Blues

Canned Heat – My Crime

kirjoittaja

Uransa alkuaikana Canned Heatin ollessa Denverissä keikalla 1967, joku kertoo poliisille heillä olevan kannabista. Keikan jälkeen bändin jäsenet pidätettiin. Manageri onnistui keräämään tuomarin vaatimat 10000 dollarin takuurahat myymällä Canned Heatin biisien julkaisuoikeudet. Yhtye kirjoitti tapahtumasta tämän kappaleen hitiksi muodostuneelle kakkoslevylleen, ”Boogie with Canned Heat”.

”I went to Denver
Late last fall.
I went to do my job.
Yeah, I didn’t break any law.
We worked a hippie place,
Like many in our land.
They couldn’t bust the place,
And so they got the band.
’Cause the police in Denver,
No, they don’t want none of them long hairs hanging around.
And that’s the reason why
They want to tear Canned Heat’s reputation down.
You people in Denver
Will know what I mean.
Yeah, the things I’m gonna tell ya.
Yeah, you’ve all heard and seen.
You remember when a cop on the beat
Used to rob and steal.
Today they’re gone, but the others get it on,
So you know just how I feel.
’Cause the police in Denver,
Lord, they don’t want none of them long hairs hanging around.
And that’s the reason why
They try to tear Canned Heat’s reputation down.
Yeah, they try to tear it down, boy.
They ain’t gonna do it though.
Let me tell you this, just one more time.
Just one more thing I want to tell ya
Before I go.
It’s a shame, the Man in Denver
Has to lie and mistreat people so.
Now, six months ain’t no sentence,
One year ain’t no time.
When I hear from one to ten,
It worries my troubled mind.
’Cause the police in Denver,
Lord, don’t want no long hairs around.
And that’s the reason why
They try to tear Canned Heat’s reputation down.”

Victoria Spivey & Lonnie Johnson – Dope Head Blues

kirjoittaja

”Just give me one more sniffle
Another sniffle of that dope
Just give me one more sniffle
Another sniffle of that dope
I’ll catch a cow like a cowboy
And throw a bull without a rope

Doggone, I’ve got more money
Than Henry Ford or John D. ever had
Doggone, I’ve got more money
Than Henry Ford or John D. ever had
I bit a dog last Monday
And forty doggone dogs went mad

Feel like a fightin’ rooster
Feel better than I ever felt
Feel like a fightin’ rooster
Feel better than I ever felt
Got double pneumonia
And still I think I got the best health

Say, Sam
Go get my airplane and drive it up to my door
Oh, Sam, go get my airplane
And driii-ve it to my door
I think I’ll fly to London
These monkey men makes mama sore

The president sent for me
The Prince of Wales is on my trail
The president sent for me
The Prince of Wales is on my trail
They worry me so much
I’ll take another sniff and put them both in jail”

Tampa Red – I’m Gonna Get High

kirjoittaja

Blueskitaristi Tampa Red ei juurikään jätä epäselväksi, että mistä on kysymys tässä 30-luvun biisissään.

”I’m gonna get high
And it ain’t no lie
And swing alone and have a ball
I’m gonna get high

Oh me, oh my
Nobody know why
Oh my baby don’t you cry
I’m gonna get high

It ain’t no need of no one
Tryin’ to shame me
But what a state I’ve got in
Who could blame me? Oh, yes

I’m gonna get high
I’ll do it or die
And swing alone and have a ball
I’m gonna get high, yeah, yeah

Beat it out for me, then
Ah ha
I hear you Mr. Sax Player
Yes, yes

Get that trumpet here
I hear you Mr. Ivory Man
C’mon, do it again, please
Ah ha

I’m gonna get high
And it ain’t no lie
And swing alone and have a ball
I’m gonna get high

Oh me, oh my
Nobody know why
Oh my baby, don’t you cry
I’m gonna get high

It ain’t no need of no one
Tryin’ to shame me, yeah-yeah
But what a state I’ve got in
Who could blame me? Oh, yeah

Oh, I’m gonna get high
I’ll do it or die
And swing alone and have a ball
I’m gonna get high

Zip it now
Yes, yes, yes
Ah ha
Ah yeah

I hear you
Ah ha

Yes, yes, yes
Goin’ out boys

Well, I’m gonna get high
I’ll do it or die
Swing alone and have a ball
I’m gonna get high, yeah”

Jazz Gillum & His Jazz Boys – Reefer Headed Woman

kirjoittaja

Hienoa blues-kitarointia (yksi ensimmäisistä levytetyistä sähkökitarablueseista) ja huuliharpun soittamista tässä 30-luvun lopun biisissä. Laulun sanoma taitaa olla, että pitää miehet naistenne näpit erossa kannabiksesta :-D

”Now, I can’t see why my baby sleeps so sound
Well now, I can’t see why my baby sleeps so sound
She must-a have smoked her reefer
An it’s bound to carry her down

When I left her this mornin’
Now, I left her sleepin’ sound
When I left her this mornin’
I left her sleepin’ sound
The only way she could catch me
Is to run like a fool bloodhound

She said she was gon’ leave me
Goin’ to some no good town
She said she was gon’ leave me
Goin’ to some no good town
She was a rough cuttin’ woman
She didn’t like to break ’em down

If you got a good woman
Mens, please don’t take her around
If you got a good woman
Mens, please don’t take her around
She will get full of reefers
And raise sand all over this town.”

Lil Green – Knockin’ Myself Out

kirjoittaja

Lil Greenin biisi kertoo surullisen tarinan naisesta, jonka mies jättää ja näinpä hän päätyy polttelemaan.

