Lyr Req: Frankie Dean (Darby & Tarlton)

Subject: Lyr Req: Darby & Tarlton's Frankie and Johnny
From: Roberto
Date: 21 Dec 07 - 04:26 AM

Frankie Dean, sung by Darby & Tarlton
My transcription neeeds to be completed and checked. Please, help. R


Frankie Dean was a very good girl
Most everybody knows
She paid one hundred dollars
For Albert's suit of clothes
He's her man, he's doin' her wrong

Frankie went down to the pawn shop
She bought a 44
I'm goin' to kill that man
Just sure as I can find (him?)
He's my man, he's doin' me wrong

Frankie went down to the barroom
All for a glass of wine
She asked, Mr. bartender
Have you seen that man of mine?
He's my man, he's doin' me wrong

Bartender said, Little Frankie
Said, I ain't goin' tell no story – said - I ain't goin' tell no lie
I saw you man about an hour ago
With a girl named Alice Fry(?)
He's your man, he's doin' you wrong

Frankie walked out of the barroom
She saw with her surprise
She saw her lovin' Albert
With a girl named Alice Fry(?)
He's my man, he's done me wrong

Frankie pulled out a little pistol
Shot her man to the eye
She shot him once, she shot him twice
He cried, Don't take my life
I'm your man, I've done you wrong

Turn me over, Little Frankie
Turn me over slow
Lo, that bullet in my head (?)
How ... so
You've killed your man for I've done you wrong

Pull out a rubber tired buggy
...
She's taken her man to the graveyard
But she ain't gon' bring him back
I've killed my man but he done me wrong

Subject: Lyr Add: FRANKIE DEAN (Darby & Tarlton)
From: Stewie
Date: 21 Dec 07 - 08:31 AM

Hi, Roberto, here is the transcription by Phil Wells included the booklet accompanying the Bear Family box set of the complete recorded works of D & T. I gave it a quick listen and it sounds pretty accurate to me.

FRANKIE DEAN

Frankie Dean was a very good girl
Most everybody knows
She paid one hundred dollars
For Albert a suit of clothes
He's her man, he's doin' her wrong

Frankie went down to the pawn shop
She bought a 44
'I'm goin' to kill that man
Just sure as I can find
He's my man, he's done me wrong'

Frankie went down to the barroom
Called for a glass of wine
She asked, 'Mr bartender
Have you seen that man of mine?
He's my man, he's doin' me wrong'

Bartender said, 'Little Frankie'
Says, 'I ain't goin' tell you no stories'
Says, 'I ain't goin' tell no lies'
I saw your man 'bout an hour ago
With a girl named Alice Bly
He's your man, he's doin' you wrong'

Frankie walked out to the barroom
She saw with her surprise
She saw her loving Albert
With a girl named Alice Bly
'He's my man, he's done me wrong'

Frankie pulled out a little pistol
Shot him right through the eye
She shot him once, she shot him twice
He cried, 'Don't take my life
I'm your man, I've done you wrong'

'Turn me over, Little Frankie
Turn me over slow
Lord that bullet in my head
How it pains me so
You've killed your man, but I've done you wrong'

Pull out the rubber-tired buggies
Call out the six-horse hack
She's takin' her man to the graveyard
But she could not bring him back
'I killed my man, but he done me wrong'

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Darby & Tarlton's Frankie and Johnny
From: Roberto
Date: 21 Dec 07 - 11:21 AM

Thank you very much, Stewie. R

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Darby & Tarlton's Frankie and Johnny
From: 12-stringer
Date: 21 Dec 07 - 12:48 PM

Stewie,

If you don't mind checking, what does he get out of the line in "New York Hobo" about "running like ... on the Pennsylvania line"?

The transcription by Robert Nobley, in the old Folk Variety LP, is a bit nonsensical, and though to my ear it always sounded exactly like "running like they hauls [sic] the coal on the Pennsylvania line," both the image and the grammar leave me a little unsatisfied.

Thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Darby & Tarlton's Frankie and Johnny
From: Louie Roy
Date: 21 Dec 07 - 02:35 PM

Stewie I think the first two lines of your last verse should read Bring out the rubber shod horses
Bring out the rubbered tired hack

The version of this song that I learned in 1930 is very different than what is posted here and it was an old song then.
Johnie Cash also did a version that is completely different, but each to their own taste

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Darby & Tarlton's Frankie and Johnny
From: Stewie
Date: 21 Dec 07 - 08:25 PM

My pleasure, Roberto.

12-Stringer, for the lines in question, Wells has:

She's running like the old Sea Coast
On the Pennsylvania line

He wasn't able to decipher a word a previous line in that first stanza: 'I want to catch the Golden ...' It could be anything - it sounds to me a bit like 'Death'.

Wells notes that it is clearly a version of 'Ten Thousand Miles from Home' on which Jimmie Rodgers modelled his 'Waiting of a Train'. Although Rodgers' recording was made a couple of months before D & T reoorded 'Hobo', the text does not indicate derivation from Rodgers. 'Many details of this text are highly corrupted - a good sign that this version came to Darby and Tarlton through oral tradition ... This version is also specific in setting the incident in New York City and specifying the Pennsylvania line'.

Louie Roy, I had another listen - this time with headphones - and I hear what Wells has. 'Call' in the second line could be 'pull', but the rest of it is pretty clear.

--Stewie.