Charley Patton

Expanded Edition

John Fahey

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780486843445
• eBook ISBN: 9780486847856
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies

The Father of the Delta Blues, Charley Patton (1891–1934) was born and raised around Mississippi's cotton plantations. During the 1920s, he was the first of the region's great stars, performing for packed houses throughout the South and making popular recordings in New York City. His music — ranging from blues and ballads to ragtime and gospel — is distinctive for his gravelly, high-energy singing and the propulsive beat of his guitar. Patton had a lively stage presence, originating many of the guitar-playing antics now associated with Jimi Hendrix and other latter-day musicians. His influence, among both his contemporaries and subsequent blues artists, is incalculable.
Noted guitarist John Fahey presents a textual and musicological examination of Patton's music. This new edition of the original 1970 publication is enhanced by Fahey's notes from the Grammy-winning, out-of-print box set Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton. Available for the first time outside the set, Fahey's reconsideration of Patton's music offers fresh perspectives and key corrections of the historical record.

APPENDIX: TEXTS AND TRANSCRIPTIONS

No references are made to commonplaces such as ‘worried now but I won’t be worried long.’ Phonetic departures from correct spelling such as ‘gwine’, ‘Louisianaerrr’, and ‘gon’ are made in cases where Patton’s pronunciation renders certain verses almost unintelligible. Parentheses indicate that the word within them is not sung, or spoken; that it is a word which occurs in a traditional verse, with which Patton assumes the listener to be familiar.

15211

Mississippi Bo Weavil Blues

Pm 12805

1.It’s a little bo weevil, she’s moving in the (air), Lordy.

You can plant your cotton and you won’t get a half a cent, Lordy.

2.Bo Weevil, Bo Weevil, where’s your little home, Lordy?

‘A’ Louisianerrr [sic] and Texas is where I’s bred and born,’ Lordy.

3.Well, I saw the bo weevil, Lord, a’ circle, Lordy, in the air, Lordy.

Next time I seen him, Lord, he had his family there, Lordy.

4.Bo weevil left Texas, Lord, he bid me ‘fare ye well,’ Lordy.

Spoken: Where you gwine now?

‘I’m going down to Mississippi, going to give Louisiana hell, Lordy.’

5.Bo weevil said to the farmer, ‘Ain’t going to treat you fair,’ Lordy.

Spoken: How is that boy?

Took all the blossoms and he leave you an empty square, Lordy.

And next time I seen him you had your family there, Lordy.

6.Bo weevil and his wife went and sit down on the hill, Lordy.

Bo weevil told his wife, ‘Let’s take this forty in, Lordy.’

7.Bo weevil told his wife, ‘I believe I may go north,’ Lordy.

Spoken: Boy, I’m goin’ to tell all about it.

Let’s leavin’ Louisianaerrr [sic] and go to Arkansas.

8.Well I saw the bo weevil, Lord, a’ circle, Lord, in the air, Lordy.

Next time I seen him, Lord, he had his family there, Lordy.

9.Bo weevil told the farmer that ‘I ain’t going to treat you fair,’ Lordy.

Took all the blossoms and leave you an empty square, Lordy.

10.Bo weevil, bo weevil, where your little home, Lordy?

‘Most anywhere they’ raisin’ cotton and corn,’ Lordy.

11.Bo weevil, bo weevil, call that treating me fair? Lordy.

Next time I seen you, you had your family there, Lordy.

See G. Malcolm Laws, Jr., Native American Balladry (Philadelphia, 1964), I, 17.

15214

Screamin’ and Hollerin’ The Blues

Pm 12805

1.Jackson on a high hill, Mama, Natchez just below. (2)

Spoken: Some days you know they are.

I ever get back home, I won’t be back no more.

2.Oh, my mama’s getting old, her head is turning grey.

My mother’s getting old, head is turning grey.

Don’t you know it’ll break her heart, know I’m living this-a-way.

3.I woke up in the morning, jinx all ’round your bed.

If I woke up in the morning, jinx all ’round your bed.

Spoken: I know (? ), baby.

Turned my face to the wall and I, didn’t have a word to say.

4.No use a-hollering, no use screamin’ and cryin’.

No use of hollering, no use o’ screamin’ and cryin’.

For you know you got a home, Mama, long as I got mine.

5.Hey, Lord have mercy, on my wicked soul.

Oh, Lord have mercy, on my wicked soul.

Spoken: Baby, you know I ain’t going to mistreat you.

I woul...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• A Brief Biography
• Modes, Scales, Tunings and New Terms
• Tune Analysis
• Tune Families
• An Examination and Classification of the Texts
• Charley Reconsidered, Thirty-Five Years On
• Appendix: Texts and Transcriptions
• Selected Discography
• Bibliography
• Bm