Lyr Add: Careless Love (various versions)

Subject: ADD Version: CARELESS LOVE (Riley Puckett)
From: Stewie
Date: 28 Mar 03 - 07:20 PM

Here is Riley Puckett's version of 'Careless Love'. It is interesting that he uses the 'a-many poor' expression rather than 'many a poor', as in the Bessie Smith version that is on foot in another thread.

CARELESS LOVE

Love, oh love, oh careless love
Love, oh love, oh love divine
You broke the heart of a-many poor boy
But you'll never break this heart of mine

Now love, oh love, that is untrue
Love, oh love, that is untrue
Love, oh love, that is untrue
It's hard to love someone that don't love you

You robbed me of my silver and my gold
You robbed me of my silver and my gold
You robbed me of my silver and my gold
But you can't rob me of my soul

Oh take me back to Caroline
Take me back to Caroline
Take me back to Caroline
To see that girl I left behind

Now on these railroad banks I stand
On these railroad banks I stand
On these railroad banks I stand
A-shooting at another man

Love, oh love, oh careless love
Love, oh love, oh love divine
You broke the heart of a-many poor boy
But you'll never break this heart of mine

Source: transcription from Riley Puckett 'Old-Time Greats Vol 2' Old Homestead OHCD-4174.    Riley recorded this twice: on 29 Oct 1931 (issued May 1932 as Co 15747-D) and on 29 March 1934 (issued in September 1934 as Bb B5532). There is no indication on the Old Homestead CD on which of these was the source of the reissue.

--Stewie.

Subject: ADD Version: CARELESS LOVE (Jimmie Tarlton)
From: Stewie
Date: 28 Mar 03 - 07:41 PM

CARELESS LOVE

Love, oh love, oh careless love
Love, oh love, oh careless love
You have broke the hearts of a-many poor girl
But you'll never break this heart of mine

Oh it's when my money you could blow
When my money you could blow
When my money you could blow
Love, you always hung around my door

Oh it's when my money you could spend
When my money you could spend
When my money you could spend
Now you'll pass my doorway and never look in

Must I go bound while you go free
Must I go bound while you go free
Must I go bound while you go free
Or to love some man, you don't love me

Love, I cried last night and the night before
I cried last night and the night before
I cried last night and the night before
But I'll never cry for you anymore

Oh it's give me back my gold and diamond ring
Give me back my gold and diamond ring
You have robbed me of my treasure, you robbed me of my gold
But I'll be doggoned if you can rob me of my soul

Source: Jimmie Tarlton 'Careless Love' recorded on 3 December 1930 in Atlanta, Georgia, and issued as Co 15651-D.   Transcription from booklet accompanying the box set Darby and Tarlton 'Complete Recordings' Bear Family BCD 15764 CI.

--Stewie.

Subject: ADD Version: CARELESS LOVE (Pop Stoneman)
From: Stewie
Date: 28 Mar 03 - 08:39 PM

This is how I hear Ernest V. Stoneman's version of 'Careless Love'. There are some blurry lines in this - suggested corrections anyone?

CARELESS LOVE

Love, oh love, oh careless love
Love, oh love, how can it be
Love, oh love, oh careless love
To love someone that don't love me

Captain, captain tell me true
Does my little Willie sail with you
Oh no, kind miss, he is not here
He lies in yonder deep I fear

Love, oh love, oh love is blind
Love, oh love, oh love is blind
Love, oh love, oh love is blind
To love someone that will never be mine

I cried last night just like a child
I cried the night before
I cried last night just like a little child
But I'm not a-gonna cry any more

Tell that captain as he goes past
Tell that captain as he goes past
Tell that captain as he goes past
That I have found little Willie at last

Mama, mama, yonder he goes
Mama, mama, yonder he goes
Mama, mama, yonder he goes
He does not have no suit of clothes

Love, oh love, oh careless love
Love, oh love, how can it be
Love, oh love, oh careless love
To love someone that don't love me

Source: Ernest V. Stoneman & The Dixie Mountaineers 'Careless Love' recorded on 24 April 1928 in NYC and issued as Ed 52386 in December 1928. Trancribed from reissue on Ernest V. Stoneman 'Edison Recordings 1928' County CD-3510.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Careless Love' (Jimmie Tarlton)
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 28 Mar 03 - 09:06 PM

Goodness, Stewie ~~ you're going to send me to my recordings to see if I have ANY versions you haven't posted!

