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Alberta/ Roberta/ Corinne Corrina
("Alberta, Let Your Hair Hang Down" also titled "Alberta" is a different song)
"Alberta" by Broozy (Alberta II) is a different song so is "Alberta" by Leadbelly (Alberta III)
Old-time; standard 12 bar country blues, widely known; Attributed to Bo Chatmon also known as Bo Carter.
ARTIST: Bo Chatmon (also known as Bo Carter) with Charlie McCoy 1928 as Corrine Corrina (Brunswick 7080, Supertone S2212, Vocalion 02701). Chatmon recorded the song for various record companies under different titles, "Sweet Alberta" and "Alberta" with his group the Mississippi Sheiks.
CATEGORY: Blues and Jazz Songs DATE: 1926 Jefferson; 1928 Chatmon
RECORDING INFO: "Corrine Corrina" Bo Chatmon November 1928; "Sweet Alberta" Jackson Blue Boys December 1928; Two Bad Boys 1929; "Alberta Blues" Mississippi Sheiks; Clayon McMichen and Hugh Cross 1929; Ashley and Abernathy 1931; "Where You Been So Long Corrine" Milton Brown 1934; cajun music pioneer Leo Soileau 1935, Bob Wills 1940, Red Nichols, Art Tatum, Muddy Waters, Albert Ammons, Mississippi John Hurt, Jimmy Witherspoon, Merle Haggard, Floyd Cramer, Freddy Fender, Asleep at the Wheel, the Texas Wanderers and the Tennessee Drifters, Big Joe Turner, Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ernest Stoneman, Phil Spector, Bobby Vinton, Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, Steppenwolf, Lawrence Welk, Eric Clapton and George Winston.
As "Corrina Blues" [Me II-AB37]: Jefferson, Blind Lemon. King of the Country Blues, Yazoo 1069, Cas (1988), trk# 9 (first recorded in 1926).
As "Alberta" [Me II-AB37]: Broonzy, Big Bill. Sings Folk Songs, Smithsonian/Folkways SF 40023, LP (1989), trk# 7; Leadbelly. Leadbelly; The Library of Congress Recordings, Elektra EKL 301/2, LP (1965), E.01 [1933-42]; Williams, Robert Pete. Oster, Harry / Living Country Blues, Minerva, Sof (1969), p419/#198A [1960/02/21]
As "Corrina/Corena" [Me II-AB37]:
Ashley and Abernathey. Going Down The Valley; Vocal & Instrumental Music from the South, New World NW 236, LP (1977), trk# 12 [1931/12/02];
Baker, Mickey. Blues and Jazz, Kicking Mule KM 142, LP (1976), trk# 1;
Blue Sky Boys. Presenting The Blue Sky Boys, JEMF 104, LP (1965), trk# 1; Brewer, Jim. Jim Brewer, Philo 1003, LP (1974), trk# B.01
Brown, Milton; & his (Musical) Brownies. Western Swing. Historic Recordings..., Old-Timey LP 105, LP (1966), trk# 11 [1935/08/08] (Where You Been So Long, Corrine)
Clements, Vassar. Crossing the Catskills, Rounder 0016, LP (1972), trk# B.01
Clements, Vassar. Fiddler Magazine, Fiddler Mag., Ser, 7/4, p10b(2000) [1972]
Dylan, Bob. Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Columbia CS 8786, LP (1963), trk# B.05
Frazier, Nathan; and Frank Patterson. Altamont: Black Stringband Music from the Library of Congress, Rounder 0238, LP (1989), trk# A.06 [1942/03]
Haley, Bill; and his Comets. Bill Haley's Chicks, Decca DL 8821, LP (1959), trk# B.04
Henderson, Charles. Oster, Harry / Living Country Blues, Minerva, Sof (1969), p419/#198B [1960/10/10]
Howard, Clint;, Doc Watson & Fred Price. Old-Time Music at Clarence Ashley's, Part 2, Folkways FA 2359, LP (1963), trk# 14 [1962/04]
