Lyr Req: Altanta Blues

Subject: Lyr. Req: Altanta Blues
From: Richie
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 10:40 AM

Does anyone have W.C. Handy's "Atlanta Blues" lyrics, I believe the lyrics are by Dave Elman?

Song is best known as, "Make me a Pallet on Your Floor."

Also looking for Leake County Revelers version or Stripling Brothers version.

Richie

Subject: Lyr Add: MAKE ME A PALLET ON YOUR FLOOR
From: MMario
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 10:51 AM

this one? as sung by Sandy Denny

Make me a pallet on your floor
Make me a pallet on your floor
Make it soft, make it low, so your woman don't know
Make me a pallet on your floor.

Come all you good time friends of mine,
Come all you good time friends of mine.
When I had ten dollars, you treated me so fine
Where were you when I only had a dime.

Come on and make me a pallet on your floor
Make me a pallet on your floor
Make it soft, make it low, so your woman don't know
Make me a pallet on your floor.

I'll be more than satisfied,
If I could catch one train to ride
But if I reach Atlanta with no place to go,
Please make me a pallet on your floor

Make me a pallet on your floor
Make me a pallet on your floor
Make it soft, make it low, so your woman don't know
Make me a pallet on your floor.

I'm gonna make you a red-hot meal
Gonna make you a red-hot meal
To show you I appreciate all that you have done
When you make me a pallet on your floor.

Come on and make me a pallet on your floor
Make me a pallet on your floor
Make it soft, make it low, so your woman don't know
Make me a pallet on your floor.

Subject: RE: Lyr. Req: Altanta Blues
From: Sorcha
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 10:51 AM

I found part of the Handy, and
Sandy Denny,
Bob Dylan,
Jack McGann
The Cumberland Triop

Subject: Lyr Add: ATLANTA BLUES
From: masato sakurai
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 11:19 AM

ATLANTA BLUES (Make Me One Pallet on Your Floor)
By WC. Handy and Dave Elman

(Verse 1)
Up at Five Points talking Daddy an' me,
Just him an' me,
Just one square away from old Peach tree,
Peach tree.
Possession's nine points of the law it used to be,
It used to be,
Five and nine are Fourteen points, and yet they took
my man from me

(Verse 2)
In Atlanta, six long months to do the grind,
The Georgia grind,
Wonder if he's missing all he left behind,
Left behind.
For when I left him I said, Daddy I am through,
I'm through with you,
Now the name Atlanta makes me feel so blue,
I'm feeling blue.

(Chorus 1)
I know that I'd be satisfied,
If I could grab a train and ride,
If I make Atlanta with no place to go
Just make me one pallet on your floor.

(Chorus 2)
Give ev'rybody my regards
Comin' if I have to ride the rods,
I'll grab me an armful of train before you know
So make me one pallet on your floor

(PATTER)
Auburn avenue is where I'll go to lose
Those A-T-at AT-L-A-N-T-A Blues.
Atlanta Blues.

From: Blues: An Anthology, edited by W.C. Handy (1926; 1946; Macmillan, 1972, p. 190-192; with music)

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr. Req: Altanta Blues
From: Stewie
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 08:21 PM

Richie

The Leake County Revelers' version is an intrumental with occasional vocalising of the lines 'Make me a pallet right at your door' or 'Make me a pallet down on your floor' - it is titled 'Make Me a Bed on the Floor'. The Stripling Brothers' is strictly instrumental - titled 'Pallet on the Floor'. These are reissued on Document DOCD-8029 and DOCD-8008 respectively.

Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr. Req: Altanta Blues
From: CraigS
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 10:14 PM

I think those lyrics from Sandy Denny are from Mississippi John Hurt's version.

Subject: Lyr Add: MAKE ME A PALLET ON YOUR FLOOR (John Hurt
From: Richie
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 10:54 PM

Thanks Masato and all, that's what I was looking for. Thanks Stewie for the info about the other two, nothing I need to pursue.

Do you think Handy wrote it or just collected it, arranged it and gave it new life? Here is Mississippi John Hurt's version.

Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor: Mississippi John Hurt

Make me a *pallet on your floor
Make me a pallet on your floor
Make it soft, make it low,
so my good gal will never know
Make me a pallet on your floor

I'd be more than satisfied,
if I could reach that train and ride
If I reach Atlanta with no place to go,
Make me a pallet on your floor

Gonna give everybody my regards,
even if I have to ride the rods
If I reach Atlanta with no place to go,
make me pallet on your floor

*Pallet, a straw-filled tick or mattress or a small, hard, or temporary bed.

Notes: From Harry's Blues On-line

Subject: Lyr Add: LOST JOHNNY
From: Stewie
Date: 14 Dec 02 - 02:53 AM

LOST JOHNNY

Oh, I wonder where my lost Johnny's gone (x3)
Oh, he's gone to that new railroad
He's gone to that new railroad

Go make me a pallet on the floor (x3)
Believe I will eat morphine and die
Believe I will eat morphine and die

I'll go if I have to ride the rail (x3)
To the road where my Johnny is
To the road where my Johnny is

Source: collected by Harvey H. Fuson from Mrs Ethel Edwards. In Fuson 'Ballads of the Kentucky Highlands' London 1931 p 151. Reprinted in Duncan Emrich 'American Folk Poetry' Little Brown 1974 p 665.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr. Req: Altanta Blues
From: Richie
Date: 16 Dec 02 - 12:17 AM

Does anyone know if "Ain't No Tellin'" by Mississippi John Hurt is the same song as "Make Me A Pallet"?

I found one version that combines the lyrics of "Ain't No tellin'" with other "Make Me A Pallet" songs.

-Richie