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Lyr Req: Jim Crow Blues |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jim Crow Blues From: Bob the Postman Date: 29 Mar 06 - 08:15 PM "You never would see such a bright green girl If you searched all over creation" Big Bend Gal |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jim Crow Blues From: chico Date: 29 Mar 06 - 12:04 AM What does 'green girl' mean? And what town in alabama was he from? Apparently the Alabama Theological Seminary is in Northport, Alabama |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jim Crow Blues From: chico Date: 28 Mar 06 - 11:56 PM
[As sung by Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport (1894-1956), January, 1927 at Chicago, Illinois. Paramount 12439-B. Cow Cow Davenport is remembered most for his famous song "Cow Cow Blues" which is one of the earliest recorded examples of the Boogie-Woogie or Barrelhouse, as it's sometimes called. Davenport learned to play piano and organ in his father's church from his mother who was the organist and it looked like he was going to follow in the family footsteps until he was expelled from the Alabama Theological Seminary in 1911 for playing Ragtime at a church function. Davenport's early career revolved around carnivals and vaudeville. He toured TOBA with an act called Davenport and Company with Blues singer Dora Carr and they recorded together in 1925 and 1926. The act broke up when Carr got married. Davenport briefly teamed up with Blues singer Ivy Smith in 1928 and worked as a talent scout for Brunswick and Vocalion records in the late 1920s and played rent parties in Chicago. He moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1930 and toured the TOBA vaudeville circuit and recorded with Sam Price. In 1938 he suffered a stroke that left his right hand somewhat paralyzed and affected his piano playing for the rest of his life, but he remained active as a vocalist until he regained enough strength in his hand to play again. In the early 1940s Cow Cow briefly left the music business and worked as a washroom attendant at the Onyx Club on 52nd Street in New York. In 1942 Freddie Slack's Orchestra scored a huge hit with "Cow Cow Boogie" with vocals by seventeen year old Ella Mae Morse which sparked the Boogie-Woogie craze of the early 1940s; this led to a revival of interest in Davenport's music. He tried to make a "comeback" in the forties and fifties but his career was often interrupted by sickness. He died in 1955 of heart problems in Cleveland.] |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jim Crow Blues From: Brian Hoskin Date: 16 Jan 04 - 06:08 AM Jim, Yes! I believe you've got that right. I was checking the recording against a transcription by RR McLeod, who clearly has the first line of the third verse all wrong - can't believe I missed that first time round! Paul Oliver also offers a transcription, but doesn't even attempt to give the third verse. Brian |
Subject: Lyr Add: JIM CROW BLUES (from C Davenport) From: Jim Dixon Date: 16 Jan 04 - 12:02 AM Brian, I listened again, and I believe most of your suggestions are correct. Here is my revised set of lyrics: JIM CROW BLUES (As sung by Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport, 1927.) I'm tired of bein' Jim Crowed. Gon' leave this Jim Crow town. Doggone my black soul, I'm sweet Chicago bound. Yes, I'm leavin' here, from this ol' Jim Crow town. I'm going up north where they say money grows on trees. I don't give a doggone if my black soul do freeze. I'm going where I won't need no BVDs. I got a hat, got a ol' watch-coat. Don't need nothin' but you. These old easy-walkers gon' give my ankles the blues. But when that girlie hear 'bout this, Lord, that'll be sad news. I'm going up north. Baby, I can't carry you. Ain't nothing in that cold country a green girl can do. I'm gon' get me a northern girl. Baby, I am through with you. Lord, but if I get up there, weather don't suit, I don't find no brown, Go and tell that boss-man of mine, Lord, I'm ready to come back to my Jim Crow town. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jim Crow Blues From: Brian Hoskin Date: 14 Jan 04 - 05:03 AM I think that's pretty good Jim. I'd say verse two second line is: I don't give a doggone if my black soul should freeze. Verse 3: I gotta have that old welcome, don't need no sympathy. These old easy walkers gonna give my ankles the blues. Lord, when my girl hear about this, lord, that'll be bad news. verse 5: Lord, but if I get up there, weather don't suit, I don't find no brown, go and tell that bossman of mine, Lord, I'm ready to come back to my Jim Crow town. What do others think? Brian |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jim Crow Blues From: Jim Dixon Date: 13 Jan 04 - 11:40 PM Here's my attempt at transcribing from the sound file at the Red Hot Jazz site. (See link above.) There are several gaps and conjectural words. I welcome corrections or suggestions. JIM CROW BLUES (As sung by Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport, 1927.) I'm tired of being Jim Crowed. Gon' leave this Jim Crow town. Doggone my black soul, I'm sweet Chicago bound. Yes, I'm leavin' here, from this ol' Jim Crow town. I'm going up north where they say money grows on trees. I don't give a doggone if my black soul [freeze?]. I'm going where I won't need no BVDs. I got a hat, got a old [wash?] coat. Don't need nothin' but you. These old easy-walkers gon' give my ... But when my girlie hear 'bout this, Lord, that'll be sad news. I'm going up north. Baby, I can't carry you. Ain't nothing in that cold country a green girl can do. I'm gon' get me a northern girl. Baby, I am through with you. Lord, but I might get up there where the ... I don't find no ... Go and tell that boss-man I'm [back?]. Lord, I'm ready to come back to my Jim Crow town. [Leadbelly recorded a different song called Jim Crow Blues.] |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jim Crow Blues From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 12 Jan 04 - 12:59 PM Gurney, you are correct. The OED defines it as "an implement for bending or straightening iron rails by the pressure of a screw." It appeared in print in 1875 in England (Knight, Dict. Mechanics). No indication of its origin. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jim Crow Blues From: Gurney Date: 12 Jan 04 - 04:32 AM Thread Drift. Long ago when I was a coalmining lad, there was an instrument called a Jim Crow which was used for bending railway lines. I have sometimes wondered if it was named after a real person, perhaps a union leader. I could do a search, but it appeals more to ask if anyone knows. Do you? This was in England, by the way. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jim Crow Blues From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 11 Jan 04 - 07:39 PM Document Records, Complete works 1925-1929, Vol. 1, has Cow Cow's Jim Crow Blues. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jim Crow Blues From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 11 Jan 04 - 03:43 PM "Jim Crow Blues," sung by Charles 'Cow Cow' Davenport in 1927, can be heard at: Jim Crow Blues Lead Belly, Odetta and others had different versions. |
Subject: Lyr Req: Jim Crow Blues From: GUEST,TheOldMole Date: 11 Jan 04 - 02:05 PM Anyone have the lyrics? |
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