Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?

Subject: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 03 Oct 05 - 03:46 PM

I'm trying to work up the nerve to start busking again after a layoff of about 35 years.

I figure I can put a "Katrina Evacuee" sign in my (borrowed) guitar case, set up shop in major commuter-rail junctions here in the NJ/NY area (e.g. Newark Penn Station), and develop an all-New-Orleans repertoire (plus, mayby, some additional songs on themes of homelessness, loss, etc., such as "Wayfaring Stranger," Like A Rollintg Stone," ...). Donations should start pouring in right away.

Yeah, I know, it probably doesn't qualify as "folk music," but I really do need to learn how to perform "Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans" ~ even if I don't "go commercial" with it. I'm drawing a blank when I try to figure out a set of chords.

More song suggestions are welcome, too.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?
From: Peace
Date: 03 Oct 05 - 06:44 PM

Lyrics and chords here, PG.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 03 Oct 05 - 06:53 PM

Allmusic.com lists 277 recordings of DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO MISS NEW ORLEANS. Louis Armstrong's seems to be the most famous.

The entry at Indiana University Sheet Music Collection seems to indicate there is a missing verse. Also, it gives a shorter title.

Title: NEW ORLEANS
Composer: Alter, Louis
Name: De Lange, Eddie
Role: L
Publisher: Edwin H. Morris & Company, Inc.
Place of publication: New York
Date of publication: 1946
Call Number: M1 .D48 Box: 231 Item: 031
Performance Medium: Piano, Voice and Chords
First Line: I never had this kinda feelin', with a draggin' heart
Chorus First Line: Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans

The Songwriters Hall of Fame says it was written for the 1946 film "New Orleans."

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?
From: M.Ted
Date: 03 Oct 05 - 07:03 PM

PoppaGator--the Guitar Guys chords are almost always wrong(how he manages, I don't know)--let me look around and I'll find you some good ones--

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?
From: Peace
Date: 03 Oct 05 - 07:42 PM

Or try these, PG.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N
From: Bard Judith
Date: 03 Oct 05 - 09:48 PM

Extras for the playlist:

I'm 500 Miles from My Home

The Emigrant's Lament

Leaving the Land


And if I may suggest this without sounding too dreadfully facetious, you could try writing new words for the classic "House of the Rising Sun"...

Was there not another recent request for N.O.-themed songs on this forum? (furrows brow, tries to think)

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?
From: M.Ted
Date: 03 Oct 05 - 11:45 PM

Dems de ones, Peace! Saved me a bit of searching through the files.    If you need suggestions about playing the chords, PG, I'll work out some fingerings. That G+ gives it a very nice sound--

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 26 Oct 05 - 04:30 PM

I thought I posted a reply yesterday, but it ain't here...

Still not online at the house; using the libarary for occasional surfing.

I've been back to New Orleans since my last visit to Mudcat, and as soon as I had returned to New Jersey, my wife took off for her first visit home. Things are a mess down there ~ very hard to describe. We'll probably continue to take turns, one of us working on cleanup back home while the other is on solo caregiver duty up north here with my mom. So, no way I can go out busking.

I do intend to get this song worked up, though. I found a chord chart on the Web (which I needed ~ I'd never even heard of a G-plus before!). I can't remember the tune for the introductory verse, but I'll find a way to give it a listen sometime. Any pointers are, of course, welcome.

More later...

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?
From: M.Ted
Date: 26 Oct 05 - 07:06 PM

I am putting together some simply chord fingerings for you, PG--with explanations--it'll take me a little time, though, as I am kind of booked--tomorrow or som they should be here--

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?
From: GLoux
Date: 27 Oct 05 - 08:58 AM

[thread creep]

Poppagator,

When you returned home, were you able to find your guitar?

-Greg

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?
From: BanjoRay
Date: 27 Oct 05 - 08:03 PM

I hope this works

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?
From: Auggie
Date: 27 Oct 05 - 10:03 PM

It works really well, folks. What it is, is a link by Banjo Ray to Rob Lumbard's MP3 version of Do You Know What It Means.

Definately sweet and worth a listen. Thanks B Ray

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 29 Oct 05 - 01:06 PM

Ooops ~ it really isn't thread creep at all; I certainly should have let you all know that I found my D-18 in its case, on my bed, untouched, and even in tune (or close enough). I've got it with me here in New Jersey now.

The high-water mark was literally at our doorstep, no more than an inch or two below the floor of our home. We do have a ground-level "basement" that is a terrible moldy mess which will take a while to clean out, but we're fortunate that ours was built as a "raised house," raised just exactly high enough, as it happened. The original owner built it himself in 1914 when he got home from WWI, and he apparently knew what he was doing. Most of our neighbors are not so fortunate; their homes are on piers two or three feet high, and the flood was just a little less than eight feet on our block.

I'm still using the library's computers, which means I can't play the sound clip. I'll have DSL hooked up at the house soon (hopefully before leaving for a second trip south on Tuesday morning) and will give it a listen.

Great song, isn't it?

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?
From: GUEST,Wesley S
Date: 29 Oct 05 - 05:03 PM

Great news about the guitar. I have a 1967 D-18 and I know how I would feel if I lost it. I glad it - and the house - are alright.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?
From: Ebbie
Date: 29 Oct 05 - 06:17 PM

PoppaGator, start a new thread on finding your guitar! I guarantee we'll be most happy for you. I'm sure many of us have wondered and worried about it.

I am thrilled for you.

Eb

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Do You Know What It Means to Miss N.O.?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 27 Dec 05 - 11:30 PM

Sorry it's been so long, y'all...

It's way too cold to go out busking now, at least for someone like me who fled to warmer climes so many years ago. But I have learned this song pretty thoroughly; in fact, it's just about all I ever play these days ~ just difficult enough that it remains a bit of a challenge each time I pull the guitar out of its case, at least until I get my fingers thoroughly warmed up!

I still haven't learned that introductory "verse," because none of the recordings I've heard (including the performance linked-to in this thread) include it. But that's OK: since nobody else seems to bother with the verse, I don't have to use it either.

To those who asked for more info on my guitar's survival and my own: I've been working offline on a brief-as-possible summary of my bizarre experiences since Katrina, for this and other online communities in which I participate. Still not complete and ready for public consumption, unfortunately ~ one major reason is that I've become much less motivated, and less able, to read and write like I used to, after months of 24-7 "caregving" for my severely demented mother. We recently moved Mom out of the house and into a very nice assisted-living facility, so I'm on the road to recovery, but still not quite up to the task of creating a nice succinct-but-inclusive autobiographical essay.

Back on the first day I opened this thread, Bard Judith suggested:

And if I may suggest this without sounding too dreadfully facetious, you could try writing new words for the classic "House of the Rising Sun"...

Actually, I've given some thought to the task of writing new lyrics for an existing foksong classic, but not that one ~ what I have in mind is something I already love to play instrumentally, to wit: "Lakes of Pontchartrain"...

"One stormy August afternoon / We left New Orleans behind..."

(Four months after beginning our exodus, that's as far as I've gotten... But it is a pretty good idea, no?)