|
Elder Greene Blues/Elder Green's in Town/Alabama Bound/I'm Alabama Bound
Traditional Song and Fiddle Tune, Widely known; US south.
ARTIST: Charlie Patton 1929 Lyircs: Take 1 and Take 2
Listen: Charlie Patton Take 1 Elder Greene Blues
Listen: Charlie Patton Take 2 Elder Greene Blues
Listen: Alf "Dad" Valentine: Elder Green's in Town
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: 1939 First collected version 1908; First published in 1909 Hoffman; First Recording Papa Charlie Jackson, May 1925
RECORDING INFO- Alabama Bound/Preacher Got Drunk: Pete Seeger, "Alabama Bound" (on PeteSeeger18) (on PeteSeeger22) (on PeteSeeger43) Tennessee Ramblers 1928 (The Preacher Got Drunk and Laid His Bible Down) Br 259; Delmore Brothers 1938. Bowlegs. Lomax, John A. & Alan Lomax / American Ballads and Folk Songs, MacMillan, Bk (1934), p.206 [1920s?]; Brown, Rich (Uncle Rich). Alabama. From Lullabies to the Blues, Rounder 1829-2, CD (2001), 8 [1937/07/25]; Edwards, Cliff (Ukelele Ike). Shakin' the Blues Away, Totem LP 1005, LP (198?), trk# A.04 [1940s]; Horton, Abe. Old Time Music from Fancy Gap, Heritage (Galax) 019, LP (1978), trk# 5; Leadbelly. Folk Go-Go, Verve/Folkways FV 9011, LP (1965), trk# 8 Morrison, Van;, Lonnie Donegan, and Chris Barber. Skiffle Sessions, Virgin 8 48307 2 4, CD (2000), trk# 7; Odetta. Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues, Tradition TLP 1010/TCD 1, CD (1996/1956), trk# 12; Reno, Don;, Bill Harrell and the Tenn. Cutups. Tally Ho, King Bluegrass KB-526, LP (1973), trk# 10; Reser, Harry. Banjos Back to Back, RCA (Victor) LPM-2515, LP (1962), trk# B.06a; Seeger, Pete. Treasures from the Folk Den, Appleseed CD 1046, CD (2001), 8; Snowden, Elmer; Quartet. Harlem Banjo, Riverside RLP 9349, LP (1961), trk# B.03; Ungar, Jay; and Lynn Hardy. Songs, Ballads and Fiddle Tunes, Philo 1023, LP (1975), trk# 6; Watson, Doc and Merle. Ballads from Deep Gap, Vanguard VSD 6576, LP (1971), trk# 12
RECORDING INFO- Don't You Leave Me Here/ Don't Leave Me Here: Barrier Brothers. Pickin' and Singin', Old Homestead OHCS 108, LP (1977), trk# 10 [1957ca]; Big Joe Williams; Chasman, Paul. Solo Guitar, Rose, LP (1978), trk# B.02; Geremia, Paul. Hard Life Rockin' Chair, Adelphi AD 1020, LP (1973), trk# B.07; Kweskin, Jim; & the Jug Band. Jug Band Music, Vanguard VSD 79163, LP (1963), trk# 6; Laura Smith 1927; Morton, Jelly Roll (Ferdinand) 1939; Sunny Boy And His Pals or "Long Cleve Reed" and "Little Harvey Hull"; Thomas, Henry (Ragtime Texas Henry). Texas Worried Blues, Yazoo 1080/1, LP (1989), trk# 23; Van Ronk, Dave. Folk Box, Elektra EKL-9001, LP (1964), trk# 62; Van Ronk, Dave. Blues Project, Elektra EKL-264, LP (1964), trk# B.01; Washboard Sam recorded "Don't Leave Me Here" in 1938;
RELATED TO: "Baby Please Don’t Go” (form); Alabama Blues; Elder Green Blues;
OTHER NAMES: I'm Alabama Bound; Don't You Leave Me Here; Elder Green’s in Town; Preacher Got Drunk; Boat’s Up the River; Don't Ease Me In; Don't Leave Me Here; I'm Alabamy Bound;
SOURCES: Lomax-ABFS, pp. 206-209, "Alabama-Bound" (1 text, 1 tune, probably composite) MWheeler, pp. 54-55, "I'm Alabama Bound" (1 text, 1 tune); PSeeger-AFB, p. 44 "Alabama Bound" (1 text, 1 tune); Silber-FSWB, p. 47, "Alabama Bound" (1 text) Seeger, Pete. Sing Out! Reprints, Sing Out, Sof (196?), 2, p55; Seeger, Pete. Seeger, Pete / American Favorite Ballads, Oak, Fol (1961), p44
NOTES: Typical choruses include: "I'm Alabama bound, I'm Alabama bound/And if the train don't stop and turn around/I'm Alabama bound (I’ve got a mule to ride)"; Typical verses include: "Oh the preacher got drunk/He throwed his Bible down/Told his congregation/that he’s Alabama bound;” or “Don't you leave me here/Don't you leave me here/ If you must go/Leave me a dime for beer"; or "Don't you be like me... You can drink... cherry wine and let the whiskey be."
