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Danville Girl (New Danville Girl- Dylan)
Traditional Old-Time, Breakdown and Song. USA, Mississippi.
ARTIST: Version by Bob Dylan and Sam Sheppard
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: Late 1800’s; (1927 recordings, Burnett & Rutherford, Dock Boggs)
RECORDING INFO: Burnett & Rutherford, "Ramblin' Reckless Hobo" (Columbia 15240-D, 1927; on BurnRuth01); Dock Boggs, "Danville Girl" (Brunswick 132B, 1927); (on Boggs2, BoggsCD1); New Lost City Ramblers, "Danville Girl" (on NLCR06); Pete Seeger, "Danville Girl" (on PeteSeeger02, PeteSeegerCD01) Recorded for the Library of Congress by Herbert Halpert from the playing of John Hatcher, Tishomingo County, Mississippi, 1939. Boz Scaggs cover from the album "Boz Scaggs" on Atlantic SD 19166 (Waiting for a Train);Boggs, Dock. Dock Boggs, Vol 2, Folkways FA 2392, LP (1965), cut# 3; Boggs, Dock. Country Blues, Revenant 205, CD (1997), cut# 5; Dane, Barbara. Anthology of American Folk Songs, Tradition TR 2072, LP (196?), cut#B.04; Elliot, Jack; and Derroll Adams. Roll On Buddy, Topic 12T 105, LP (1957), cut# 9; Elliot, Ramblin' Jack. Jack Elliot, Archive of Folk Music FS-210, LP (19?), cut#B.02; Glazer, Joe. Union Train, Collector 1925, LP (1975), cut#A.02; Guthrie, Woody. Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs, Vol. 2, Folkways FA 2484, LP (1964), cut#A.06; Houston, Cisco. I Ain't Got No Home, Vanguard VRS 9107, LP (1960), cut# 4; Pine River Boys with Maybelle. Outback, Heritage (Galax) 003 (III), LP (1974), cut#A.03; Scott and Stanley. Hard Times in the Country, Talkeetna TR 100, LP (1974), cut#B.02; Sky, Patrick. Two Steps Foreward - One Step Back, Leviathan SLIF 2000, LP (197?), cut#B.04; Williams, Robin and Linda. Robin and Linda Williams, Flashlight FLT 3003, LP (1975), cut#A.05;
OTHER NAMES: “Wild and Reckless Hobo,” “Waiting for a Train (attributed to Jimmie Rodgers),” "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home," “The Railroad Bum,” “Western Hobo,” "Belt Line Girl;" "New Danville Girl," “Brownville Girl”
RELATED TO: “Knoxville Girl;” "More Pretty Girls Than One"
SOURCES: Laws H2, "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home; A Wild and Reckless Hobo; "The Railroad Bum;" Randolph 836, "A Wild and Reckless Hobo;" Sandburg, pp. 456-457, "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home"; Lomax-AFSB, pp. 28-30, "Ten Thousand Miles from Home;" Ohrlin-HBT 42, "Sam's 'Waiting for a Train'" Silber-FSWB, p. 54, "Danville Girl," Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 130, "At the Jail"
NOTES: G Major. Listed as a fiddle tune in Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc. Recorded for the Library of Congress by Herbert Halpert from the playing of John Hatcher, Tishomingo County, Mississippi, 1939.
The song belongs with a group of “hobo” songs which share several verses: Wild and Reckless Hobo, Waiting for a Train, and Danville Girl itself. The song was probably composed around 1870 or 1880 and many recordings document one or another version under the above titles. Norm Cohen, Long Steel Rail has a comprehensive and extended discussion of the song and its history. It’s been used by Bob Dylan for several new versions including "New Danville Girl/Brownville Girl/New Brownville Girl” and Woody Guthrie for "Belt Line Girl."
Jimmie Rodgers’ version of "The Danville Girl" is named “Waiting for a Train.” It is credited to Jimmie Rodgers by John Greenway and others but certainly is Rodgers adaptation of “Danville Girl’ from folk sources.
"The Danville Girl" subtext is identified by the verses that set it apart, including the “You bet your life she's out of sight/She wore those Danville curls” and “'She wore her hair on the back of her head/Like high-toned people do.” It's also got floating verses, including some from "Gambling Man"
From Alan Lomax's notes to PeteSeeger02, "There are stanzas in this one from so many different hobo songs, sung in so many different ways, that one might call this the master hobo song. Actually I had some hand in mixing the verses together in American Ballads and Folk Songs (Macmillan, 1934), from which this version comes."
