Lyr Req: songs by The Red Clay Ramblers

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs by The Red Clay Ramblers
From: Janie
Date: 23 Nov 19 - 06:39 AM

Some one asked about a possible recording of Maggie Hammons singing "When Bacon Was Scarce."

Found it in the Southern Folklife Collection. Starts at about 1:01. It is a fragment.

When Bacon Was Scarce. Maggie Hammons

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs by The Red Clay Ramblers
From: Janie
Date: 25 Apr 19 - 04:16 PM

Is anyone aware or have links to a possible recording of Maggie singing "When Bacon Was Scarce"?

Subject: Lyr Add: I'VE GOT PLANS (T Thompson & L Rogoff)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Apr 10 - 07:36 PM

Copied from Mike Craver's web site:


I'VE GOT PLANS
Tommy Thompson & Lenny Rogoff

I been staying up too late. Well, the morning ain't for me.
Daylight never brings much company.
With the ladies of the night, I play the game of chance,
Losin' quarters to the jukebox, buying songs to watch 'em dance.
When I grow up, I'm gonna settle down,
'Cause chasin' midnight ladies ain't the funnest game in town.
Oh, they disappear like dreams. I wake up sleeping in my jeans.
I'm lonesome tonight, but I got plans.

Could be I'll pan for gold, write a novel, or join a band.
I could sell produce from a roadside stand.
Sturdy wife to share my joys, a pair of healthy strappin' boys
They'll lend a helpin' hand. We'll make a fortune off the land.
When I grow up, I'm gonna settle down,
Chew honeycomb and drive a tractor, grow things in the ground.
Oh, the dream that's in my eye is just tomorrow's enterprise.
I may be broke tonight but I got plans.

Haul the proceeds to the bank, and I'll soon have lots of dough.
I'll buy me a villa down in Mexico.
While the mariachis play, I'll go fishin' every day.
I'll cast a net so gaily on some sunny Latin bay.
When I grow up, I'm gonna settle down.
I'll take a course in business at the night school here in town.
Ah, but that'll have to wait, 'cause tonight I got a date.
We'll have a drink, and keep on talking 'bout my plans.

[From Red Clay Ramblers "Merchants Lunch" Flying Fish LP FF-055, 1977.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs by The Red Clay Ramblers
From: GUEST,Steve
Date: 09 Apr 10 - 01:09 PM

Hey, any luck with the chords to "I've Got Plans"? I've got about half of them figured out, but can't quite work out the whole thing.

Steve

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: songs by The Red Clay Ramblers
From: Janie
Date: 13 Sep 09 - 11:23 PM

I'm hard pressed to see (or hear) a link between "Bangum" and When Bacon Was Scarce" also, at least based on all the links and midi's of apparently related songs to Bangum in the DT.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: GUEST,Phil Palmer
Date: 12 Jun 03 - 11:18 AM

If someone has the chord progression for "The Ace" could you post it?"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: toadfrog
Date: 10 Jun 03 - 08:59 PM

Thanks, Bill. I was being a bit of a smart-ass, but I really didn't know what a blacklisted boar was. The folk lordylordys sometimes try too hard. I see no resemblance to Bangum except they both have boars in them.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: GUEST,Bill Hicks
Date: 27 May 03 - 07:48 AM

The way Maggie Hammons sang it, the last verse goes:

The old blue sow sprang up to her feet for to run,
We fired and she fell from Bob Porter's old gun...
Now the cowhide will crack and the waters will roar,
And your back it will ache till it's perfectly sore.

A "black-listed" boar is a male pig with black sides. The language is fairly archaic. The song is a variant of "Bangum and the Boar," a Childe Ballad. So I've been told anyway, by the "folk-lordylordy."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: Janie
Date: 26 May 03 - 11:06 PM

Oops. Those lyrics were already posted by Judy R in the Tommy Thompson obit thread. Sorry I forgot to check. Might want to delete my post and just post a link to that message? Except--I do want the chords.

