17 Aug 07 - 07:27 PM (#2128278) Subject: Lyr Req: Ain't It Hell Boys From: GUEST,Bob Coltman On a thread five years ago there was a reference to a song called "Ain't It Hell Boys," by the Smoky Mountain Ramblers. It was said to be related to "Late Last Night When Willie Come Home" (and thus, I suppose, to "Come On My Pink / My Pretty Little Pink" and so on). But I've never heard "Ain't It Hell Boys." Can anyone post the lyrics and give some idea as to the tune? Thanks, Bob |
17 Aug 07 - 07:52 PM (#2128282) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ain't It Hell Boys From: 12-stringer (chorus) Ain't it hell, hell, ain't it hell, oh, boys To love one that never did love you. Ain't it hell, hell, ain't it hell, oh, boys, To love one that never would be true. It was late last night when I took morphine Just to drive my blues away. If it had not of been for the best friend on earth In hell I'd have been today. I had a reel-to-reel dub of this in the early 70s, long since lost. My interest at the time was largely in repertoire-building, and the verse (and chorus) were the only ones in the song that weren't essentially the same as in UDM. I'm embarrassed now to say that in those days I'd never heard the Skip James version -- had never heard Skip James at all. But this is another version of "Drunken Spree/Late Last Night," melodically and lyrically. |
18 Aug 07 - 06:42 AM (#2128460) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ain't It Hell Boys From: GUEST,Bob Coltman Thanks, 12-stringer. The chorus is close to Woody Guthrie's "Hard, Ain't It Hard." In fact it seems to sing easier to the "Hard, Ain't It Hard" melody than it does to "Late Last Night." Makes me wonder if Woody heard the Ramblers' record, took out the word hell, merged the chorus lyric with verses from "Tavern In the Town," and made a new song out of it. Is the melody identical to "Late Last Night"? Bob |
18 Aug 07 - 03:06 PM (#2128717) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ain't It Hell Boys From: 12-stringer Yeah, it's the same melody as "Late" -- not note-for-note, but recognizable as soon as it kicks in with that I-IV-IV-I. |
18 Aug 07 - 03:08 PM (#2128722) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ain't It Hell Boys From: Joe Offer What's UDM, 12-stringer? Any chance you can reconstruct the entire song, even if it repeats parts of other songs? I hate to see it all alone here with just one verse and the chorus. -Joe- |
18 Aug 07 - 06:57 PM (#2128838) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ain't It Hell Boys From: 12-stringer "UDM" is Uncle Dave Macon. Sorry, I haven't heard the Smoky Mtn Ramblers recording since abt 1973, and though most of it corresponds to "Late Last Night," I don't remember which verses. I lifted the chorus and the morphine verse for my own put-together "Late," which I originally learned hearing the McGee Bros do it on the Opry in the middle 60s. The 78 is fairly rare, since it was issued in the middle of the Depression and not that many potential buyers had the 75 cents to spend on a record. A l'autre main, this site has 2 other sides by the Ramblers that I'm pretty sure weren't there the last time I checked it, and it appears they're still adding tracks from the 1929/1930 Vocalion-Brunswick sessions at the St James in Knoxville, so it may turn up yet. http://lynnpoint.com/st_james/songs.htm Looks like a couple of other new titles there as well. NB though that when I downloaded "The Great Hatfield-McCoy Feud" some months ago, it was missing one of the four parts. (I used to have that on reel-to-reel, too. It's like a radio drama giving an abridged version of the feud story, and every now and then the boys get together to drink some liquor and play a tune. Doesn't entirely work but an interesting variation on the "Corn Liquor Still in Georgia" prototype -- not as interesting as Stoneman's "Serenade in the Mountains" or "Possum Trot School Exhibition," though. Let's put a bucket over the stovepipe and tear up Jack in general!) |
10 Oct 07 - 03:11 AM (#2167791) Subject: Lyr Add: ONE OLD SHIRT (from Roy Acuff) From: 12-stringer Another version of this came to my ears recently. The melody has one or two noticeable differences, though it's out of the same family. The chorus is very similar to "Hard, Ain't It Hard," and it's quite possible the Acuff recording was the direct inspiration for the Guthrie version. One Old Shirt as sung by Roy Acuff and His Smoky Mountain Boys, Vocalion 04657 (1938) One old shirt is all I've got And a dollar is all I crave Oh, I brought nothing to this whole wide world, Gonna take nothing to my grave. (chorus) Oh, ain't it hard, hard, oh, Lord, ain't it hard To love a girl that don't love you? Now come, my little pink and tell me what you think You're a long time making up your mind. Oh, you tell more lies than the stars in the skies, Sweet baby, your heart's not mine. My baby come home late hours in the night She just keeps rapping on the door I wake up in my stocking feet My baby don't rap no more. [Or perhaps the last line should go My baby, don't rap no more. Acuff doesn't sing a noticeable comma in it, though.) I love you, sweet baby, till the sea runs dry The rocks are at the sun I love you, sweet baby, till the day I die Then you may know I'm gone. I wish I was on some rocky mountain top Sitting in my big armchair With one arm around my liquor keg And the other one around my dear. |