Blind Willie McTell's page at the All-Music Guide.
This page contains lyrics to the following song(s):
Recorded in New York City for Vocalion on 21 September 1933 with Curley Weaver (2nd guitar). There are two takes on the Columbia Roots 'n' Blues "Definitive Blind Willie McTell"; this is the first one (the other was not issued on 78 RPM).
I'm gon' grab me a train, I'm goin' back to Baltimore Well I'm gon' grab me a train, goin' back to Baltimore I'm gonna find my baby, cause she rode that B & O I'm goin' to act like a rambler, and I can't stay home o more I'm goin' to act like a rambler, and I can't stay home no more Cause the gal I love she rode that B & O She said Daddy, I'm leavin', and I can't come back no more She said Daddy, I'm leavin', and I can't come back no more And if she don't come back, I'm goin' down in Ohio (ah play it now... you'd feel bad when she should leave you too... trouble, boy, trouble...) I never would have thought that my baby would treat me so Well I never would have thought that my baby would treat me so Ah she broke my heart, when she grabbed that B & O Now she wants to come back, and I can't use that child no more (not at all) Now she wants to come back, and I can't use that child no more Cause I got another hot mama, and she lives in Baltimore (play it a little bit now boy... stand by you gonna hear it again - next year...)
Blind Willie recorded it with is partner Curley Weaver in New York City for Vocalion in 1933. The take from which these lyrics were taken, went unreleased until included in the double CD anthology "The Definitive Blind Willie McTell" (in Columbia's Roots 'n' Blues series); another take, with only very minor differences in the lyrics, was recorded that same day.
Tombstones is my pillow, cold grounds is my bed Tombstones is my pillow, cold grounds is my bed The blue skies is my blanket, and the moonlight is my spread Early one morning, death walked into my room Early one morning, death walked into my room Oh well it took my dear mother, early one morning soon She left me moanin' and cryin', moanin' like a turtledove She left me moanin' and cryin', moanin' like a turtledove Death walked in and got my dear mother, and the only friend I loved Mmmm..... eehh.... Cryin' Lord have mercy, and she was the only friend I loved Ever since my mother died and left me all alone Ever since my mother died and left me all alone All my friends have forsake me, people I haven't even got no home Mmmm... feel like moanin' and cryin' Mmmm... feel like moanin' and cryin' Death walked in a got my mother, and that was the only dear friend of mine
Blind Willie and Partner (= Curley Weaver), New York City, September 1933, for Vocalion. Like the other Vocalion recordings from these sessions, this is from the double CD "The Definitive Blind Willie McTell", in the Columbia Roots 'n' Blues series. As David Evans' notes to this release say, this is "a piece that could be traced back to the very wellsprings of folk blues".
I walked all the way from East Saint Louis I never had but that one, one thin dime I laid my head in a New York woman's lap She laid her little cute head in mine She tried to make me bleed by the rattlings of her tongue The sun would never, never shine I pawned my sword and I pawned my chain Well I pawned myself but I fell to shame I tried to see you in the fall When you didn't have no man at all I'd love to meet you in the spring when the bluebird's almost ready to sing Faree, honey, faree well You can shake like a cannon ball, get out and learn that old Georgia crawl Faree, honey, faree well (play it boy...) And I laid my head in a barroom door And I can't get drunk, drunk no more Now if you can't do the sugary get yourself on out of this house to me Faree, baby, faree well I tried to see you in the spring when the bluebird's almost ready to sing Faree, honey, faree well And I walked on back to East Saint Louis Never had but that one, one thin dime
This song was recorded for Vocalion in New York City, in September 1933. The double CD "The Definitive Blind Willie McTell" (Columbia Roots 'n' Blues) has two versions, one recorded 18 september by Blind Willie alone, and the other recorded a day later, with Curley Weaver on second guitar. The latter was not issued on 78 RPM.
