Original Carter Family: Songs titled J-K

Hi,

There are 11 Carter family tiles beginning with J-K; 10 songs and 1 skit:

Jealous Hearted Me; Jim Blake's Message; Jimmie Brown, the Newsboy; Jimmie Rodgers Visits the Carter Family; John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man; Just a Few More Days; Just Another Broken Heart; Keep on the Firing Line; Keep on the Sunny Side; Kissing Is a Crime; Kitty Waltz;

Jealous Hearted Me is a blues recorded in 1936 by the Carters. One early version was Charley Lincoln [Hicks], "Jealous Hearted Blues," recorded in Atlanta for Columbia on November 4, 1927, mx 145103-2, released on Columbia 14305-D. Clearly this is a song the Carter's borrowed.

Charley Lincoln probably got his version from Ma Rainey's 1924 "Jealous Hearted Blues." The song was copyrighted by Lovie Austin but the verses except for the first are traditional. Later the song was a rewrite hit with the title, "Evil Hearted Me."Still more lyrics to "Jealous Hearted Me" come from recordings by Minnie Pearl, who squawked out this tune regularly:

You can have my coffee, you can have my tea
But just you let my feller be,
I'm jealous, jealous-hearted me
I'm just as jealous as I can be.

Now, I like victuals, sauerkraut
I take my mail on the rural route
I'm jealous,jealous-hearted me
I'm just as jealous as I can be.

Take your dominic rooster and your shanghai hen
Get a 'fer' piece away and don't you come again
I'm jealous, jealous-hearted me
I'm just as jealous as I can be.

Jealous Hearted Me- Carter Family

Takes a rockin' chair to rock, takes a rubber ball to roll
Takes the man I love to satisfy my soul
Because I'm jealous, jealous hearted me
I said I'm jealous, jealous as I can be

Got a stove in the kitchen, and it bakes nice and brown
But I need a poppa to turn the damper down
Because I'm jealous, jealous hearted me
I said I'm jealous, jealous as I can be

You can have my money, you can have my home
But for goodness sakes, women, let my man alone
Because I'm jealous, jealous hearted me
I said I'm jealous, jealous as I can be

Gonna buy me a bulldog to watch while I sleep
To watch that man of mine on his midnight creep
Because I'm jealous, jealous hearted me
I said I'm jealous, jealous as I can be

Jim Blake's Message is an event song from the king of the event song writers, Carson Robison with Peter Condon- lyrics, in 1927. Carson would put out a song immediately after some tragedy occured and his buddy and partner Vernon Dalhart would record the song. In this case the lyrics are based on a tradtional song from around 1900 that Condon knew.The lyrics were first printed in a 1910 issue of "Railroad Man's Magazine" after a request for the lyrics in 1909. The Carters probably added "Message" to the "Jim Blake" title to avoid copyright problems.

From Charles K. Wolfe: Jim Blake's Message is, according to Sara, from a ballet they got "out toward Kentucky." This performance, as well as a transcript and song history, is presented in Norm Cohen's 'Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong.' His research has dated the song to the 1890s, but no one seems to know if it was based on a true experience or not. A.P. copyrighted his version of the song on January 5, 1938 - almost six months after he recorded it.

JIM BLAKE'S MESSAGE- The Carter Family, June 17, 1937

"Jim Blake, your wife is dying!"
Went over the wires tonight
The message was brought to the depot
By a lad all trembling with fright
He entered the office crying
His face was terribly white
"Send this message to dad and his engine
Mother is dying tonight!"

In something less than an hour
Jim's answer back to me flew
"Tell wife I'll be there at midnight
I'm praying for her too."
I left my son in the office
Took the message to Jim's wife
There found the dying woman
Was scarce of breath and life.

O'er hill and dale and valley
Thunders the heavy train
It's engine is sobbing and throbbing
And under a terrible strain
But Jim hangs on to his throttle
Guiding her crazy flight
And his voice cries out in the darkness
"God speed the Express tonight!"