Hurt, Mississippi John. Mississippi John Hurt Today, Vanguard VSD 79220, LP (1966), trk# 6
Hurt, Mississippi John. Grossman, Stefan; Stephen Calt, Hal Grossman / Country Blues Songb, Oak, Sof (1973), p195 (Corrinne, Corrinna)
Lipscomb, Mance. Mance Lipscomb, Vol. 6, Arhoolie 1069, LP (1974), trk# 6
Lynn, Frank (ed.) / Songs for Swinging Housemothers, Fearon, Sof (1963/1961), p254;
Leisy, James F. (ed.) / Hootenanny Tonight!, Gold Medal Books, sof (1964), p127;
Lomax, Alan / Folksongs of North America, Doubleday Dolphin, Sof (1975/1960), p587/#312 [1930s];
Leisy, James F. (ed.) / Folk Song Abecedary, Bonanza, Bk (1966), p 66;
Martin, Bogen & Armstrong. Barnyard Dance, Rounder 2003, LP (1972), trk# 3
Martin, Carl. Crow Jane Blues, Testament TCD 6006, CD (1997), trk# 2 [1966/05/31]
Molsky, Bruce; and Bob Carlin. Take Me as I Am, Marimac 9023, Cas (1989), trk# 9
Montgomery, Chris. Folk Favorites, Clodhopper, Cas (1989), trk# 1
Poston, Mutt; and the Farm Hands. Hoe Down! Vol. 7. Fiddlin' Mutt Poston and the Farm Hands, Rural Rhythm RRFT 157, LP (197?), trk# A.01
Spoelstra, Mark. Sing Out Reprints, Sing Out, Sof (1959), 8, p11
Stoneman, Ernest V. ("Pop"). Pop Stoneman Memorial Album, MGM SE 4588, LP (1969), trk# A.03 (I Love Corrina)
Traum, Happy. Traum, Happy / Blues Bag, Consolidated Music, Sof (1968), p55
Watson, Doc and Merle. Then and Now, Poppy 0598, LP (1973), trk# B.03
Watson, Doc; Clint Howard and Fred Price. Old Timey Concert, Vanguard 107/8, Cas (1987/1967), trk# B.08
Wills, Bob; and the Texas Playboys. 31st Street Blues, Longhorn KK-011, LP (1981/1940s), trk# B.05 [1940/04/15]
Wills, Bob; and the Texas Playboys. Tiffany Transcriptions, Vol. 2. Best of the Tiffanys., Edsel ED 322, LP (1984), trk# B.04
Wiseman, Mac. 20 Old-Time Country Favorites, Rural Rhythm RHY-258, CD (1997/1966), trk# 10
OTHER NAMES: Corrine Corrina; Roberta, Sweet Alberta
RELATED TO: C. C. Rider; Arabela (Jimmie Davis); Fast Life Woman
SOURCES: Folk Index; "Corrine Corrina, Bo Chatmon, and the Excluded Middle" by
Christopher A. Waterman; Roots of Bob Dylan: "Corrina, Corrina"
Armenter "Bo Carter" Chatmon (March 21, 1893 — September 21, 1964) was a popular early blues musician. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks in concerts, and on a few of their recordings. Carter also managed that group, which included his brother, Lonnie Chatmon, on fiddle and occasionally Sam Chatmon on bass, along with a non-relative, Walter Vincson, on guitar and lead vocal.
Since the 1960s, Carter has become best known for his bawdy songs such as "Banana in Your Fruit Basket", "Pin in Your Cushion", "Your Biscuits Are Big Enough for Me" and "My Pencil Won't Write No More". However, his output was not restricted to risqué music. In 1928, he recorded the original version of "Corrine, Corrina", which later became a hit for Big Joe Turner and has become a standard in various musical genres.
Carter and his brothers (including pianist Harry Chatmon, who also made recordings) first learned music from their father, ex-slave fiddler Henderson Chatmon, at their home on a plantation between Bolton and Edwards, Mississippi. Their mother, Eliza, also sang and played guitar.
