Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones (Blind Blake)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones (Blind Blake)
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Aug 20 - 04:53 PM

Yes, Irecall hearing "student"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones (Blind Blake)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Nov 15 - 11:13 PM

Barbara Dane: Look here: MY NAME IS MORGAN, BUT IT AIN'T J. P.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: J.P. Morgan
From: GUEST,Barbara Dane
Date: 19 Nov 15 - 04:17 AM

You asked about this song:

My name is Morgan, but it ain't JP
Ain't no bank on Wall Street that belongs to me.
So forget our champagne appetite,
Cause the best you'll have is beer tonight.
My name is Morgan, but it ain't JP!

I would love to know if there is more to the lyric.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones
From: harvey andrews
Date: 03 Sep 02 - 02:42 PM

Yup!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones
From: Bullfrog Jones
Date: 03 Sep 02 - 10:53 AM

Phew, Harvey!! You got me all welled up there! I hope you've got a song out of that story!

BJ

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 03 Sep 02 - 06:37 AM

"..Went down the road one morning,,
Went down to see Aunt Janey.."

Is that the "Pretty Boy" one?

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Aug 02 - 12:18 PM

That's a great story, Harvey. I was shocked into a similar realization when I heard that Dave Ray has cancer. He lives practically in my backyard, but I seldom went out of my way to hear him, thinking he'll always be around. He's not exactly a busker, but when he performs at bars around town, it's not even mentioned in the newspaper. Out of sight, out of mind. Thanks to the fact that his illness was mentioned in a Mudcat thread, I learned that he has a web site, and was able to catch a recent performance.

I'm not a musician myself, so my way of helping to keep these traditions alive is in my work of tracking down information on the Internet and posting it here. As it's often said here, "I hope this helps."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones
From: harvey andrews
Date: 22 Aug 02 - 06:33 PM

I have the album. It's one of my all time favourites and it should be on CD.

In the 70's I flew with a CSE (Combined Services Entertainment) tour to Belize via the Bahamas. As we were flying in to Nassau we began to sing some of Blind Blake's songs. I was surprised three or four other musicians knew them too. They'd bought the same album, remaindered in Woolworth's I think for 2/6d.

We were let off the plane for an hour as it refueled and went in to the airport lounge. I led the way. I noticed an old man sitting just inside the door, a sign beside him saying "Blind Blake and his trio". I stopped the others and knelt down and asked "Are you Blind Blake, sir?" He raised his head and grunted a soft "Yes". I couldn't believe it!! I told him we knew his songs and sang them in the folk clubs in England. He didn't really believe me, so I persuaded him to step out into the light so we could have our photos taken with him. I was ecstatic when he unpacked an old banjo and posed with me and my guitarist Graham Cooper. I have the photos still and I've never beamed a bigger smile.

I asked him to play and he started "Run come see". That's when we all joined in with harmonies. We sang "Jones" and "watermelon" too I think. When we finished there wasn't a dry eye in sight, certainly not Blake's. A couple of young men came then, his accompanists, and I told them we loved the man and his songs and that they must look after him as he was a treasure. They said they knew that.

We had a few minutes left before re-boarding the plane and I spotted a stall selling records and LP's. I rushed over and told the young girl to sell me everything she had by Blind Blake. She looked at me quizzically. "Who?" she asked. I pointed to the old man sitting on the bench by the door. "Oh, the old man who plays for the tourists when they get off the plane? No, we got nothing by him" She shrugged. He was just the old man, no more than a busker.

It was one of the most poignant, moving and special hours of my life and I think a moment that changed my life and made me feel a part of something much bigger than my own career...the world of creativity and the way it's taken for granted and cherished by so few. "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone" If you love somebody's work, cherish them, support them, and buy it. I've seen others on that metaphorical bench who should never have been there either and I've always thought it a crime.