Now you realize that there are a ton of good things by Darby & Tarlton that should be posted. I've been thinking about that for a good long while, but never do seem to get around to it. Those booklets do take a bit of the fun out of figuring out the words, though.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Careless Love' (Jimmie Tarlton)
From: Stewie
Date: 28 Mar 03 - 09:12 PM

Dale,

There seem to be dozens of them. Can you check the Pop Stoneman one that I posted? In particular, I am unsure of 'He does not have no suit of clothes'.

Regards, Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Careless Love' (Pop Stoneman)
From: michaelr
Date: 28 Mar 03 - 09:18 PM

Since we seem to be looking at several versions of the same song, shouldn't they be in the same thread? Namely, the older Bessie Smith one now running?

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Careless Love' (Jimmie Tarlton)
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 28 Mar 03 - 09:20 PM

I'll dig it out and look into it. Maybe tomorrow.

Oh, hey, I just happened to think of one ~~ Jim Glaser, in fact, that MAY be the first version I really paid attention to.   That was on a Starday LP, I still have it somewhere. A nice album, Frozen Logger, Dying Hobo,

Just went looking for a reference. Here it is, copy and paste.

SLP-158 - Just Looking For a Home - Jim Glaser & Americana Folk Trio [1962] Midnight Special/Boll Weevil/Poor Boy/Tom Dooley/Careless Love/Dark As a Dungeon/Worried Man Blues/Riddle Song/Bill Bailey/Dying Hobo/Erie Canal/Frozen Logger

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Careless Love' (Pop Stoneman)
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 28 Mar 03 - 09:23 PM

Threads should be combined.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Careless Love' (Pop Stoneman)
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 28 Mar 03 - 09:25 PM

I don't care one way or the other, just so we get'em. No big deal.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Careless Love' (Pop Stoneman)
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 28 Mar 03 - 09:49 PM

Why have to check a plethora of threads when one will do? A hell of a lot of other singers wailed this one out.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Careless Love' (Pop Stoneman)
From: Stewie
Date: 28 Mar 03 - 11:34 PM

Q,

I am just picking out some old-time versions that are reasonably different from one another. I might as well continue as I am going at the moment and, if he wishes, Joe can gather them together into whatever thread he considers appropriate. If any are deemed useful for the DT, they would be entered as discrete items anyway.

--Stewie.

---

I combined the threads. Generally, it seems that people like to see various versions all posted in the same thread, so they can compare versions more easily. I left the Bessie Smith "Careless" thread alone because it got rather involved in making out what's what, and combining it might be confusing.
Keep those versions coming, Stewie.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Add Version: CARELESS LOVE (Dock Boggs)
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 12:06 AM

Dock Boggs' version of 'Careless Love' is a composite from different singers, floaters and records. As Dock noted: '... I've heard it sung by people the country around, and an awful lot of different versions of it, and different words ... But I just picked it up from this, that and the other one, the verses I thought sounded best ... There's an awful lot of "Careless Love"; it's very easy to make a verse of "Careless Love". I don't know, some of the verses, I may have made them myself, that I sing'. [From booklet for 'Dock Boggs Vol 3' Asch Recordings AH 3903].

CARELESS LOVE

Oh love, oh love, oh careless love
Oh love, oh love, oh careless love, lord, lord
Love, oh love, oh careless love
You see what careless love has done

Oh when my money you could blow
Oh when my money you could blow, lord, lord
When my money you could blow
You was always hanging 'round my door

I wish to the lord that train would run
I wish to the lord that train would run, lord, lord
I wish to the lord that train would run
To carry me back where I came from

Oh now my money's all spent and gone
Oh now my money's all spent and gone, lord, lord
Oh now my money's all spent and gone
You pass my door and sing a song

I wish to the lord that train would run
I wish to the lord that train would run, lord, lord
I wish to the lord that train would run
To carry me back where I came from

Oh mama, mama, yonder he goes
Oh mama, mama, yonder he goes, lord, lord
Mama, oh mama, yonder he goes
With a brand new hat and a suit of clothes

Go place this ring upon his hand
Go place this ring upon his hand, lord, lord
Go place this ring upon his hand
To show to the world he's a married man

