13 Aug 08 - 05:45 PM (#2412906) Subject: When I was a little bitty baby From: Dave the Gnome My Momma dun rock me in my cradle Discuss. :D |
13 Aug 08 - 05:47 PM (#2412910) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Georgiansilver Was it "In dem old cottonfields back home" den? |
13 Aug 08 - 05:50 PM (#2412915) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Dave the Gnome Nah - That could be construed as stereotyping. Or Passe in the n'th degree. I was hoping for better, Mike :-D |
13 Aug 08 - 06:15 PM (#2412949) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: frogprince I've still got bruises from the *^%# rocks... |
13 Aug 08 - 06:26 PM (#2412958) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Bobert Good southern rockabilly song that really deals with the realities of workin' on an ol' plantation... Rocks out purdy good, too... B~ |
13 Aug 08 - 08:56 PM (#2413050) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: quokka Cradle? Cradle? You lucky, lucky bastards! |
13 Aug 08 - 09:09 PM (#2413058) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Leadfingers Bobert - IF you make it to The Getaway can we Jam CottonFields ? |
13 Aug 08 - 09:32 PM (#2413074) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: SINSULL Rotten cotton balls make great jam. |
14 Aug 08 - 12:40 AM (#2413177) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Q (Frank Staplin) variant- itty bitty baby |
14 Aug 08 - 02:56 AM (#2413238) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Dave Hanson No one did it better than Leadbelly, but Harry Dean Stanton did a pretty good version in the film ' Cool Hand Luke ' eric |
14 Aug 08 - 03:46 AM (#2413265) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: open mike just about a mile from texarkana.... |
14 Aug 08 - 10:50 AM (#2413546) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Nigel Parsons It was down in Louisiana ... |
14 Aug 08 - 11:01 AM (#2413556) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Barry Finn By Buck Owens Barry |
14 Aug 08 - 11:59 AM (#2413621) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Jacob B Then there's the version I learned years ago from a Scandinavian-American novelty album: "... my momma used to rock me in that rowboat In them old cold wet fjords back home It was down in Copenhagen, just about a mile from an old hay wagen..." (Second time through: "It was down in old Helsink, just about a mile from the skating rinki ...") |
14 Aug 08 - 12:02 PM (#2413628) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: GUEST,Volgadon Discuss what, obnoxious imperatives? |
14 Aug 08 - 01:38 PM (#2413784) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Q (Frank Staplin) A great song. Belafonte sang it in 1959, and everybody else put it on records, from Porter Wagoner to Johnny Cash to Odetta to Lawrence Whelk. Most who sang and recorded it, credited it to Huddie Ledbetter-Lead Belly. Some say it is based on trad. I think it was one of the Texas country songwriters (not Buck Owens). Information please! |
14 Aug 08 - 01:43 PM (#2413787) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Jayto I have heard a version recorded by Leadbelly. At least that is who I was told it was. It sounded like him but it was on a blank cassette no writing or any reference whatsoever to who it was or where it originated. Just a copy of a copy of a copy you know how it goes.I have always heard it credited to Leadbelly. I am glad you asked this I am curious myself. |
14 Aug 08 - 01:52 PM (#2413804) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Dave the Gnome We'll have less of them imperitive obnoxions if you don't mind... :-P |
14 Aug 08 - 02:20 PM (#2413839) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: PoppaGator Wow, I haven't heard or thought of that great old song for quite a while. One of the most rhythmically interesting lyrics in the whole canon. Gotta take a nice deep breath before spouting out that first line! |
14 Aug 08 - 02:24 PM (#2413844) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Jayto Like a tiny bit lesss or alot less Dave :) just kidding man |
14 Aug 08 - 03:08 PM (#2413889) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: GUEST,leeneia I thought it goes When I was JUST a little bitty baby... Hmm What part of speech is 'just' in that phrase? |
14 Aug 08 - 03:18 PM (#2413901) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Q (Frank Staplin) Went through my boxes of Lead Belly. Found "Pick a Bale of Cotton," (Pick a bale a day,) from 1939-40. Wrong song. He recorded "Cotton Fields" in in New York, and it is on the Smithsonian Folkways cd, Legacy vol. 1, "Where did you sleep last night," which I don't have (yet). |
14 Aug 08 - 03:26 PM (#2413909) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Little Robyn Never did like the rotton cotton one - much preferred the pick a bale a day stuff. Robyn |
14 Aug 08 - 03:29 PM (#2413913) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Q (Frank Staplin) Listened to lead Belly's sound clip. Sounds like "When I was a lil bitty baby..." "When I was a little baby"- in second line. Nice. With his 12-string. |