You may fall from the mountain, drown in the deep blue sea You ain't did the right fallin', til you fall in love with me You's a love makin' mama, sweet as you can be Ah you may be a little rockin', but baby you all right with me Now for your love baby, I'll be your slave When Gzabriel blows his trumpet, I rise from my grave Cause you's a love makin' mama, sweet as you can be Ah you may be a little rockin', but baby you all right with me Now I'm goin' to put in my order mama, for two weeks ahead I'd rather eat your cookin' than my own home bread You's a love makin' mama, sweet as you can be Ah you may be a little rockin', but baby you all right with me (Aw play it now... that's the way I like it....) Now I give you all my money, your clothes I dye I give you my lovin' baby till the day I die You's a love makin' mama, sweet as you can be Ah you may be a little rockin', but honey you all right with me Now from your feet baby, to the top of your head I'll give you my lovin' till the day I'm dead Sweet lovin' mama, sweet as you can be You may be a little rockin' but honey you all right with me Love makin' mama, sweet as you can be You may be a little rockin', but baby you all right with me
Recorded 21 September 1933 in New York City, for Vocalion, with Curley Weaver (guitar). It was released on Vocalion 02595 under the name "Blind Willie & Partner"
Said I'm almost crazy, and I'm all here by myself Said I'm almost crazy, I'm all here by myself Ah these wimmen 'bout to run me crazy, Lord she's got someone else Lord she's 'bout to run me crazy, these reckless wimmen worryin' me Said she's 'bout to run me crazy, reckless wimmen worryin' me She don't have to treat me so bad, cause she lives in Tennessee Lord you'll either run me crazy woman, or either make me lose my mind Say you'll either run me crazy, or make me lose my mind Cause you keep me worryin', troubled all the time Lord these wimmens will run you crazy, they'll drive your heart in pain Man wimmen will run you crazy, and drive your heart in pain They'll spend all your money, turn around and run you insane (Ah play it... Ah your woman sure did treat you bad boy...) WQell she spent all my money, and then she drove me outdoors Lord she spent all my money, turn around and drove me outdoors And I was almost crazy cause I had nowhere to go If you get a reckless woman, man don't never let her break your rules You run down on a reckless woman, man don't never let her break your rules And when you know anything you'll be almost crazy with the blues
Blind Willie McTell recorded this classic in 1928.
Wake up mama, turn your lamp down low Wake up mama, turn your lamp down low Have you got the nerve to drive papa McTell from your door My mother died and left me reckless, my daddy died and left me wild, wild, wild Mother died and left me reckless, daddy died and left me wild, wild, wild No, I'm not good lookin', I'm some sweet woman's angel child You're a mighty mean woman, to do me this a-way You're a mighty mean woman, to do me this a-way Going to leave this town, pretty mama, going away to stay I once loved a woman, better than I ever seen I once loved a woman, better than I ever seen Treat me like I was a king and she was a doggone queen Sister, tell your Brother, Brother tell your Auntie, Auntie, tell your Uncle, Uncle tell my Cousin, Cousin tell my friend Goin' up the country, Mama, don't you want to go? May take me a fair brown, may take me one or two more Big Eighty left Savannah, Lord, and did not stop You ought to saw that colored fireman when he got that boiler hot Reach over in the corner, hand me my travelin' shoes You know by that, I got them Statesboro blues Sister got 'em, daddy got 'em Brother got 'em, mama got 'em Woke up this morning, we had them Statesboro blues I looked over in the corner, Grandpa and grandma had 'em too.
Blind Willie recorded this song several times, e.g. in 1949 and during his last recorded session, in 1956 (later issued by Bluesville and re-issued on CD by Ace), when he provided a spoken introduction that goes something like this:
I started writing this song in '29 tho' I didn't finish it - I didn't finish it 'till 1932. Mister Williams is the name - Jesse Williams. See he got shot here on Corner Street. And after getting shot, I'd taken him home. Then he was sick about three weeks after I'd taken him home, sick from the shot, and so he give me this request. He said that he wanted me to play this over his grave. That I did. See I had to steal music from every which way you could get it to get it to fit. But I - I messed it up in a way, somehow or other just to suit him; I finally played what he wanted but he got everything he wanted but the women from Atlanta. He didn't get no women from Atlanta. Cause they say it was too far for 'em to come. He was buried in New York. I'd taken him there in an ambulance. Cost me 200 - I think it was 282 dollars I think and 85 cents the men charged him to take him home. But he was able. His father give him anything he wanted. Give him everything he wanted but the women in Atlanta. He didn't have the 16 women - the 22 women out of the Hampton Hotel - he didn't have that. He didn't have the 29 out of North Atlanta. And he didn't have the 26 off of South Bell, that which might have - we call Hill Street. That way he hung out there you know, doin' his - doin' his women-lovin' time you know. After getting shot, I carried him home. I sat by the bedside every day, and he would tell me what he wanted. And I would tell his dad. So after he died, daddy said "Well, everything he wanted he will get". So he got everything he wanted but the women from Atlanta. So I had to play him the Dyin' Crapshooter's Blues. That's what I was supposed to name 'em.
