01 Jul 04 - 11:03 PM (#1218031) Subject: Lyr Req: Levee Camp Moan by Texas Alexander From: HardLuckChild Does anyone know the lyrics to this wonderful, primal tune? |
05 Jul 04 - 11:12 PM (#1219674) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Levee Camp Moan by Texas Alexander From: Jim Dixon Here's what I was able to transcribe from a sound sample at Barnes & Noble: Oh, they have cured me of forgin'. I can't write my name. Lord, they have cured me of forgin'. I can't write my name. I went all around.... |
06 Jul 04 - 12:13 AM (#1219702) Subject: Lyr Add: LEVEE CAMP MOAN BLUES From: masato sakurai LEVEE CAMP MOAN BLUESI think I have another set of transcription somewhere. |
06 Jul 04 - 01:23 AM (#1219718) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Levee Camp Moan by Texas Alexander From: Nerd Walter Savage (I think) sings another version of this in Alan Lomax's film The Land Where the Blues Began. He sings (and this is just from my memory): They got me 'cused of murder, ain't never harmed a man Got me 'cused of forgery, Can't even write my name Got me 'cused of taxes, I ain't got a dime Got me 'cused of children, ain't one of them is mine |
06 Jul 04 - 02:27 AM (#1219733) Subject: Lyr Req: LEVEE CAMP MOAN (from Joe Savage) From: Joe Offer That was enough to lead me to the lyrics in the Lomax book, Nerd. I think the singer was Joe Savage, but there was a Walter Brown present and participating during the interview. Got me 'cused of thieving. I can't see a thing. They got me accused of forgery And I can't even write my name. Bad luck, Bad luck is killing me. Boys, I just can't stand No more of this third degree. (sing-speak) Now listen here, boys, I wanna tell you sumpin. (singing) They got me accused of taxes, And I don't have a lousy dime. They got me accused of children, And ain't nar one of them mine. Bad luck, Bad luck is killing me. Boys, I just can't stand No more of this third degree. (sing-speak) Boy, now looka here, I wanna tell you one mo thing. (singing) They got me 'cused of perjury, I can't even raise my hand. They got me 'cused of murder, An I have never harmed a man. Bad luck, Bad luck is killing me. Boys, I just can't stand, No more of this third degree. I'm gone, So, baby—so long. source: The Land Where the Blues Began, Alan Lomax, 1993; pp. 254-55 (no tune) I imagine this is on a Lomax CD, but I have no idea where to find it. The version by Alger "Texas" Alexander is on a Yazoo CD, Before the Blues, Vol. 3: The Early American Black Music Scene |
06 Jul 04 - 04:24 AM (#1219771) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Levee Camp Moan by Texas Alexander From: Nerd Yeah, that's it, Joe. And you're right, it was Joe Savage. Joe's singing on the song was amazing, hyper-dramatic and riveting. Sad thing was, Evidence recorded a song called "Joe's Prison Camp Holler" from Joe, which I thought would be this song. But it turned out to be a different one, if I recall. |
06 Jul 04 - 04:25 AM (#1219772) Subject: Lyr Add: THIRD DEGREE (from Eric Clapton) From: Roger the Skiffler A version credited to Eddie Boyd and Willie Dixon (who else!) and called third degree has the words as follows (as sung by Clapton on his "From the Cradle" CD: Got me accused of peeping, I can't see a thing Got me accused of petting, I can't even raise my hand CHORUS: Bad luck, bad luck is killing me Well I just can't stand no more of this third degree Got me accused of murder, I ain't never harmed a man Got me accused of forgery, I can't even sign my name CHORUS Got me accused of taxes,I ain't got a dime Got me accused of children, and ain't nary one of them was mine CHORUS RtS |
06 Jul 04 - 07:02 AM (#1219825) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Levee Camp Moan by Texas Alexander From: GUEST,Hootenanny Surely "Levee Camp Moan" describes a type of song rather than one set of lyrics. So one performer's "Moan" would be completely different to another's in the same way that one person's "worksong" would differ to another. There are no words set in concrete. |
08 Jul 04 - 10:40 PM (#1221845) Subject: Lyr Add: LEVEE CAMP MOAN From: masato sakurai From Eric Sackheim, The Blues Line (Ecco, 1993, pp. 124-25): LEVEE CAMP MOAN |
09 Jul 04 - 07:41 AM (#1222090) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Levee Camp Moan by Texas Alexander From: Nerd Well, Hootenanny, these are all clearly versions of the same song. As for "there are no words set in concrete," well, yeah! It's folk music, innit? |
09 Jul 04 - 09:08 PM (#1222664) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Levee Camp Moan by Texas Alexander From: Stewie Don Kent points out in his note to the Yazoo reissue that Alexander's 'Levee Camp Moan Blues' is only nominally a blues. Even though he is accompanied by Lonnie Johnson on guitar [and Kent suggests that only a guitarist with Johnson's skills could follow the free metre of the singing], the piece is essentially a field holler. See also Dave Evans 'Big Road Blues' p 27: 'They [field hollers, field blues, arwhoolies] are a sort of worksong sung in the fields and levee camps ... They tend to be loosely structured, highly embellished and rythmically free, often consisting of falsetto whooping or hollering with no words or a very minimal text. Some, of course, do have more complex texts. Vocally they are very much like the blues, and they were an important ingredient in the original creation of the blues, but without an accompaniment they have quite a different function from blues'. Kent also reminds us in his note to Yazoo 2017 that Alexander was the only successful blues singer who was not self-accompanied and, second only to Blind Lemon, was the most influential in spreading the Texas repertoire. --Stewie. |