Lyr Add: Help Me Make It through the Night+parody

Subject: Lyr Add: HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Oct 11 - 08:51 AM

[There is a version of this in the Digital Tradition, but it differs in several places from what Kristofferson sang. I made the following transcription myself, from a recording on Spotify from "16 Biggest Hits" (2007) and I have boldfaced the differences.]

HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT
Written by Kris Kristofferson
As sung by Kris Kristofferson, 1970

Take the ribbon from your hair.
Shake it loose and let it fall,
Layin' soft upon my skin
Like the shadows on the wall.

Come and lay down by my side
Till the early mornin' light.
All I'm takin' is your time.
Help me make it through the night.

I don't care who's right or wrong.
I don't try to understand.
Let the devil take tomorrow.
Lord, tonight I need a friend.

Yesterday is dead and gone,
And tomorrow's out of sight,
And it's sad to be alone.
Help me make it through the night.

Hmmmm . . .
Hmmmm . . .
Lord, it's sad to be alone.
Help me make it through the night.

REPEAT LAST VERSE AND FADE.

[Recorded by practically everyone in country music. The versions by Sammi Smith and Willie Nelson charted in 1971 and 1980, respectively.]

Subject: Lyr Add: WE DIDN'T MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT (H&J)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Oct 11 - 08:54 AM

My transcription from a recording found at WFMU. (Click for an MP3.)


WE DIDN'T MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT
As sung by Homer & Jethro

I remember my honeymoon.
I was scared my weddin' night.
I bought a marriage manual
To help me make it through the night.

That night I went to our hotel,
My faithful book right by my side.
Then I noticed somethin' wrong.
I forgot to bring my bride.

Hear'd her knockin' on my door,
I got up an' let 'er in,
There she was, my blushin' bride,
Those eyes, those lips, those chins!

I took a look into my book
And my heart begin to bleed.
There weren't no pictures anywher',
And I didn't know how to read.

I didn't know just what to do.
I was nervous and uptight.
So I put my pants to bed,
And I hung over a chair all night.

When I woke up with the dawn,
My poor body stiff an' sore,
An' the first thing that I did
Was throw that dang book out the door.

I went an' laid down by her side,
An' ever'thing turned out OK.
We didn't make it through the night.
We'll try to make it through the day.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Help Me Make It through the Night+parody
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Oct 11 - 09:00 AM

The Joy of Sex was published in 1972 and was wildly popular. I don't have a date for H&J's recording, but it seems likely that this book inspired it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Help Me Make It through the Night+parody
From: leeneia
Date: 08 Jun 21 - 12:39 PM

I've always despised this song.

"Take the ribbon from your hair..." Who wears ribbons in their hair? Teenage girls.

"Let the devil take tomorrow..." Yeah, it won't be him that's pregnant.

"Lord, it's sad to be alone.
Help me make it through the night." That's why pubs were invented.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Help Me Make It through the Night+parody
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Jun 21 - 03:02 PM

Jean Redpath really had fun with this song. It's on Disc 2 of her Live album. She hammed it up to the point where it was outrageously funny.

-Joe-

Subject: ADD: Help Me Make It Through the Yard
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Jun 21 - 03:21 PM

Here's a classic:

HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE YARD
(parody by Pinkard & Bowden)

Take the rose bush from my hair
Shake loose all them little thorns
What's the sprinkler doin' on
So damn early in the morn

Crawlin' home at 5AM
Lord, the sidewalk sure is hard
I guess I drank too much again
Help me make it thru the yard

I don't know what's right or left
I'm too drunk to even stand
Why the devil won't you help me
Please take your foot off of my hand

And put some coffee on the stove
We'll go try to find your car
I can't hack it all alone
Help me make it thru the yard

And get my lawyer on the phone
Help me make it thru the yard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bs_QY4Xpww

Alternate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1QyiQIx3nc

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Help Me Make It through the Night+parody
From: pattyClink
Date: 08 Jun 21 - 06:53 PM

Well that didn't go over well. Joe should the verses be moved to the other thread?