14 Aug 08 - 04:41 PM (#2413971) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: PoppaGator In the phrase "when I was just a little bitty baby," the word "just" functions as an adverb, modifying the verb "was." I think.... |
14 Aug 08 - 04:44 PM (#2413976) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: irishenglish Creedence did a version of it as well. |
14 Aug 08 - 04:52 PM (#2413983) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego I had a professor in college in the early 1960's who once did research and collecting with the Lomax crew and claimed to have heard "Leadbelly" sing that song. This is who I was told had first publicly performed the song, long before Belafonte and others co-opted and modified it. |
14 Aug 08 - 05:01 PM (#2414006) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: Q (Frank Staplin) Who put in that 'just'? Always someone trying to stir up the grammarians. Not in Lead Belly. Not in Cash. One uv them furrin covers? |
14 Aug 08 - 07:09 PM (#2414117) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: GUEST,leeneia I dunno who it was, Q. I remember he was loud and kind of hoarse and was being played on the radio. That ought to narrow it down. |
14 Aug 08 - 07:30 PM (#2414129) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: GUEST,crazy little woman Little Robyn says she didn't like the rotten cotton song, and I have to admit it's hardly and appetizing verse. How about Oh, when that cotton crop gets boughten you can sell oodles of cotton in them old cotton fields back home... There, I've given the world a splendid new verse. Now somebody else come along and use 'gotten' and 'forgotten.' Always remembering that Americans tend to retain archaic language forms such as the -en in gotten more than other dialect groups do. I remember my little nephew (age 4) going though a period when he spoke of 'cutten-down trees.' If we can have broken-down cars and well-spoken people, why not cutten-down trees? And of course, boughten cotton. |
15 Aug 08 - 08:28 AM (#2414470) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: SINSULL An adverb |
15 Aug 08 - 11:06 AM (#2414614) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: GUEST,leeneia Yeah, I think it's an adverb, but it modifies 'little,' rather than 'was.' I mean, how do you modify 'was'? There's nothing there to modify. It occurs to me that even though 'bitty' looks like a word, that we never us it alone. At least, I have never heard anybody use it. I believe that to be proper, the adjective should be 'littlebitty'. What was the cradle doing in the cotton fields? Discuss. |
15 Aug 08 - 11:26 AM (#2414631) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: PoppaGator Good point about the quasi-word "bitty," leeneia. "Little-bitty" indeed seems to represent a sngle concept and thus to function as a single word. You could say it was a two-word phrase, consisting of an adverb modifying an adjective, but which would be which? I'd argue over whether "just," which we agree is an adverb here, modifies the verb "was" or the adjectvive "little," but I'd probably lose. I was about to expand on my point, but since I can't seem to find the words for what I was thinking ~ what was I thinking, anyway? ~ I'll concede. You're right. I'm old enough, and Catholic enough, to have been drilled in the now-long-forgotten art of diagramming sentences throughout elementary schools. I was good at it then, and still retain most of what I learned. But there are always sentences, like this one, that are hardser to parse than others, and the more colloquial the form of expression, the more ambiguous the grammar and syntax. I'd also observe that "bitty" is an integral part of this song, but the interjection of "just" is apocryphal, a latter-day corruption of the original. ;^) |
15 Aug 08 - 12:04 PM (#2414665) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: M.Ted It's colloquial, which means that you can't diagram it using standard grammaticall rules. You need to use transformational grammar--you need to find the deep structure--surely you know how to find the deep structure;-) |
15 Aug 08 - 01:12 PM (#2414749) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: GUEST,beachcomber Hold it, I think I feel another obnoxious imperative coming on ! |
15 Aug 08 - 01:16 PM (#2414754) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: PoppaGator Hope you're within trotting range of the bathroom! |
15 Aug 08 - 06:48 PM (#2415016) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby From: GUEST,matyas1230 che gracias soy uruguayo gracias a ustedes encontre una cancion q busco hace dos aƱos jaja chau nos vemos |
26 Dec 11 - 08:38 PM (#3280352) Subject: Lyr. Add: COTTON FIELDS (Lead Belly) From: Q (Frank Staplin) Lyr. Add: COTTON FIELDS Attrib. to Huddie Ledbetter- Lead Belly When I was a little bitty baby My mama would rock me in my cradle (*my mother rocked me...) In them old cotton fields back home. It was down in Louisiana About a mile from Texarkana In them old cotton fields back home. It may sound a little funny But you didn't make much money In them old cotton fields back home (repeat verse) Chorus- Oh when those cotton balls get rotten You can't pick very much cotton In them old cotton fields back home It was down in Louisiana Just a mile from Texarkana In them old cotton fields back home. I was over in Arkansas People ask me what you come here for In them old cotton fields back home. (repeat verse) Sony/ATV Music Pub. First recorded by Lead Belly in 1940, and much covered in the 1950s. I haven't seen the original lyrics to the 1940 recording. Lead Belly seems to have varied it a bit in his concerts. If anyone has that recording, please correct. I couldn't find correct lyrics in the DT; they may be in one of the threads on Lead Belly. |