The sentiment of the song lyrics seem to come from the Minstrel stage. One possible source is "I Hab Leff Alabama" by Marshall S. Pike published in 1849:
Alabama agen, Alabama agen
And if I ever lib ‘till the sunrise tomorrow,
I’s a-goin’ back to Alabama agen.
Not many changes are needed to make it a version of Alabama Bound:
(Alabama bound, Alabama bound,
And if I ever lib ‘till the sunrise tomorrow
I’s Alabama bound)
In an interview with Alan Lomax, Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941) claimed to have written the song Alabama Bound in 1905 which he recorded for Bluebird in 1939 as "Don't You Leave Me Here." The Devil's Music: a history of the blues - Page 61 by Giles Oakley –1997: "In 1939 Jelly Roll Morton claimed to Alan Lomax to have made the song up himself in 1905 when he was in the Alabama barrell house circuit."
For his 1939 recording Morton was told to change the name from Alabama Bound to avoid possible copyright conflicts. [Morton: "but I am getting Alabama Bound in (in the session with Bluebird) and the title must be changed to- Don't You Leave Me Here."] Morton apparently left the Alabama Bound lyrics that he knew off his recording which features his vocals on only two verses.
The "Don't You Leave Me Here/Don't Leave Me Here" songs were also known as “Elder Brown’s in Town” in Texas and a similar version to Morton’s was recorded by Laura Smith in 1927. Little is known about the life of blues singer Laura Smith. She is thought to have come from Indianapolis, Indiana and is known to have toured the TOBA vaudeville circuit in the early 1920s. Her recording career began in 1924 on the Okeh label and ended in 1927 on Victor. Smith's 1927 version of Jelly Roll Morton's "Don't You Leave Me Here" is quite good and features lyrics that differ from Morton's classic 1939 solo version of the song. The first lyric section is more of an intro, it has a different melody and rhythm from Morton's version. The next five verses are similar to the standard blues/jazz versions. The third line of each verse has some unusual vocal phrasing.
[From Songsters and Saints by Paul Oliver p.116: In Texas W.H. Thomas of College Station included “Don’t You Leave me Here” in some current folk songs which he presented as a paper in 1912 to the Texas Folk Lore Society. Some years later Gates Thomas published his own, fuller version that included Alabama Boun’ with Elder Green verses, which he dated at 1908. “Several others were collected before or during the First World War in Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee and in Alabama itself.” Its widespread distribution suggests its early date as a folk song. Though it was described as a dance, a song with the title Alabama bound was published as early as 1910 by Ed Rogers and Saul Aaronson which shows a clear link to the chorus of the folk song.”]
In 1909 a white New Orleans theatre pianist named Robert Hoffman published “I’m Alabama Bound” subtitled “The Alabama Blues.” Though not a blues in the strict 12-bar form it did feature enough characteristics to be considered one of the first published “blues.”
