ADD: Songs from Utah Phillips' first album

Subject: Lyrics: Nobody Knows Me (Utah Phillips first Album
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Mar 00 - 08:16 PM

The playlist information says this song comes from:

Utah Phillips' first album
Nobody Knows Me
U. Utah Phillips
Prestige/International Records
INT 13040
1961
U. Utah Phillips, vocals and guitar
Fred Rinehart, banjo
Recorded and Produced by Kenneth S. Goldstein

It's interesting to hear a young Utah Phillips, and to see a photo of him as something other then the unreconstructed hippy whom I saw so often during the last 30 years of his life. On this album, he seems to be imitating the style of Woody Guthrie - not a bad performer to imitate.

Justin, if you'd like to post a number of related songs like these, it's best to put them together in one thread, one song per message. I'm going to combine them into a single thread. Thanks you very much for posting these. The entire album is a treasure I hadn't know of.

Joe Offer, Mudcat Music Editor [23 January 2022]

Subject: lyric request for 'No One Knows Me'
From: GUEST,ghostjmf
Date: 01 Aug 08 - 09:16 PM

By Utah (Bruce) Phillips.

Its just not a great time to try & get my turntable fired up, darn it. After a refrigerator breakdown caused by evil soon-to-be-ex housemate last night. I *have* this song, on Rosalie Sorrells "Rosalie's Songbag" album. But I can't at the moment *play* this song.

So I figured the web would have it. Nah. For some reason this didn't appeal to Ani DiFranco when she recorded about 800 other of Phillips's songs. Its the title of one of Phillips's albums, for Chrissake. The 1st, I believe.

And Mudcat doesn't have it either! For shame. We know *Phillips* would not have opposed violation of copyright on this one, because he is on record (so to speak) as not believing in copyright (I *do* believe in copyright, but why would I go against the deceased's wishes?)

The all-important chorus:

No one knows me
No one knows who I am
No one knows me
No one
Gives a damn

Its the verses I don't have. I could make some up, in the honorable folk tradition, but I'd like the real ones.

You can see why Phillips's latter-year persona didn't sing this one any more (or "Rock Salt & Nails", either). But those 2 songs were my introduction to Phillips, & they're still my favorites.

Subject: RE: lyric request for 'No One Knows Me'
From: Peace
Date: 01 Aug 08 - 09:48 PM

"No One Knows Me - Phillips, Bruce (U. Utah)

Phillips, U. Utah. Nobody Knows Me, Prestige International INT 13040, LP (196?), trk# 1
Sorrels, Rosalie. Rosalie's Songbag, Prestige International INT 13025, LP (196?), trk# 10 "


from the FMI

I'll go look for lyrics. Don't hold yer breath, but I'll try. Perhaps Mark Ross will see this.

Subject: ADD: No One Knows Me (Utah Phillips)
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 08:44 PM

NO ONE KNOWS ME
(Bruce "Utah" Phillips)

Last time I got a letter
To a name I should have known
Lord for all it matters
It might've been my own
No one knows me
No one knows who I am
No one knows me
No no one gives a damn

Standing on a corner
Ragged and low-down
No place left to ramble
So I'll just stand around
No one knows me
No one knows who I am
No one knows me
No one gives a damn

All down the dusty highway
Is a dark and lonely place
People always pass me by
Throw gravel in my face
No one knows me
No one knows who I am
No one knows me
No no one gives a damn

Standing by the truck stop
Well hear that diesel wail
If you stop for coffee, boys
I'll roll up on the tail
No one knows me
No one knows who I am
No one knows me
No no one gives a damn

It's handouts when I'm hungry
Little water when I'm dry
Jail when I'm hard up
Freedom when I die
No one knows me
No one knows who I am
No one knows me
No no one gives a damn

Walking down the highway
With a suitcase in my hand
Rolling down the shoulder
Leaving footprints in the sand
No one knows me
No one knows who I am
No one knows me
No one gives a damn

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58rDeFIsN-NvRk2oUP-SobRefkgZzGBE

Subject: Lyr Add: Lonely Street - Utah Phillips
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 08:50 PM

LONELY STREET
(Bruce "Utah" Phillips)

Walking down that lonely street
My dreams lie broken at my feet
Though I left the past behind me
Those blues are sure to find me
Walking down that lonely street