LYRICS:
I wish I could remember that movie just a little bit better,
All I remember about it was that it starred Gregory Peck.
He was shot down in the back by a hungry kid trying to make a name for himself.
The townspeople wanted to crush that kid down and string him up by the neck.
Well the Sheriff beat that boy into a bloody pulp,
As the dying gunfighter lay in the sun and gasped for his last breath.
'Turn him loose, let him go, let him say he outdrew me fair and square.
I want him to feel what it's like to every moment face his death'
Well I keep seeing this stuff and it just comes a-rolling in,
And it blows right through me like a ball and chain.
You know I can't believe we've lived so long and are still so far apart.
Your memory keeps callin' after me like a rollin' train.
I can still see the day that you came to me on the painted desert
In your busted-down Ford and your platform heels.
I could never figure out why you chose that particular place to meet,
Ah, but you were right. It was perfect, as I got in behind the wheel.
We drove that car all night into San Antone
And we slept near the Alamo, fell out under the stars.
Way down in Mexico you went out to see a doctor and you never came back.
I stayed there a while, till the whole place it started feelin' like mars.
Well, I'm driving this car and the sun is comin' up over the Rockies.
Somethin' about it reminds me of you, like when she sings "Baby, let the
good times roll".
But I'm too over the edge to remember the things we used to talk about or do,
And she don’t want to remind me, she knows this car would go out of control.
Danville Girl with your Danville curl,
Teeth like pearls, shining like the moon above.
Danville Girl take me all around the world.
Danville Girl, you're my honey love.
Well. we crossed the Panhandle and then we headed out towards Amarillo,
Rushin' down where Henry Porter used to live, he owned a wreckin' lot
outside of town,
We could see Ruby in the window, as we came rolling up in a trail of dust.
She said 'Henry's not here, he took off, but y'all can come in and
stay a while'.
Well she told us times were tough but we never knew how bad off she was.
You know she would change the subject every time money came up.
You know her eyes were filled with so much sadness, she was so
disillusioned with everything,
She said 'Even the swap meets around here are getting pretty corrupt'.
'How far y'all going?' Ruby asked us with a sigh.
'We're going all the way 'till the wheels fall off and burn.
Till the sun peels the paint and the seat covers fade and the water
moccasin dies'.
Ruby just smiled and said 'Ah, you know, some babies never learn'.
I keep trying to remember that movie though, and it does keep comin' back,
But I can't remember what part I played or who I was supposed to be.
All I can remember about it is it's starring Gregory Peck and he was in it,
And everything he did in it reminded me of me. Yeah!
Danville Girl with your Danville curl,
Teeth like pearls, shining like the moon above.
Danville Girl take me all around the world.
Danville Girl, you're my honey love.
Well, they were looking for somebody with a pompadour.
I was crossing the street when they opened fire.
I didn't know whether to duck or to run so I ran.
Sounded to me like I was bein' chased by the midnight choir.
Well, you saw my picture in the Corpus Christi Tribune,
underneath it said 'A man with no alibi'.
You went out on a limb to testify and you said I was with you. Ah, yes you did!
And I watched you break down in front of the judge and cry.
It was the best acting I ever saw you do.
I've always been an emotional person but this time it was asking too much.
If there's an original thought out there, Oh, I could use it right now!
Yeah, I feel pretty good, but you know I could feel a whole lot better, oh
yes I could,
If you were just here by my side to show me how.
Well, I'm standing in line in the rain to see a movie starring Gregory Peck.
Oh yes I am, but it's not the one that I had in mind.
He's got a new one out now, you know it just don't look the same,
But I'll see him anyway and I stand in line.
Danville Girl with your Danville curl,
Teeth like pearls, shining like the moon above.
Danville Girl take me all around the world.
Danville Girl, you're my honey love.
You know, it's funny how people just want to believe what's convenient.
Nothing happens on purpose, it's an accident if it happens at all.
And everything that's happening to us seems like it's happening without our
consent,
But we're busy talking back and forth to our shadows on an old stone wall.
Oh, you got to talk to me now baby, tell me about the man that you
used to love,
And tell me about your dreams, just before the time you passed out. Oh, yeah!
Tell me about the time that our engine broke down and it was the
worst of times,
Tell me about all the things that I couldn't do nothin' about.
There was a movie I seen one time, I think I sat through it twice.
I don't remember who I was or what part I played.
All I remember about it was it was starring Gregory Peck.
But that was a long time ago, and it was made in the shade.
Danville girl with your Danville curl,
Teeth like pearls, shining like the moon above.
Danville Girl take me all around the world.
Danville Girl, you're my honey love.
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