Luther Dickinson
Luther Dickinson: We wanted to represent what we do live. It was all based on the hill country tradition, taking a simple, primitive song and stretching it around. A lot of “blues bands” take in rock influences, but keep a specific contemporary blues sound. We take a different slant. It's blues lyrics and blues melody with a rock band. Our sound is a combination of the blues, gospel, and traditional psychedelic rock-n-roll, but if you took us down to just one guitar and a voice, it would be total hill country blues."
Shake ‘Em on Down
(Mississippi Fred McDowell)
Luther Dickinson: Well, that’s definitely Fred McDowell. I really like the version on the first Lomax recordings, which came out just a few years ago. But I also really like everything on You Gotta Move; that's one of my favorites, just for vocal and guitar performances. McDowell would do the same song differently, with the same lyrics. He would use music from this one song and put the lyrics to it a couple of years later. He'd switch up his repertoire. I really like that. Our version of "Shake 'Em on Down" has also got some definite Furry Lewis influence, too, because Furry would play the changes. So it's a combination between Furry Lewis and Fred McDowell.
(y’all ready to shake ‘em a lil bit!)
If you see my baby, Lord, mama standin’ round
You know I’m somewhere baby, Lord, mama shake ‘em on down
Why must I holler, Lord, I’m gon’ shake ‘em, shake 'em on down!
I’m so tired of hidin’ please oh shake ‘em on down
If you go to my house you don’t see me nowhere around
You know I’m somewhere baby, Lord, mama shake ‘em on down
Oh must I holler, Lord, I’m gon’ shake ‘em, shake 'em on down!
I’m so tired of hidin’ please oh shake ‘em on down
Shake ‘em on down, shake ‘em on down
Shake ‘em on down, shake ‘em on down
Put your knees together, baby, let your backbone slip
I take no woman in town can shake ‘em down like this
Why must I holler, Lord, I’m gon’ shake ‘em, shake 'em on down!
I’m so tired of hidin’ please oh shake ‘em on down
Lordy, me and my baby was-a out in the fields
Heard that train as it left Mobile
Why must I holler, Lord, I’m gon’ shake ‘em, shake 'em on down!
I’m so tired of hidin’ please oh shake ‘em on down
Shake ‘em on down, shake ‘em on down
Shake ‘em on down, shake ‘em on down
(watch me!)
Lordy (Honey), ain’t but the one thing in this world that I crave
A big legged woman shake me down to my grave
I’m-a start holler, Lord, I’m gon’ shake ‘em, shake 'em on down!
Shake ‘em down, shake ‘em on, shake ‘em on down
(shake ‘em on down)
Shake ‘em down, shake ‘em on, shake ‘em on down
(shake ‘em on down)
I’m so tired of hidin’ please oh shake ‘em on down
I’m gon’ shake ‘em on down!
Drop Down Mama
(Mississippi Fred McDowell)
Luther Dickinson: That's Fred McDowell, but I got some of the lyrics from Sleepy John Estes. I think he may have written that song. He wrote a lot of those great songs. He really was a songsman, as opposed to a troubadour type. He would take lyrics from other people, you know, and change 'em up. But I think he really originated a lot of lyrics.
Drop down, mama, let your daddy see
You got something really worrying me
No my mama she don't allow me fool around all night
Fool around all night, all night long
I may look like I'm crazy but least I know right from wrong
Well the Jack of Diamonds told the Queen of Spades
"Run with me, lay on your creeping ways"
No my mama she don't allow me fool around all night
Fool around all night, all night long
You may call me crazy but least I know right from wrong
Met my baby in middle the road
she cried Daddy, sweet jelly roll
No my mama she don't allow me fool around all night
Fool around all night, all night long
I may look like I'm crazy but least I know right from wrong
Some of these women sure do make me tired
Gotta a hair full of "gimme," mouth full of "much abliged"
No my mama she don't allow me fool around all night
Fool around all night, all night long
I may look like I'm crazy but least I know right from wrong
Drop down mama, let your daddy ride
You got something holdin deep inside
Well you see me comin', put your man outdoors
I ain't no stranger, I been out before
No my mama she don't allow me fool around all night
Fool around all night, all night long
I may look like I'm crazy but least I know right from wrong
You may call me crazy but least I know right from wrong
You may call me crazy but least I know right from wrong
Po Black Maddie
(R.L. Burnside)
Luther Dickinson: That's Burnside. But everybody has a version of that song. We play "Po Black Maddie" like he used to on the acoustic guitar.