Anybody know who owns those old tracks? I think the label was "Songs of the islands". It's in the loft and I must get it cut to CD.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Aug 02 - 03:22 PM

There is supposed to be an mp3 file of "Jones! Oh Jones" accessible from this page but I couldn't get it to work, possibly because the link goes to an ftp site.

Here's Blind Blake's Love Alone in the DT.

"Yas Yas Yas," performed by Jimmy Strange, appears on the compilation "Swingin' the Blues," Document CD 5354, 1995, but I don't know if this is the same song recorded by Blind Blake.

"Pretty Boy," attributed to "Blake," is sung by Gale Garnett on 2 albums: "My Kind of Folk Songs," RCA Victor LP SP-2833, 1964; and "We'll Sing in the Sunshine," Collectables CD 5864, 1998. From the sound sample at CDNOW, I was able to transcribe the following lyrics. It has a calypso sound:

...darn shame.
Pretty boy (pretty boy) pretty boy (pretty boy)
Pretty boy (pretty boy) ain't it a shame?
He said to me, "Well, baby, wan' me for company?"
I said...

I found a song called "My Pigeon's Gone" written by "Davenport", and recorded by the Five Keys, but it has a sort of early rock-n-roll, doo-wop sound, not calypso, so I don't think it's what you want.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones
From: kendall
Date: 22 Aug 02 - 01:08 PM

I believe it is "Student" doctor.(Med. student)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Aug 02 - 01:05 PM

Here is a list of songs recorded by Blind Blake and his Royal Victoria Calypsos as given by the Folk Music Performer Index (http://folkindex.mse.jhu.edu/BP09.htm). They all seem to come from a single LP, Art ALP 3 (195?).

J. P. Morgan
Jones! Oh Jones
Yas Yas Yas
Pretty Boy
Run Come See (Jerusalem)
Love Alone
Lord, Got Tomatoes
My Pigeon Gone Wild
Watermelon Spoilin' on the Vine
Never Interfere with Man and Wife

Run Come See Jerusalem is in the DT; Blind Blake's version is in the thread Lyric: Run come see Jerusalem?

"Watermelon Spoilin' on the Vine" is probably one of a group of related songs discussed in the thread Lyr Req: Watermelon Smiling on the Vine. Lyrics of several versions are given there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones
From: Ely
Date: 24 Oct 00 - 12:51 PM

Sorry I don't have the original version. Maybe you can at least use it as a starting point.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones
From: Seth
Date: 24 Oct 00 - 03:54 AM

Thanks for the replies. It made my day. It ocurred to me that " It was Love, Love Alone ('caused King Edward to Leave the Throne)" was also in that set. I did't check to see if it is the DT, but I remember it in one of my Jerry Silverman Folk Guitar books. I never heard anyone actually sing it, except for Blind Blake. I am a teacher in Luoyang, China, and I like to use this stuff with my 5th, 6th and 7th graders. They go nuts for anything that has a calypso sound. Seth from China

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones
From: Ely
Date: 23 Oct 00 - 03:22 PM

Oops, sorry, that last part should say "If I ever meet you, JOnes, it ain't no use to run".

Subject: Lyr Add: JONES, OH, JONES (from Paul Geremia)
From: Ely
Date: 23 Oct 00 - 03:21 PM

This is off Paul Geremia's "Hard Life Rocking Chair" album (1973). I'm sorry, I can't make out all the words (old tape of an old record).
********************************************************

[SPOKEN:] Yes, friends, and now, from the Royal Victoria Hotel, in Nassau, in the Bahamas, we bring you Blind Blake and his Royal Victorian Calypsos.

Friends, I had a pal by the name of Jones and his idea sure was wrong,
I took old Jones for my personal pal; don't you see what Jones have done?
Now, Jones, he hang around it like a hungry hound, took my woman and left this town.
And now I wonder if anybody in here can tell me if you seen old Jones.