Here’s some info from Lynn Abbott, Doug Seroff, "It Cert'ly Sound Good to Me": Sheet Music, Southern Vaudeville, and the Commercial Ascendancy of the Blues," American Music Vol. 14, No. 4 (Winter 1996), p406-408:
[Another historical landmark of blues in sheet music is 'I'm Alabama Bound,' claimed by Alabama-born, New Orleans-based mainstream theatre pianist Robert Hoffman. It was originally published in 1909 by Robert Ebberman, a clerk at the D. H. Holmes Department store on Canal Street. The cover of the original Ebberman edition notes that, although Hoffman adapted it as a'ragtime two-step,' 'I'm Alabama Bound' was also known as the 'The Alabama Blues.' The implication is that by 1909 the term blues was known to describe a distinctive folk-musical genre from which Hoffman extracted his melody.
"Paul Oliver has noted that 'Alabama Bound' was one of a song cluster which included 'Don't Leave Me Here' and 'Elder Green's in Town.' Oliver cites exemplary race recordings of it by Papa Charlie Jackson, Harvey Hull, Charlie Patton, and Henry Thomas, and there are others as well. Jelly Roll Morton claimed to have originated the tune when he 'hit Mobile in 1905,' and the relationship of Hoffman's composition to the blues Morton later recorded as 'Don't You Leave Me Here' is obvious.
"'I'm Alabama Bound' was also published in 1909 by the legendary African American concert pianist Blind Boone as one of three melodies constituting 'Boone's Rag Melody No. 2 – Strains From Flat Branch.' Robert Hoffman's version appears to have enjoyed the better measure of commercial success. Shortly after that version's initial publication, the copyright was transferred to the Music Shop, another Canal Street operation, which put out a new edition with a garish coon-song-style cover illustration. At the end of 1909 Prince's Band made a commercial recording of it, and in 1910 a vocal edition appeared with lyrics attributed to the Music Shop's proprietor, John J. Puderer. The lyrics include such blues-ready couplets as:
I'm Alabama bound, I'm Alabama bound,
I've tried to you out, I've got to turn you down.
I done told you, man, for to be like me
Just drink good whisky, let your cocaine be.
"According to the cover of the vocal edition, Hoffman's 'I'm Alabama Bound' was being 'sung with great success' in mainstream vaudeville by the white Rag Trio. By 1910, the title was turning up in newspaper reports from African American entertainers. On a bill with Ma Rainey at the Belmont Street Theater in Pensacola, Florida, in February 1910, "Watkins and Watkins' were 'featuring a new act written by themselves entitled 'I'm Alabama Bound.'" A couple of months later a member of Richard and Pringle's Minstrel Band complained: 'We would like to know what to do when a band of fifteen pieces under the leadership of able Fred Simpson renders standard overtures from 'Il Trovatore,' William Tell,' etc., and some admirer of classic music shouts, 'play us Alabama Bound.' Well, it must be the way of the world." SOURCE: Lynn Abbott, Doug Seroff, "It Cert'ly Sound Good to Me": Sheet Music, Southern Vaudeville, and the Commercial Ascendancy of the Blues," American Music Vol. 14, No. 4 (Winter 1996), p406-408]
[Blind Boone's Rag Medley #2 by John W. "Blind" Boone was published in 1909: The "Flat Branch" was an area of Columbia, Missouri where many amateur song purveyors tried their wares in the bars and the alleys. Boone seemed to spend as much time in these areas as he did entertaining the elite in concert halls as a savant oddity (a blind colored man with talent). Although this is not a true rag, but rather a collection of songs that influenced ragtime, it still contains some light syncopation reminiscent of the genesis of the genre from the previous decade. It opens and closes with Carrie's Gone to Kansas City, a well-known ditty of the day. I'm Alabama Bound, the Mississippi Valley song that follows, was also released by itself as a song/rag that same year by Robert Hoffman, and is considered to be the first blues-based tune ever in print.]
"Some rag-time historians think that the 'Alabama Bound' chorus of 'Rag Medley, No. 2' may be the first publication of boogie-woogie. (Berlin 1980, 155)" Cited by Ann Sears, "John William 'Blind' Boone, Piano-Composer: 'Merit, Not Sympathy Wins,'" Black Music Research Journal, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Autumn 1989) p. 238
Preacher in the pulpit/preacher got drunk lyrics appear in fragments collected in Alabama and New Orleans, 1915-1916, in White, General and Misc. Labor, no. 51 and 52.
