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Chord Req: Rags Old Iron

07 Nov 03 - 05:20 PM (#1049864)
Subject: Chord Req: Rags Old Iron
From: GUEST,Leah

Hello. Does anyone know the chords to the tune "rags old iron"? The lyrics are "rags old iron, rags old iron, all he was cryin was rags and old iron". Thanks. Leah

08 Nov 03 - 03:55 PM (#1050237)
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Rags Old Iron
From: Willa

Can't help with chords, but someone else may have the Norma Waterson CD (Hannibal CD1393)and be able to post them for you.

09 Nov 03 - 03:16 AM (#1050539)
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Rags Old Iron
From: GUEST,Jon Dudley

Can't help with the music stuff, but you might be interested in the Bob Copper version which from (very poor) memory is an addition to The English Country Blues Band reissue of 'Unruly'. It also appeared on one of Ian Anderson's excellent fROOTS samplers. Bob acknowledges his source to be the wonderful Nina Simone.

07 Oct 06 - 04:09 PM (#1852905)
Subject: ADD: Rags and Old Iron (Oscar Brown, Jr.)
From: Joe Offer

I came across a Nina Simsone Website that attributes the song to Norman Curtis, Oscar Brown jr. Garry Gillard's Watersons Discography attributes the song to (Brown/Curtis) - it's on Norma's self-titled CD.


Here are the lyrics, as posted on the official Website of Oscar Brown, Jr.:

RAGS AND OLD IRON

I heard an old rag man out makin' his rounds
  Comin' right down my alley with sorrowful sounds
  Cryin' "Aigs Ol' I'n!" and pulin' his cart
  I asked him how much he'd give me for my broken heart
                  
          Aigs Ol' I'n!  Aigs Ol' I'n!
          All he was buyin'
          Was rags and old iron
          
  I asked that old rag man how much he would pay
  For a heart that was broken when you went away
  For a burnt out old love light that no longer beams
  And a couple of slightly used second hand dreams
  
          "Aigs Ol' I'n!  Aigs Ol' I'n!"
          All he was buyin'
          Was rags and old iron
  
  Whatever he'd offer I'd happily take
  For the big empty promises you used to make
  For the memories of you that are no longer sweet
  I just wish he could haul 'em all off down the street        
                          
         " Aigs ol' i'n!  Aigs ol' i'n!"
          All he was buyin'
          Was rags and old iron
  
  When love doesn't last, tell me what is it worth
  It was once my most precious possesion on earth
  Now I asked that old rag man if he'd like to buy
  But he just shook his head and continued to cry        
                          
         " Aigs ol' i'n!  Aigs ol' i'n!"
          All he was buyin'
          Was rags and old iron

01 Sep 11 - 08:24 AM (#3216449)
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Rags Old Iron
From: GUEST

as fas as I can work out the chords are

Bm A Bm D
Bm A Bm G
then theres a wee bit with one finger slide down to 12th fret on bottom 3 strings from 10th fret with a nice wee ching! ching!

01 Sep 11 - 10:15 AM (#3216498)
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Rags Old Iron
From: GUEST

I do this song...never found the actual chords, but this works:
   Am
I heard an old ragman out making his rounds
       Dm            Am         Dm       E                  
Coming right down my alley with sorrowful sounds
       Am
Crying Rags..Old Iron and pulling his cart
         E
I asked how much he'd give me for my broken heart

Refrain:
Am
Rags..Old Iron, Rags..Old Iron
                      E       Dm Am
All he was buying was rags and old iron

01 Sep 11 - 12:06 PM (#3216546)
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Rags Old Iron
From: PHJim

Oscar Brown Jr did a wonderful version of this song. I had 2 wonderful albums, Heaven & Hell and Sin & Soul. I don't understand why he's not better known.

02 Sep 11 - 08:16 AM (#3216999)
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Rags Old Iron
From: GUEST

I have two people that remain at the top of my list of music heros - Oscar Brown, Jr. and Dave Van Ronk. Much of OBJ catalog is on CD now. Also there is a film on the man and his life called Music is my Life, Politics is my mistress. Check it out.

dw

27 Sep 11 - 01:17 PM (#3230013)
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Rags Old Iron
From: PHJim

Rags & Old Iron - Oscar Brown Jr.

28 Sep 11 - 02:48 AM (#3230377)
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Rags Old Iron
From: GUEST,Norman

As far as I remember, both Norma Waterson and Bob Copper learned the song via the writer of it, Oscar Brown Jr. His album, "Sin, Soul....", from the early 1960s, was not a big seller but def a cult favourite and a sign of hipness. Another influential song he wrote (the lyrics, to a Nat Adderley tune), also on the same LP, was "Work Song", that crops up on Bert Jansch's version of Anji.

On one of the other fRoots CDs there's a Bob Copper version of a Sleepy John Estes song - I think it's "Diving Duck Blues" - that he learned from an old blues 78. I wonder, if he'd performed that live frequently enough, if it would have been given the providence of a trad Sussex song :)

28 Sep 11 - 02:51 AM (#3230378)
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Rags Old Iron
From: GUEST,Norman

Oops, I mean 'provenence'...(or even 'provinence' - no spell checker to hand)

28 Sep 11 - 11:50 AM (#3230604)
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Rags Old Iron
From: Joe Offer

So is this a song written by Oscar Brown, Jr.; or is it a traditional song interpreted by him?

I certainly wouldn't call this a "version" of the "rags for sale/any old iron" round....

-Joe-

28 Sep 11 - 11:59 AM (#3230606)
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Rags Old Iron
From: MartinRyan

"Sin and Soul" was one of my favourite LP's of all time. I'm still liable to sing a version of "Worksong" without warning at sessions if I see an opportunity. Even had it immortalised (well .... preserved for as long as the book survives) in an ethnomusicological text on Irish traditional music and singing!

Regards

29 Sep 11 - 12:24 AM (#3230912)
Subject: RE: Chord Req: Rags Old Iron
From: PHJim

Yes MartinRyan, That and Heaven & Hell. I still do Hazel's Hips.