Leadbelly

[Torrent Maniak]

Ain't It A Shame
​

Ain't it a shame to go fishin on a Sunday
Ain't it a shame
Ain't it a shame to go fishin on a Sunday
When you got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Oh, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Ain't it a shame
Ain't it a shame to have a drink on Sunday
Ain't it a shame
Ain't it a shame to have a drink on Sunday
When you got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Oh, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Ain't it a shame
Ain't it a shame to beat your wife on Sunday
Ain't it a shame
Ain't it a shame to beat your wife on Sunday
When you got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Oh, Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Ain't it a shame
​

 

[Torrent Maniak]

Alabama Bound
​

I'm Alabama bound
I'm Alabama bound
And if the train don't stop and turn around
I'm Alabama bound

Oh, don't you leave me here
Oh, don't you leave me here
But if you must go anyhow
Just leave a dime for beer

Oh don't you be like me
Oh don't you be like me
Drink your good sweet cherry wine
And let that whiskey be

Well your hair don't curve
And your eyes ain't blue
Well if you don't want me, Polly Ann

Well I don't want you​

 

[Torrent Maniak]

Blue-tail Fly




Chorus: Jimmy, crack corn, and I don't care.
Jimmy, crack corn, and I don't care,
Jimmy, crack corn, and I don't care,
My mastas gone away.

Rod-a, he ride him and he jumped a ditch,
He ride-a, he rode him, and the pony did pitch.
The pony, he felt a little bit shy,
‘Cause he's bitten by that blue-tailed fly. (Chorus)

When I went down in Louisiana,
I stayed a little while in Texarkana.
Every once in a while, I felt a little bit shy
‘Cause I was bitten by that blue-tailed fly. (Chorus)

I was on my to Shreveport, Louisiana,
Then I stopped out in Caspiana.
And I felt a little bit shy,
‘Cause I was bitten by that blue-tailed fly. (Chorus)

When I was drivin' along in my car
I was stoppin' most anywhere.
Once in while I look up in the sky
‘Cause I was bitten by that blue-tailed fly. (Chorus)

Once in a while I do a little bit o'dance,
And some of the people come around and says, "Will you allow me a little chance?
But every once in a while I feel a little bit shy
‘Cause I was bitten by that blue-tailed fly.
(Chorus) (2x)
​

 

[Torrent Maniak]

Bourgeois Blues

Me and my wife went all over town
And everywhere we went people turned us down
Lord, in a bourgeois town
It's a bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

Home of the brave, land of the free
I don't wanna be mistreated by no bourgeoisie
Lord, in a bourgeois town
Uhm, the bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

Well, me and my wife we were standing upstairs
We heard the white man say "I don't want no niggers up there"
Lord, in a bourgeois town
Uhm, bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

Well, them white folks in Washington they know how
To call a colored man a nigger just to see him bow
Lord, it's a bourgeois town
Uhm, the bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

I tell all the colored folks to listen to me
Don't try to find you no home in Washington, DC
`Cause it's a bourgeois town
Uhm, the bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around
​

 

[Torrent Maniak]

Bring Me Little Water, Sylvie

Bring Me Little Water, Sylvie

Bring me little water, Sylvie
Bring me little water, now
Bring me little water, Sylvie
Every little once in a while

Don't you see me coming?
Don't you see me, now?
Don't you see me coming?
Every little once in a while​

 

[Torrent Maniak]

Cotton Fields

When I was a little baby
My mother would rock me in the cradle
In them old, old cotton fields back home

When I was a little baby
My mother would rock me in the cradle
In them old, old cotton fields back home

Oh when them cotton balls get rotten
You can't pick you very much cotton
In them old cotton fields back home

It was down in Louisiana
Just a mile from Texarkana
In them old cotton fields back home

It may sound a little funny
But you didn't make very much money
In them old cotton fields back home
It may sound a little funny
But you didn't make very much money
In them old cotton fields back home

Oh when them cotton balls get rotten
You can't pick you very much cotton
In them old cotton fields back home