Don't look back the past is bare
Don't look ahead there's nothing there
Keep your eyes upon the ground
Take 'em up and put 'em down
Walking down that lonely street

I've got no one to worry
Got no one to care
Got no place to call my home
I'm a stranger everywhere

Searching down that lonely street
For a friend I'll never meet
I've got no ties to bind me
If you want me you can find me
Walking down that lonely street

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58rDeFIsN-NvRk2oUP-SobRefkgZzGBE

Subject: Lyr Add: Hard Times - Utah Phillips
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 08:53 PM

Hard Times
Hard times come again no more
Hard times
Hard times come again no more
Hard times
Hard times come again no more
Take your foot out of my door
Hard times

I wandered out through old Missou
Hard times
I wandered out through old Missou
Hard times
I wandered out through old Missou
Tired, cold and hungry, too
Hard times

Railroad station in Alabam
Hard times
Railroad station in Alabam
Hard times
Railroad station in Alabam
Ain't got a dime to use the can
Hard times

Never seen a place so sad
Hard times
Never seen a place so sad
Hard times
Never seen a place so sad
Hard times make a good man bad
Hard times

Wore the soles right off my feet
Hard times
Wore the soles right off my feet
Hard times
Wore the soles right off my feet
Rest of the shoe, too tough to eat
Hard times

Hard times come again no more
Hard times
Hard times come again no more
Hard times
Hard times come again no more
Take your foot out of my door
Hard times

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58rDeFIsN-NvRk2oUP-SobRefkgZzGBE

Subject: Lyr Add: The Bedbug Song - Utah Phillips
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 08:54 PM

The Bedbug Song
Here's to the bedbug he's a friend of mine
No matter where I travel he's never far behind
He never seems to worry he always has a home
When he picks me for an address I get the itch to roam

Now the flea
Has an appetite it's true
But leave it to the bedbug
to put the bite on you
Well it's bedbugs in the morning
In the afternoon
A swimin' in my coffee
A climbin' up the spoon

When I go to bed at night, crawl beneath the sheet
Then I am awakened by the sound of marching feet
It's just a bedbug Sunday school a marching round and round
Down across my stomach onto the picnic ground

Little friend
I never hear you gripe
You'll always stay for dinner
Even though I'm not your type
Then sing to the bedbugs
As they crawl and creep
It's a handy occupation when
You're trying to go to sleep

Hail to the roaches we squash upon our floors
Applaud the mighty termite who runs a sodded oars
But lo, the humble bedbug don't judge him by his size
At spreading purple agony he's bound to take the prize

Look at people
Ever since the world began
Makes you wonder who's a bigger louse
The bedbug or the man
Then let's hear it for the bedbug
If for this and nothing more
He'll help you to remember what your finger nails are for

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58rDeFIsN-NvRk2oUP-SobRefkgZzGBE

Subject: Lyr Add: John Baptiste - Utah Phillips
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 08:55 PM

John Baptiste
There was a gravedigger in a Northside graveyard
His profession was covered with shame
He dug down so neat, graves both narrow and straight
And they say John Baptiste was his name

But when the sun set on the great Salton Sea
And the graveyard was shadowed in night
With a spade in his hand he would lift out the sand
Bringing new buried dead to the light

He robbed them poor dead folks of clothing and shoes
With none but the stars looking on
And he made them a bundle up under his arm
And took them to town for to pawn

The pawnbroker hung a great sign on his store
Get the best buy in funeral attire
But he could not know that those clothes weren't for sale
But only a short time for hire

It was not long till the townspeople thought
How so sudden this trade come about
They went first to the judges and then to the graveyard
And called that gravedigger out

And when they uncovered the new buried dead
There arose such a cry and a stir
The ladies they fainted or covered their eyes
Stark naked their relatives were

John Baptiste, John Baptiste, you're called to the bar
To listen while sentence is read
To Fremont Isle you are exiled for life
To starve there until you are dead

They cast him ashore on that barren cold isle
To fetch for himself all alone
But when they returned only three weeks gone by
John Baptiste the exile was gone

They searched and they searched in the gullies and crags
And wondered at the gravedigger's plight
Some say he escaped on a driftwood raft
Or swam to the mainland at night

But shore dwellers say on a stormy cold day
When the wind drives the waves on the land
You can still see the ghost of old John Baptiste
Come dragging his feet through the sand