Go take this ring and put it on
Go take this ring and put it on, lord, lord
Take this ring and put it on
And think of me, oh when I'm gone

If I had listened to what mama said
If I had listened to what mama said, lord, lord
If I had listened to what mama said
I'd been at home in mama's bed

Oh love, oh love, oh careless love
Oh love, oh love, oh love, oh lord, lord, lord
Love, oh love, oh careless love
You see what careless love has done

You can pass my door, you can pass my gate
You can pass my door, you can pass my gate, lord, lord
You can pass my door, you can pass my gate
But you sure can't pass this thirty-eight

Oh love, oh love, oh careless love
Oh love, oh love, oh love, oh lord, lord, lord
Love, oh love, oh careless love
You see what careless love has done

Oh when I die don't bury me deep
Oh when I die don't bury me deep, lord, lord
Oh when I die don't bury me deep
Place a marble rock at my head and feet

Upon my breast place a lily-white dove
Upon my breast place a lily-white dove, lord, lord
Upon my breast place a lily-white dove
For to show the world I died for love

Oh love, oh love, oh careless love
Oh love, oh love, oh love, oh lord, lord, lord
Love, oh love, oh careless love
You see what careless love has done

Source: transcription in booklet accompanying 'Dock Boggs Vol 3' Asch Recordings AH 3903. This song has been reissued on the 2-CD set Dock Boggs 'His Folkways Years 1963-1968' Smithsonian/Folkways SF 40108.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Careless Love' (Various Versions)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 04:48 AM

Two sound recordings:

Careless Love - Asa Martin & James Roberts (from Honkingduck)

Careless Love - Kitty Wells (from The Record Lady's All-Time Country Favorites: Real Country Page 28)

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Careless Love' (Various Versions)
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 11:13 AM

Sorry, Stewie.   I seem to have mislaid my Ernest Stoneman. (I'm good at that) I'll try to look for it later. Today is BASKETBALL watching time. Dale

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Careless Love' (Various Versions)
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 08:43 PM

Sounds like me, Dale: if an album is put back in the wrong spot, it may never be found! Did those missing OTMs at the folklife centre ever turn up?

Cuje Bertram was a black fiddler/songster who had done some playing with Richard Burnett in the 1920s. Much of his repertoire seems to have come from the shared or white traditions. Some fine recordings of him were made at his home in Indianapolis in 1970 and appeared on 'Black Fiddlers: The Remaining Titles of Andrew & Jim Baxter, Nathan Frazier & Frank Patterson, and The Complete Recorded Works of Cuje Bertram' Document DOCD-5631. In his version of 'Careless Love', Boggs' .38 becomes a .44:

You pass my window and you pass my door (x3)
But you'll never pass this forty-four

Among the usual ones, he also has this stanza:

I love my dad and my mother too (x3)
I left my home on account of you

--Stewie.

Subject: ADD Version: CARELESS LOVE (Byrd Moore)
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 09:05 PM

There was a short but spirited recording of 'Careless Love' in 1929 by Byrd Moore & His Hotshots [Clarence Ashley and Clarence Greene].

CARELESS LOVE

Love, oh love, how can it be
Love, oh love, how can it be
Love, oh love, how can it be
To love someone that don't love me

I wish that eastbound train would run
I wish that eastbound train would run
I wish that eastbound train would run
And carry me back where I come from

I used to be a brakeman on a train
I used to be a brakeman on a train
I used to be a brakeman on a train
But now I wear a ball and chain

Never put a stranger from your door
Never put a stranger from your door
Never put a stranger from your door
If you do, you'll reap just what you sow


Source: Byrd Moore & His Hotshots recorded on 23 October 1929 in Johnson City, Tennessee, and issued as Columbia 15496-D in February 1930. Transcription from reissue on Various Artists 'A Collection of Mountain Songs' County LP 504. Byrd Moore & His Hotshots had recorded the song in 1928 for Gennett in Richmond, Ind, and that was issued as Gnt 6824 in June 1929.

--Stewie.

Subject: Lyr Add: TIMES AIN'T LIKE THEY USED TO BE (Ashley)
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 09:23 PM

Clarence 'Tom' Ashley recorded it with Gwen Foster under the title of 'Times Ain't Like They Used To Be' and, not surprisingly, it shared stanzas with the Byrd Moore recording. This title has inspired a series of rural music compilations in the Yazoo 2000 series - they are up to volume 6 now with this title.

