LYRICS
Bessie Smith
A good man is hard to find
written by: Eddie Green
My heart's sad and I am all forlorn, my man's treating me mean
I regret the day that I was born and that man of mine I've ever seen
Happiness, it never lasts a day, my heart is almost breaking while I say
A good man is hard to find, you always get the other kind
Just when you think that he is your pal, you look for him and find him fooling 'round some other gal
Then you rave, you even crave to see him laying in his grave
So, if your man is nice, take my advice and hug him in the morning, kiss him ev'ry night,
give him plenty lovin', treat him right
For a good man nowadays is hard to find, a good man nowadays is hard to find
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Backwater blues
written by: Bessie Smith
When it rains five days and the skies turn dark as night
When it rains five days and the skies turn dark as night
Then trouble's takin' place in the lowlands at night
I woke up this mornin', can't even get out of my door
I woke up this mornin', can't even get out of my door
There's been enough trouble to make a poor girl wonder where she want to go
Then they rowed a little boat about five miles 'cross the pond
Then they rowed a little boat about five miles 'cross the pond
I packed all my clothes, throwed them in and they rowed me along
When it thunders and lightnin' and when the wind begins to blow
When it thunders and lightnin' and the wind begins to blow
There's thousands of people ain't got no place to go
Then I went and stood upon some high old lonesome hill
Then I went and stood upon some high old lonesome hill
Then looked down on the house were I used to live
Backwater
blues done call me to pack my things and go
Backwater blues done call me to pack my things and go
'Cause my house fell down and I can't live there no more
Mmm, I can't move no more
Mmm, I can't move no more
There ain't no place for a poor old girl to go
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Downhearted blues
written by: Lovie Austin / Alberta Hunter
Gee, but it's hard to love someone when that someone don't love you
I'm so disgusted, heartbroken, too
I've got those down hearted blues
Once I was crazy 'bout a man
He mistreated me all the time
The next man I get he's got to promise to be mine, all mine
If I could only find the man oh how happy I would be
To the good Lord ev'ry night I pray
Please send my man back to me
I've almost worried myself to death wond'ring why he went away
But just wait and see he's gonna want me back some sweet day
Trouble, trouble, I've had it all my days
Trouble, trouble, I've had it all my days
It seems that trouble's going to follow me to my grave
Got the world in a jug, the stopper's in my hand
Got the world in a jug
The stopper's in my hand
Going to hold it, baby, till you come under my command
Say, I ain't never loved but three men in my life
No, I ain't never loved but three men in my life
'T'was my father, brother and the man who wrecked my life
'Cause he mistreated me and he drove me from his door
Yeah, he mistreated me and he drove me from his door
But the good book says you'll reap just what you sow
Oh, it may be a week and it may be a month or two
Yes, it may be a week and it may be a month or two
But the day you quit me honey, it's coming home to you
Oh, I walked the floor and I wrung my hands and cried
Yes, I walked the floor and I wrung my hands and cried
Had the down hearted blues and couldn't be satisfied
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Gimme a pigfoot and a bottle of beer
written by: Wesley Wilson
(spoken:
Twenty-five cents?
Ha! No! No!
I wouldn't pay twenty-five cents to go in nowhere 'cause listen here)
Up in Harlem ev'ry Saturday night when the high-browns git together it's just too tight,
they all congregates at an all night
strut
and what they do is tut-tut-tut
Old Hannah Brown from 'cross town gets full of corn and starts breakin' 'em down
Just at the break of day you can hear old Hannah say,
"Gimme a pigfoot and a bottle of beer"
Send me gate
I don't care
I feel just like I wanna clown
Give the piano player a drink because he's bringin' me down
He's got rhythm, yeah!
When he stomps his feet, he sends me right off to sleep
Check all your razors and your guns
We gonna be rasslin' when the wagon comes
I wanna pigfoot and a bottle of beer
Send me 'cause I don't care
Slay me 'cause I don't care
Gimme a reefer and a gang o' gin
Slay me, 'cause I'm in my sin
Slay me 'cause I'm full of gin
Check all your razors and your guns
Do the
shim-sham shimmy
till the risin' sun
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I need a little sugar in my bowl
written by: Brymn / Small / Williams
Tired of bein' lonely, tired of bein' blue,
I wished I had some good man, to tell my troubles to
Seem like the whole world's wrong, since my man's been gone
I need a little sugar in my bowl,
I need a little hot dog, on my roll
I can stand a bit of lovin', oh so bad,
I feel so funny, I feel so sad
I need a little steam-heat, on my floor,
Maybe I can fix things up, so they'll go
What's the matter, hard papa, come on and save you mama's soul
'Cause I need a little sugar, in my bowl, doggone it,
I need a little sugar in my bowl
I need a little sugar, in my bowl,
I need a little hot dog, between my rolls
You gettin' different, I've been told,
move your finger, drop something in my bowl
I need a little steam-heat on my floor,
Maybe I can fix things up, so they'll go
(spoken: Get off your knees, I can't see what you're drivin' at!