Carter made his recording debut in 1928, backing Alec Johnson. Carter soon was recording as a solo artist, and became one of the dominant blues recording acts of the 1930s, recording more than 100 sides. He also played with and managed the family group, the Mississippi Sheiks, and several other acts in the area. He and the Sheiks often played for whites, playing the pop hits of the day and white-oriented dance material, as well as for blacks, using a bluesier repertoire.
Carter went partly blind, sometime in the 1930s. He settled in Glen Allan, and, despite his vision problems, did some farming, but also continued to play music and performed, sometimes with his brothers. Carter moved to Memphis, and worked outside music in the 1940s.
Carter suffered strokes and died of a cerebral hemorrhage at Shelby County Hospital, Memphis, on September 21, 1964.
NOTES: The song "Alberta" or "Alberta Alberta" is another name for the song "Corrine Corinna" usually attributed to Bo Chatman of the Mississippi Shieks and was copyrighted by him and J.W. Williams in 1931. Eric Clapton scored a recent hit under the Alberta title when the song was included on his Unplugged CD. Big Bill Broonzy and also Leadbelly have songs titled "Alberta," but they are different songs. See Alberta II and Aberta III.
Because it was recorded by other artists before the copyright, it puts the legitmacy of Chatmon's copyright in doubt. The song clearly was based to some extent by Chatmon on Jefferson's earlier song and influenced by the 1918, "Has Anybody Seen My Corinne." The very first occurrence of the words to Corrine, Corrina occured in Corrina Blues recorded by Blind Lemon Jefferson in April 1926 for Paramont Records. The last verse is:
If you see Corrina, tell her to hurry home
I ain't had no true love since Corrina been gone
I ain't had no true love since Corrina been gone
I ain't had no true love since Corrina been gone
Jefferson's song starts out as C.C. Rider and the melody is not the same as the Chatmon version of Corrine Corrina. Were Jefferson and then Chatmon inspired by earlier jazz and popular songs?
Though there were "Corrinas" already in 19th century music the original inspiration for the 20th century song family may have been a popular song published in 1918, "Has Anybody Seen My Corinne" by Roger Graham and pianist and songwriter Lukie Johnson. Vernon Dalhart's recording ( Edison, 1918) is available from the Cylinder Preservation And Digitization Project, an instrumental version by Wilbur Sweatman’s Jazz Orchestra (1919) can be found on redhotjazz.com.
My girl ran away last night,
I did my best to treat her right,
For no reason I can see
I was crazy 'bout her 'fore she was wild about me.
I'm so worried 'bout to cry
To think she left and never said good-bye
Heartbroken and alone
I want my baby to come home.
Has anybody seen my Corrine?
Oh, she's a dream
She is my baby doll
Just like a banfire
She set my heart on fire
I regret the day,
The day that I was born,
Since my lovin' Corrina has gone
She has done me wrong
If anybody has seen my Corrine?
No matter where Corrina may be,
Tell my Corrina to come right back to me,
I want some lovin' sweetie dear.
This song must have been quite popular at that time. In 1919 songwriters Edward B. Ellison and H.H. Sangston produced a follow-up with the title "Lovin' Corrine Is Comin' Home" (sheet music) to tell the world that the girl in fact did return:
[refrain:] So I'm writing to my Billy boy
That his lovin' Corrine is comin' home.
I'm writing a letter that will make him feel better
And I'm tellin' him that never more will I roam
That my heart is not on my sleeve no more.
But is kept inside with a lock on my door
Oh, about him I'm silly as I'm writing my Billy
That his lovin' Corrine is comin' home
In 1927 Frankie “Half Pint” Jaxon recorded a hilarious parody called "Corrine" (revived in 1929 as "Corrine Blues" and in 1939 as "Callin' Corrine", these two versions are available on redhotjazz.com), but that was another completely different work although it might allude to the song by Graham & Johnson.
In late November or December of 1928 Bo Chatman and Charlie McCoy recorded the first version of the song Corrine, Corrina for Brunswick Records in New Orleans. On December 17, 1928 the Jackson Blue Boys (Charlie McCoy-vcl, mando; Walter Vincson - gtr; Bo Chatmon (Bo Carter) - vcl ) recorded Sweet Alberta also in New Orleans. Both were the same song with Sweet Alberta substituted for Corrina. "Sweet Alberta" (Columbia 14397-D), used for the most part the same lyrics but this time including Jefferson's "tell her to hurry home" line.
