-o is a story song well transcribed above.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept with the baby-o
From: GUEST,Stewart
Date: 29 Aug 07 - 06:02 PM

Could anyone kindly direct me to the melody somewhere on the web. I've not had any luck googling. Many thanks.
Stewart

Subject: RE: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept with the baby-o
From: Arkie
Date: 29 Aug 07 - 08:25 PM

Hopefully this link will work.   It should give you a 29 second preview of verse and chorus of Grandpa Jones' version.


Baby-O

Subject: RE: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept with the baby-o
From: GUEST,Stewart
Date: 30 Aug 07 - 07:06 AM

Many thanks Arkie. Just enough to indicate how the tune goes. I do hear hints of 'What will we do with the baby-o' in the chorus, but definitely a different song overall.
Stewart

Subject: RE: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept with the baby-o
From: Arkie
Date: 30 Aug 07 - 07:10 PM

I'd say we got lucky, as there was enough to catch the tune.

Subject: RE: Jimmy Driftwood: I Wish I'd Slept with the baby-o
From: Peace
Date: 30 Aug 07 - 07:38 PM

I hear that! Good work.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby-O (Jimmie Driftwood)
From: GUEST,T Welch
Date: 04 Apr 13 - 09:19 PM

Can't believe I found this song! By the way, In the lyrics, it's "Riggsville" and not "Riggso", and Jimmy Driftwood wrote it, not Grandpa Jones! Riggsville used to be a town near Mountain View Arkansas where Driftwood came from. Not much left there now.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby-O (Jimmie Driftwood)
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 05 Apr 13 - 10:06 AM

Here is what is left of Riggsville. We still have a lot of Deckers. One more old building and the creek.

Riggsville Store

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby-O (Jimmie Driftwood)
From: GUEST,Dave Seace
Date: 19 Apr 22 - 08:04 AM

I heard somebody say sook by sook? Is there a meaning to the word sook? I always thought it was sugar pie, sug. And standing there in the frozen straw (straw in the cold barn). Thanks to everyone for remembering Jimmy Driftwood and Grandpa Jones.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby-O (Jimmie Driftwood)
From: GUEST,Dave Seace
Date: 19 Apr 22 - 08:04 AM

I heard somebody say sook by sook? Is there a meaning to the word sook? I always thought it was sugar pie, sug. And standing there in the frozen straw (straw in the cold barn). Thanks to everyone for remembering Jimmy Driftwood and Grandpa Jones.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Baby-O (Jimmie Driftwood)
From: cnd
Date: 19 Apr 22 - 08:24 AM

I think it's just an onomatopoeic noise Jimmy made up because he needed something to rhyme with "look."

You can listen to the song here; the part in question is right at 40 seconds in.