Janie

Subject: Lyr Add: TWISTED LAUREL (Tommy Thompson)
From: Janie
Date: 26 May 03 - 10:55 PM

You didn't ask for this one, but here are the lyrics to "Twisted Laurel"

TWISTED LAUREL
(by Tommy Thompson)

Just across the Blue Ridge
Where the high meadows lay
and the galax spreads through the new mown hay.
There's a rusty iron bridge
'cross a shady ravine
Where the hard road ends and turns to clay.
With a suitcase in his hand
Well a lonesome boy stands
Gazing at the river sliding by beneath his feet.

And the dark water springs
From the black rock and and flows
Out of sight where the twisted laurel grows.

Past the coal-tipple towns
In the cold December rain
Into Charleston runs the New River train.
Where the hillsides are brown
And the broad valley stained
By a hundred thousand lives of work and pain.
In a tar paper shack
Down the road, across the track
Stands an old used up man trying to recall something back.
But his old mem'ries fade
Like the city in the haze
And his days have flown together like the rain.

And the dark water springs
from (cross?) the black rock and flows
Out of sight where the twisted laurel grows.

If anyone has the chords to this I'd appreciate them.

Janie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: toadfrog
Date: 25 May 03 - 10:53 PM

Why would anyone want to black-list a boar? Why did they shoot the sow, if it was the boar that was black-listed? Could it be they actually meant, a "bore"? Wouldn't you shoot a bore rather than a sow?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: Dani
Date: 25 May 03 - 08:50 PM

Funny story about WAHOO:

A few years ago, the Red Clay Ramblers were on Prairie Home Companion, Sweet Honey in the Rock were on as well. We went to see the show in Chapel Hill. Part of Sweet Honey's performance is always a sign-language interpreter, an integral part of the music: almost worth the price of admission alone, she is a lovely enhancement of their work. Well, she went on to interpret the rest of the show, including the RCR. When they sang WAHOO, she threw her whole body into a sort of lariat-tossing motion to sign that word, and of course you have to do a few at a time pretty quickly, and it was hilarious. My daughters and I still do that motion whenever we hear that song.

Dani

Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN BACON WAS SCARCE
From: toadfrog
Date: 25 May 03 - 03:59 PM

I believe this is the full song. Maggie Hammons Porter or one or another of the Hammons's may have composed it, or it may be traditional. Hammons's being about as traditional as you can get, I'm not real sure there is a difference.

BOB PORTER

One year one year, when bacon was scarce,
And us havin' none,
We mounted our horses and shouldered our guns,
Straightaway to the wildwood we must steer,
To kill off the wild hogs and drive in the dear.

When we got there we rambled a while
We looked at each other beginning to smile
Saying "ain't these the same hogs we fit here before,
The old blue sow and the black listed boar?"

The old blue sow lay still in her bed
He ring everywhere that John Likens he said [?]
She sprang from her bed and beginning to run
As soon as she did, it was Porter's old gun.

Now she moaned and she groaned and lay sick in her bed,
Said, "now you will suffer for what you have said!
"Your streets they will rattle, the waters will roar!
"The cowhide will crack, 'till your back is all sore!"

In Green are the Woods, sung by Helena Triplett.
Liner notes say: "I learned this song from Maggie Hammons [Parker], with additions from Zona Hammons Gear. I haven't found any other reference for this song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: open mike
Date: 03 Sep 02 - 05:17 PM

there is a band from san francisco which calls itself hot buttered rum. I played "their" title song " " " for them at strawberry last year (the strawberry music festival) and they had never heard it-- i suppose they play it now- hope they give credit!! it is my favorite christmas, or rather after-christmas song. I heard ot from Rosalie Sorrels and Brian Bowers.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: open mike
Date: 03 Sep 02 - 05:09 PM

spaeking of Wahoo Nebraska-- yes it is between Omaha and Lincoln-and has been known to be mentioned as the head office of the Letterman show. Like I always say, if i ever grew up, it would have been during the 20+ years i spent in nebraska!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: GUEST,89 Minutes
Date: 03 Sep 02 - 01:29 PM

Thanks guys!