His clothes are all soaked in the salt and sea spray
And tattered to bits by the storm
And he carries a bundle of dead men's clothes
All tucked up under his arm

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58rDeFIsN-NvRk2oUP-SobRefkgZzGBE

Subject: Lyr Add: Sally Anne - Utah Philips
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 08:58 PM

Sally Anne
Standing by the tracks Sally Anne, Sally Anne
Standing by the tracks Sally Anne
Standing by the tracks
Afraid you'll hurry back
You're a long time coming Sally Anne

I baked a rabbit stew Sally Anne, Sally Anne
I baked a rabbit stew Sally Anne
I baked a rabbit stew
Black eyed peas, chitlins too
You're a long time coming Sally Anne

I'm going into town Sally Anne, Sally Anne
I'm going into town Sally Anne
I'll go on into town
And spread myself around
You're a long time coming Sally Anne

Love my back, love my brew Sally Anne, Sally Anne
Love my back, love my brew Sally Anne
Love my back, you love my brew
Half as much as I love you
You're a long time coming Sally Anne

Standing by the tracks Sally Anne, Sally Anne
Standing by the tracks Sally Anne
Standing by the tracks
Afraid you'll hurry back
You're a long time coming Sally Anne

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58rDeFIsN-NvRk2oUP-SobRefkgZzGBE

Subject: Lyr Add: Five Penny Blues - Utah Phillips
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 08:59 PM

Five Penny Blues
If I had five pennies well I'd tell you what I'd do
I'd take 'em in my hand love and give 'em all to you
To buy a bunch of violets to tie up in your hair
I know that you would like them and they look so lovely there

But I ain't go five pennies
No I ain't got a one
All I got's a homing heart
When the day's work is done

If I had a dime love I'd tell you what I'd do
I'd take it in my hand, love, and give that dime to you
To buy some candy for the kids that lasts a long, long while
And when they'd take the paper off we'd stand and watch 'em smile

But I ain't got a dime, love
Although I wish I had
All I got's a pretty song
To cheer you when you're sad

If I had two dollars well I'd tell you what I'd do
I'd take 'em in my hand, love and give 'em both to you
I'd take you to a picture show we hadn't seen before
And I'd pretend you were my date and kiss you at the door

But I ain't got two dollars
Though maybe one would do
All I got's a pair of eyes
That love to look at you

If I had ten dollars well I'd tell you what I'd do
I'd take 'em in my hand, love and give 'em all to you
To by a row of calico to make a dress or two
So you can walk upon the street all dressed in bonny blue

But I ain't got ten dollars
No I ain't got a dime
All I got's a happy heart
That loves you all the time
All I got's a happy heart
That loves you all the time

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58rDeFIsN-NvRk2oUP-SobRefkgZzGBE

Subject: Lyr Add: Don't Go Home - Utah Phillips
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 09:01 PM

Don't Go Home
I sailed from Seattle
On the first day of July
Oh lord I got so sick
I thought that I would die

Don't go home, boys
Don't go home
Cause your true love ain't so true
If she won't write to you

Now the land of the morning calm
Has got almighty wet
Sixteen months of drinking
And I ain't sober yet

Don't go home, boys
Don't go home
Cause your true love ain't so true
If she won't write to you

Old Synghy's got the GI vote
And nothing but good will
Just keep the home fires burning
Underneath the still

Don't go home, boys
Don't go home
Cause your true love ain't so true
If she won't write to you

Yakju and Makgeolli
A pint of applejack
Pass it around and chug it down
To hell with going back

Don't go home, boys
Don't go home
Cause your true love ain't so true
If she won't write to you

Its VO and ginger
A ribbon in your hat
Another big of Heineken's
You won't know where you're at

Don't go home, boys
Don't go home
Cause your true love ain't so true
If she won't write to you

It's Blue Girl and Lowenbrau
A pint of Beck and Beck
If I don't get a letter soon
I'll be a living wreck

Don't go home, boys
Don't go home
Cause your true love ain't so true
If she won't write to you

Asahi, Sapporo
A pint of San Miguel
But oh that Crown and OB
Don't they taste like hell

Don't go home, boys
Don't go home
Cause your true love ain't so true
If she won't write to you

Kentucky boys can really drink
And them from Caroline
But I'm the lonely Utah boy
Drank 'em all stone blind

