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![[Skip James]](../photographs/skip_james.jpg)
 
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All lyrics on this site are for private
study, scholarship, or research purposes only. Read the
copyright
notice before printing/copying
anything from this page.
about...
printing
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Table Of Content (16 songs, 16
soundclips)
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You are now in page
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.20-20
Blues1 (Recorded under the
title of ".22-20 Blues")
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soundclip
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by Nehemiah
Curtis "Skip" James
recording of 19
from probably Complete
Early Recordings (Yazoo 2009),
copyright
notice
If I send for my baby and she don't come
If I send for my baby and she don't come
All the doctors in Wisconsin2, they won't help
her none
And if she gets unruly and gets so she don't wanna do
My baby gets unruly and she don't wanna do
I'll take my .32-20, I'll cut her half in two
You're talkin' about your .44-40, buddy, it'll do very
well
Talkin' about your .44-40, it'll do very well
But my .22-20, Lord, it's a burnin' hell
I had a .38 Special, buddy, it's most too light
Aw, that .38 Special, buddy, it's most too light
But my .22-20 make the caps3 alright
Aw, if she gets unruly, thinks she don't wanna do
She gets unruly and she don't wanna do
I'll take my .22-20, I'll cut her half in two
I, I, I can't take my rest
I, I, I can't take my rest
And my .44 layin' up and down my breast
__________
Note 1: the ".22-20", which James saw as a simple riffle,
doesn't properly exist. He opted for this caliber in meeting
the studio request of a Paramount Records official for a
"gun blues" that could be used to "cover" Roosevelt Sykes'
successful ".44 Blues" on the Okeh label. If his rifle aims
was no more accurate than his spontaneous versifying, which
advertently evokes different caliber revolvers, it is safe
to say that the unruly girlfriend of the song easily
survived his barrage;
Note 2: this piece was originally recorded in 1931 at
Paramount's Crafton, Wisconsin studio's. Robert Johnson's
"32-20 Blues"
was eh... "inspired" on this song;
Note 3: caps, percussion caps, a paper or metal container
holding an explosive charge (as for a pistol).
Top
by Nehemiah
Curtis "Skip" James
recording of 19
from Today!
(Vanguard 79219) &
Tribute
To Skip James, Vol. 1 (1964) (Biograph
BLP-12016) & Meledeon 7321,
copyright
notice
If it's all night long, mama, if it's all night
long
If it's all night long, mama, Lord, if it's all night
long
If you ain't got no hay, mama, better be on your way
If you ain't got no hay, mama, Lord, you better be on your
way
Hitch on my pony, mama, saddle my black mare
You'll find me ridin', mama, Lord, in the world
somewhere
In the world somewhere, in the world somewhere
You'll find me ridin', mama, Lord, in the world
somewhere
If you haven't any hay, mama, let's go down the road
If you haven't any hay, mama, let's go down the road
If it's all night long, if it's all night long
If it's all night long, mama, if it's all night long
Get your bucket and your basket, let's go to the wood
Don't find no berries, mama, Lord, got to make lovin'
good
If it's all night long, if it's all night long
If it's all night long, mama, if it's all night long
Make me one pallet1, mama, make it on the
floor
Make it calm and easy, mama, Lord, so nobody'll never know,
never...
Nobody'll never know, nobody'll never...
Make it calm and easy, mama, Lord, so nobody'll never...
If it's all night long, if it's all night ...
If it's all night long, if it's all night long
Give me one key, mama, to your back door
You'll never be bothered, baby, with me on the front no
more
Oh never, never, never, never no more
You will never be bothered, baby, with me on the front no
more
If it's all night long, if it's all night ...
If it's all night long, if it's all night long
__________
Note 1: pallet, a straw-filled tick or mattress or a small,
hard, or temporary bed
Top
by Nehemiah
Curtis "Skip" James
recording of 19
from probably She
Lyin' (Genes 9901) &
Tribute
To Skip James, Vol. 1 (1964) (Biograph
BLP-12016), copyright
notice
I would rather be a little catfish,
so I could swim way down in the sea
I would have somebody, somebody
Settin' out hooks for me
Settin' out hooks for me
You know, I went to my baby's house,
she told me to sit down on the step
"Son, you can come right on in
because my husband just now left,
just now left, just now left"
And I asked my baby to,
let me sit down 'side her bed
"Turn on your heater, till they turn cherry
red1,
cherry red, cherry red"
That's the reason I'd rather be a little catfish,
so I could swim way down in the sea
I would have many-some of these women,
settin' out a line for me
Settin' out a line for me, a line for me
You know, I went to the church house,
and they called on me to pray
I got down on my knees but I didn't,
have no word to say
Not a word to say, word to say
That's the reason I'd rather be a little catfish
So I could swim way down in the sea
I would have somebody, somebody,
settin' out a line for me
Settin' out a line for me, a line for me
I don't wanna be no tadpole,
and I don't wanna be no bullfrog
And if I can't be a catfish,
I won't swim at all
I won't swim at all, swim at all
That's the reason I want to be a little catfish,
so I could swim way down in the sea
I would have these good-lookin' women,
settin' out a hook for me
Settin' out a hook for me, hook for me
__________
Note 1: here James chastises his original phrase, "till your
nipples turn cherry red".
