Blues lyrics

[EKE BBB]

I´ve always been fascinated by the lyrics of the blues songs. I thought it´d be a good idea to start a topic where we can bring our favorites.

PS: if anybody thinks this thread would come into conflict with any copyright issues, just tell me, and I will delete it.

Just to start:

Trixie Blues (Trixie Smith)

(transcribed from vocals by Anna Jones accompanied by Fats Waller, recorded 7/1923)

Woke up this morning,

Blues all around my bed;

Woke up this morning,

Blues all around my bed;

I didn't have my daddy to hold my achin' head.

Now, the blues ain't nothin;

But a woman wants to see her man.

I know the blues ain't nothin',

But a woman wants to see her man.

'Cause everytime my man leaves me, Lord knows I feel so bad.

You can never tell

What's on a brown-skinned man's mind;

You can never tell

What's a brown-skinned man's mind;

He'll be hugging and kissing you, and quitting you all the time.

[P.D.]

Have you seen this

I think you might like it.. she lists a lot of blues lyrics from Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith recordings.

I'm not sure I get, or go along with all the " political" associations she makes, but it's an interesting addition to the library.

It's showing up on the cut out shelves at the local cheap book, Bookstores for about $5-7.00

[couw]

Fay Lovsky - Yawn Blues

Yaaaaaawn, I'm so tired.

Yaaaaaahhhhwwwnnn, I'm so tired

Yaaaahaahwn, I'm so tired

I woke up this morning

I went right back to bed

[jazzbo]

Lately "Memphis Blues" as done by Louis Armstrong and Velma Middleton is one of my very favorites. I've had this SACD going for some time now. . . on and off, and this tune KILLS on that.

And then I had to dig out the Babs Gonzales version. . . which kills me too!

[JSngry]

Saddest thing I ever saw was when I made a one-eyed woman cry.

[PHILLYQ]

'Nobody loves me but my mother, and she could be jivin' too'

[LAL]

This one's a favourite ...

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale

I got a girls, say she long and tall

She sleeps in the kitchen with her feets in the hall

Hot tamales and they're red hot, yes she got'em for sale, I mean

Yes, she got'em for sale, yeah Hot tamales and they're red hot,

etc etc

[DTMX]

PHILLYQ already listed my favorite line. I've always liked the way B. B. King delivered the following lines:

The iceman came by this morning

And you know he didn't leave no ice

The postman came by later baby

And he didn't even ring twice

I think you've been cheating on me

I think you're running out on me

I believe to my soul baby, that you've given me some outside help

That I don't think I really need

Now, I want you to tell the iceman

The next time he'd better leave some ice

And I want you to tell the postman

He'd better ring more than twice

And when I come home from work in the morning

Better still be some groceries on the shelf.

I want to tell that slick insurance man

That he'd better write some insurance on his self.

[EKE BBB]

Transcribed from vocals by Big Bill Broonzy, recorded October 31, 1935:

The Sun Gonna Shine in My Door Someday

Just sittin' here hungry and ain't got a dime,

Lord, look like my friends would come to see poor me sometime;

'Cause it doesn't matter who, Lord of Heaven,

Mama, the sun gonna shine in my door someday.

When I was in jail, expecting a fine,

When I went 'fore the judge, not a friend could I find,

'Cause it doesn't matter who, Lord of Heaven,

Woman, the sun gonna shine in my door someday.

Lord, I lost my father and my brother, too,

That's why you hear me singing; Lord, I'm lonesome and blue,

'Cause it doesn't matter who, Lord of Heaven,

Mama, the sun gonna shine in my door someday.

Cried aloud, Lord, Lordy, Lord,

Now, I used to be your regular, woman, now I got to be your dog,

'Cause it doesn't matter who, Lord of Heaven,

Woman, the sun gonna shine in my door someday.

Lord, I'm in trouble, no one to pay my fine;

Lord, when I get out of this county jail, I'm gonna leave this town of mine,

'Cause it doesn't matter who, Lord of Heaven,

Mama, the sun gonna shine in my door someday.

Lord, I've been droven from door to door,

Now, it look like my friends don't want me around no more,

'Cause it doesn't matter who, Lord of Heaven,

Woman, the sun gonna shine in my door someday.

I was with my buddy through thick and thin,

Lord, my buddy got away, but I got in;

'Cause it doesn't matter who, Lord of Heaven,

Mama, the sun gonna shine in my door someday.

[EKE BBB]

Transcribed from Rosa Henderson and the Choo Choo Jazzers, vocals by Rosa Henderson, recorded 2/19/25:

Nobody Knows the Way I Feel 'Dis Mornin'

I woke up this mornin' out of my dream,

I felt so mistreated, I had to scream,

Just thinking about that mean man of mine,

I don't know why he treats me so unkind.

Nobody knows the way I feel this mornin',

Nobody knows the way I feel this mornin',

If I only had my way,

The graveyard is the place my man would lay,

Ain't nobody knows the way I feel this mornin'.

I pawned everything that I had this mornin',

I pawned everything that I had this mornin',

I pawned my ring, gold watch and chain,

I would have pawned myself but I felt ashamed,

Ain't nobody knows the way I feel this mornin'.