It was down in Louisiana
Just a mile from Texarkana
In them old cotton fields back home

I was over in Arkansas
People ask me what you come here for
In them old cotton fields back home
I was over in Arkansas
People ask me what you come here for
In them old, old cotton fields back home

Oh when them cotton balls get rotten
You can't pick you very much cotton
In them old cotton fields back home

It was down in Louisiana
Just a mile from Texarkana
In them old cotton fields back home

Oh when them cotton balls get rotten
You can't pick you very much cotton
In them old cotton fields back home

It was down in Louisiana
Just a mile from Texarkana
In them old cotton fields back home
​

 

[Torrent Maniak]

Cotton Fields Back Home

When I was a pretty little baby
My mama would rock me in my cradle
In them old cotton fields back home

Now, when them old fields get rotten
You can't pick very much cotton
In them old cotton fields back home

It was down in Louisiana
Just about a mile from Texarkana
In them old cotton fields back home
​

 

[Torrent Maniak]

Duncan And Brady
​

Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, little star
Up comes Brady in a 'lectric car
Got a mean look all 'round his eye
Gonna shoot somebody jus' to see them die

Duncan, Duncan was tending the bar
In walked Brady with a shining star
And Brady says, “Duncan you are under arrest”
And Duncan shot a hole in Brady's breast

Brady, Brady carried a .45,
Said it would shoot half a mile
Duncan had a .44
That what laid Mr. Brady so low

Brady fell down on the barroom floor,
“Please Mr. Duncan don' shoot me no more”
Women all cryin', ain't it a shame,
Shot King Brady, goin' shoot him again

“Brady, Brady, Brady, you know you done wrong
Walkin' in the room when the game was goin' on
Knockin' down windows, breakin' down the door
Now you lyin' dead on the grocery [barroom] floor

Women all heard that Brady was dead,
Goes back home and they dresses in red
Come a sniffin' and a sighin' down the street,
In their big mother hubbards and their stockin' feet

'Cause he been on the job too long
​

 

[Torrent Maniak]

Ella Speed
​

Come and take heed, be sworn by the death of Ella Speed,
Come and take heed, be sworn by the death of Ella Speed,
Now Ella Speed was downtown and she was having a lot of fun,
And here's the deed Bill Martin done
Now Ella Speed was downtown and she was having a lot of fun,
And here's the deed Bill Martin done
Oh Bill Martin he was tall and slender, Better known as him being a bar tender
Oh Bill Martin he was tall and slender, Better known as him being a bar tender
The deed that old Bill Martin done, Was commit murder with a Colt 41,
The deed that old Bill Martin done, Was commit murder with a Colt 41,
When folks downtown heard Ella Speed was dead,
Well, they were really red and red,
When folks downtown heard Ella Speed was dead,
Well, they were really red and red,
Come and take heed, be sworn by the death of Ella Speed,
Come and take heed, be sworn by the death of Ella Speed,
​

 

[Torrent Maniak]

Fannin Street



My mama told me
My sister too
Said, 'The Shreveport women, son,
Will be the death of you'

Said to my mama,
'Mama, you don't know
If the Fannin Street women gonna kill me
Well, you might as well let me go'

Follow me down,
Follow me down,
Follow me down
By Mr Tom Hughes town

I went to my mama
Fell down on my knees
Said, 'Oh, mama, won't you forgive me, please?'

She started to cry:
Follow me down,
Follow me down,
Follow me down
By Mr Tom Hughes town

I got a woman
Lives on Stony Hill
She used to sit down and gamble with
Mr Buffalo Bill

He's a bad man

You got a woman
Gamble with Buffalo Bill
Two chances in one, babe,
You ain't done got killed

She started to cry:

Follow me down,
Follow me down,
Follow me down
By Mr Tom Hughes town

I got a woman
Lives back of the jail
Makes an honest livin'
By the wigglin' of her tail

Cry for me

Anyone should ask you
Who made up this song
Tell 'em Huddie Ledbetter
Done been here and gone

Follow me down,
Follow me down,
Follow me down
By Mr Tom Hughes town
​