Lyr Req: Black Dog Blues

Subject: LYR REQ: Black Dog Blues
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 31 Jul 99 - 07:58 PM

I am looking for more verses to a Roy Book Binder blues which he calls "Black Dog Blues".

The one verse I know is:

Well, you call me dog when I'm gone,
Call me black dog when I'm gone.
But when I return with a hundred dollar bill,
It's "Daddy, where you've been so long?"

I searched the DT using the phrase "black dog" to no avail.

Big RiB

Subject: Lyr Add: BLACK DOG BLUES (Ian Anderson)
From: Mike Robertson
Date: 01 Aug 99 - 03:18 AM

Possibly not exactly what you were looking for as this version has been converted into "English" English, probably by the singer I have it from (Ian Anderson, on the Hot Vultures LP "Up The Line"). But FWIW here's how he sings it (you can always convert it back again!):

(Chorus)

Well now you call me a dog when I'm gone
Your black dog when I'm gone
But it's when I come home with that twenty pound note
It's honey where you been so long

Well now I've been all over this country
From the mountains to the sea
But it's every place that I hang up my hat
Well it's home sweet home to me

Well now Daddy taught me to gamble
He showed me how to play
Well he taught me to bet all of my money
On the Ace, the Jack the Deuce and the Trey

So I can roll my dice in Farnham
I can play my cards in Staines
But it's when I find that my last money's gone
Well I can hop on that fast freight train

Well they hear that train 'cos it's coming
Well it's hauling my body along
Well it's taking me to the graveyard
Where the grave will be my home

-mike-

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Black Dog Blues
From: Dale Rose
Date: 01 Aug 99 - 03:41 AM

I can't be quite certain, but I think one of earliest known recordings (maybe the earliest) is by Dick Justice, about 1929 or so. I have it somewhere, but it is on an anthology that I can't quite place. Maybe this will help jog someone else's memory.

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Black Dog Blues
From: Mike Robertson
Date: 01 Aug 99 - 04:57 AM

The cover notes on the Hot Vultures LP I mentioned refer to recordings by Dick Justice and Bayless Rose in the 20s through to John Koerner in the 60s.

-mike-

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Black Dog Blues
From: Dale Rose
Date: 01 Aug 99 - 11:39 AM

Oh, I might have the Bayless Rose version too. What a guitarist! Jamestown Exhibition is one of my all time favorites. Now there's one I know where to find. It's on an old Old Timey LP, but also on Volume 1 of the Yazoo Before The Blues Series.

I just made a search: While I don't have them, I know both the Rose and Justice versions of Black Dog are on the Document reissue series. Another possible source would be on the Yazoo anthologies.

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Black Dog Blues
From: CarlZen
Date: 01 Aug 99 - 11:58 AM

John Koerner's version is on one of the re-issued "Blues, Rags and Hollers" (there are three of them, and I'm not sure which one it is on, but I'm 90% certain it isn't on the first.) He also has a version on his "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Been." CD (That one is my favorite version.) All the CD's are available on Red House records.

Subject: Lyr Add: BLACK DOG BLUES (Dick Justice)
From: Dale Rose
Date: 03 Aug 99 - 10:25 PM

Here is the Dick Justice version, transcribed from Yazoo LP 1024, Mister Charlie's Blues.

Black Dog Blues
as sung by Dick Justice, 1929

Chorus
Old black dog when I'm gone, Lawd, Lawd
Old black dog when I'm gone
When I come back with a ten dollar bill
And it's honey, where you been so long?

My daddy he's a gambler, he taught me how to play
No need to bet my money on ace deuce jack and trey

Chorus

Been all around Kentucky, with state of poor Tennessee
Anywhere I hang my hat, it'll be home, sweet home to me

Chorus

See the train a-coming, she is packin' my casket along
Going to the graveyard, where the grave will be my home

Chorus

And here is a clip from Bayless Rose's version, compliments of tunes.com http://db2.tunes.com/t unes-cgi2/tunes/track_play/242719/276 (It is mislabeled on the album East Coast Blues, Yazoo 1013.) The songs are all there, just not in the listed order.

Subject: RE: LYR REQ: Black Dog Blues
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 04 Aug 99 - 01:50 AM

Paul Clayton used to sing:

Call me old black dog when I'm gone,
Call me old black dog when I'm gone.
But when I come rollin' in with a twenty dollar bill,
It's "Baby, where you been so long?"

I've been this whole wide world over;
Been to Memphis, Tennessee.
Any ol' place I hang my hat
Is "Home, Sweet Home" to me!

Call me old black dog... etc.

I can't remember any more of it, and I don't know his source. Not much help, I'm afraid. Rick Fielding can probably give us more, as soon as he discovers this thread.

Sandy

Subject: Lyr Req: BLACK DOG BLUES (Bayless Rose)
From: Jon W.
Date: 04 Aug 99 - 11:08 AM

Here is the Bayless Rose version. I really love the guitar part, it's very similar to Jamestown Exposition.

BLACK DOG BLUES
Bayless Rose (1930)
Reissued on Yazoo 1013 "East Coast Blues"

Call me your dog when I'm gone gone gone,
Yes you call me your dog when I'm gone
It's when I come back with a ten dollar bill,
"Honey where you been so long?"