No. 51
Preacher in a pulpit,
Jumping up and down,
Men in the cornfield,
Shouting, "I'm Alabama bound."
No. 52
De preacher in de pulpit put his bible down,
And all the men in the cotton field shouted,
"I'm Alabama bound."
White remarks "The first line comes from the common type of songs about women, in which a good-looking woman, a blondy woman, a brunette woman, etc., "make a preacher lay his Bible down."
In the section Songs About Women, White gives several examples:
No. 8
It takes a dark-skinned baby
To make a preacher throw his bible down.
Besides the blues versions first recorded in 1925 by Charlie Jackson, a hillbilly/country song with the preacher lyric entitled, “The Preacher Got Drunk and Laid His Bible Down” by the Tennessee Ramblers was recorded in 1928. “I’m Alabama Bound” was popularized by Lead Belly who recorded it June 15, 1940 in NYC on 051299-1. There were several recordings other popular recordings done in 1940 besides Leadbelly’s; the previously mentioned recording by Morton and a jump blues recording by Louis Jordan. Among the early blues recordings were two by Henry Thomas.
[From Devil’s Music: “Two of Thomas’ blues “Don’t Ease Me in” and “Don’t You Leave Me Here” written in 1928 and 1929 respectively are pretty much the same melody with only slightly different words. More interestingly they both relate to a very popular theme “Don’t leave me here, I’m Alabama bound.”]
In 1929 Thomas cut "Don't Ease Me In" with the Alabama bound lyric:
"Don't You Leave Me Here" Henry Thomas 1929
Don't leave, oh don't leave,
Don't you leave me here.
It's all night long sweet Papa,
Don't leave me.
I'm going away and it won't be long,
Just ease your train, lovin' babe,
I'm Alabama Bound.
Another early blues by Furry Lewis has the Alabama Bound lyrics:
"Deputy told Kassie you must leave town
Believe to my soul I'm Alabama Bound."
"Kassie Jones" by Furry Lewis (Victor 21664, 1928)
The blues standard "Baby, Please Don't Go" is based on the Alabama Bound form and was originally called Don't Leave Me Here until the lyrics were changed. Here's some info:
"Baby Please Don't Go (Origins of a Blues)" by Max Haymes "Baby, Please Don't Go" is often associated with Poor/Big Joe Williams (in 1963,Paul Oliver credited him with composing it) who recorded several post-war versions of the song. But both he and "Baby Doo" Caston drew on a group of earlier blues songs: "Alabama Bound"/Elder Greene's In Town"/ "Don't Leave Me Here". Oliver reports that a Texas collector "published.. . an "Alabama Boun'" with Elder Green verses, which he dated from 1908." (5).
As Oliver notes, in 1925, banjoist Papa Charlie Jackson's "I'm Alabama Bound" showed the links between all three titles. "Elder Greene" would be featured on later recordings by Blind Lemon Jefferson Charlie Patton(1920s) and in 1958 by Mississippi singer/guitarist "Cat-Iron". "Alabama Bound" was recorded by Leadbelly in 1935 and 1940 and cropped up c.1956 by Lonnie Donegan during the British skiffle craze! Whilst "Don't Leave Me Here" was first recorded in 1927 by a Mississippi group who were sometimes billed as "Sunny Boy And His Pals" or "Long Cleve Reed" and "Little Harvey Hull". Tampa Red and Georgia Tom backed each other's vocals on "Mama Don't Leave Me Here" (1931) and "Don't Leave Me Here"(1932), respectively; but are 2 versions of an unrelated blues.
