Folklore: Origin of phrase 'Bring it home'

Subject: Folklore: Origin of phrase 'Bring it home'
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 18 Oct 12 - 01:56 AM

Often, toward the end of a song or instrumental break, (especially in the blues) a musician or band leader will call out, "Bring it home!" It's always seems to mean more than just "wrap it up" to me - it seems to beg just that much more soulfulness from the player.

Does anybody know where and when this phrase originated? Who was the first to use it (that we can find)? How has its meaning changed over the years?

Dan

Subject: RE: Folklore: Origin of phrase 'Bring it home'
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 18 Oct 12 - 01:56 PM

Have I stumped the Mudcat?

Dan

Subject: RE: Folklore: Origin of phrase 'Bring it home'
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Oct 12 - 03:15 PM

I am struck silent by your uncanny knack of making the two posts precisely 12 hours apart!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Origin of phrase 'Bring it home'
From: maeve
Date: 18 Oct 12 - 03:22 PM

Gadzooks! 'Twas I who just posted...cookieless and all.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Origin of phrase 'Bring it home'
From: maeve
Date: 18 Oct 12 - 03:34 PM

" 'Bring it home' called out by a musician to indicate that a group is to play the last verse of a tune. Also "play it out", "play it on home", "take it home", etc." http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/traditional-music/ency/b4.htm

Just for fun:
"...SAM: We've already heard that song a hundred times. Just like that. Just like how you sing it.

JOHNNY: Well, you didn't let us bring it home.

SAM: Bring it home? All right, let's bring it home. If you was hit by a truck and you was lying out there in that gutter dying, and you had one time to sing one song. One song that people would remember before you're dirt. One song that would let God know how you felt about your time here on Earth. One song that would sum you up..." Johnny Cash "Walk the Line"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Origin of phrase 'Bring it home'
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 Oct 12 - 03:41 PM

Bring it back to where it started? So we can finish ;)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Origin of phrase 'Bring it home'
From: Snuffy
Date: 19 Oct 12 - 08:33 AM

Something like "You've taken it out for a nice walk with your solo, now it's time to come home to the basic tune"?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Origin of phrase 'Bring it home'
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 19 Oct 12 - 01:29 PM

I really should wait until 1:56.... I wonder when this phrase started getting used by blues musicians, which is where I hear it the most.

Dan

Subject: RE: Folklore: Origin of phrase 'Bring it home'
From: GUEST,DrWord
Date: 19 Oct 12 - 02:57 PM

bluegrassers use it here [manitoba.canada], usu. with the v. "take"
keep on pickin'
dennis

Subject: RE: Folklore: Origin of phrase 'Bring it home'
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 19 Oct 12 - 03:50 PM

That's used a lot in jazz and you hear it often in old country radio and tv broadcasts. A lot of the music, and musicians, came from work crews(railroad, lumber camps, and riverboats, as well as farming) and many of the seemingly nonsensical phrases that appear in and around the music relate to work-- so a direction like "once more, then bring it home" is an instruction that would be clear to teamsters, plow hands, or such folks, and would get a smile, too.