TIMES AIN'T LIKE THEY USED TO BE

Times ain't like they used to be
Times ain't like they used to be
Times ain't like they used to be
Carry me back to Tennessee

I wish that eastbound train would run
I wish that eastbound train would run
I wish that eastbound train would run
And carry me back where I come from

Times ain't like they used to be
Times ain't like they used to be
Times ain't like they used to be
Carry me back to Tennessee

I used to be a brakeman on the train
I used to be a brakeman on the train
I used to be a brakeman on the train
Now I have to wear this ball and chain

Source: Tom Ashley & Gwen Foster 'Times Ain't Like They Used To Be' recorded on 8 September 1933 in NYC and issued as Vocalion 02554 in December 1933. Transcribed from reissue on Clarence 'Tom' Ashley 'Greenback Dollar' County CO-CD-3520.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Careless Love' (Various Versions)
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 09:26 PM

Cleoma Falcon recorded it for Decca in New Orleans in December 1936 under the title 'L'Amour Indifferent - One Step'. Does anyone have a copy of that?

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Careless Love' (Various Versions)
From: GUEST,Dale
Date: 29 Mar 03 - 11:11 PM

About Cleoma's recording, I have a pretty good contact in the Cajun community, Stewie. I'll check with her.

About the OFC things, we have had some problems here and there, but are getting there. I'll email you on that and L'Amour Indifferent - One Step ~~ possibly tomorrow between games.

And now back to basketball ~~ grudge matchup between Texas Tech and New Mexico coming up. . .    Dale

Subject: Lyr Add: I FELL IN LOVE WITH A MARRIED MAN
From: Stewie
Date: 30 Mar 03 - 05:16 PM

Thanks, Dale.

Norman Woodlieff turned it into a cautionary tale worthy of Blind Alfred Reed, with some tasty fiddle backing by Posey Rorer.

I FELL IN LOVE WITH A MARRIED MAN

Oh girls, there's something troubling me
Oh girls, there's something troubling me
I'll tell you what the trouble is
I fell in love with a married man

Oh what a careless girl I've been
Oh what a careless girl I've been
Oh I know it was a sin
To fall in love with a married man

Oh how hard it was to part
It broke my sad and aching heart
Oh how hard it was to part
From the one that you love best

It's love, it's love, oh careless love
As sure as the stars shine above
It's love, oh girls, it's careless love
To fall in love with a married man

I'll never do it any more
And cause my poor heart to be sore
It's only once is enough for me
To fall in love with a married man

It's love, it's love, oh careless love
As sure as the stars shine above
So girls forever you'll be sad
If you fall in love with a married man

I'll never do it any more
And cause my poor heart to be sore
It's only once is enough for me
To fall in love with a married man

Source: Norman Woodlieff 'I Fell In Love With a Married Man' recorded on 20 March 1929 in Richmond, Ind, and issued in June 1929 as Gennett 6824. Transcribed from reissue on Various Artists 'Cotton Mills and Fiddles' Flyin' Cloud Records FC-014.

--Stewie.

Subject: ADD Version: Careless Love (Ritchie)
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)
Date: 30 Mar 03 - 07:26 PM

From Ky. in the 1920s:

CARELESS LOVE

Love O love, O careless love,
Love O love, O careless love,
Love O love, O careless love,
You see what love has done to me.

Gone and broke this heart of mine,(3x)
It'll break that heart of yours sometimes.

Sorrow, sorrow to my heart, (3x)
When me and my truelove must part.

Once I wore my apron low, (3x)
I could not keep you from my door.

Now I wear my apron high, (3x)
You pass my door and go on by.

I cried last night and the night before, (3x)
I'll cry tonight and cry no more.

O how I wish that train would come, (3x)
And take me back where I come from.

Love O love (repeat first verse to close)


Note: Some of the other verses given above worked themselves in over the years since then, but these are our basic verses.      

In the '50's, I sang with and recorded Jeannie Robertson, in Aberdeen. To my surprise she had a song which had some of these verses, among others we didn't have. One of her "matching" verses:

O it's when my apron it bided low,
My true love followed through frost and snow;
But noo my apron it is tae my chin-
And he passes my door, but he'll nae spier in.