26 Dec 11 - 09:00 PM (#3280362) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby (Cotton Fields) From: GUEST,leeneia Nobody has mentioned one of the most important things about this song - namely that it's great fun to sing. Some songs just feel good in your mouth, and this is one of them. So thanks for the words, Q. Now I can sing it longer. By the way, I think 'bitty' is an adverb. It modifies the adjective 'little' so it must be. Poppagator, I diagrammed sentences too, and I wasn't even Catholic. |
27 Dec 11 - 12:18 PM (#3280572) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby (Cotton Fields) From: GUEST,999 http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definitions/bitty?cx=partner-pub-0939450753529744%3Av0qd01-tdlq&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8 |
27 Dec 11 - 06:21 PM (#3280749) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby (Cotton Fields) From: Q (Frank Staplin) "itty bitty baby" heard in Texas (that was back in 1950s, no idea what they are called nowadays). Like Leeneia, I diagrammed sentences in junior high (7-9), forget which one. Also not in a Catholic school. We were sent to the 'board, eight or so at a time, and given a sentence to diagram. The one to complete the diagrammation first ended the heat. After the heats, the winners squared off (I kid you not!). No way I could do it now. |
28 Dec 11 - 12:40 AM (#3280866) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby (Cotton Fields) From: Gene Actually according to GOOGLE: The verse should read: It was down in louisiana Thirty Four miles from Texarkana In them old cotton fields back home. Gene |
28 Dec 11 - 11:50 AM (#3281046) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby (Cotton Fields) From: GUEST,leeneia You are correct, Gene. I studied the atlas and noticed that it is a good 30 - 35 miles from Texarcana to the Louisiana border. This song could use some more verses. I'm no good with rhyme, so I'm listing some local names in hopes that they will inspire somebody. Just don't ask me how to pronounce 'Eylau.' Eylau Bivens Nash Wamba Boston Old Boston Stamps Waldo Daingerfield Hooks |
28 Dec 11 - 01:46 PM (#3281107) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby (Cotton Fields) From: Q (Frank Staplin) Eylau is a suburb, named after a Napoleonic battle. Wamba is a little to the NW. To reach LA from Texarkana, take Hwy 71 south and Ida is the first town of any consequence. Not that any of this matters to the song. |
29 Dec 11 - 10:17 AM (#3281461) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby (Cotton Fields) From: GUEST,crazy little woman When we worked the fields in Bivens, Sun was hot, but that's a given, in them old cotton fields back home... |
29 Dec 11 - 11:35 AM (#3281502) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby (Cotton Fields) From: Bobert Sorry, leadfingers... Missed your invitation... Yeah, we can rock out on this song at the Getaway... I've played it going back 40 years and love the song... B~ |
29 Dec 11 - 11:47 AM (#3281506) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby (Cotton Fields) From: babypix My two cents-- Unless this has become a jingle for Kimberly-Clark or Q-Tips, the song does NOT refer to cotton "BALLS", but rather "BOLLS", as in "BOLL WEEVIL", one of our favorite folk music bugs. Best, Deborah Robins |
29 Dec 11 - 12:26 PM (#3281525) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby (Cotton Fields) From: GUEST,crazy little woman Right you are! |
29 Dec 11 - 01:40 PM (#3281567) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby (Cotton Fields) From: Bobert Yup... It's cotton bolls, fir sure |
29 Dec 11 - 04:15 PM (#3281638) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby (Cotton Fields) From: Q (Frank Staplin) Yep, and My wife's father was a cotton farmer in Georgia, so please don't tell her I writ that ! This sent me to google, and lyrics , just for the fun of it- a stupid time-waster, but nothing else to do till dinner. bolls Lyricsfreak, Credence... Lyricsfreak, Cash poemhunter, Credence... justsomelyrics, Pride artists.letssingit, Credence... allthelyrics classic-country..., Buck Owens elyrics, Monroe balls stlyrics cowboylyrics, Ledbetter and Asch (Groves Inside Outside Band) mp3lyrics, Cash sing365, Beach Boys (Don't care if them cotton balls get rotten, when I got you baby, who needs cotton !) lyricsmode, Leadbelly bowls lyricsmania, Cash rotten fields lyrics007, Leadbelly lyricstime, Leadbelly skip verse kovideo, 1st verse- Can't need very much cotton tired of looking- all those ringtones to delete. |
29 Dec 11 - 04:17 PM (#3281641) Subject: RE: When I was a little bitty baby (Cotton Fields) From: Q (Frank Staplin) Did Leadbelly ever sing "rotten fields"? |