Cody Dickinson: Well, in a lot of the drums parts at least there are a lot of direct references. I reference Mitch Mitchell in that song, and Robert Barnett of Big Ass Truck. I play a lot of his stuff on the record. We definitely wear the influences on our sleeve. As far as the Allman Brothers progression on Po' Black Maddie, it just seemed so obvious, we started doing it onstage just for fun and it became part of it. When we went in to do the record, we tried to capture all the good stuff we'd come up with onstage on the last couple of tours. We just wanted to throw it right in there. The transition into Skinny Woman, we were all about that because that's exactly what we try to do live.
Po black Maddie got no change of clothes
Fool got drunk and her clothes outdoors
Po black Maddie ain’t got no change o’ clothes
Fool got drunk and throw her trunk outdoors
Need no heat or fireplace by my bed
Woman I got, cherry red
Need no heater or fireplace by my bed
Woman I got keeps me cherry red
Woman I got keeps me cherry red
Goin to Memphis to see the worldly fair
Reason I’m goin cause my baby’s there
Goin to Memphis, goin to see that worldly fair
Reason I’m goin cause my baby’s there
Reason I’m goin cause my baby’s there
(reprise)
Po black Maddie got no change of clothes
Fool got drunk and her clothes outdoors
Po black Maddie ain’t got no change o’ clothes
Fool got drunk and throw her trunk outdoors
Skinny Woman
(R.L. Burnside)
Luther Dickinson: Where did that come from, man? I guess that's modern Burnside. I can't remember. I think I learned that one on the Burnside tour I was on. And we put our own instrumental section in there. There's a summer we played on Beale Street twice a week, for like three hours at a time, in this tiny little club. And we really arranged a lot of that music there. There's a lot of tourist music on Beale Street, but we were allowed to just play our own stuff, and it was really good for us.
I don’t want skinny woman, I don’t want skinny woman
Meat don’t shake, meat don’t shake on her bone
Naw she won’t cook no breakfast
Naw she won’t wash those clothes
All she do walk the streets at night
Yeah I love, love that woman
Yeah I love her for myself
She’s a good, good little woman
She gonna love me right
Drinking Muddy Water
(Mississippi Fred McDowell)
Luther Dickinson: That's basically McDowell, but there's some Burnside in there, too. And we got our own feel on there. Everybody plays that riff, one way or another. That style of singing comes from Mud Boy and the Neutrons, our dad's band. All the Memphis guys would do what they called hillbilly harmony onto a country blues melody. And we definitely picked that up from him.
I’ve been drinking muddy water, sleep’n a hollow log
I been drinking muddy water, sleep’n a hollow log
Lord if I can be your kid man, I ain’t gonna be your dog
Yes I’m going away baby, baby don’t you wanna go
Yes I’m going away baby, baby don’t you wanna go
Lord, I is going somewheres I ain’t never been before
I’ve been drinking muddy water, sleep’n a hollow log
I been drinking muddy water, sleep’ n a hollow log
Lord if I can be your kid man, I ain’t gonna be your dog
Lord, there ain’t but that one thing I said honey that will ease my mind
Well it ain’t but that one thing honey that will ease my mind
Lord that girl will tease me, tease me xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I’ve been drinking muddy water, sleep’n a hollow log
I been drinking muddy water, sleep’n a hollow log
Lord if I can be your kid man, I ain’t gonna be your dog
(alternate live lyrics:
If the river was a whiskey and I was a diving duck
If the river was a whiskey and I was a diving duck
Lord, I swim the bottom never would I come up.)
Going Down South
(R.L. Burnside)
Luther Dickinson: Total Burnside boogie. But we don't really do it right.
Goin' down South, I'm going down South
Goin' down South, I'm going down South
Where the chilly wind don't blow
I'm going with you, babe, I'm going with you babe
I'm going with you, babe, I'm going with you baby
I don't care where you go
Some other man, some other man
Some other man, some other man
Always hangin’ around
I’d rather be dead, I’d be rather dead
I’d rather be dead, I’d be rather dead
Than to see you with another man
(Sleepin’ six feet in the ground)
(repeat)
K.C. Jones (On the Road Again)
(Walter "Furry" Lewis)
Cody Dickinson: Of course there are a lot of songs called KC Jones. It's kind of like Stag-O-Lee or whatever, but we do the Furry Lewis version that we learned from Mudboy and the Neutrons. It's a strange hybrid. Even though we try to do these songs like we've heard them before, even more gets lots in translation. That's part of the artist's interpretation, I guess. The lyrics are so great on those old tunes. It's hard to resist playing them.
Early in the mornin’ it was drizzling rain
‘round the curve come a passenger train
Under the wheel was KC Jones, a mighty man dead and gone
A mighty man dead and gone
Some folks say mister KC couldn’t run
Lemme tell you what KC done
Left out of Memphis, quarter-to-nine
New York City dinner time
KC was walkin’ down Nelson lane
Two Policeman lookin’ to learn his name
Carry poor KC to the stationhouse
Natural born rounder but they turn him out
On the road again
Natural born Eastman on the road again
The reason I say I’m on the road again
The police arrest me for sellin’ gin
Sold my gin and I sold it straight
The police brought me to my woman’s gate
She opened the door, she nodded her head
She said, “Furry, you’re welcome to my foldin’ bed”
KC welcome to my foldin’ bed
KC told the farmer just before he died
There’s one more road he’d like to ride
The farmer asked KC, “which road is he?”
The Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe
If you want to get to heaven when you D-I-E
Better put on a collar and your T-I-E
Wanna chase a rabbit out a L-O-G
You better raise a commotion like a D-O-G
Come on you men if you want to flirt
Yonder come a woman in a miniskirt
She got a half yard o' ribbon wrapped around her leg
Step like she steppin’ on scrambled egg
I’m leavin’ Memphis, spread the news
Memphis women don’t wear no shoes
Got my name written on the back of my shirt
Natural born Eastmen don’t have to work
Early in the mornin’ it was drizzling rain
‘round the curve come a passenger train
Under the wheel was old hobo John
He was a good hobo but he’s dead and gone
Another great man dead and gone
Station Blues (Sittin’ On Top of the World)
(Jacobs and Carter)
Luther Dickinson: I learned that from Otha Turner, and that's "Sittin' on Top of the World." You know, everybody's done that song. But that's basically Otha's song. There are two huge lyrical mistakes on our version; I couldn't figure them out until it was too late, you know? But I know them now. I hate having wrong lyrics. Hanging out with Otha has really taught me more than anything, because he lives in a time warp, you know? He's still got this farm with any type of animal you could want, and he's got his friends, and he throws these picnics and parties, and we'll be playing in his old house, and it's up on this brick foundation, you know? It's made out of presswood and plywood, and you stomp your feet, and you can just hear it, you know? It's what an old juke joint sounded like, before electricity.
It was in the spring
Some sunny day
My baby left me
She went away
But now she’s gone, and I don’t worry
Sittin’ on top of the world
I went to the station
Looked out in the yard
Get me some Freight train
Work done got hard
But now she’s gone, but I don’t worry
Sittin’ on top of the world
There have been days
I didn’t know her name
Why should I worry
It’s all in vain
But now she’s gone, and I don’t worry
Sittin’ on top of the world
I worked all the summer
Worked all the fall
Had to take Christmas
In my overalls
But now she’s gone, and I don’t worry
Sittin’ on top of the world
Someday Baby (Worried Life Blues)
(Mississippi Fred McDowell)
You made me weep, and you made me moan
When you call me to leave my, my happy home
But someday, you ain't gonna worry my life anymore
You told everybody, in your neighborhood,
What a dirty mistreater, didn't mean you no good
But someday, you ain't gonna worry my life anymore
When I had money, I had plenty friends
I ain't got no money, y’all, honey even no friends
But someday, you ain't gonna worry my life anymore
If I had money, like Henry Ford
I'd have me a woman y’all, on every road
But someday, you ain't gonna worry my life anymore
No No
Bye-bye, you ain't gonna worry my life anymore
All Night Long
(Junior Kimbrough)
Luther Dickinson: Oh, that's total Junior Kimbrough. We started doing it live and then it just kind of stuck with us. And we started playing Bobby "Blue" Bland’s "Love Light" in the middle--and everybody recognizes that song. A lot of people think of it as the Grateful Dead. It's basically the same song in a major tonality, and we started doing that in the middle there.
Luther Dickinson: That’s the song the sistas want to hear all night.
All night long
Baby I heard you calling my name
Junior I love you, Junior I love you
Hope you love me
I said I do, Baby
All night long
Baby I heard you calling my name
Junior I love you, Junior I love you
Hope you love me
Yes I want love
Yes I wanna love
All night long
Baby I need you
Yes I need you right here girl by my side
Baby I need love
Baby I need love all night long
All night long, all night long, all night long
All night long
Will I need you
Baby I need you
Do you love me girl
Do you love me baby
Luther I love you
Luther I love you all night long
All night long
Well I heard you calling my name
Luther I love you
Luther I love you
Hope you love me baby
Yes I want love, yes I want love all night long
Preachin’ Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)
Lord I woke (I’s) up this mornin’, I cried the blues walking’ like a man
As it started raining, gon’ drive my blues away
I been studyin' rain and, I'm 'on drive my blues away
Can I play
And the blues fell mama's child, tore me all upside down
Blues fell mama's child, and it tore me all upside down
Travel on, poor Bob, just can't turn you 'round
The blues, is a low-down shakin' chill
Is a low-down shakin' chill
You ain't never had 'em I, hope you never will
I can study rain, oh oh drive my blues away
I been studyin' rain and, I'm gon’ drive my blues away
I want you to stay out there, stay out there all day