Been all around Kentucky, yes honey,
The state of old Tennessee.
Everywhere where I hang my hat,
it's home sweet home to me.

Daddy learned me how to gamble,
Told me play that jack and trey,
Every time when that deal would go down,
I would leave on that deuce, ace and trey.

Old black dog when I'm gone gone gone,
Honey it's old black dog when I'm gone.
It's when I come back with a ten dollar bill,
"Honey where you been so long?"

Daddy learned me how to gamble,
Told me play that jack and trey,
Every time when that deal would go down,
I would leave on that deuce, ace and trey.

Called me your dog when I'm gone gone gone,
Honey called me your dog when I'm gone
It's when I come back with a ten dollar bill,
"Honey where you been so long?"

Where'd you get that dress you wear,
The shoes that you wore so fine?
Got my dress from a railroad man,
Shoes from a driver in the mine.

Called me your dog when I'm gone gone gone,
Honey called me your dog when I'm gone
It's when I come back with a ten dollar bill,
"Honey where you been so long?"

Shot my dice in Cuba,
Played my cards in Spain,
It's when I get ready, well to leave this town,
I'm gonna ride that fast mail train.

Subject: anybody know lyrics to black dog blues
From: GUEST,bluesfingerpicker
Date: 24 Aug 00 - 11:11 PM

Roy Bookbinder taught a song called Black Dog Blues on a Homespuntape video. I really love the song, but he only taught one short verse to the song. I'm sure there are other verses. Anyone know the lyrics?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: anybody know lyrics to black dog blu
From: Pene Azul
Date: 24 Aug 00 - 11:22 PM

The lyrics are here (click) in the Forum.

PA

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: anybody know lyrics to black dog blu
From: GUEST,bluesfingerpicker
Date: 25 Aug 00 - 05:02 PM

thank you very very much Pene Azul

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Black Dog Blues
From: GUEST,Moe Hirsch
Date: 17 Oct 11 - 03:16 PM

Tom Paley used to sing a version pretty close to Bayless Rose's (in the late 1940's). The first verse was also repeated as a chorus (with "ten dollar bill" inflated to "twenty dollar bill"!), but with an extra final chorus:

It's "Honey" and it's "Sugar" when I'm here, here, here,
"Big nasty man" when I'm gone.
But when you see me comin' with that twenty dollar bill,
It's "Honey where you been so long".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Black Dog Blues
From: Richie
Date: 17 Oct 11 - 03:25 PM

I do a version with similar lyrics to Bayless Rose's I learned in NC.

It starts off in a minor chord- Em. I'll do a version of it and put it on youtube sometime since it's different from the standard versions.

I like the part about betting on the "Ace, duece and trey" probably two of the worst cards you can hold playing poker- unless you're playing lowball!!!

Richie

Subject: Lyr Add: BLACK DOG BLUES (Blind Blake)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Oct 11 - 08:14 AM

Not the same song, but since the title is the same, I figured I might as well post it here.


BLACK DOG BLUES
As sung by Blind Blake

Let me tell you, mama, what my black dog done done to me. (2x)
He cheated me from my reg'lar; now he's after my used-to-be.

Black dog, black dog, you caused me to weep and moan. (2x)
You caused me to leave my sweet old happy home.

Black dog, black dog, you forever on my mind. (2x)
If you only let me see my baby one more time.

So long, black dog; I'm quittin' your hard-luck town. (2x)
'Cause you got the best of me; papa gonna jump down.

[As recorded on "Blind Blake: Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, Volume 1: July 1926 to October 1927" (Document Records, DOCD-5024)]

Subject: Lyr Add: BLACK DOG BLUES (Stoneman Family)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Oct 11 - 08:32 AM

BLACK DOG BLUES
As sung by The Stoneman Family on the various-artists compilation "If You Ain't Got the Do-Re-Mi: Songs of Rags and Riches"

Oh, you call me a dog when I'm gone, gone, gone; oh, it's coal-black dog when I'm gone,
But when I come back with a hundred-dollar bill, "Oh, babe, where you been so long?"

Oh, I've been way down in old Kentucky, to the state of Tennessee.
And it's any old place that I hang my hat, it looks like home to me.

Oh, my papa he learned me to gamble; told me bet on the deuce and trey.
And when I see my deal go down, I raise(?) on that ace, deuce and trey.

Oh, you call me a dog when I'm gone, gone, gone; oh, it's coal-black dog when I'm gone,
But when I come back with a hundred-dollar bill, "Oh, babe, where you been so long?"

Oh, I rolled my dice in Cuba and I played my cards in Spain,
And when I see my last old dollar's done gone, I leave on that old freight train.

Oh, you call me a dog when I'm gone, gone, gone; oh, it's coal-black dog when I'm gone,
But when I come back with a hundred-dollar bill, "Oh, babe, where you been so long?"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Black Dog Blues
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Oct 11 - 10:15 AM

On the album "Old-Time Music from West Virginia" (Document Records DOCD-8004) Dick Justice's song is called OLD BLACK DOG. That is in agreement with the discography here, where it says the original 78-rpm recording was on Brunswick 367, recorded 1929.