Lyr Req: Sweet Heaven When I Die (from Doc Watson)

Subject: LYR REQ. Sweet Heaven When I Die
From: Brian Hoskin
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 03:23 AM

Could someone please post the lyrics to this song, recorded by Doc Watson on 'Riding On That Midnight Train' album.

Thanks

Brian

Subject: RE: LYR REQ. Sweet Heaven When I Die
From: Ciaran
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 09:23 AM

Brian - have a look here:

http://members.aol.com/maxxdaddy/mw3/doc.txt

there is a song called Country Blues with lyrics and chords by Doc Watson which may be what you're after?

Slan go foill!

Subject: RE: LYR REQ. Sweet Heaven When I Die
From: Brian Hoskin
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 10:02 AM

Thanks Ciaran, but no that isn't the song I'm after. The song I want is definitely entitled 'Sweet Heaven When I Die'. It's a traditional song, also known as 'Beefsteaks when I'm Hungry', but it's the Doc Watson version I'm after - he sings three verses I can only remember two.

Brian

Subject: RE: LYR REQ. Sweet Heaven When I Die
From: Ciaran
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 11:59 AM

Ah well...maybe if you give some of the lyrics you do know, it could trigger something off?

Subject: RE: LYR REQ. Sweet Heaven When I Die
From: Dale Rose
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 12:14 PM

I would never want to knock anything by the good Doctor, but the definite version (opinion) is that of the Tenneva Ramblers~~Claude Grant, Jack Grant, Jack Pierce, and Claude Slagle on August 4, 1927. Up until the day before the recording took place, Jimmie Rodgers was a member of the group. They had a falling out over billing~~Pierce and the Grant brothers wanted "The Tenneva Ramblers", Rodgers wanted "The Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers". A compromise name, "Jimmie Rodgers with the Grant Brothers" was unacceptable as well, especially to Pierce, I would imagine. (Slagle did not join the group until after Rodgers defected, eventually to go on to fame and fortune, the Ramblers to their own small place in the history of country music.)

Anyway, I will post their lyrics later if no one comes up with the Watson version, which I would imagine derives from theirs anyway.

Subject: RE: LYR REQ. Sweet Heaven When I Die
From: Dale Rose
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 12:36 PM

Ciaran, it starts:

Greenbacks when I'm hard up
Whiskey when I'm dry
Beefsteak when I'm hungry
Sweet Heaven when I die.

And of course, I meant definitive, rather than definite.

Subject: RE: LYR REQ. Sweet Heaven When I Die
From: Ciaran
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 12:50 PM

Have a look at RYE WHISKEY and RYE WHISKEY (2) in the database - those along with the COUNTRY BLUES link that I posted earlier suggest that this song takes many forms.

So who's is the definitive ?

I feel a debate coming on !!

Subject: RE: LYR REQ. Sweet Heaven When I Die
From: Dale Rose
Date: 11 Feb 99 - 09:35 PM

I will have to retract my statement, at least as far as length goes. I found two 30 second clips of Doc Watson on the net, done many years apart. Both have phrases not included in the version by the Tenneva Ramblers in 1927, which is much more of an instrumental showpiece. The tune is the same, though.

I don't think Country Blues or Rye Whiskey are close relatives, though they do make use of some of those same "floating" verses found in so many of the old time songs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Heaven When I Die (from Doc Watson)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Oct 07 - 08:35 PM

SWEET HEAVEN WHEN I DIE is definitely not the same tune as RYE WHISKEY. I've been listening to sound samples, and I found these:

Doc Watson sings this on "Original Folkways Recordings: 1960-1962":

…They locked me down in the old hill house and my friends all passed me by.
Nobody came 'round to see about me and I couldn't help but wonder why.
Beefsteaks when I'm hungry….
Greenbacks when I'm hard up, sweet heaven when I die.

Pappy was a rambling man and he gambled from town to town….

The Blind Corn Liquor Pickers sing this on "Blind Corn Liquor Pickers"

…My father was hard-working man and he gambled from town to town
I'm gonna be a rounder, boy. Ain't never gonna settle down.
Beefsteaks when I'm hungry, something tall and cool when I'm dry.
Give me whiskey when the times are hard, sweet heaven when I die….

The Blue Dogs sing this on "Live at the Dock St. Theatre"

Honey, hold me when I'm sad and blue. Honey, cheer me if I cry….

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Heaven When I Die (from Doc Watson)
From: Brian Hoskin
Date: 29 Oct 07 - 05:44 AM

Hi Jim,

I didn't expect to see this thread resurrected, I'd forgotten I'd even made the request, but I did find the lyrics I was after eventually.

Brian

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Heaven When I Die (from Doc Watson)
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Oct 07 - 12:52 AM

Brian,

Can you please post them for the rest of us? Thanks!

Lin

Subject: Lyr Add: SWEET HEAVEN WHEN I DIE (from Doc Watson)
From: Brian Hoskin
Date: 30 Oct 07 - 09:32 AM

Lin, I can't remember where I eventually found these, but here's Doc's version


SWEET HEAVEN WHEN I DIE

Daddy was a hard workin' man
But he rambled from town to town
I'm gonna be a rounder, boys
'n Ain't never gonna settle down

(chorus)
Beefsteaks when I'm hungry
Something tall and cool when I'm dry
Give me green backs when the times are hard
Sweet heaven when I die

They locked me down in the old jailhouse
And my friends all passed me by
Nobody came around to see about me
And I couldn't help it wonder why

(chorus)

Love me when I'm sad and blue
Honey, cheer me if I cry
For all I really need is my sweet little gal
Who loves me till I die

(chorus)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet Heaven When I Die (from Doc Watson)
From: Peace
Date: 30 Oct 07 - 01:04 PM

The above should be a

LYRICS ADD