Hey Bill, was the yodelling her idea? <G>

"Go back to sleep, America!"

- The Other Bill Hicks

Mark

(and thanks to Jeff for the breaks)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: GUEST,Bill Hicks
Date: 03 Sep 02 - 11:12 AM

For a lot of new lyrics by moi, go to http://redclayramblers.tripod.com/bill/ and hit the links to the lyrics for South of Nowhere and The Perfect Gig. Included in the latter are lyrics to another song I wrote, and recorded with the Blurs--"Play 'Rocky Top,'", which should be in any "acid folk" archive. And Debbie McClatchy has (she says in jest) made a career of my most infamous song, "You were only F***ing while I was making love." That's on her rereleased CD which the Ramblers provided backing for in 1976. --Fiddlin' Bill (not the dead comedian)

Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN BACON WAS SCARCE (incomplete)
From: Stewie
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 11:47 PM

RMF, your memory is pretty good. Here is most of it - unfortunately, I cannot decipher one line in the second last stanza.

WHEN BACON WAS SCARCE
(M. Parker/J. Summers)

One year, one year
When bacon was scarce
And us havin' none
We saddled our horses
And shouldered our guns

Straightway (to) the wild woods
We did steer
To kill off the wild hogs
And drive in the deer
And began for to smile

Sayin', these ain't the same hogs That been here before
The old blue sow And the black-listed boar

The old blue sow jumped up
To her feet for to run
? for Bob
Pulled his old gun

The cowhide will crack
And the waters will roar
Your back it will ache
'Til it's perfectly sore

[Instrumental: 'Ryestraw']

--Stewie.

Subject: ADD: When Bacon Was Scarce (incomplete)
From: GUEST,89 Minutes
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 10:49 PM

Thanks Stewie,

a little copy&paste is a Dangerous Thing, VBG

I've been looking for 'When Bacon Was Scarce" and found this thread.

purely from memory.... (uh oh)


When Bacon Was Scarce

One year, one year
When bacon was scarce
And us havin' none
We saddled our horses
And shouldered our guns

(line the first)
(line the second)
To... hunt the wild hogs(?)
And drive in the deer

Well, when we first got there
We rambled awhile
Old ???? ????? ????
He began for to smile

Said these ain't the same hogs
That been here before
The ??? ??? sow
And the black-listed boar


(whole verse or two MISSING, pertinent brain cells all murdered, mid-to-late 80s)


The cowhide (?) will crack
And the waters will roar
Your back it will ache
'Til it's perfectly sore.........



When Bacon Was Scarce
"Twisted Laurel/Merchants' Lunch"
Flying Fish 70055 (reissued l992)
Distributed by Rounder Records:

http://www.rounder.com/rounder/catalog/bylabel/fly/055/055.html

GREAT traveling music to and from trailheads, for all you BPer mo-fo's.


- RMF

--- Line breaks <br> added ---
---Jeff (PA)---

Subject: Lyr Add: HOBO'S LAST LETTER (Red Clay Ramblers)
From: Stewie
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 09:42 PM

THE HOBO'S LAST LETTER
(Bill Hicks)

While walkin' one day down the Bowery
Drinkin' without any care
I happened upon a common old bum
Who'd fallen down three flights of stairs
His coat was all ragged and tattered
The hair was white on his head
He gave me a letter with his dyin' breath
And these were the words that it said

I was standin' on a streetcar back in Frisco
Waitin' for the light to change from red to green
When a thought came to my head
About the time we went to bed
Underneath the western stars of Abilene
You know a lot of things get hazy when you wander
Days go by like boxcars in the night
But some day I know I'll find
Just a little peace of mind
And when I do, I'll find you to make it right