Tell me, Alberta, tell her to hurry home.
If you see Alberta, tell her to hurry home.
Haven't been no lovin' since she been gone.
And in December 1930 they recycled the same melody for a song called "The Northern Starvers Are Returning Home" (Okeh 8853) so all important record labels had a chance to get a slice of the cake and the musicians managed to get paid three times for one song.
By most accounts this is considered a traditional 12 bar blues, a form not usually found in most hillbilly blues. Jimmie Rodgers loosley used the 12 bar form and added a yodel on the end. The Carter Family with the influence of African-American Leslie Riddle, collected and arranged several 12 bar blues. Jimmie Davis and Cliff Carlisle used standard blues early in their careers. Corrina quickly entered the hillbilly/early country market with recordings by Clayon McMichen and Hugh Cross 1929 and Tom Ashley and Abernathy 1931 with Gwen Foster on harmonica. It was also a popular Western swing song being covered by Milton Brown in 1934 and was a hit with Bob Wills in 1940 and became a song identified with Will's bands.
Among the earliest and most important covers was one by Tampa Red & Georgia Tom (Tommy Dorsey) recorded in December 1929 ("Corrine, Corrina", Vocalion 1450). This one must have been very successful as they followed it up four month later in April 1930 with "Corinne Corrina No 2" (Vocalion 1496) including a set of new verses. From then on this song became very popular and crossed all race and genre barriers. McKinley Morganfield (Muddy Waters) recalled it as one of the most popular numbers at local dances in Mississippi (Wald, p. 58) and David Edwards in the early 40s performed it at country dances for his white customers (Edwards, p. 117):
"I played all different kinds of music. We'd all play anything to make that nickel - I'd holler my ass off about that nickel! Sometimes white folks would hire me from off the streets to play at country dances. They liked 'St. Louis Blues', 'Bring it On Down', 'Corinna'. They'd dance all over the floor to 'Corinna', them white folks".
There have been a great number of of covers and adaptions, according to one list I saw there were at least 30 until 1945. The Mississippi Sheiks (Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon) renamed her "Alberta" in 1930. Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell adapted "Corrina" in 1934 as "Hold Them Puppies" and wrote some new lyrics. Lead Belly called her "Roberta" (1935) and Big Joe Turner recorded two fine versions of "Corrine, Corrina" in 1941 and in 1956.
Country music artists like the Carter Family (for radio, available on On Border Radio Vol. 2), Milton Browne (1934), Cliff Bruner (1937) and Bob Wills (1940) have recorded it too as have Jazz bands like those of Red Nichols’ Five Pennies (1930, available from YouTube and redhotjazz.com), Cab Calloway (1931), Wingy Manone & His Orchestra (1939, available from redhotjazz.com) or Cajun singers like Leo Sileau (1935) and Lawrence Walker (1940). In 1961 even Ray "Tell Laura I Love Her" Peterson had a hit with that song (YouTube: original recording & TV show 1965)
The following info is taken from "Corrine Corrina, Bo Chatmon, and the Excluded Middle" by Christopher A. Waterman:
At the time he recorded Corrine Corrina, Bo Chatmon was also working with the Mississippi Sheiks, a string band that included his brothers Lonnie and Sam, the guitarist Walter Vincson, Charley McCoy, and his brother Joe, who talent at interracial mimesis was sufficient to allow him to make several recordings under the nom de disque ‘The Hillbilly Plowboy’ (Garon and Garon 1992:288, fn 47). The name of the band, inspired by the Tin Pan Alley tune The Sheik of Araby, was a jovial reference to a long-standing Orientalist strain in American popular culture, epitomized by the films of Rudolph Valentino. The reference to popular images of Arabs (usually played by Latin American actors) evoked an exotic, and in some ways intermediate racial category not available in the United States, where the term ‘mulatto’ had been officially eliminated from the national census in 1920.