Jean

Subject: ADD Versions: CARELESS LOVE (from Vance Randolph)
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 30 Mar 03 - 08:57 PM

Many versions and several tunes....:
These from Randolph, Ozark Folksongs, vol. 4.

---

CARELESS LOVE

I'm lonely, lonely tonight,
Nobody cares no more for me,
He has gone from me to another little girl
And won't come back no more,
Love, oh love, yes careless love,
Can't you see what careless love can do?
It has broken the heart of many a poor girl
And I'm sure it will break this heart of mine.

Sometimes I think that I will leave
And never come back any more,
But when the time comes for me to start
I will not worry any more.

Go hand me down my old valise,
And bundle up my dirty clothes,
And if my momma asks about me
Just tell her I'm sleeping out of doors.

Goodbye, goodbye, now we must part,
I know indeed it'll break my heart,
But since you care no more for me
Just go to the one that you love best.

Sung by Miss Grace Hahn, Fayetteville, Arkansas, 1941. With music.

---

CARELESS LOVE B

Come my little pink and tell me what you think,
You're a long time making up your mind,
I truly understand that you love another man,
And folks tell me that your heart ain't mine.

I don't like to work, but I love to keep time,
-------------------------
I do love to hear the dinner horn blow,
But I feel like I got no home.

Hand me down my suitcase and all my dirty clothes,
I'm a-going away for to stay,
And if she comes to see me while I'm gone
Just tell her I'm a-sleeping in the clay.

One white shirt is all I got,
One dollar is all I crave,
I didn't bring nothing to this here world,
And I won't take nothing to my grave.

Lance Howard, Webb City, MO, 1923. Like the above but lacks the "Careless Love" refrain.

---

CARELESS LOVE

Love, oh love, oh careless love (2 times)
It's love, oh love, oh careless love,
You see what love has done for me.

It's a shame we ever met (3 times)
For those good times we'll never forget.

Now my money's spent and gone (3 times)
You pass my door a-singing a song.

Oh I love my mamma and my papa too (3 times)
But I'd leave them both and go with you.

Oh I cried last night and the night before (3 times)
Going to cry tonight, then I'll cry no more.

Ain't this enough to break my heart, (3 times)
To see my man with another sweetheart?

Oh it's done and broke this heart of mine, (3 times0
And it'll break that heart of yours sometime.

Mrs. Lillian Short, Galena, MO, 1942.

The above all from Vance Randolph, vol. 4, pp. 306-308.

Also see Max Hunter, two versions.

Subject: ADD Version: Careless Love (Max Hunter Collection)
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Mar 03 - 09:20 PM

CARELESS LOVE

Love, oh love, Oh careless love (2 times)
See what careless love can do.

I love my mama and my papa too (2 times)
But I'd leave them both to go with you.

Onve I wore my apron low
Couldn't keep you from my door.

Now my apron strings won't pin (2 times),
You pass me by but won't come in,
See what careless love can do.

Bill Greer, Springfield, MO, 1967, with Real Audio.
Careless Love
Also see version sung by Max Hunter

Subject: ADD Version: JEALOUS LOVE (Max Hunter Collection)
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 30 Mar 03 - 09:37 PM

JEALOUS LOVE

Love, love, o jealous love, (3 times)
(Lord, Lord, sung at end of 2nd line)
You see what it has done for me.

It'll cause you weep, it'll cause you t'mourn, (3 times)
(Lord, Lord after second line)
It'll cause you to lose your friends at home.

I knew he'd do me this away, (3 times)
(Lord, Lord after 2nd line)
Those sweet red lips he would betray.

Papa, 'way yonder he goes (3 times)
(Lord, Lord---)
Go and bring him to me.

There's a certain little house right here in this town (3 times)
(Lord, Lord ---)
He rides up to and he gets right down.

He takes that other girl on his knee (3 times)
(Lord, Lord--)
And he tells to her what he won't tell me.

He loves her best an' I know why (3 times)
(Lord, Lord,---)
She's got some gold and silver nigh.

Gold will melt and silver will fly (3 times)
(Lord, Lord ---)
No one loves him as well as I.

Sung by Fran Majors, Wichita, Kansas, 1963
With Real Audio. Jealous Love

Subject: ADD fragment: Careless Love (Randolph-Legman)
From: Stewie
Date: 04 Apr 03 - 02:25 AM

Randolph also has the following fragment from an elderly gentleman, Mr J.E. Webster Groves, Missouri 8 April 1948. He learned it about 1880:

What will Mammy say to me
What will Mammy say to me
What will Mammy say to me
When I go home with a big bell-ee?