Chorus:
I'll be home in the mornin'
When the sun is comin' up
And the rooster's singin' wake up
To a thousand buttercups
There'll be pigs in the pen
And turkeys in the wood
I'll be home in the mornin' dear for good

It's many years ago that the bus rolled out for Denver
We were standin' in the station holdin' hands
Then we finally said goodbye
And I stood and watched you cry
Any I asked myself how you could understand
You know, I've been a lot of places since that Sunday
And some things I've done just don't mean a thing
But one thing I know is true
Lord, I'll get back home to you
This old bird can't live forever on the wing

Chorus

Well, I folded up the letter I was reading
'Cos some things are just too personal to tell
And I gave it to a cop
Who was standin' at the top
Of the stairs where that poor old fella fell
He hadn't had the time to put her name upon it
And his hand it shook so bad his name was blurred
But it looked a lot like mine
So I'm callin' you this time
To say I'll be home in the mornin' dear for good

Chorus

Source: transcription from The Red Clay Ramblers 'Twisted Laurel' Flying Fish LP 030 [1976]

--Stewie.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE ACE (from the Red Clay Ramblers)
From: Stewie
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 09:40 PM

THE ACE
(Mike Craver/Tommy Thompson)

Got a date with a high-tone girl
The one that wears the bouffant curl
She means business when she flirts
So I polished up the Chevy with the fender skirts
I hopped in my car and I stepped on the gas
I was layin' down rubber on the old bypass

Out a window she did creep
Headed on out for the lovers' leap
Made a detour by the barbecue shack
Put 12 cold beers on ice in the back
Found us a spot in the twilight zone
When the light of the police shone
And he said:

Oh, you jack-leg, you
I got the goods on you
And your sweetie too
I caught you in the car
With the stars in your eyes
And your brains in the bottom of your shoes
You're a hot dog, ain't you now?
You're a bulldog with the big bow-wow
Got fuzz on your face
You're the ace with the sweaty brow

Headed on out for another spot
Just down the road from the 'Dash 'n' Dot'
Saxophones a-croonin' on the radio
And the moon it was a-hangin' low
Fingernails a-tappin' on the windowpane
It was her great big boyfriend Wayne

Oh, you ice cream you
I got the goods on you
And your sweetie too
I caught you in the car … etc

Sittin' in a parlour, drinkin' Coca-Cola
We were spinnin' the wax
She put her hair up in rollers
She was a-filin' her nails on the davenport
When I thought she was ready for a little sport
I tripped on the rug, spilled my Coke in her hair
Split the seat of my britches, put my foot through a chair
And she said:

Oh, you Milk-Dud you
Had enough of you
And your Chevy too
Go home in your car
With the stars in your eyes … etc

Source: transcription from The Red Clay Ramblers 'Twisted Laurel' Flying Fish LP 030 [1976]

--Stewie.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE MERCHANT'S LUNCH (Red Clay Ramblers)
From: Stewie
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 09:38 PM

Some of these take my back a bit. I transcribed a couple of them for a little booklet for a workshop/entertainment called 'Acid Folk' for a national festival here in Oz back in the 1980s - 'Merchant's Lunch' and 'The Ace'. Even earlier, I transcribed 'The Hobo's Last Letter' for an workshop/entertainment with my mate, Paul Lawler, called 'The Outsider'.

THE MERCHANT'S LUNCH
(Tommy Thompson)

I took a walk
He was walkin' up and down Broadway
I was lookin'
Had an eye out for a swell café
I was hungry
He was soundin' for a bite to munch
I found a spot
He took a table at the Merchant's Lunch
Oh, the Merchant's Lunch, it was an ocean of gloom
It looked like half past midnight in the afternoon

Down by the bar
A rat-faced manager was pourin' suds
For the boys
Well-dressed cowboys in their goodwill duds
And the girls
A pride of pedal-pushin' pinball queens
Chewin' gum
In sweaty combat at the wizard machine
But the queen of them all lookin' big as a forge
Was Broadway Brenda and her derelict corps