According to Samuel Charters (1990:136-37), some of The Mississippi Sheiks’ records sold well in the rapidly expanding black communities of Chicago and other northern cities. The motivation to extend their appeal among whites--who, according to Sam Chatmon, formed the bulk of their audience in live performance situations--led the Sheiks to record songs such as "Yodelling, Fiddling Blues" (1930), an homage to ‘hillbilly’ musician Jimmie Rodgers (Davis 1995:88). On some recordings, including their rendition of "Jail Bird Love Song" (OKeh 8834, 1930), Bo Chatmon and Walter Vinson skillfully emulated the ‘high lonesome’ vocal style popularised by the Carter Family and the Blue Sky Boys. Although racist promotional principles prevailed for the most part--the Sheiks’ records generally being restricted to the ‘race record’ catalogues--at least one of their recordings was cross-listed in the white country music or ‘hillbilly’ catalogue. This was a rare occurrence, and an indication of the degree to which the Sheiks, and the Chatmons, retained the ability to move back and forth between ‘Negro’ and ‘white’ musical domains.
The song’s biggest success on the country music charts came in 1940, when OKeh Records released a version of Corrine Corrina, performed by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. Wills (born in 1905 in Limestone county, Texas) was the popularizer of Western Swing, a dance-hall style which melded the Anglo-American string band tradition with Tin Pan Alley songs, blues, and the swing style of Kansas City-based territory bands such as those led by Bennie Moten and Count Basie, with touches of Mexican and Cajun music. His recording of Corrina--thereafter a standard of Western swing music--indexed and reinforced the song’s links to the ‘common practice’ southern fiddle tradition.
In 1956, when Joe Turner recorded a version of Corrine Corrina for Atlantic Records, the term ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ had recently emerged as a marketing label for rhythm & blues-inspired dance music, promoted to a predominantly white teenage audience. Big Joe had already recorded a string of R&B hits for Atlantic Records, including the song "Shake, Rattle and Roll," which reached #2 on the R&B charts in 1954. Within a few months Decca Records released a bowdlerized version of the song by Bill Haley and the Comets, a country-and-western band from Pennsylvania. Haley’s version reached the Billboard Top Ten, and made him the first rock ‘n’ roll star.
Aberta- Clapton (Unplugged CD)
Alberta, Alberta,
Where you been so long?
Alberta, Alberta,
Where you been so long?
Ain't had no loving
Since you've been gone.
Alberta, Alberta,
Where'd you stay last night?
Alberta, Alberta
Where'd you stay last night?
Come home this morning,
Clothes don't fit you right
Alberta, Alberta,
Girl, you're on my mind.
Alberta, Alberta,
Girl, you're on my mind.
Ain't had no loving
Such a great long time.
Alberta, Alberta,
Where you been so long?
Alberta, Alberta,
Where you been so long?
Ain't had no loving
Since you've been gone.
Here are the lyrics to “Corrina/Alberta:”
CORRINA/ALBERTA 1929 Chatmon and McCoy- Alberta may be substituted for Corrina. (see clapton's lyrics above)
Corrina, Corrina, where you been so long?
Corrina, Corrina, where you been so long?
I ain't had no lovin', since you've been gone
Corrina, Corrina, where'd you stay last night?
Corrina, Corrina, where'd you stay last night?
Come in this mornin', sun was shinin' bright.
I met Corrina, way across the sea.
I met Corrina, way across the sea.
She wouldn't write no letter, she didn't care for me.
Corrina, Corrina, what you gonna do?
Corrina, Corrina, what you gonna do?
Just a little bit of lovin', let your heart be true.
I love Corrina, tell the world I do.
I love Corrina, tell the world I do.
Just a little bit of lovin', let your heart be true.
Corrina, Corrina, you're a pal of mine.
Corrina, Corrina, you're a pal of mine.
Now she left me walkin', she'll roll in them dimes.
Corrina, Corrina,what's the matter now?
Corrina, Corrina, what's the matter now?
You wouldn't write me no letter, you didn't love me nohow.
Goodbye Corrina, it's fare you well.
Goodbye Corrina, it's fare you well.
When I's gettin back here, can't anyone tell.
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