Don't go home, boys
Don't go home
Cause your true love ain't so true
If she won't write to you

Don't go home, boys
Don't go home
Cause your true love ain't so true
If she won't write to you

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58rDeFIsN-NvRk2oUP-SobRefkgZzGBE

Subject: Lyr Add: You're A Drug - Utah Phillips
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 09:04 PM

You're a Drug
Whenever I was feeling blue dear
Whenever I was feeling ill
I'd drag myself along to you dear
But you was nothing but a pill

You're a drug on the market of my heart, dear
You gave all my dreams a heart attack
Your label is misleading
Your instructions ain't worth reading
Your love was just a monkey on my back

You don't know how it pains to leave you
I can't follow your prescription any more
But though you poison me I know dear
You still got the bottle I adore

You were just a patent cure, dear
You took me in and fooled me from the start
Well you cost me my last dime
You was snake oil all the time
You're a drug on the market of my heart

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58rDeFIsN-NvRk2oUP-SobRefkgZzGBE

Subject: Lyr Add: One More Mile - Utah Phillips
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 09:07 PM

One More Mile Down the Road
Chilly wind blows stiff and cold
Guess I'm getting old
I'll sit me down and rest awhile
One more mile down the road

One more mile down the road, boys
One more mile down the road
I'll sit me down and rest awhile
One more mile down the road

I left my shack by the railroad track
Never going back
I'll make my bed in a cinder pile
One more mile down the road

One more mile down the road, boys
One more mile down the road
I'll make my bed in a cinder pile
One more mile down the road

Hang my bindle by my side
Flag me down a ride
I'm getting ready to chuck this load
One more mile down the road

One more mile down the road, boys
One more mile down the road
I'm getting ready to chuck this load
One more mile down the road

Wish I had a dollar bill
For every beet I've hoed
But I'll move on when the job runs out
One more mile down the road

One more mile down the road, boys
One more mile down the road
But I'll move on when the job runs out
One more mile down the road
One more mile down the road

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58rDeFIsN-NvRk2oUP-SobRefkgZzGBE

Subject: Lyr Add: Yuri Gagarin - Utah Phillips
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 09:10 PM

Yuri Gagarin
On the twelfth day of April, 1961
A day that history records
From over the ocean across many miles
They sent us this triumphant word

The young Russian pilot had soared from the earth
And traveled the world around
It was a brave deed we must all agree
The first time it ever was done

Yuri Gagarin, oh Yuri Gagarin
He rode into the sky
On a pillar of flame and he gave us his name
In a story that never will die

We've had many heroes in our great country
Who have worked to make us strong
Our Daniel Boone and our Edison, too
Well known in the story and song

But now in our man from a far distant land
A hero we all find
He shows to the world in his bold reckless deed
The spirit of all mankind

Yuri Gagarin, oh Yuri Gagarin
He rode into the sky
On a pillar of flame and he gave us his name
In a story that never will die

It is a shame when you look at the world
And the men who make all the wars
The effort we spend in the struggle and strife
Could carry us all to the stars

So let's put aside all our anger and pride
Here's credit where credit is due
Let's stand and applaud this young pioneer
Who did what no other could do

Yuri Gagarin, oh Yuri Gagarin
Rode into the sky
On a pillar of flame and he gave us his name
In a story that never will die

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58rDeFIsN-NvRk2oUP-SobRefkgZzGBE

Subject: Lyr Add: He Comes Like Rain
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 09:12 PM

He Comes Like Rain
He comes like rain, like wind he goes
Wasting no one's time or tears
He bears the pain and takes the blow
As he walks out his lonely years

Although the wealthy share the spoils
The good times seem to pass him by
They say he is too old to toil
And yet he's still too young to die

The road unwinds into the night
He lifts his bindle and moves on
And dark against the failing light
His frail form dwindles and is gone

Perhaps he'll pass this way again
And maybe not, for no one knows
It doesn't matter where or when
He comes like rain, like wind he goes

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58rDeFIsN-NvRk2oUP-SobRefkgZzGBE

Subject: RE: ADD: Songs from Utah Phillips' first album
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 09:13 PM

Stephen Brady's Last Ride
When they give him his orders
He was lying in the gutter
They said you better get up off your dime
Cause there's rumors in the shack
That you're gonna get the sack
If they catch you drunk just one more time

