Lyr ADD: Roll On Buddy

Subject: RE: Lyrics request - 'Roll on buddy'
From: GUEST,dick greenhaus
Date: 07 Mar 00 - 05:19 PM

The version quoted most frequently (9 Pound Hammer) was assembled from earlier sources, with a largely re-written tune, by Merle Travis in 1941. Earlier versions (or at leasat songs with overlapping verses) incclued Brad Kincaid's (193?) Roll On John and Swannanoa Tunnel, collected by Cecil Sharp in 1918 (he thought it was Swannanoa Town-O).

Archie Green's fine book "Only a Miner" devotes a chapter to this one.

Subject: Lyr Add: NINE POUND HAMER (Roll On Buddy)
From: Pontiac Joe
Date: 07 Mar 00 - 04:31 PM

NINE POUND HAMMER (Roll on Buddy)

chorus: Roll on buddy! Don't you roll so slow.
How'm I gonna roll, when the wheels won't go.
Roll on buddy! Pull a load of coal
How'm I gonna pull, when the wheels won't roll.

This nine pound hammer is a little too heavy
For my size, buddy, for my size.

I'm a- goin' on the mountain for to see my baby
An' I ain't comin' back. Lord, I ain't comin' back.

Well when I die, you can make my tombstone
Out of number nine coal, out of number nine coal.

Ain't nobody's hammer on this here mountain
Rings like mine, that rings like mine.

Well this old hammer, it killed John Henry
Killed John Henry, but it won't kill me.

An' this old hammer rings like silver
Rings like silver, rings like gold.

It's a long way to Harlan, it's a long way to Hazard
Just to get a little brew, just to get a little brew.

Subject: Lyr Add: KIMBIE (Jackson C. Frank)
From: Stewie
Date: 06 Mar 00 - 08:30 PM

The late Jackson C. Frank also used the melody for a song, also made up of floaters, that shares some of the lyrics posted by Froodo. He was another American singing around the London folk scene about the same time as Ramblin' Jack and Derroll were there. He gave a poignant performance:

KIMBIE

Kimbie wants a nine dollar shawl
Kimbie wants a ni-i-ine dollar shawl
She wants a nine dollar shawl and I need a mackinaw
Well baby where you bin so long
Baby where you bi-i-n so long
I've been in that state pen
With them rough and rowdy, rough and rowdy, rough and rowdy men
But baby where you bin so long
Baby, where you bi-i-n so long
I've been in your state pen
And I've gotta go back again
Well baby where you bin so long

Kimbie let your hair hang down
Kimbie let your hai-ai-r, let it hang down
Let your hair hang down and your bangs all curl around
Kimbie let your hair hang down
Kimbie let your hai-ai-r, let it hang down
Let your hair hang down, and come the morning
You know I'll be gone
Well baby let your hair hang down

Well, I wished I was a mole in the ground
I wished I were a mo-ol-e in the ground
If I was a mole the ground, I'd tear, I'd tear this mountain down
Wished I was a mole in the ground

Transcribed from Jackson C. Frank 'Blues Run the Game' Mooncrest CRESTCD 021.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyrics request - 'Roll on buddy'
From: Stewie
Date: 06 Mar 00 - 07:41 PM

Froodo

I agree. Ramblin' Jack sang different lyrics each time he recorded it. It seems to be made up of floaters anyway. He sometimes sings 'Tempe got a nine dollar shawl' etc. In one version, these macabre lines appear:

Well I never liked no railroad man
Never liked no railroad man
For a railroad man will kill you if he can
And drink up your blood like wine

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyrics request - 'Roll on buddy'
From: Gary T
Date: 06 Mar 00 - 06:58 PM

Amos, at first I thought, as it seems you might have, that the song in question was "Nine Pound Hammer", in which the chorus is exactly what you wrote. It appears, however, that this is indeed a different song, with the TITLE of "Roll on Buddy".

Subject: RE: Lyrics request - 'Roll on buddy'
From: Amos
Date: 06 Mar 00 - 05:31 PM

The one couplet I learned to this song goes:

Roll on buddy
Don't ya roll so slow
How can I roll
When the wheels won't go? (Repeat)

Subject: RE: Lyrics request - 'Roll on buddy'
From: Froodo
Date: 06 Mar 00 - 03:46 PM

Yeah, I think Jack did a bunch of his lyrics off the top of his head, especially in the early days.

But, that's one of the things I love about old folk & blues tunes...there are as many different sets of lyrics as there are people that sing 'em.

Make each tune your own, froodo

Subject: RE: Lyrics request - 'Roll on buddy'
From: Max Tone
Date: 06 Mar 00 - 03:31 PM

Ta, Froodo, I heard cajun band Le Rue do it on a live tape I recorded in 87 or so. I've made out somma da wurds, but most are different from yours, or I can't make em out so maybe there's lotsa verses. I'll post mine when I've listened to them again & typed em up, by which time we might have a few more replies. Rob

Subject: Lyr Add: ROLL ON BUDDY
From: Froodo
Date: 06 Mar 00 - 02:43 PM

I don't know its origin, but I got a record of Jack elliot doing "roll on buddy"...

Something like:

Roll on buddy, roll on
Roll on buddy, roll on
You wouldn't roll so slow If you knew what I know
Roll on buddy, roll on

I've got a home in Tennessee
I've got a home in Tennessee
I've got a home Down in Sunny Tennessee
Roll on buddy, roll on

My baby wants a $9 shawl
My baby wants a $9 shawl
I come over the hill with a $100 dollar bill
And it's baby where you been so long

Baby where you been so long
Baby where you been so long
I've been down in the pen with some rough and rowdy men
& Baby where you been so long

Roll on Buddy, roll on
Roll on Buddy, roll on
You wouldn't roll so slow if you knew what I know
Roll on Buddy, roll on.

Subject: Lyrics request - 'Roll on buddy'
From: Max Tone
Date: 06 Mar 00 - 02:03 PM

Anybody know the lyrics to Roll on Buddy, and who wrote it/first recorded it?