I ordered a blue plate special
And peered out through the gloom
Just to see what class of citizens inhabited this gloom
And the hapless visages I saw were innocent of cheer
Though mirthless laughter filled the air
Inspired by wine and beer

From these helpless accidents of fortune's careless aim
Broadway Brenda rose upon her twin-sized, six-foot frame
I turned away to shun her eyes but I knew it was too late
A hand fell on my shoulder as my gaze fell on my plate

I looked her up and over
And she did the same to me
Her teeth were green
As green as garden peas
She shaked her hair
With dish pan fingertips
An earthquake of excitement
Shook her Krakatoan hips
Her hands went to her bosom
A hush fell on the crew
An acre of Brenda lay exposed to view

These fevered words, she whispered
As he gazed upon the scene
'It's a custom here at Merchant's Lunch
To entertain the queen'
I grabbed my hat
And, in an instant, he was on his feet
I was sober as a judge
Down at the county seat
He kept his diesel up to eighty
Way past Baton Rouge
Made it back to Beaumont for the evening news

He owns a wide-load rig
I pay thousands in tax
He's gonna keep it in Texas
I ain't leavin' for snacks
He's a drivin' fool
The interstate belongs to me
But I am never goin' back
Into the state of Tennessee
Oh, the Merchant's Lunch, it was an ocean of gloom
It looked like half past midnight in the afternoon

Source: transcription from Red Clay Ramblers 'The Merchant's Lunch' Flying Fish 055 [1977]

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 08:10 PM

Hmmm. Wahoo didn't turn up when I searched this morning, but it came up just now. I'm familiar with it because Garrison Keillor sings it on Prairie Home Companion. I had a friend from Wahoo, Nebraska. I think it's near Lincoln.
There's a thread on Hot Buttered Rum (click) that gives a better rendition of the lyrics. Unfortunately, our lyrics harvester picked the incorrect version from the same thread. Art Thieme has some interesting comments on the song here (click).
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 06:54 PM

The Digital Tradition also has WAHOO. It even has some verses that the Red Clay Ramblers didn't sing. I notice it's marked "@parody". Parody of what, I wonder?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: Joe_F
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 06:52 PM

One line in the DigiTrad version of "Hot Buttered Rum" is completely different from the version written by Thompson & sung by the Red Clay Ramblers. The first line of the last stanza should be

When burning embers in the darkness
Bring cold comfort...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 06:48 PM

Coincidence: I've been looking for "Merchant's Lunch" too, for a friend. I haven't found it on the Internet, so I might get the old vinyl LP out of my basement and transcribe it--unless someone else comes through with it soon.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 02:50 PM

Hi, Flatpick. We have a good number of Red Clay Ramblers songs, although I admit our search engines aren't working well enough to make finding them easy. Put Red Clay Ramblers into the Digitrad and Forum earch box and you should find at least some. The Digital Tradition has Hot Buttered Rum, although you should note that the song was written by Tommy Thompson. The DT also has Si Kahn's Aragon Mill. From you list, that's all I could find in the Digital Tradition.

We have a thread on Will You Miss Me, but I don't know if it's the one you're looking for. Mark Knopfler recorded a "Miss Me" song on the Notting Hillbillies CD, but I don't know if it's related.

I didn't find lyrics there, but no doubt you'll like this Red Clay Ramblers Website.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: Red Clay Ramblers Lyrics
From: Flatpik
Date: 02 Sep 02 - 02:23 PM

I'm having a hard time finding any Red Clay Rambler's lyrics. Anyone know of a site?

Hobo's Last Letter, Merchant's Lunch, I've Got Plans, Telephone Girl, Riding on the Chesapeake, Baby Grand, Hot Buttered Rum, Wahoo, Aragon Mill, The Ace, Will You Miss Me.

Thanks - Mike