I telephoned the doctor
"How is Jim's wife?"
I ask"About the hour of midnight
Is long as she can last!"
In something less than an hour
The train will be along
But here I have a message
Oh God, there is something wrong!

The message reads, "Disaster!
The train is in the ditch
The engineer is dying
Derailed by an open switch.
"And there's another message
To Jim's wife it is addressed,
"I'll meet her at midnight in Heaven
Don't wait for the fast Express!"

Jimmie Brown, the Newsboy was Jimmie Brown (the paper boy) by William Shakespeare Hays in 1875.

JIMMIE BROWN, THE PAPER BOY
To my friend C. P. Atmore, Esq. (Louisville, Ky.)[title page:] "Jimmy Brown" (1875)[cover page: "Jimmy Brown, the Paper Boy"]Song & Chorusby William Shakespeare Hays, 1837-1907New York: J. L. Peters, 599 Broadway, Plate No. 10,697-3.[Source: 03139@loC]

1.I'm very cold and hungry, sir,
My clothes are worn and thin,--
I wander on from place to place,
My daily bread to win;
But never mind, sir, how I look,
Don't sneer at me, or frown,--
I'm selling papers, for I am
The newsboy, Jimmie Brown.

CHORUS: I sell the morning paper, sir,
My name is Jimmie Brown,--
Most ev'ry body knows I am
The "poor boy of the town."

2.My father was a drunkard, sir,
So I've heard my mother say,--
Before he died, how oft for him
I've heard her weep and pray!
But I am helping mother now,
I journey up and down,
To sell my papers, for I am
The newsboy, Jimmie Brown.(CHORUS)

3.My mother tells me ev'ry night
To kneel with her and pray,--
She says if I've an honest heart,
I'll be all right some day;
And when she's gone to heaven, sir,
To wear a starry crown,
She'll wait up there to welcome home
The newsboy of the town.(CHORUS)

JIMMIE BROWN, THE NEWSBOY- Carter Family

I sell the morning paper, sir, my name is Jimmie Brown,
And everybody knows I am the newsboy of the town;
You can hear me yelling "Morning Star" as I run along the street,
I've got no hat upon my head, no shoes upon my feet.

I'm awful cold and hungry, sir, my clothes are worn and thin,
I wander bout from place to place my daily bread to win;
Never mind, sir, how I look don't look at me and frown,
I sell the morning paper, sir, my name is Jimmie Brown.

My father died a drunkard, sir, I've heard my mother say,
And I am helping mother as I journey on my way;
Mother always tells me, sir, I've nothing in the world to lose,
I'll get a place in Heaven, sir, to sell the Gospel News.

So never mind, sir, how I look don't look at me and frown,
I sell the morning paper, sir, my name is Jimmie Brown;
You can hear me yelling "Morning Star" as I run along the street,
I've got no hat upon my head no shoes upon my feet.

Jimmie Rodgers Visits the Carter Family: The session began in Louisville, Kentucky on June 10, 1931 the whole group recorded their song-and-spoken-word skits "The Carter Family and Jimmie Rogers in Texas" and "Jimmie Rogers Visits The Carter Family." On June 12 the first skit was redone to its released form. The first release by the two top Country recording artists for Victor was "Jimmie Rodgers Visits the Carter Family" backed by Rodgers "Moonlight and Skies." The single was a big success by post 1929 standards, selling 24, 000 copies. Curiously, the other songs from that session (except Jimmie's solo "Let Me Be Your Side Track") were released five years later, long after Rodgers was dead.

John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man: was recorded by the Carter Family in 1928 in one of their early session for Victor. The Carter Family version doesn't repeat the last lyric line, instead there is and instrumental verse. The Carters version was the fourth recording of the song, preceeded by Eva Davis and local star Ernest Stoneman in 1925. The song was collected in 1916 by Cecil Sharp. There is an excellent article by John Harrington Cox in the JOAFL.