Washboard Sam recorded "Don't Leave Me Here" in 1938 again unheard by me but is probably an urbanised version of the Long Cleve Reed title or of "Baby Please Don't Go". The melody from this group of songs was utilised and speeded up with a more aggressive approach to the vocal. Indeed, Big Joe William's first postwar version of "Baby Please Don't Go" was titled "Don't You Leave Me Here", made in 1947. Though the string bass of Ransom Knowling and the drums of Judge Riley have been added to Sonny Boy's harp, giving a 'Chicago blues' feel to the song Joe himself, curiously, harks back to many of the lines of his 1935 recording with fiddle and washboard. These include the reference to "his long chain on" and "my baby's done lyin'.' Joe substitutes the phrase 'don't you leave me here' for 'baby please don't go' and changes the Southern locale of New Orleans for the more relevant one of Chicago, where he cut this track.
FINAL NOTES: Lomax collected various versions which were slightly different from the standard “Alabama Bound” songs. These Alabama Bound songs feature the Boat’s Up the River lyric and are similarly titled. Typical lyrics include: "Oh, the boat's up the river And the tide's gone down; I believe to my soul She's (Alabama/water) bound." Lovers are reunited by boat and train, Alabama bound. The Arctic explorer Cook is also mentioned as being Alabama bound to escape the cold. Some recording’s include Arthur "Brother-in-Law" Armstrong, "The Boat's Up the River" (AFS 3979 B3, 1940); Delmore Brothers, "I'm Alabama Bound" (Bluebird B-8264, 1939); Roscoe Holcomb, "Boat's Up the River" (on Holcomb1, HolcombCD1). The Traditional Ballad Index on-line attempts to separate them (Alabama Bound I and Alabama Bound II) but fails to do so.
An On-line source Tony Bove talks about Alabama Bound (May 7th, 2006): Well, I have versions by Tom Rush and Roger McGuinn (folk versions) as well as Charlatans. I don’t have Leadbelly’s version but know of it. Most likely the version you know is based on the one Leadbelly did, called “Alabama Bound” Louis Jordan did a jump blues version of “Alabama Bound.” Pete Harris covered it in 1934. Of course, these versions all quote the version by Jelly Roll Morton, which though recorded later (1938) was part of Morton’s repertoire from his early days. “I’m Alabama Bound” published by Robert Hoffman in 1911 [1909] combines three folk themes — the well known first part was claimed by Jelly Roll Morton as early as 1901 [1905]. “Alabama Bound Blues” was recorded by Ethel Ridley sometime between 1921 and 1925. The song is related to “Don’t You Leave Me Here” (please leave a dime for beer), well done by Jim Kweskin and his Jug Band (featuring Geoff Muldaur singing). Plenty of versions exist of “Don’t You Leave Me Here” or similar titles. One of my favorites is “Don’t You Leave Me Here” by Henry Thomas, which sounds more like “Don’t Ease Me In” (also by Henry Thomas). Henry Thomas even sings “I’m Alabama bound” in the lyrics, along with “dime for beer” and other essentials, but the tune is a bit faster. Well, that’s all I can report. The song is timeless and probably dates back to before there were trains to take these folks to Alabama. Maybe the Civil War. When Jelly Roll did it, a beer still cost a dime.”
There is also a popular song, "Alabamy Bound," with words and music by Bud De Sylva, Bud Green, and Ray Henderson, published in 1925. The Chorus is vaguely related; it begins: “I’m Alabamy bound.” This a different song. It was a popular jazz song in the 20’s and 30’s. It has been repeatedly confused with the song, "Alabama Bound/I’m Alabama Bound."
There are versions by Lonny Donegan and Van Morrison entitled “I’m Alabamy Bound” which are clearly versions of “Alabama Bound.” The song Big Daddy by John Loudermilk, which was recorded by various country artists, uses the “Alabama bound” tag. There’s even a variant by Lynyrd Skynyrd entitled “The Mississippi Kid” which uses the lyric tag.
NOTES Elder Green's In Town: John Wesley Work, who died in 1925, collected a version of the song called "Ol' Elder Brown's" (sic) which was published in "American Negro Songs And Spirituals" (Bonanza, 1940 p.241) thus:
Ol' Elder Brown's in town
Ol' Elder Brown's in town
Ol' Elder Brown's in town
A-with his long coat on
Ol' Elder Brown tol' Griffin
"Don't you think I'll win?"