According to the Bluesville record notes (by John H Cowley), 'The Dyin' Crapshooter's Blues' was "formalized" by pianist-composer Porter Grainger in 1927, and recorded by several women vaudeville blues singers at that time. It derives from the late eighteenth-century British ballad "The Unfortunate Rake" that exists in several U.S. versions: "St James Infirmary", "The Cowboy's Lament" or "The Streets of Laredo".
(And that's probably where Blind Willie got it from, as he confessed in his commentary).
Little Jesse was a gambler, night and day He used crooked cards and dice. Sinful guy, good hearted but had no soul Heart was hard and cold like ice Jesse was a wild reckless gambler Won a gang of change Altho' a many gambler's heart he led in pain Began to spend a-loose his money Began to be blue, sad and all alone His heart had even turned to stone. What broke Jesse's heart while he was blue and all alone Sweet Lorena packed up and gone Police walked up and shot my friend Jesse down Boys i got to die today He had a gang of crapshooters and gamblers at his bedside Here are the words he had to say: Guess I ought to know Exactly how I wants to go (How you wanna go, Jesse?) Eight crapshooters to be my pallbearers Let 'em be veiled down in black I want nine men going to the graveyard, bubba And eight men comin back I want a gang of gamblers gathered 'round my coffin-side Crooked card printed on my hearse Don't say the crapshooters'll never grieve over me My life been a doggone curse Send poker players to the graveyard Dig my grave with the ace of spades I want twelve polices in my funeral march High sheriff playin' blackjack, lead the parade I want the judge and solic'ter who jailed me 14 times Put a pair of dice in my shoes (then what?) Let a deck of cards be my tombstone I got the dyin' crapshooter's blues Sixteen real good crapshooters Sixteen bootleggers to sing a song Sixteen racket men gamblin' Couple tend bar while i'm rollin' along He wanted 22 womens outta the Hampton Hotel 26 off-a South Bell 29 women outta North Atlanta Know little Jesse didn't pass out so swell His head was achin', heart was thumpin' Little Jesse went to hell bouncin' and jumpin' Folks, don't be standin' around ole Jesse cryin' He wants everybody to do the charleston whilst he dyin' One foot up, a toenail dragging Throw my buddy Jesse in the hoodoo wagon Come here mama with that can of booze The dyin crapshooter's - leavin' the world The dyin' crapshooter's - goin' down slow With the dyin' crapshooter's blues.
This was released on Vocalion 02668 as per "Blind Willie and Partner", the partner being Curley Weaver playing second guitar. It was recorded in September 1933 in New York City.
Looka here pretty mama, I'll tell you what I'll do I'll make these lots of dollars and bring 'em all home to you Now I'm weary, weary hearted and blue And that's why I'm cryin' these weary hearted blues I'll give you my money, baby I'll admire I'll do as all for you mama, you require Still I'm weary, weary hearted and blue And that's why that I'm cryin' these weary hearted blues I'll even hold your head when you are feelin' bad I'll sing and dance for you mama, when you're sad Now I'm weary, weary hearted and blue And that's why I'm cryin' these weary hearted blues I wanna tell all you mens nice and kind You lose your best woman, don't you fool with mine Cause I'm weary, weary hearted and blue And that's why I'm cryin' these weary hearted blues Now a white man go to the river, take him a seat and sit down The blues overtake him, he jump overboard and drown Yes he's weary, weary hearted and blue And that's why we're cryin' these weary hearted blues Now a colored man go to the river, take him a seat and sit down He takes the blues, he come home back to town And yet he weary, weary hearted and blue And that's why I'm cryin' these weary hearted blues I wants all you men to let my good gal alone I give her a dollar in the street and I'll give her two at home Cause I'm weary, weary hearted and blue And that's why I'm cryin' these weary hearted blues
Blues Lyrics On Line by 
. Please
read the small print.