”Listen girls and boys I got one stick
Give me a match and let me take a whiff quick
I’m gonna knock myself out, I’m gonna kill myself
I’m gonna knock myself out, gradually by degrees.

I started blowing my gage, and I was havin’ my fun
I spied the police and I started to run
I was knocking myself out, I was killing myself
I’m knockin’ myself out, gradually by degrees.

But the very moment I looked around
My mind said ’Yack throw that gage on the ground’
The police captain said ’Kill yourself’!
The police captain said ’Kill yourself’!
He said ’Knock yourself out, yeah, gradually by degrees.’

I used ta didn’t blow gage, drink nothin’ of the kind
But my man quit me and that changed my mind
That’s why I’m knockin’ myself out,
Yes I’m get killin’ myself
I’m knocking myself out, gradually by degrees.

I’m gonna blow this jive, it’s a sin and a shame
But it’s the only thing that ease my heart about my man
When I knock myself out. Lord, when I kill myself
I just knock myself smack out gradually by degrees.”

Champion Jack Dupree – Junker’s Blues

kirjoittaja

Kyllä näissä vanhoissa bluesveisuissa vaan tavoitetaan hienosti tuo fiilis. Hieno on ralli ja hienot on sanat.

”all right… I’m sick as I can be…

Some people call me a junker, cause I’m loaded all the time
I just feel happy and I feel good all the time

Some people say I use a needle, and some say I slip cocaine
But that’s the best old feelin’ that I ever need

Say goodbye, goodbye to whiskey
Lord and so long to gin
I just want my reefer, I just want to feel high again

oh yes I’m a junker
I feel all right

Some people, some people crave for chicken
And some crave for a house steak
But when I get loaded lord I don’t want my milk and cake

oh yeah that’s what I want now…
They call me a junker…
Cause I’m loaded all the time…
But that ain’t nothin that I feel good all the time…”

Tom Waits – Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis

kirjoittaja

Voi jestas, että on hienosti kirjoitettu tarina! Kuin suoraan addiktin sydämestä. Viimeinen säkeistö naulaa tämän todella hienosti.

”hey charlie i’m pregnant
and living on the 9th street
right above a dirty bookstore
off euclid avenue
and i stopped takin dope
and i quit drinkin whiskey
and my old man plays the trombone
and works out at the track

and he says that he loves me
even though its not his baby
and he says that he’ll raise him up
like he would his own son
and he gave me a ring
that was worn by his mother
and he takes me out dancin
every saturday night.

and hey charlie i think about you
everytime i pass a fillin station
on account of all the grease
you used to wear in your hair
and i still have that record
of little anthony & the imperials
but someone stole my record player
now how do you like that?

hey charlie i almost went crazy
after mario got busted
so i went back to omaha to
live with my folks
but everyone i used to know
was either dead or in prison
so i came back to minneapolis
this time i think i’m gonna stay.

hey charlie i think i’m happy
for the first time since my accident
and i wish i had all the money
that we used to spend on dope
i’d buy me a used car lot
and i wouldn’t sell any of em
i’d just drive a different car
every day, dependin on how
i feel

hey charlie for chrissakes
do you want to know the
truth of it?
i don’t have a husband
he don’t play the trombone
and i need to borrow money
to pay this lawyer
and charlie, hey
i’ll be eligible for parole
come valentines day”

Luke Jordan – Cocaine Blues

kirjoittaja

Karu tarina 20-luvulta.

”Oh go on, gal, don’t you take me for no fool
I’m not gonna quit you, pretty mama, while the weather’s cool
Around your back door, oh honey, I’m gonna creep
As long as you make those two and a half a week

Now I got a girl, she works in the white folk’s yard
She brings me meal, I can swear she brings me lard
She brings me meat, she brings me lard
She brings me everything, I swear, that she can steal

Now Barn and Beale’s circus came to town,
They had an elephant looking good and brown
They did not know it was against the law
For the monk(ey) to stop at a five drugstore
Just around the corner, just a minute too late,
Another one’s standin’ at the big back gate
I’m simply wild about my good cocaine

I called my Cora, hey hey
She come on sniffin’ with her nose all sore,
The doctor swore (she’s) gonna smell no more
Sayin’, run doctor, ring the bell – the women in the alley
I’m simply wild about my good cocaine

Now the furniture man came to my house, it was last Sunday morn
He asked me was my wife at home and I told him she had long gone
He backed his wagon up to my door, took everything I had
He carried it back to the furniture store and I swear I did feel sad

What in the world has anyone got for dealing with the furniture man
If you got no dough, you stand no show, it’s certain he’ll back you back
He’ll take everything from an earthly plant, from a skillet to a frying pan
If ever there was a devil born without any horns,
It must have been a furniture man

I called my Cora, hey hey
She come on sniffin’ with her nose all sore,
Doctor swore (she’s) gonna smell no more
Sayin’ coke’s for horses, not women nor men
The doctor said it will kill you, but he didn’t say when
I’m simply wild about my good cocaine

Now the baby’s in the cradle in New Orleans, it kept a-whippin’ till it got so mean
It kept a-whippin had to fix it so (indecipherable)
Saying, run doctor, ring the bell – the women in the alley
I’m simply wild about my good cocaine

I called my Cora, hey hey
She come on sniffin’ with her nose all sore,
The doctor swore (she’s) gonna smell no more
Sayin’, run doctor, ring the bell – the women in the alley
I’m simply wild about my good cocaine”