03 Jul 06 - 01:28 PM (#1774863) Subject: Origins: Help: 1950's style gold watch and chain From: Scoville Okay, this is a weird one, and probably a wild goose chase. I was in the grocery store the other day and their "canned radio" played a pop--yes, pop--song that included a verse about pawning the gold watch and chain. It was not "Gold Watch and Chain"--I know that one really well. The tune was different and the words were different, at least, from any recording of GW&C I've ever encountered. The style was more along the lines of 1950's pop music. I was a dedicated listener to oldies radio, including the late-night obscure-song shows, for years and never heard this. I suppose it could be a newer song in an imitative style. If anyone has a clue what it might have been, I'd like to hear it. |
03 Jul 06 - 01:37 PM (#1774866) Subject: RE: Origins: Help: 1950's style gold watch and cha From: John MacKenzie Emergency Exit Heyyy heyyy heyyy heyyy Fourteen miles away from a landfill grave Never pawned my watch and chain To the landlord living inside my head Never paid my rent 'til the lights went dead And I saw my sign coming up the road Dead ditch waitin' for to bury my load On the avenues in the plain of day Threw a Roosevelt dime in a bucket of rain Ohh ohh oh oh Ohh ohh oh oh Now hold your hand up to the plow Work the dirt til the sun goes down What's left of death is more than fear Let dust be dust and the good Lord near It's a little too much to ask of faith A little too late to wait for fate So tell the angels what you've seen Scarecrow shadow on the Nazarene Ohh ohh oh oh Ohh ohh oh oh Kindness will find you When darkness is falling round your bend Kindness will follow Children will wander 'til the end Heyyy ohhh ooh Possible? Giok |
03 Jul 06 - 04:27 PM (#1775006) Subject: RE: Origins: Help: 1950's style gold watch and chain From: Cool Beans The Everly Brothers' recording of "I'm Just Here to Get My Baby Out of Jail" included the lines "I will pawn you my watch, I will pawn you my chain." Could that be it? |
03 Jul 06 - 05:32 PM (#1775047) Subject: RE: Origins: Help: 1950's style gold watch and chain From: Rasener it wasn't Donovan was it? |
03 Jul 06 - 05:39 PM (#1775053) Subject: RE: Origins: Help: 1950's style gold watch and cha From: open mike the "Gold Watch and Chain" that is the one i know is a Carter Family song. this, apparently is the one you say it was NOT. |
03 Jul 06 - 05:46 PM (#1775058) Subject: RE: Origins: Help: 1950's style gold watch and chain From: GUEST The line appears in the song, "Here to get my baby out of jail". |
03 Jul 06 - 05:47 PM (#1775059) Subject: RE: Origins: Help: 1950's style gold watch and chain From: GUEST "HERE TO GET MY BABY OUT OF JAIL" I'm not in your town to stay said the lady old and gray, to the warden of the penitentiary. I'm not in your town to stay and I'll soon be on my way, I'm just here to get my baby out of jail. Oh, warden, I'm just here to get my baby out of jail. I tried to raise my baby right, I have prayed both day and night, that he wouldn't follow in the footsteps of his dad. I have searched both far and wide, and I feared that he had died, but at last I found my baby here in jail, Oh, warden, at last I found my baby here in jail. It was just five years today when his daddy passed away. He was found beneath the snow so cold and white. 'Twas then I vowed to take his ring and his gold watch and his chain, then the county laid his daddy in the grave, Yes, warden, The county laid his daddy in the grave. I will pawn you his watch, I will pawn you his chain, I will pawn you my diamond wedding ring. I will wash all your clothes, I will scrub all your floors, If that will get my baby out of jail. Yes, warden, if that will get my baby out of jail. Then I heard the warden say to the lady old and gray. I'll go bring your darlin' baby to your side. Two iron gates swung wide apart, and she held her darling to her heart. She kissed her baby boy and then she died, but, smiling, she kissed her baby boy and then she died. (Karl Davis and Harty Taylor, c. early 1930s) |
03 Jul 06 - 05:54 PM (#1775063) Subject: RE: Origins: Help: 1950's style gold watch and chain From: Rasener I always liked that by the everly brothers |
03 Jul 06 - 06:21 PM (#1775087) Subject: RE: Origins: Help: 1950's style gold watch and chain From: SINSULL The Blue Sky do a wonderful version of this one. Somewhere I read that the Everly Brothers learned it from the Blue Sky Boys. One of my favorites since I was about 10 years old. |
04 Jul 06 - 12:54 AM (#1775289) Subject: RE: Origins: Help: 1950's style gold watch and chain From: Sandy Paton Versions of "Nine Hundred Miles" contain the lines: I will pawn you my watch, I will pawn you my chain, Pawn you my gold diamond ring. If that train runs me right, I'll be home tomorrow night; I'm nine hundred miles from my home, And I hate to hear that lonesome whistle blow. It's that long, lonesome train a-whistlin' down. Could that be what you heard? |
04 Jul 06 - 10:25 PM (#1776204) Subject: RE: Origins: Help: 1950's style gold watch and chain From: mtk The "Prairie Home Companion" movie has a song with the following verse. I will pawn you my gold watch and chain, love I will pawn you my gold wedding ring I will pawn you this heart in my bosom Only say that you love me again |
05 Jul 06 - 12:17 PM (#1776754) Subject: RE: Origins: Help: 1950's style gold watch and chain From: Scoville Nope, nope, and nope. I used to be a big Everly fan (30 years too late), and I've known "900 Miles" since I was little. I don't think the verse words were that similar but they were hard to hear amidst the "cleanup on aisle 3" messages. THanks, all the same. I'll keep looking. |