It's dark down there!
Looks like a snake! C'mon here and drop somethin' here in my bowl,
stop your foolin', and drop somethin', in my bowl)
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Muddy Water (a Mississippi moan)
written by: Harry Richman / Jo Trent
Dixie
moonlight, Swanee shore
Headed homebound just once more
To my Mississippi delta home
Southland has that grand garden spot
Although you believe or not
I hear those breeze a-whispering:
"Come on back to me"
Muddy water 'round my feet
Muddy water in the street
Just God don't shelter
Down on the delta
Muddy water in my shoes
Reeling and rocking to them lowdown blues
They live in ease and comfort down there
I do declare
Been away a year today
To wander and roam
I don't care it's muddy there
But see it is my home
Got my toes turned Dixie way
'Round the delta let me lay
My heart cries out for muddy water
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Nobody knows you when you're down and out
written by: Ida Cox / B. Feldman
Once I lived the life of a millionaire,
spending my money, I didn't care
I carried my friends out for a good time,
buying bootleg liquor, champagne and wine
Then I began to fall so low,
I didn't have a friend, and no place to go
So if I ever get my hand on a dollar again,
I'm gonna hold on to it till them eagle's grin
Nobody knows you when you down and out
In my pocket not one penny,
and my friends I haven't any
But If I ever get on my feet again,
then I'll meet my long lost friend
It's mighty strange, without a doubt
Nobody knows you when you down and out
I mean when you down and out
Mmmmm, when you're down and out,
mmmmm, not one penny
And my friends I haven't any,
mmmmm, well I felt so low
Nobody wants me round their door,
mmmmm, without a doubt,
No man can use you wen you down and out
I mean when you down and out
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Send me to the 'lectric chair
written by: George Brooks
Judge you wanna hear my plea, before you open up your court
But I don't want no sympathy, 'cause I done cut my good man's throat
I caught him with a trifling Jane, I warned him 'bout before
I had my knife and went insane, and the rest you ought to know
Judge, judge, please mister judge, send me to the 'lectric chair
Judge, judge, good mister judge, let me go away from here
I wanna take a journey, to the devil down below
I done killed my man, I wanna reap just what I sow
Oh judge, judge, lordy lordy judge, send me to the 'lectric chair
Judge, judge, hear me judge, send me to the 'lectric chair
I love him so dear, I cut him with my barlow
, I kicked him in the side
I stood here laughing o'r him, while he wallowed around and died
Oh judge, judge, lordy judge, send me to the 'lectric chair
Judge, judge, sweet mister judge, send me to the 'lectric chair
Judge, judge, good kind judge, burn me 'cause I don't care
I don't want no one good mayor, to go my bail
I don't want to spend no, ninety-nine years in jail
So judge, judge, good kind judge, send me to the 'lectric chair
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St. Louis blues
written by: W.C. Handy
I hate to see the ev'nin' sun go down
Hate to see the ev'nin' sun go down,
'cause my baby, he done left this town
Feelin' tomorrow like I feel today
Feel tomorrow like I feel today,
I'll pack my trunk, make my getaway
St. Louis woman with her diamond rings
Pulls that man 'round by her apron strings,
't'want for powder and for store-bought hair
The man I love, would not gone nowhere,
got the St. Louis blues just as blue as I can be
That man got a heart like a rock cast in the sea,
or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me
Been to the gypsy to get my fortune told
To the gypsy, to get my fortune told,
'cause I'm most wild about my
jelly roll
Gypsy done told me, "Don't you wear no black"
Yes, she done told me, "Don't you wear no black,
go to St. Louis, you can win him back"
Help me to Cairo, make St. Louis by myself
Gone to Cairo, find my old friend Jeff
Goin' to pin myself close to his side,
if I
flag his train
, I sure can ride
I love that man like a schoolboy loves his pie
Like a Kentucky Colonel loves his mint and rye
I'll love my baby till the day I die
You ought to see that stovepipe brown of mine,
like he owns the diamond Joseph line
He'd make across-eyed old man go stone blind
Blacker than midnight, teeth like flags of truce
Blackest man in the whole St. Louis
Blacker the berry, sweeter is the juice
About a crap game, he knows a powerful lot,
but when work time comes, he's on the dot
Goin' to ask him for a cold ten spot,
what it takes to get it, he's certainly got
A black-headed gal make a freight train jump the track
Said a black-headed gal make a freight train jump the track
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