Here are some details about the history: John Hardy was a black man working in the tunnels of West Virginia. In fact, as Alan Lomax remarks, "the two songs ["John Henry" & "John Hardy"] have sometimes been combined by folk singers, and the two characters confused by ballad collectors...."). One payday, in a crap game at Shawnee Coal Company's camp in what is today Eckman, WV, John Hardy killed a fellow worker. Lomax provides the following additional info- His white captors protected him from a lynch mob that came to take him out of jail and hang him. When the lynch fever subsided, Hardy was tried during the July term of the McDowell County Criminal Court, found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. While awaiting execution in jail, he is said to have composed this ballad, which he later sang on the scaffold. He also confessed his sins to a minister, became very religious, and advised all young men, as he stood beneath the gallows, to shun liquor, gambling and bad company. The order for his execution shows that he was hanged near the courthouse in McDowell County, January 19, 1894. His ballad appears to have been based upon certain formulae stanzas from the Anglo-Saxon ballad stock.... Alan Lomax, The Folk Songs of North America, Garden City, 1960, p. 264; lyrics on pp. 271-273.

JOHN HARDY WAS A DESPERATE LITTLE MAN- Carter Family 1928

John Hardy, he was a desp'rate little man,
He carried two guns ev'ry day.
He shot a man on the West Virginia line,
An' you ought seen John Hardy getting away.
[Instrumental Line]

John Hardy, he got to the Keystone Bridge,
He thought that he would be free.
And up stepped a man and took him by his arm,
Says, "Johnny, walk along with me."

He sent for his poppy and his mommy, too,
To come and go his bail.
But money won't go a murdering case;
They locked John Hardy back in jail.

John Hardy, he had a pretty little girl,
That dress that she wore was blue
As she came skipping through the old jail hall,
Saying, "Poppy, I've been true to you."

John Hardy, he had another little girl,
That dress that she wore was red.
She followed John Hardy to his hanging ground,
Saying, "Poppy, I would rather be dead."

I been to the East and I been to the West,
I been this wide world around.
I been to the river and I been baptized,
And now I'm on my hanging ground.

John Hardy walked out on his scaffold high,
With his loving little wife by his side.
And the last words she heard poor John-O say,
"I'll meet you in that sweet bye-and-bye."

Just a Few More Days is a gospel song found on "Hymns of Praise: For the Church and Sunday School by F. G. Kingsbury -Hymns, English - 1922 - page 15. The idea may have come from the third verse of the 1903 gospel song "The Good Old-Fashioned Way".

"Just a few more steps to follow
Just a few more days to roam...

"There are references to it in The New Cokesbury Hymnal, Nashville (1928) edited by Charles C . Washburn:

"Just a few more days to be filled with praise, And to tell the...
Just a few more years with their toil and tears, And the journey...

JUST A FEW MORE DAYS- Carter Family 1938

Not so long ago one morning
Mother called me to her bed
Then she threw her arms around me
Listen to the words she said
Darling, I am going to leave you
But you'll not be left alone
Jesus will protect and shield you
After he has carried me home

Just a few more days of sorrow
Just a few more days of pain
Just a few more days of cloudiness
Just a few more days of rain
Then I'm going to live with Jesus
He has got a home prepared
Then I'll join the holy angels
Mother will be waiting there

Sometimes I am sorely tempted
Sometimes I am sorely tired
But to overcome I'm trying
Taking Jesus as my guide
Oh, sometimes the path seems rugged
But it only makes me pray
And I know if I keep trying
I'll see my mother some sweet day

Just a few more days of sorrow
Just a few more days of pain
Just a few more days of cloudiness
Just a few more days of rain
Then I'm going to live with Jesus
He has got a home prepared
Then I'll join the holy angels
Mother will be waiting there

"Just Another Broken Heart" is the Carter's arrangement of the folk song usually known as "Only Flirting," "Only a Broken Heart" or "She was Only Flirting."Randolph collected the song as "She Said She Was Only Flirting" from Elizabeth Waddell in 1927: Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume IV, Religous Songs and Others, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p272/#764. The singer said the song was a parody of a Longfellow poem: http://books.google.com/books?id=g3JtLNe3nroC&pg=PA272&dq=She+Said+She+Was+Only+Flirting&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html

It was first recorded by Billy Vest in 1931 as "Oh Sir, I was Only Flirting."It's related to the popular Sinful to Flirt songs [Laws G19] such as "Willie Down by the Pond" and has the same theme as "Juanita." If anyone has any other lyrics versions please post.