Well he turned around and said
To his beady-eyed fireman
I guess we better stagger on down
If we wanna have our jobs
Come tomorrow morning
We better shag old 97 out of town

It's a mighty rough haul
To Scratching Post, Virginia
The bars there they close about Nine
Well it's later than you think
If you want another drink
We better put 'er in the depot on time

He comes screaming down the mountain
Doing seven miles an hour
Cause the air brakes was locked all the way
Well they found him in the rag
With his hand on the bottle
He raised his head these dying words to say:

“If I ever get my hands on that beady-eyed fireman
There's gonna be a brawl I hope to tell
Cause he topped off my boiler
With a half a pint of red eye
And blowed the whole shebang clean to hell”

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58rDeFIsN-NvRk2oUP-SobRefkgZzGBE

Subject: RE: ADD: Songs from Utah Phillips' first album
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 09:14 PM

Travel All My Lonesome Blues Away
I'll be all right tomorrow but tomorrow never comes
All I have is the sadness of today
Darling since you set me free
There's nothing left for me
But to travel all my lonesome blues away

I'll travel all my lonesome blues away
Till I've wandered many miles from yesterday
Now those big eight wheels are rolling
And I seem to hear them say
They're gonna travel all my lonesome blues away

I wanted you to love me but you made me say goodbye
Although the price was more than I could pay
But I'll leave it all behind
And ease my troubled mind
And travel all my lonesome blues away

I'll travel all my lonesome blues away
Till I've wandered many miles from yesterday
Now those big eight wheels are rolling
And I seem to hear them say
They're gonna travel all my lonesome blues away

Tonight the trains are rolling through the prairie of my heart
But no matter what it is I do or say
After all is said and done
You are still the only one
While I travel all my lonesome blues away

I'll travel all my lonesome blues away
Till I've wandered many miles from yesterday
Now those big eight wheels are rolling
And I seem to hear them say
They're gonna travel all my lonesome blues away

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58rDeFIsN-NvRk2oUP-SobRefkgZzGBE

Subject: RE: ADD: Songs from Utah Phillips' first album
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 23 Jan 22 - 09:15 PM

Where Will You Go
Where will you go
When the crop's all in
Where will you go
When the harvest is done
Where will you go
When the crop's all in
No place left to go

I'd go back to my shack
But I ain't got a shack
I'll ramble on down the railroad track
When the winter sets in
Well nothing can grow
No place left to go

Where will you go
When the last box is in
Where will you go
When the count's all made
Where will you go
When the last box is in
No place left to go

I'll make my count
And I'll take my pay
Going to Salinas
And I'll throw it all away
Cause the hands can't work
When the farmer can't sew
No place left to go

Where will you go
When your time runs out
Where will you go
On the judgement day
Where will you go
When your time runs out
No place left to go
I'll drop in my tracks
Oh won't that be a shame
Won't be no angel to call my name
You can breath my dust
When the autumn winds blow
No place left to go
No place left to go

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL58rDeFIsN-NvRk2oUP-SobRefkgZzGBE

Subject: RE: ADD: Songs from Utah Phillips' first album
From: GerryM
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 06:09 AM

This is fabulous!

In The Bedbug Song, the line,

Applaud the mighty termite who runs a sodded oars

can't be right, it just doesn't make sense, does it?
I think maybe it's

Applaud the mighty termite who runs us outa doors

meaning, makes us run outdoors. It's just past one minute into the track, have a listen, see what you think.

Subject: RE: ADD: Songs from Utah Phillips' first album
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 10:39 AM

I agree Gerry, I had no idea what that line was so I put a placeholder in. I think you are correct with your hearing, I just couldn't hear anything else after listening to it so many times. The hardest ones though were the korean names in Don't Go Home, not sure if I got all those right either.

Subject: RE: ADD: Songs from Utah Phillips' first album
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 10:59 AM

Utah hated that recording, he would break every copy he ran across. People he stayed with when he was touring knew to hide their copy when he was due to arrive. He had the cover in his record collection with a notation "Try and find this turkey".
I found a copy on Ebay (cost me $27). When I informed Bruce of my find he asked what I was going to do with it. "Bootleg Cd's". He replied "I'd have to kill you!" After he died his widow Joanna made me promise.
I don't think the record is as bad as he thought, but when he would criticize my song writing we would start sing the chorus to YURI GAGARIN, which Utah would refer to as GARGLE MY URINE.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: ADD: Songs from Utah Phillips' first album
From: GUEST,Joan F.
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 11:24 AM

Well thanks Mr. Kivers (kivers?).