I even hate to hear your name this mornin',

I even hate to hear your name this mornin',

I even hate to hear your name,

I can kill you quicker than an express train,

Ain't nobody knows the way I feel this mornin'.

[EKE BBB]

Transcribed from vocals by Bessie Smith, recorded May 28, 1923:

Mama's Got the Blues

(Clarence Williams - Sara Martin)

Some people say that the weary blues ain't bad;

Some people say the weary blues ain't bad;

But it's the worst old feeling that I've ever had.

Woke up this morning, with a jinx around my bed.

I woke up this morning with a jinx around my bed;

I didn't have no daddy to hold my aching head.

Brown skin's deceitful, but a yellow man is worse;

Brown skin's deceitful, but a yellow man is worse;

I'm gonna get myself a black man and play safety first.

I got a man in Atlanta, two in Alabama, three in Chattanooga,

Four in Cincinatti, five in Mississippi, six in Memphis, Tennessee,

If you don't like my peaches, please let my orchard be!

[EKE BBB]

As Blind Boy Fuller recorded it in New York, on 29 April 1936:

Cat Man Blues

Went home last night

Heard a noise, I asked my wife what was that

Went home last night

Heard a noise, I asked my wife what was that

Said Man don't be so suspicious

That ain't nothin' but a cat

Lord I travelled this world all over mama

Takin' all kinds of chance

Travelled this world all over mama

Takin' all kinds of chance

But I never come home before

Seein' a cat wearin' a pair of pants

Lord I wouldn't call him cat man

If he'd come around in the day

Wouldn't call him cat man

If he'd come around in the day

But he waits till late at night woman

When he can steal my cream away

Lord I want that cat man to stay away from my house

Lordy when I'm out

Lord I want that cat man to stay away from my house

Oh Lord when I'm out

Cause I believe he's the cause of my woman

Wearin' the mattress down

Said I went home last night

Actin' just quiet as a lamb

Said I went home last night

Actin' quiet as a lamb

I never raised no stuff man

Till I heared my backdoor slam.

[EKE BBB]

As Bessie Smith sang it:

Send Me To The 'Lectric Chair

Judge you wanna hear my plea

Before you open up your court

But I don't want no sympathy

'Cause I done cut my good man's throat

I caught him whith a trifling Jane

I warned him 'bout before

I had my knife and went insane

And the rest you ought to know

Judge, judge, please mister judge,

Send me to the 'lectric chair

Judge, judge, good mister judge,

Let me go away from here

I wanna take a journey

To the devil down below

I done killed my man

I wanna reap just what I sow

Oh judge, judge, lordy lordy judge

Send me to the 'lectric chair

Judge, judge, hear me judge

Send me to the 'lectric chair

I love him so dear

I cut him with my barlow (?)

I kicked him in the side

I stood here laughing o'r him

While he wallowed around and died

Oh judge, judge, lordy judge

Send me to the 'lectric chair

Judge, judge, sweet mister judge

Send me to the 'lectric chair

Judge, judge, good kind judge

Burn me 'cause I don't care

I don't want no one good mayor

To go my bail

I don't want to spend no

Ninety-nine years in jail

So judge, judge, good kind judge

Send me to the 'lectric chair

[medjuck]

Saw James Moody last night and he quoted the world's shortest blues lyric:

"Didn't wake up this morning."

[Chrome]

I've always like the start of the version of St. Louis Blues on the Armstrong/Handy disc:

I hate to see that evening sun go down,

I hate to see that evening sun go down,

'Cause it makes me feel like I'm on my last go 'round

... and Key to the Highway by Bill Broonzy

I got the key to the highway, and I'm billed out and bound to go

I'm gonna leave here runnin', cause walkin' is most too slow

I'm goin' down on the border, now where I'm better known

Cause woman you don't do nothin', but drive a good man 'way from home

Now when the moon creeps over the mountain, I'll be on my way

Now I'm gonna walk this old highway, until the break of day

Come here, sweet mama, now and help me with this heavy load

I am due in West Texas, and I've got to get on the road

I'm goin' to West Texas, I'm goin' down behind the farm(?)

I'm gonna ax the good Lord what evil have I done

[kazak]

A little man walked up and down

He found an eating place in town

He read the menu thru and thru

To see what 15 cents could do

One meat ball

One meat ball

He could afford but one meat ball

He told the waiter near at hand

The simple dinner he had planned

The guests were startled one and all

To hear that waiter loudly call - What?

One meat ball

One meat ball

Hey, this here gent wants one meat ball

The little man felt ill at ease

Send some bread sir if you please

The waiter hollered down the hall

You gets no bread with one meat ball

One meat ball

One meat ball

Well you gets no bread with one meat ball

The little man felt very bad

One meat ball was all he had

And in his dreams he hears that call

You gets no bread with one meat ball

One meat ball

One meat ball

Well you gets no bread with one meat ball

--Josh White’s version

[danasgoodstuff]

"My telephone number is Cherry I-8-1-2" as sung ever so salaciously by Big Joe Turner.

[i don't think we have a smilie that quote fits...]

[Spontooneous]

Willie Brown, in "M&O Blues," 1930:

I start to kill my woman till she lay down 'cross the bed (2)

And she looked so ambitious I took back ev'rything I said.