I'll tell her to hold her tongue
I'll tell her to hold her tongue
I'll tell her to hold her tongue
She loved pecker when she was young

[Vance Randolph (Ed G.Legman) 'Blow the Candle Out: Unprintable Ozark Folksongs and Folklore Vol II' Uni Arkansas Press, 1992, p 647'.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Careless Love' (Various Versions)
From: Max
Date: 01 Nov 04 - 09:50 PM

Anyone know of the Gary Davis version? I have a tab for it, but I can't find an album of his where he does it.

Subject: ADD Version: Careless Love (Perrow)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Nov 06 - 08:05 PM

CARELESS LOVE
Perrow; MS of 1909, Mississippi Whites

I'm going to leave you now;
I'm going ten thousand miles.
If I go ten million more,
I'll come back to my sweetheart again.

Chorus:
Love, oh, love! 'tis careless love
Love, oh, love! 'tis careless love
You have broken the heart of many a poor boy,
But you will never break this heart of mine.

I cried last night when I came home (twice)
I cried last night and night before;
I'll cry tonight, then I'll cry no more.

Who will shoe your pretty feet?
And who will glove your hand?
Who will kiss your red rosy cheeks?
When I am in that far-off land? (1)

"Pa will shoe my pretty little feet;
Ma will glove my hand;
You may kiss my red rosy cheeks,
When you come from that far-off land."


(1) Similar to Child No. 76.
Last two verses obviously added from other songs.

E. C. Perrow, 1915, Songs and Rhymes from the South, Part III, VIII, no. 3, JAF vol. 28, pp. 129-190.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Careless Love' (Various Versions)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Nov 06 - 08:29 PM

"Kelly's Love," from Odum, 1911, collected from Blacks, was posted by Ritchie in thread 96684: Af-Am folksong

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Careless Love (various versions)
From: Richie
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 07:43 PM

Hi,
Hi,

I've been doing paintings of bluegrass and traditional songs. Here's my painting of Careless Love on my blog:

http://richardmattesonsblog.blogspot.com/

There are some other paintings that I'd like to share on other threads but I don't know how to reference the painting without the whole blog. Anyone know how?

Hope you like it.

Richie

Subject: ADD Version: Careless Love (unknown source)
From: Joe_F
Date: 03 Oct 08 - 09:36 PM

I can no longer remember where I learned this version, but it is a little different, so I'll throw it in the pot:

CARELESS LOVE

Love, oh love, oh careless love,...
See what love has done to me.

Once I wore my apron low,
Couldn't keep you from my door.

Then I wore my apron high,
Hardly saw you passing by.

Now my apron's up to my chin,
You pass my door, but you won't come in.

You pass my door, you pass my gate,
But you won't get past my thirty-eight.

What, oh what will mama say
When I come home the family way?

She'll bite her lips and hold her tongue --
She did the same when she was young.

What, oh what will papa say?
He ain't my real pa anyway.

The apron stanzas are of course floaters, occurring e.g. in Dink's Song as well.

Subject: ADD Version: Careless Love (Sandburg)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 06:11 PM

This version is from Carl Sandburg's 1927 American Songbag, (page 21)

CARELESS LOVE

Love, oh love, oh careless love,
Love, oh love, oh careless love,
It's love, oh love, oh careless love,
You see what love has done for me.

Sorrow, sorrow, to my heart,
Sorrow, sorrow, to my heart,
Sorrow, sorrow, to my heart,
When me and my true love have to part.

It's a pity that we ever met,
It's a pity that we ever met,
It's a pity that we ever met,
For those good times we'll never forget.

Now my money's spent and gone,
Now my money's spent and gone,
Now my money's spent and gone,
You passed my door a-singing a song.

Oh I love my mama and my papa too,
Oh I love my mama and my papa too,
Oh I love my mama and my papa too,
But I'd leave them both and go with you.

Oh I cried last night and the night before,
Oh I cried last night and the night before,
Oh I cried last night and the night before,
Going to cry to-night and I'll cry no more.