Jones, oh, Jones, boy, you know you can't last long,
Jones, oh, Jones, you better bring my woman back home.
I got a four-foot dagger with me, gonna buy me a Gatling gun,
If I ever meet you, Jones, I'm gonna give the buzzards fun,
I got the ambulance down here with me, the undertaker, too--
And here's a studio doctor's offerin' me money for you,
I'm going to keep you for myself, kill you dead and bury you,
Dig you up for fun,
Gonna sit down and watch the buzzards pick the meat off your bones,
Gonna take my [?] butcher, chop you through and through,
I'm gon' chop you into pieces just big enough for stew,
When I get through, ev'rybody gonna moan,
Jones, oh, Jones.

Jones, oh, Jones, boy, you know you can't last long,
Jones, oh, Jones, you better bring my woman back home.
'Cause I tried a little gal by the name of Sue,
I took her home with me but that gal, she wouldn't do,
Tried another gal by the name of May,
Took her home with me but that gal, she wouldn't stay,
Tried another gal by the name of Minnie,
She couldn't love one man because she loves a-plenty,
Jones had told me, [doc?] he was my personal pal,
That son-of-a-bum went and stole away my gal,
I even take him to my place, give him room to stay,
But that son-of-a-bum took my gal and run away,
I'm running up and down the town, looking for that bum,
If I ever meet you, Jones, I'm going to give the buzzards fun,
Got the ambulance down here with me, the undertaker, too--
Here's a studio doctor's offerin' me money for you,
I'm going to keep it for myself, kill you dead and bury you,
Gonna dig you up for fun,
Sit down and watch the buzzards pick the meat off your bones,
Gonna take my [?] butcher, chop you through and through,
Chop you into piece just big enough for stew,
And when I get through, ever'body's going to moan,
Jones, oh, Jones.

Jones, oh, Jones, boy, you know you can't last long,
Jones, oh, Jones, you better bring my woman back home.
Got a four-foot dagger with me, gonna buy me a Gatling gun,
If I ever meet you, Jones, it ain't no use to run,
Got the ambulance down here with me, the undertaker, too--
A studio doctor's offerin' me money for you,
I'm going to keep you for myself, kill you dead and bury you,
Gonna dig you up for fun,
Sit down and watch the buzzards pick the meat off your bones,
Take my [?] butcher, chop you through and through,
Chop you into pieces big enough for stew,
And when I get through, ever'body gonna moan,
Jones, oh, Jones.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 22-Aug-02.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones
From: Cavia_P
Date: 23 Oct 00 - 12:39 PM

Gordon Bok has recorded "Jones (oh Jones)" on In the Kind Land. It includes lyrics ©Blake Alphonso Higgs in the cover leaflet.
The intro states "Doug Day of Swan's Island, Maine, tells me that Jones is included on a 78 that his parents brought back from their honeymoon in Nassau, Bahamas, where they listened to Blind Blake every night..."

The chorus goes:
Jones, oh jones, oh you know you can't last long
Jones, oh Jones you better bring my woman back home

The song includes some wonderful gruesome lines on what he's gonna do when he catches up with Jones!

Cavia_P

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones
From: Ely
Date: 22 Oct 00 - 11:26 PM

If you give me a while, I might be able to decipher it off of Paul Geremia. Hopefully somebody else has it handy, though.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jones, Oh Jones
From: raredance
Date: 22 Oct 00 - 10:14 PM

"Run Come See" is in the DT

rich r

Subject: Jones, Oh Jones
From: Seth
Date: 22 Oct 00 - 10:11 PM

I'm looking for lyrics to songs of Blind Blake from Nassau Particularly " Jones, Oh Jones," "Run, Come See", Pretty Boy" "LOrd Got Tomatoes" " Watermelon Hangin' on the Vine" "Yes, Yes, Yes" and others that I can't remember. My parents brought this collection of his stuff back from NAssau about fifty years ago, and I carried the 78's around with me for the next forty years, but now they are lost. This is not the bluesman Blind Blake from the 1930's, at least I don't think so. Thanks!

Seth in China