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23 Jan 01 - 12:50 AM (#380228) Subject: Conch Ain't Got No Bone From: Barbara I bought a set of Gordon Bok (and friends)'s February Tapes when he was out here in December, and I've been driving around with them playing in the car ever since. This song is attributed to Alphonso Blake, and the chorus goes:
"Ah ka ra ka, ku nay shee bamba, conch ain't got no bone Blessings, Barbara PS It's a great set of tapes, and good for the season. "The only criterion [for the songs on the tape] was that the music would take you somewhere you weren't, in the longest month of the year." |
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23 Jan 01 - 11:24 AM (#380496) Subject: Lyr Add: CONCH AIN'T GOT NO BONE From: Plume Dear Barbara, I have this song on an old EP released by the ART record company of Nassau in 1952 entitled "A Second Album of Bahamian Songs by Blind Blake and the Royal Victoria Hotel Calypso Orchestra." Blake's real name was Blake Alphonso Higgs. The song is copyrighted to Blind Blake but the liner notes seem to imply that it is, at least in part, traditional. Oddly enough, for a recording of this period, the EP included a lyric sheet so here's the real article, no guesswork involved:
Mosquito had a party, sandfly went to see
CHO: Accaracca coon a shammama
Brother he like he conch and fish
I went to a place the other day
Crab and okra, fish and conch
Get me boiled fish, me guinea corn grits
Mosquito had a party, sandfly went to see The entire album is really fun. Blake's a great singer and the band is pretty funky for 1952. Hope this helps. Cheers, Plume |
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23 Jan 01 - 11:40 AM (#380499) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Conch Ain't Got No Bone From: Peter T. Is this the blues Blind Blake? (I know he hailed from Florida). yours, Peter T. |
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23 Jan 01 - 02:28 PM (#380614) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Conch Ain't Got No Bone From: Plume Nope, different Blind Blake altogether. And sorry about the double posting. Patience is a virtue I have yet to completely master. Plume |
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23 Jan 01 - 02:35 PM (#380619) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Conch Ain't Got No Bone From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler Peter, I started a thread on Delia's gone some time ago where the difference between the Ragtime guitarist and the Calypsonian were aired (I had been looking for recordings by the first of the song written by the second and heard on a Kingston Trio track!). If you can track it down all is revealed! RtS (each day on the Mudcat I learn one new thing- trouble is ,I forget two others!) |
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23 Jan 01 - 03:58 PM (#380678) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Conch Ain't Got No Bone From: Joe Offer Roger, were you talking about the Delia's Gone thread or the Delia thread? Were you once Roger the Zimmer? -Joe Offer- |
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23 Jan 01 - 08:28 PM (#380904) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Conch Ain't Got No Bone From: Mark Cohen Thanks, folks, I've been listening to the February Tapes for years till they're just about bald, and always wished Gordon had added a lyric sheet. I remember several wonderful meals of conch I had long ago on Grand Cayman Island...back before it was crowded. I had the great joy of being in a class Gordon gave at the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop in 1988 (or close thereabouts) called "Things to do with more than one voice." We learned several of the songs on the tapes, as well as "Wind Calling" from "Another Land Made of Water." About a third of the camp performed Wind Calling at the student concert...and that night a strong windstorm blew down several trees! Gordon said that wasn't the first time something like that had happened. Aloha, Mark |
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24 Jan 01 - 01:04 AM (#381022) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Conch Ain't Got No Bone From: Barbara My brother was a part of that PSGW, Mark. He came home with the score for "Wind Calling", and a story to tell.
The February tapes have one different verse, maybe two. Here's the one I remember:
I don't have the tapes to hand so I'll give them a listen tomorrow. thanks ever so much, Plume -- I'd never have figured out the second line on the mosquito verse. Is the chorus in a pidgin dialect or is that just plain nonsense?
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24 Jan 01 - 03:47 AM (#381056) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Conch Ain't Got No Bone From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler Yes, Joe, the first thread: "Delia's Gone" (and I was that Zimmer. My present "handle" is more relevant to the Mudcat (the other was a private joke which noone understood).Thanks for linking it for Peter. BTW did you see the Peoria thread? I took your name in vain. RtS |
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26 Jan 01 - 01:21 AM (#382841) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Conch Ain't Got No Bone From: Barbara Here's the two on the tape that aren't in Plume's transcription above. In the first verse, a number of other singers obscure the first word. It might even be 'Sailor'. In the second verse, it seems logical that 'money' is what is taken, but maybe it means "takes him away [to] the mine", since 'mine' rhymes with 'wind' better than 'money' does.
[Kapele?] man he don't drink no rum
Slack-eye knock-a the sailor man down
Blessings, |
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26 Jan 01 - 01:25 AM (#382843) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Conch Ain't Got No Bone From: Barbara The February tape does not have Blake's verse about the dentist, and the two verses I quoted above are the second to last and last -- fourth and fifth. Bok doesn't repeat the initial mosquito verse at the end, either. Blessings, Barbara |
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20 May 08 - 01:12 PM (#2345314) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Conch Ain't Got No Bone From: GUEST,Wally Macnow Does anybody know of any guitar tab available for Joseph Spence's version? |
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20 May 08 - 03:18 PM (#2345419) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Conch Ain't Got No Bone From: Mick Pearce (MCP) I was really impressed with Joseph Spence's version when I first heard it years ago and, Joseph Spence having sung it in his own inimitable way, was keen to get a version with words (which I had a vague hope might be suitably euphemistic!). I later saw that Ry Cooder had recorded it, but on gettin that recording was disappointed to find that he did it only as an instrumental!. I eventually tracked down a Blind Blake version (from a Big Mikey Dread show - it's not really euphemistic!) and have that on disc now and it seems to be pretty much as Plume's post at the start of the thread. There seem to be only a few Joseph Spence tabs online and they don't include Conch. Neither (afaik) does Elijah Wald's book on the guitar music of Joseph Spence. Mick |
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15 Sep 09 - 12:35 PM (#2724201) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Conch Ain't Got No Bone (Blind Blake) From: GUEST,Bigmikeydread hey who's to say it's not Euphemystically correct! I'm just about to put up an entire show dedicated to Higgs, step in to : http://bigmikeydread.podomatic.com/ I've also got a potted history alongside it and had seen this page before I put some Blake up to listen to, he's been a favourite of mind for years... |
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15 Sep 09 - 01:10 PM (#2724229) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Conch Ain't Got No Bone (Blind Blake) From: GUEST,Bigmikeydread http://bigmikeydread.podomatic.com/entry/eg/2009-09-15T09_58_53-07_00 |
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15 Sep 09 - 01:24 PM (#2724239) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Conch Ain't Got No Bone (Blind Blake) From: Mick Pearce (MCP) Big Mikey - thanks for that. I'll certainly be having a listen later. To save others looking, here's the playlist: 01. Yes! Yes! Yes! 02. Pretty Boy 03. Love Alone 04. Never Interfere With Man and Wife 05. Conch Ain't Got No Bone 06. Foolish Frog 07. Hold 'Im Joe / Wheel and Turn / Jump In Line 08. Goombay Drum 09. Emmanuel Road 10. Run Joe 11. Curley Cay 12. De Pig an Goat 13. Goombay Rock 14. Loose Goat, Tie Goat 15. O' Liza Mick |