Oh ain't it enough to break my heart,
Oh ain't it enough to break my heart,
Oh ain't it enough to break my heart,
To see my man with another sweetheart.

Oh it's done and broke this heart of mine,
Oh it's done and broke this heart of mine,
Oh it's done and broke this heart of mine,
And it'll break that heart of yours some time.

Sandburg's notes: This poem, trying to ease heartbreak, uses the simplest of words. They go to a soft, brave melody. R. W. Gordon, from whose handsome collection this comes, says it reckons among authentic folk fabrics; he has heard it with slight variations in several southern regions. Its lyric cry is brief, poignant as Sappho. Its measures are close to silence and to art "to be overheard rather than heard."

Subject: Origins: Careless Love
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 06:14 PM

Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:

Careless Love

DESCRIPTION: A young girl's lament for having loved unwisely, worrying what her mother will say when the girl returns home, wearing her apron high (i. e. pregnant).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (JAFL)
KEYWORDS: sex seduction pregnancy lament
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Randolph 793, "Careless Love" (3 texts, 1 tune. The "B" text is, however, derived mostly from other materials -- it does not even have the "Careless Love" refrain -- of which "Little Pink" seems to be the most important)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 498-500, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 793A)
Randolph-Legman II, pp. 648-650, "Careless Love" (2 texts)
Warner 167, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hudson 13, pp. 91-93, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (1 fragments, of which "A" is the "Pretty Little Foot" with a chorus from "Careless Love" and "B" is two "Pretty Little Foot" stanzas artificially and wrongly extracted from "Wild Bill Jones")
Sandburg, p. 21, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 20, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 309, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 901-902, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
MWheeler, pp. 89-90, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 138-139, "(Careless Love)" (fragments of two texts); pp. 272-273, "Careless Love" (1 tune, partial text)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 11, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Handy/Silverman-Blues, p. 55-57, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune, with a verse from "Free Little Bird" and others added by blues composers)
Silber-FSWB, p. 163, "Careless Love" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 162-163, "Careless Love"
DT, CARELOVE*
Roud #422
RECORDINGS:
Slim Barton & Eddie Mapp, "Careless Love" (QRS R-7088, 1929)
Dock Boggs, "Careless Love" (on Boggs3, BoggsCD1)
Anne, Judy & Zeke Canova, "Reckless Love" (Oriole 8044/Perfect 12685/Regal 10299, 1931)
[Tom] Darby & [Jimmie] Tarlton, "Careless Love" (Columbia 15651-D, 1931; rec. 1930)
Delmore Brothers, "Careless Love" (Bluebird B-7436, 1938)
Johnny Dodds w. Tiny Parham, "Careless Love" (Paramount 12483, 1927)
Fats Domino, "Careless Love" (Imperial 5145, 1951)
Four Southern Singers, "Careless Love" (Bluebird B-8392, 1940; rec. 1933)
Blind Boy Fuller, "Careless Love" (Vocalion 03457, 1937/Conqueror 9012, 1937/Melotone 8-02-66, 1938; rec. 1937)
W. C. Handy, "Careless Love" (AFS 1620 B3, 1938)
Ed Hudson, "Careless Love" (Champion 16464, 1932/Champion 40086, 1936; rec. 1931)
Johnson Brothers, "Careless Love" (Victor 20940, 1927)
Lonnie Johnson, "Careless Love" (OKeh 8635, 1928)
Lulu Johnson, "Careless Love Blues" (Vocalion 1193, 1928; Supertone S-2227, 1931; [as Lulu Williams] Banner 32387/Oriole 8119/Perfect 195/Romeo 5119, all 1932; all of these rec. 1928)
Ruth Johnson, "Careless Love" (Paramount 13060, 1931)
Asa Martin, "Careless Love" (Melotone 5-11-63/Oriole 5-11-63 [as by "Martin & Roberts"], 1935)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Careless Love" (Vocalion 5125, 1927)
Brownie McGhee, "Careless Love" (on McGhee01, DownHome)
Byrd Moore & his Hot Shots, "Careless Love" (Columbia 15496-D, 1929)
Eva Parker, "Careless Love" (Victor V-38020, 1929; rec. 1928)
Riley Puckett, "Careless Love" (Columbia 15747-D, 1932; rec. 1931) (Bluebird B-5532/Montgomery Ward M-4507, 1934)
Pete Seeger, "Careless Love" (on PeteSeeger18)
Bessie Smith, "Careless Love Blues" (Columbia 14083-D, 1925) (Columbia 3172-D/Parlophone [UK] R-2479, 1938 -- I'm going to guess this is a different (electrical) recording from 14083-D)
Ernest V. Stoneman, "Careless Love" (Edison 52388, 1928) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5530, 1928)
Georgia White, "Careless Love" (Decca 7419, 1938)
Lee Wiley, "Careless Love" (Decca 132, 1934)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Butcher Boy" [Laws P24] (floating lyrics)
cf. "Waly Waly (The Water is Wide)"
cf. "Dink's Song" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Every Night When the Sun Goes In" (floating lyrics)
cf. "I Have No Loving Mother Now" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
I Have No Loving Mother Now (Kelly Harrell & Henry Norton, Victor 20935, 1927; on KHarrell02)
Loveless Love (Noble Sissle & his Sizzling Syncopators, Pathe 20493, 1921; Katherine Handy, Paramount 12011, 1922; Alberta Hunter w. Henderson's Dance Orch., Paramount 12018, 1922; Billie Holiday, OKeh 6064, 1941; Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys, Vocalion 04387, 1938)
Notes: The "Loveless Love" lyrics seem to have been written by W. C. Handy in 1921, using the tune and structure of "Careless Love". He also seems to have claimed "Careless Love" at times, but in other contexts he called it a folk song. So do I. One online biography of Handy called it an 18th-century English folk song ("Dear Companion"?) which by the early 1800s had become a Black rivermen's song. No references, unfortunately. But Wheeler associates the song with the Ohio packet Dick Fowler, running between Cairo and Paducah. - PJS
File: R793