Top
by Nehemiah
Curtis "Skip" James
recording of 19
from Today!
(Vanguard 79219) & Yazoo
L-1009, copyright
notice
I love my cherry ball1 better than I love
myself
I loves cherry ball better than I love myself
She get so she don't love me, she won't love nobody else
Cherry ball quit me, she quit me in a calm, good way
Cherry ball quit me, she quit me in a calm, good way
But what to take to get her, I carries it every
day2
I love my cherry, oh, better than I love myself
My cherry ball, better than I love myself
She get so she don't love me, love nobody else
Sure as that spider hangin' on the wall
Sure as that spider hangin' on the wall
I advised that old cherry ball, "Keep fallin' on
call"3
I'll catch the Southern4 if you take the Santa
Fe5
I'll take the Southern and if you'll take the Santa Fe
I'm gonna ride and ramble, tell cherry to come back to
me
__________
Note 1: cherry ball is probably blues slang, fostered by the
1930 Memphis Minnie composition "Cherry Ball Blues" which
begins "I ain't gonna give you none o' my cherry ball".
James uses it to personify sex or (according to one's point
of view) "dehumanize" women.
Note 2: carrying his boast a step further, James once
qualified this couplet with the remark "If I wanted
her, you understand";
Note 3: the advice is to submit sexually on cue;
Notes 4 and 5: the Southern and Santa Fe are railroad
lines
Top
by Nehemiah
Curtis "Skip" James
recording of 19
from Today!
(Vanguard 79219),
copyright
notice
Crow Janie, Crow Janie, Crow Jane, don't you hold you
head high
Someday, baby, you know you got to die
You got to lay down and...
You got to die, you got to...
And I wanna buy me a pistol, wants me forty rounds of
ball
Shoot Crow Jane, just to see her fall
She got to fall, she got to...
She got to fall, she got to...
That's the reason I begged Crow Jane not to hold her head so
high
Someday, baby, you know you got to die
You got to lay down and...
And I dug her grave with s silver spade
Ain't nobody gonna take my Crow Jane place
You can't take her place no, you can't take her...
You know, I dug her grave eight feet in the ground
I didn't feel sorry until they let her down
They had to let her down, let her...they had to let her
down...
That's the reason I begged Crow Jane not to hold her head
too high
Someday, baby, you know you got to die
You got to lay down and...
You know, I let her down with a golden chain
And every link I would call my Crow Jane's name
Crow Jane, Crow... Crow Jane, Crow...
You know I never missed my water till my well went dry
Didn't miss Crow Jane until the day she died
Till the day she...
That's the reason I begged Crow Jane not to hold her head
too high
Someday, baby, you know you got to die
You got to lay down and...you got to die, you got to...
That's the reason I begged Crow Jane not to hold her head
too high
Someday, baby, you know you got to die
You got to lay down and...
Top
by Nehemiah
Curtis "Skip" James
recording of 19
from Today!
(Vanguard 79219) & Yazoo
L-1009, copyright
notice
I would rather be buried in some cypress grove
I would rather be buried in some cypress grove
To have some woman, Lord, that I can't control
And I'm goin' away now, I'm goin' away to stay
And I'm goin' away now, I'm goin' away to stay
That'll be all right, pretty mama, you gonna need my help
someday
And the sun goin' down, and you know what your promise
means
And the sun goin' down, you know what your promise means
And what's the matter, baby, I can't see
I would rather be dead and six feet in my grave
I would rather be dead and six feet in my grave
Than to be way up here, honey, treated this a-way
And the old people told me, baby, but I never did know
The old people told me, baby woman, but I never did know
"The good book declare you got to reap just what you
sow"
When your knee bone's achin' and your body cold
When your knee bone's achin' and your body cold
Means you just gettin' ready, honey, for the cypress
grove
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