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Blowin’ Down this Road/Going Down the Road Feeling Bad/Chilly Winds
Traditional Old-Time Breakdown and Song; Widely known.
ARTIST: Woody Guthrie, version of “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad” from Dust Bowl Ballads; Adapted Guthrie.
Listen: Woody Guthrie; Blowin' Down The Road
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes EARLIEST DATE: 1800s; Documented early 1900s.
RECORDING INFO: Rounder 0132, Bob Carlin - "Fiddle Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo" (1980. Learned from revival musicians in New York in the early 1970's). Rounder CD 0383, Mike Seegar and Paul Brown - "Down in North Carolina." Alden, Ray. Old Time Friends, Marimac 9009, Cas (1987), cut# 22; Carlin, Bob. Fiddle Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo, Rounder 0132, LP (1980), cut# 17; Cohen, John and Penny. String Band Project, Elektra EKS 7292, LP, cut#B.02; Harman, Bob; and the Blue Ridge Descendants. Music of the Blue Ridge, Galaxie, LP (198?), cut#B.06; Hooven, Greg. Tribute to Fred Cockerham, Heritage (Galax) 079C, Cas (1993), cut#A.07; Houston, Cisco. Cisco Special, Vanguard VSD-2042, LP (196?), cut#B.04; Jarrell, Tommy. Pickin' on Tommy's Porch, County 778, LP (198?), cut# 4; Jarrell, Tommy. Music of North Carolina, Heritage (Galax) 024 (XXIV), LP (1979), cut#A.02; Kimble Family. Carroll County Pioneers, Marimac 9036, Cas (1992), cut# 5; Paley, Tom. Old Tom Moore and More, Global Village C 309, Cas (1991), cut# 2; Parrish, Pete. Galax International, Heritage (Galax) 067, LP (1988), cut# 5; Round Peak Band. Round Peak Band, Marimac 9044, Cas (1992), B.11; Schwartz, Hank. Room at the Top, JHU, LP (197?), cut#B.06; Seeger, Mike; and Paul Brown. Way Down in North Carolina, Rounder 0383, CD (1996), cut#19; Seekers. Seekers, Pickwick SPC-3068, LP (197?), cut#A.02; Smith, Orriel. Voice in the Wind, Columbia Special Prod. CSRP 8924, LP (196?), cut#B.02; Spilkia, Dave; and Alden, Ray. Tribute to Tommy Jarrell, Heritage (Galax) 063, LP (1986), cut# 13; Ward, Wade. Round the Heart of Old Galax, Vol 3., County 535, LP (1980), cut# 12; Ward, Wade. Anglo-American Shanties, Lyric Songs, Dance Tunes & Spirituals, Library of Congress AAFS L 2, LP (195?), cut# 18; Ward, Wade. Uncle Wade. A Memorial to Wade Ward, Old Time Virginia Banjo ..., Folkways FA 2380, LP (1973), cut# 10; Ward, Wade. Sounds of the South, Atlantic 7-82496-2, CD( (1993), cut#1.24;
OTHER NAMES: Goin' Down This Road Feelin' Bad; Lonesome Road Blues; Levee Moan; Honey Your Hair Grows Too Long; East Coast Blues.
SOURCES: From A Treasury of Folk Songs, Kolb; Sandburg, pp. 225-227, "Levee Moan" (2 texts, 1 tune) Alcazar Dance Series ALC 202, Sandy Bradley - "Potluck & Dance Tonite!" (1979). Carryon 005, "The Renegades" (1993). County 778, Tommy Jarrell - "Pickin' on Tommy's Porch" (1984?. Learned from Carlie Holder). Heritage XXIV, Tommy Jarrell - "Music of North Carolina" (Bradywine, 1978). Marimac 9009, John Cohen - "Old Time Friends" (1987). Reed Island Rounders - "Wolves in the Wood" (1997).
NOTES: G Major. Chilly Winds is a related version of “Goin' Down This Road Feelin' Bad". Both are frequently categorized under “Lonesome Raod Blues.” The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. Mt. Airy, North Carolina, fiddler and banjo player Tommy Jarrell learned the tune in early in the 20th century and played it in AEAE tuning. He related to Mike Seegar:
“Carlie Holder and me was playing for a dance when I was about fifteen or sixteen years old--I was just beginning to play the fiddle... back then you didn't have over six or eight girls, you know, and they'd get tired and want to rest a while. While they was a-resting, why Carlie, he got to playing that tune, the first time I ever heard it. Then I got him to play it right smart little bit, maybe over two or three times and I learned it right there. I was young then, I could listen to a fellow play a tune, you know, and it would go in my head and stay...I thought it was the prettiest thing I ever heard. And I used to know a lot of words to it but I forgot 'em cause I quit making music for about forty years there. I didn't play none much and I forgot some of them songs.” Tommy Jarrell from Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc.
"Botkin credits the words of this piece and Chilly Winds to Woody Guthrie. Skillet Lickers included it in their skit "A Corn Likker Still in Georgia" in about 1930, and it may have been present before then." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc). A bluegrass favorite recorded by Bill Monroe to Doc Watson.
BLOWIN' DOWN THE ROAD- Woody Guthrie
Listen: Woody Guthrie; Blowin' Down The Road
[harmonica solo w/guitar]
I'm blowin' down this old dusty road,
I'm a-blowin' down this old dusty road,
I'm a-blowin' down this old dusty road, Lord, Lord,
An' I ain't a-gonna be treated this a-way.
I'm a-goin' where the water taste like wine,
I'm a-goin' where the water taste like wine,
I'm a-goin' where the water taste like wine, Lord,
An' I ain't a-gonna be treated this way.
I'm a-goin' where the dust storms never blow,
I'm a-goin' where them dust storms never blow,
I'm a-goin' where them dust storms never blow, blow, blow,
An' I ain't a-gonna be treated this way.
[brief harmonica solo]
They say I'm a dust bowl refugee,
Yes, they say I'm a dust bowl refugee,
They say I'm a dust bowl refugee, Lord, Lord,
An' I ain't a-gonna be treated this way.
I'm a-lookin' for a job at honest pay,
I'm a-lookin' for a job at honest pay,
I'm a-lookin' for a job at honest pay, Lord, Lord,
An' I ain't a-gonna be treated this way.
My children need three square meals a day,
Now, my children need three square meals a day,
My children need three square meals a day, Lord,
An' I ain't a-gonna be treated this way.
It takes a ten-dollar shoe to fit my feet,
It takes a ten-dollar shoe to fit my feet,
It takes a ten-dollar shoe to fit my feet, Lord, Lord,
An' I ain't a-gonna be treated this way.
Your a-two-dollar shoe hurts my feet,
Your two-dollar shoe hurts my feet,
Yes, your two-dollar shoe hurts my feet, Lord, Lord,
An' I ain't a-gonna be treated this way.
I'm a-goin' down this old dusty road,
I'm blowin' down this old dusty road,
I'm a-blowin' down this old dusty road, Lord, Lord,
An' I ain't a-gonna be treated this way.
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