Lyr Req: Spoonful Blues (Charley Patton)

18 Oct 01 - 08:24 PM (#575170)
Subject: Charley Patton's 'A Spoonful Blues'
From: Andrew S

I've learned the guitar part to A Spoonful Blues but the words are escaping me. I can get some of the lyrics but not all of them. Can anyone help.

Also, I'm wondering about the meaning of the term 'spoonful' the way that charley uses it. What exactly does it mean.

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18 Oct 01 - 08:56 PM (#575181)
Subject: Lyr Add: SPOONFUL BLUES (Charley Patton)
From: ddw

Andrew,

Here's a link to this song: CLICK

But in case it doesn't work, here are the lyrics. Spoonful Blues

by Charley Patton
recording of 1929-1934
from Charley Patton: Founder Of The Delta Blues (Yazoo L-1020),
copyright notice

(spoken: I'm about to go to jail about this spoonful)

In all a spoon', 'bout that spoon'
The women goin' crazy, every day in their life 'bout a...

It's all I want, in this creation is a...
I go home (spoken: wanna fight!) 'bout a...

Doctor's dyin' (way in Hot Springs!) just 'bout a...
These women goin' crazy every day in their life 'bout a...

Would you kill a man dead?
(spoken: yes, I will!) just 'bout a...
Oh babe, I'm a fool about my...

(spoken: Don't take me long!) to get my...
Hey baby, you know I need my...

It's mens on Parchman1 (done lifetime) just 'bout a...
Hey baby, (spoken: you know I ain't long) 'bout my...

It's all I want (spoken: honey, in this creation) is a...
I go to bed, get up and wanna fight 'bout a...

(spoken: Look-y here, baby, would you slap me? Yes I will!) just 'bout a...
Hey baby, (spoken: you know I'm a fool a-) 'bout my...

Would you kill a man? (spoken: Yes I would, you know I'd kill him) just 'bout a...
Most every man (spoken: that you see is) fool 'bout his...

(spoken: You know baby, I need) that ol'...
Hey baby, (spoken: I wanna hit the judge 'bout a) 'bout a...

(spoken: Baby, you gonna quit me? Yeah honey!) just 'bout a...
It's all I want, baby, this creation is a...

(spoken: look-y here, baby, I'm leavin' town!) just 'bout a...
Hey baby, (spoken: you know I need) that ol'...

(spoken: Don't make me mad, baby!) 'cause I want my...
Hey baby, I'm a fool 'bout that...

(spoken: Look-y here, honey!) I need that...
Most every man leaves without a...

Sundays' mean (spoken: I know they are) 'bout a...
Hey baby, (spoken: I'm sneakin' around here) and ain't got me no...
Oh, that spoon', hey baby, you know I need my...

__________ Note: the triple-dot parts are not missing lyrics, Patton left them unspoken, but then again it's not that hard to fill in the triple dots, is it?;

Note 1: the state prison in Parchman, Mississippi, whose escapees often wandered into Patton's native Dockery, a Delta plantation town.. Parchman was a complex of 15 labor camps covering a large area in Mississippi, a closed society of black men who were offered as "contract" labor to farms, railroads and industries of manysorts, passed around to do labor for the financial benefit of both the contractor and the state who sold them.

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18 Oct 01 - 09:07 PM (#575187)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Charley Patton's 'A Spoonful Blues'
From: GUEST,.gargoyle

Punch your request into "Google.com" and you will come up with dozens of sites which feature this Delta Blues legend. Happy Hunting!!

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18 Oct 01 - 09:09 PM (#575189)
Subject: Lyr Add: SPOONFUL (Willie Dixon)
From: masato sakurai

Howlin' Wolf's "Spoonful" is:

Spoonful
Recorded in 1960. It was included on the Chess CD "Howlin' Wolf" (re-issued on the MCA/Chess "Two On One" CD with another LP, "Moanin' In The Moonlight").

Spoonful (Willie Dixon)

It could be a spoonful of diamonds
Could be a spoonful of gold
Just a little spoon of your precious love
Satisfy my soul

Men lied about a little ---
Some of them cried about a little ---
Some of them died about a little spoon---
Everything fightin' about a spoonful
That spoon, that spoon, that ---

It could be a spoonful of coffee
Could be a spoonful of tea
But a little spoon of your precious love
Good enough for me

Men lied about that ---
Some of them cried about that ---
Some of them died about that ---
But everything fightin' about a spoonful
That spoon, that spoon, that ---

It could be a spoonful of water
Saved me from the desert sand
But one spoon of them forty-five
Saved you from another man

Men lied about that ---
Some of them cried about that ---
Some of them died about that ---
Everybody fightin' about a spoonful
That spoon, that spoon, that ---
SOURCE: HERE

~Masato

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18 Oct 01 - 09:43 PM (#575218)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Charley Patton's 'A Spoonful Blues'
From: Stewie

For an extensive discussion of 'Spoonful', see Paul Oliver 'Screening the Blues' Da Capo pp 198-9. Oliver suggests that it refers 'in its full form to sexual intercourse in a standing position, but extends to surreal associations which imply the sexual virtuosity of the singer'.

John Fahey's transcription of Patton's version differs in significant respects from that on Harry's blues site given above. For example, the spoken intro is given as: 'Got to brag all about this spoonful'.

--Stewie.

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