Goin' back to Shreveport Town
Goin' build my church ag'in
Ol' Elder Brown started his church
An' de storm blowed it down
den Elder sang this song
"I'm all out an' down"
He's on de road somewhere
He's on de road somewhere
A long tall brownskin man
He's on de road somewhere
Here is the sheet music:
http://books.google.com/books?id=9IptZOGMvX8C&pg=PA241&dq=
Ol'+Elder+Brown's+wesley+work
&hl=en&ei=9Z7KTYqzMYmitgeTpbWCCA&sa=X&oi=book_result
&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
This clearly scans to the "Alabama Bound/Don't Leave Me Here" melody. This version could date back to late 1800s but certainly is an old version from the early 1900s.
Here are the lyrics to “Alabama Bound” by Alf "Dad" Valentine:
ELDER GREEN'S IN TOWN/ALABAMA BOUND Lomax's 1939 Southern Recording Trip Fieldnotes; Section 15: State Farm, Camp #9, near Arkansas City, Arkansas; May 22; sung by Alf "Dad" Valentine
Elder Green's in town,
Elder Green's in town
My sister and them caught her singin'
Alabama Bound.
Don't you leave her here,
Don't you leave her here
If you miss de train an' de steamboat too
She's got a mule to ride.
Got a mule to ride,
Got a mule to ride
If she miss train an' de steamboat too,
She got a mule to ride.
Elder Green's in town,
Turnin' round an' round.
My sister and them caught her singin'
Alabama Bound.
Charley Patton bio- Born in April 1891, between Edwards and Bolton in southern Mississippi, Charley Patton was the scrawny child of sharecropper parents. In 1900, his family moved 100 miles north to the Delta and the Will Dockery Plantation. There Patton fell under the spell of guitarist Henry Sloan and would follow him to gigs. By 1910, he had become proficient as a performer and songwriter, having already composed "Down The Dirt Road Blues," a slow drag called "Banty Rooster Blues," and his theme song "Pony Blues."
After the turn of the decade Patton began playing with Willie Brown, a guitarist who would later become a regular on his recordings. Patton's music began to exert considerable influence; guitarist Tommy Johnson had moved to the Dockery vicinity circa 1913 and was soon playing Delta blues including Patton's "Pony Blues." Around 1914, Patton began playing his guitar with members of the Chatmon family, working picnics and frolics. Bo, Sam, and Lonnie Chatmon and guitarist Walter Vinson later would gain fame as the Mississippi Sheiks. Bo Chatmon also recorded many titles as soloist Bo Carter. Patton continued playing and rambling around the Delta, going north to Memphis and as far west as Arkansas and Louisiana. By 1926, a young Robert Johnson had begun following Patton and Brown to gigs trying to learn from the veteran guitarists.
Patton made his first recording in June 1929, cutting fourteen songs for the Paramount label, all issued on 78s. Such was the success of his initial session that he was invited four months later to Paramount's new studio in Grafton, Wisconsin, where he recorded twenty-eight additional tunes. Patton's polyrhythmic picking, accompanied by tapping the body of the guitar, created an intricate dance melody that its author could play for thirty minutes or more. Son House, who recorded in a 1930 session that also featured Patton and Brown, recalled that Charley "clowned" for an audience by playing the guitar behind his back or between his knees. Patton included regional landmarks in his tunes - places that a local record-buying audience would be familiar with, including a Moorehead, Mississippi railroad crossing, "Where The Southern Crosses The Dog," in "Green River Blues" and Parchman Farm in "A Spoonful Blues."
Howlin' Wolf, who moved to Dockery in 1926, recalled seeing Patton on the town square in Drew, not far from Dockery Plantation. Patton's hypnotic three-note songs also deeply influenced Clarksdale's John Lee Hooker, who recorded his own version of Patton's "Pea Vine Blues." Bukka White also cited a desire "to come to be a famous man, like Charley Patton," and demonstrated a similar knack for playing dance songs for extended periods. Patton's last recording session was in New York City in February 1934, two months before his death.