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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Careless Love (various versions)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Sep 10 - 07:57 PM

Perrow's MS of 1909 (see above, post of 24 Nov. 06) is a little earlier than Odum's (1911), both first posted in JAFL.
Odd that the Trad. Ballad Index mentions neither collector by name nor includes citation of their important versions in References.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Careless Love (various versions)
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Oct 12 - 07:41 PM

Does anyone have joe thompson's lyrics from his Family Traditions recording?

G.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Careless Love (various versions)
From: GUEST,Autoharper
Date: 15 Oct 12 - 08:43 PM

Grieve, Oh Grieve (19th Century Texas Folksong)

Oh grieve oh grieve, my true love grieve
Must I love someone that don't love me?
Must I go bound while you go free
And love somebody that don't love me?

Oh, dig my grave, oh, dig it deep
With marble slab at head and feet
And on my breast a tur-tle dove
To show this world that I died for love.

Adieu, adieu, kind friends adieu
I can no long-er stay with you,
I'll hang my harp on the willow tree
To show the world that I died for thee

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Careless Love (various versions)
From: GUEST,Joseph Scott
Date: 19 Jun 15 - 12:54 PM

"Perrow's MS of 1909 (see above, post of 24 Nov. 06) is a little earlier than Odum's (1911)...." No: Odum collected in 1905-1908 and published in 1911; Perrow published in 1915.

https://ourblues.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/odum2.pdf

http://www.horntip.com/html/books_&_MSS/1910s/1912-1915_songs_from_the_south_(articles)/part_3/index.htm

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Careless Love (various versions)
From: Western Trails
Date: 08 Nov 16 - 12:42 AM

Does anyone else hear a resemblance with Jack Guthrie's "I'm a-Brandin my Darlin' with my Heart"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYxl370qXLw

Are there any other songs that use this tune, or a similar one?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Careless Love (various versions)
From: GUEST,cnd
Date: 08 Nov 16 - 02:02 AM

Not exactly the difference you're looking for, but the Merlefest album from a couple years ago (2013-2014 I think) had Careless Love on it and if you downloaded it to your computer, the title went in as "Carless" Love, which I've always found to be a little ironic given the title of the song.

Answering your question, Western Trails, I can definitely hear the similarities, but a lot of old songs (don't even have to be old, per se) are close in rhythm and words. As Coe points out, "I'm thinking tonight of my blue eyes concerning the great speckled bird. I didn't know god made honky-tonk angels and went back to the wild side of life"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Careless Love (various versions)
From: Western Trails
Date: 08 Nov 16 - 09:41 PM

cnd, weren't some of those songs consciously based on each other?