Thread #169212   Message #4109339
Posted By: pattyClink
08-Jun-21 - 11:16 AM
Thread Name: Songs from the Mudcat Worldwide Singaround
Subject: ADD: Help Me Make It through the Zoom (PattyClink)

With apologies to Mr. K, here are the extra verses sung at the Mudcat Worldwide Singaround celebration of 1 year of online gatherings.

HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE ZOOM
(Patty Clink)

Now it's Monday on the Zoom, and I don't have my song chose,                                                        
But you let me babble on, kindly cohost crew and Joe.

Make my audio do right, though I have no earthly clue                                                
As I suck up all my time, help me make it through the Zoom.

        I don't care if I mumble, sing words you can't understand                                                
        Let the devil take the title, Lord, I just love to make you guess
                                                        
They say folksong's dead and gone, and for us there is no room                                                
But we prove them wrong each week, help me make it through the Zoom,
We're a very special group, help us make it through the Zoom.

Noreen, Casey, Mrrzy, Dave; Arlene, Gerry, Monique, Gayle,                                                         
Blessings on you and dear Joe, you help us make it through the Zoom.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Help Me Make It through the Night+parody
From: MoorleyMan
Date: 09 Jun 21 - 05:56 AM

Patty, I think your extra verses went down well, and for the record i think they're good and in the true spirit of both Mudcat and the art of parody. Apt for the occasion - just as Vikki's Summertime parody was!
Good onya!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Help Me Make It through the Night+parody
From: pattyClink
Date: 09 Jun 21 - 10:36 AM

Thank you kindly MM. Joe whooshed it over to a better thread.

I also liked Rick Pollay's offering of I Come For to Sing, very apt for the day.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Help Me Make It through the Night+parody
From: GUEST,Liane
Date: 11 Jun 21 - 06:37 PM

I remember Joan Baez singing this one in concert; she began it with "Take the gibbon from my hair ..."

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Help Me Make It through the Night+parody
From: GUEST,Ed Schoenfeld
Date: 08 Feb 25 - 11:46 PM

Help Me Make It Through the Store

1) I walked into my favorite store
        To buy some food and cash some change
But it ain’t that store, anymore
        ‘Cause everything’s been rearranged
They switched the meat and hid the cheese
        There’s barricades, out on the floor
I’m so lost, oh won’t you please
        Help me make it through the store

Bridge: All I see are greeting cards
        Tab-les of junk food by the door
It’s such a labyrinth, we should watch out
        For a hungry minotaur

2) New taller shelves and longer aisles
        They make it harder to explore
A wall of shelves around the produce
        No health food section, anymore

Bridge: Is this all set up to test us?
        I can’t find bread, wheat nor white
Please do help me find the lettuce
        ‘Cause I’ve been lookin’ round all night

3) This floor plan could be right or wrong
        But if I ever find the door
I’ll buy what’s on my list at Foodland (I!G!A!)
        ‘Cause it’s not Freddie’s anymore
Or maybe go and shop at Safeway
        ‘Cause I can’t make it through the store

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Help Me Make It through the Night+parody
From: GUEST,Rob Mad Jock Wright
Date: 09 Feb 25 - 03:55 AM

The great Billy Connolly did a parody of it many many years ago. All I can remember of the the lyrics is

Will a case a Johnny Walker help me through the night

Or something similar.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Help Me Make It through the Night+parody
From: The Doctor
Date: 09 Feb 25 - 07:56 AM

In a museum in Glasgow, possibly the Kelvin Hall but I'm not sure, is a piece of video featuring Billy Connolly singing the following:

       Take the rollers from your hair,
       Shake them loose and let them fall,
       Put them down by your glass eye,
       In that chanty by the wall.

      Though your teeth are black and gone
      and your breath smells out of sight
      I'll put a clothes peg on my nose
      To help me make it through the night.