Charley Patton died April 28, 1934, at 350 Heathman Street in Indianola, Mississippi. Patton's grave is located in Holly Ridge, Mississippi, and the tombstone acknowledges his pivotal role in the development of the Delta Blues.
ELDER GREENE BLUES- Charley Patton Take 2
Elder Greene is (gone) take your time! Elder Greene is gone
Gone way down the country with his long clothes on
With his long clothes on, with his long clothes on
Gone way down the country with his long clothes on
Elder Greene told his deacon, "Let's go down in prayer
It's a big 'ssociation at New Orleans, come an' let's go there
If you've got a woman wan' raise her to your head
(Keep away from Mommy walkin' Marthie havin' 'em talkin'
Marthie curlin' his hair)
Well, the creeks are all muddy an' the sloughs all dry
If it wasn't for the sweet-mouth colored boy, all the women would (die)
Don't you leave me here, don't you leave me here
Lord, I don't care where in this world you go don't you leave me
I love to fuss an' fight, I love to fuss an' fight
Lordy, get sloppy drunk off bottle an' ball, an' walk the streets at night
Well, the creek's all mudddy an' the sloughs all dry
If it wasn' for the sweet mouth-colored boy, all the browns would die
On the road somewhere, on the road somewhere
You can find highway robbers on the road some(where)
Elder Greene tol' his deacon, "Let's go down in prayer"
You can fi-i-i-i-nd robbers on the road somewhere
ELDER GREENE BLUES- Charley Patton Take 2 (alternative lyrics)
Elder Greene is (take your time), Elder Greene is gone
Gone way down the country with his long coat on
With his long coat on, with his long coat on
Gone way down the country with his long coat on
Elder Greene told the deacon, let's go down in prayer.
It's a big 'ssociation at New Orleans, come and let's go there.
And if you got a woman, want raise her to your hand,
Keep away from mamma walkin, mamma have been lonesome, mamma
Well the creek's all muddy, and the slough's all dry
If it wasn't for the sweet mouth county boys all the women would die
Don't you leave me here, don't you leave me here
Lord I don't care where in world you go, don't you leave me here
I like to fuss and fight, I like to fuss and fight
Lord and get sloppy drunk off a bottle an' ball an' walk the streets all night
And walk the streets all night, and walk the streets all night
Lordy get sloppy drunk offa bottled an' ball an' walk the streets all night
Well the creek's all muddy, and the slough's all dry
If it wasn't for the sweet mouth county boys all the browns would die
On the road somewhere, on the road somewhere
You can find highway robber, on the road somewhere
On the road somewhere, on the road somewhere
You can find highway robber on the road somewhere
Elder Greene told the deacon, let's go down in prayer.
You can find highway robber on the road somewhere
ELDER GREENE BLUES- Charley Patton Take 1
Listen: Charlie Patton Take 1 Elder Greene Blues
Green is, Elder Greene is gone
Gone way down the country with his long *coat on
With his long coat on, with his long coat on
Gone way down the country with his long coat on
Elder Greene told the deacon, let's go down in prayer.
It's a big 'ssociation in New Orleans, come and let's go there.
Come and let's go there, come and let's go there,
It's a big 'ssociation in New Orleans, come and let's go there.
I like to fuss and fight, I like to fuss and fight
Lord and get sloppy drunk offa bottle an' ball and walk the streets all night
And walk the streets all night, and walk the streets all night
Lord and get sloppy drunk off a bottle an' ball and walk the streets all night
Elder Greene told the deacon, settle down in prayer
You can take uhh thing I've got but settle down in ...
Ah most anywhere, yeah most anywhere
You can take all summer and walk anywhere
Elder Greene is gone, Elder Greene is gone
Gone way down the country with his long coat on
If you got a woman, want raise her to your hand
Keep away from Mommy walkin, Mommy have been lonesome, Mommy Cunningham
Mommy Cunningham, Mommy Cunningham
Keep away from Mommy walkin, Mommy ha min zonezome, Mommy
I like to fuss and fight, I like to fuss and fight,
Lord and get sloppy drunk off a bottle an' ball and walk the streets all night
* clothes; coat seems more likely as the original lyric
|