JUST ANOTHER BROKEN HEART- Carter Family 1936

They stood on the beach one evening
Out in the moonlight fair
'Twas a boy in the pride of manhood
And a girl in beauty rare

I never thought that you loved me
An innocent look of surprise
Crept out from beneath her lashes
And into those deep brown eyes

Oh, sir, I was only a-flirting
Only a-playing a part
Just another boy's life ruined
Just another broken heart [INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]

Sir, I'm to be married this winter
Farewell, and she gave me her hand
And drawing a robe around her
She left me alone on the sand

She goes with a crowd, I'll pass her
Always bitter and cold
Just another boy grown weary
Just another boy grown old [INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]

There's a rose grows in your garden
White rose is the emblem of peace
And when I am dead, little darling
Plant that rose at my head and my feet

Oh, sir, I was only a-flirting
Only a-playing a part
Just another boy's life ruined
Just another broken heart

Keep on the Firing Line is a Sounthern gospel song by Bessie F. Hatcher in 1915. It was recorded twice before the Carters 1941 recording.

Keep on the Sunny Side, the Carters theme song, was written by Ada Blenkhorn and J Howard Entwisle in 1899.

Kissing Is a Crime was recorded by the Carters in 1935. "I'll not Kiss You Anymore" was recorded in 1930 but unissued.It was collected as a folk song in Alabama. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZG_VpWAciWsC&pg=PA166&dq=%22I+know+a+pretty+little+girl%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html It resembles the Scottish song "Some Say that Kissing's a Sin" published in 1829. AP clearly changed "sin," a word he could't use, to "crime."

KISSING IS A CRIME- Carter Family 1935

I know a little girl
And I want her for my wife
She's pretty and sweet, and neat little feet
Never been kissed in her life

You can ask for a kiss
She never got a beau
And every time she vows and cries
She'll never do so anymore

Going to be a better girl and never kiss again
Afraid my maw might find out and cause her great pain
You may walk and talk and hold my hand
But kissing is a crime
I'll not kiss you anymore until next time [INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]

I called at her house one night
But I didn't intend to stay
She laid her head on my shoulder and said
The old folks are away
I kissed her a dozen times
Someone came to the door
And every time she vows and declares
She'll never do so anymore

Going to be a better girl and never kiss again
Afraid my maw might find out and cause her great pain
You may walk and talk and hold my hand
But kissing is a crime
I'll not kiss you anymore until next time

Kitty Waltz was recorded in 1929 by the Carters. The first country recording was Al Hopkins in 1926 which may have been the source. The instrumental versions were copyrighted by W. Henry Sayen in 1873 and R. Schwentzer as "Kittie Waltz" in 1872.

KITTY WALTZ- Carter Family 1929

[INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]

Waltz, Kitty, waltz, let everybody waltz
Waltz, Kitty, waltz, let everybody waltz
Waltz, Kitty, waltz, let everybody waltz
The guitars are ringing, come on and waltz [INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]

The girls are singing, their guitars are ringing
Their steps are so neat, their music so sweet
Waltz, Kitty, waltz, let everybody waltz
The guitars are ringing, come on and waltz [INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]

Boys, come on and join our band
Their guitars are ringing, their music is grand
Waltz, Kitty, waltz, let everybody waltz
The guitars are ringing, come on and waltz [INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]

Waltz, Kitty, waltz, let everybody waltz
Waltz, Kitty, waltz, let everybody waltz
Waltz, Kitty, waltz, let everybody waltz
The guitars are ringing, come on and waltz [INSTRUMENTAL BREAK]