By now I'd finally gotten the words by virtue of having finally found a version of the song off the Rosalie Sorrels album that played on the internet! (Link not at my fingertips right now & anyway I've been warned not to do links without officially joining.)

signed, the original poster also known as ghostjmf, also not capitalized. Its my initials. Maybe I'll go back to that.(?)

Subject: RE: ADD: Songs from Utah Phillips' first album
From: GUEST,justin k rivers
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 11:59 AM

Mark, I agree that it's not as bad as he thought. I sat through it yesterday and transcribed every song line by line, and I can see some good qualities in that material. The reason I wanted to share it with folks is because I think it fills in a missing part of his story, and the gap between that album and his coming to Caffe Lena (which is my neighborhood) is a story that I think is worth thinking about. I was even thinking of writing an article about it because Polly Stewart, before she passed away, did a lot of good research and interviews about the folk revival in Utah and what Bruce was up to back then, kind of showing that context he came from. And even in Nobody Knows Me you can see a lot of the things he cared about and the viewpoints he had, right there. Though maybe Yuri doesn't get picked up as a hit single.

Subject: RE: ADD: Songs from Utah Phillips' first album
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 05:03 PM

Oh my.. I see why Utah wanted to disown it. Yes, it had some 'good qualities', but his later self found what he NEEDED to say. I suppose Rembrandt made some 'interesting' drawings as a child, too.

Oh, well.. it's history now.

Subject: RE: ADD: Songs from Utah Phillips' first album
From: GUEST,justinkrivers
Date: 24 Jan 22 - 06:20 PM

Well Bill, he's definitely channeling a different style here, and the references to Jimmie Rodgers seems pretty apt. It's worth pointing out that, unlike Rembrandt's childhood scrawls, this album has a very different context. It was recorded by Kenneth Goldstein, who I think it's fair to say, given his history and impact on the folk movement, probably had some good reason to recognize in Bruce something worth recording. It's interesting, too that he's a songwriter ahead of the singer-songwriter movement, tapping into a different tradition than many of his contemporaries.

I don't think this album is particularly disconnected from his later work at all. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that his "later self" is a "journalistic convenience" he developed, to use one of his own phrases. Remember, 1961 is also the year that Rosalie Sorrels released Rosalie's Songbag, which contains her version of Rock, Salt and Nails, written around the same time and still his most famous song. She recorded several of the songs from this album, and "Sing in the Spring" was covered by quite a few others as well, including the Limeliters (as "If I Had a Mule").

If anything, in the research I've done and the folklore project that Polly Stewart did, it shows that Bruce's style was born in Utah, long before he came east. His early songs were quickly recorded and shared by others, and though he probably didn't earn much in royalties, they seem to be popular right out of the gate. Even the story/song mode that became his signature style came out of this time, present in a series of productions that he worked on with Rosalie Sorrels, Polly Stewart, and others, shows that were combinations of stories and songs glued together with personality and a bit of theater flair.

Subject: RE: ADD: Songs from Utah Phillips' first album
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Jan 22 - 07:46 PM

I see all your points, but I still see why he wanted to destroy copies. However his later style developed and the complex personal reasons, it was not the style or image he wanted to convey.
   I spoke to Utah a couple of times and asked him about various things, and he seemed to me to be totally 'into' what he was doing.
   I once asked him (during his tribute tour to Kate Wolf) if he really did write "Aces, Straights and Flushes", which I heard Kate sing one night. He replied, "What are you gonna do if I say 'yes'?"
   I said.."Umm.. I guess I'll keep singing it!"
He said.."Ok, then!"
I did ask him another time about how record/CD producers made decisions, and said essentially that they simply 'decided what would sell'. I think his choice of Philo for his most famous albums was based a bit on their willingness to take chances on his 'unusual' style.
I have also chatted with Saul Broudy several times about traveling Utah and how "Aces, Straights and Flushes" was written.

None of this makes me a qualified historian on it all.. it only means I did gain a feel for the authenticity of Utah's purposes and ideas.