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Re: [ARSCLIST] I Heard the Voice of a Chipmunk Say
Unca,
Send me your phone number- there's no entry for you in the ARSC directory.
I've an answer, but it's too long to write out.
Steve Smolian
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Lewis" <dlewis@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 2:53 PM
Subject: [ARSCLIST] I Heard the Voice of a Chipmunk Say
What follows will be rather long and deals with an early blues singer;
if no interest, move on... Also apologies for cross posting.
I have been listening to the 1993 Documents release "Alabama: Black
Country Dance Bands 1924-1949" (DOCD-5166). Most of the artists included
only have a tangential relationship to Alabama; Johnny "Daddy Stovepipe"
Watson was born there, but was an itinerant musician mainly based in
Chicago; his wife, "Mississippi Sarah" Watson had no known connection to
Alabama at all. Bogus Ben Covington was born there, but worked mainly in
Chicago and Mississippi; the Mobile Strugglers were based in Mobile but
mainly played in New Orleans. What follows is concerned with Bogus Ben;
according to Big Joe Williams, he earned the sobriquet "Bogus Ben" from
his habit of impersonating a blind person while singing on street
corners, even though he wasn't really blind. He is said to have
resettled in Pennsylvania, and died there around 1935.
Bogus Ben recorded "Adam and Eve and the Garden" and "I Heard the Voice
of a Pork Chop" for Paramount (Pm 12693) ca. September 1928, and
followed that session with "Boodle-De-Bum Blues" and "It's a Fight Like
That" (actually "It's Tight Like That") for Brunswick on October 9, 1929
(Br 7121). An unissued session by a "Memphis Ben" for Vocalion listed
for November 23, 1929 has been accredited to Bogus Ben based on the
selections recorded ("Hot Dog" and "Adam and Eve and the Garden"). One
further session for Paramount, recorded in Grafton, Wisconsin in January
1932 and credited to Ben Curry is also awarded to Bogus Ben based on
aural similarity and selection. Of the six titles on this date, two
("Hot Dog" and "The Laffing Rag") were issued on Pm 13122, a disc that
has never surfaced.
One consistent aspect of all these sides is that the instrumentation is
for either banjo or mandolin and a harmonica; Documents' annotator
further ascribes the harmonica in the Grafton session to King Solomon
Hill, and it is clear that the lead vocalist sings over the harmonica
rather than alternating with it. The annotator also suggests that "Ben
Curry" -- rather than "Ben Covington" -- was the true name of Bogus Ben.
The Documents series was coordinated by Austrian collector Johnny Parth
with the intention of making all pre-war blues sides available, and I am
very grateful for that; what he did was to canvass selections from
various private collectors.
However, some collectors did not consider record speeds when they
transferred their selections, and in certain cases the speeds of records
can be all over the map. There was one Bogus Ben track, the Grafton
version of "Boodle De Bum Bum" (L-1232-2, the same basic piece as
"Boodle-De-Dum Blues" on Brunswick) that was driving me crazy, as the
voice was all up in chipmunk range and it was obviously pitched way too
fast. So I slowed it down to match the pitch of the Brunswick version,
and that made the 3:10 Grafton track balloon from a timing of 3:10 to an
impractical 4:00. So gradually I worked it up through a number of
pitches to a timing that just takes the voice out of the chipmunk range,
a long but at least plausible 3:29 or so, with the understanding that it
still might be running a bit fast. Unfortunately, I could not depend on
the mandolin to guide me, as according to Larry Nager, American country
mandolinists did not observe a standard of tunings in those days as
their Italian brethren did.
Based on what I hear in the slightly slowed down version, I have to
conclude that the singer on the Grafton "Boodle De Bum Bum" is NOT Bogus
Ben. It sounds a little like a very famous blues singer from Mississippi
who is not known to have recorded between 1930 and 1934 -- you'll
surmise who -- or someone imitating that singer, a similarity that
becomes increasingly more dramatic the more you lower the pitch. While
Bogus Ben is clearly playing the mandolin, the vocalist shows an inexact
grasp of the text of the piece vis a vis the Brunswick version and
pronounces the hook "Boodie Bum Bum" rather than "Boodley Bum Bum." He
also introduces whole verses of lyrics not in the Brunswick version, and
these seem a bit off the cuff, whereas the Brunswick version maintains a
logical progression of story. However -- and I have no idea who is
responsible for this -- there seems to be censorship of source in the
verse that begins "Now a black cat told a white cat..." The response of
the white cat to the black cat appears neatly razored out of the track,
something I would never have noticed had I continued to listen to the
version at the accelerated speed.
Please refer to the transcription of the texts below, and to the tracks
themselves at the following links:
Brunswick "Boodle-De-Dum Blues" http://www.box.net/shared/c95repnlrj
Paramount "Boodle De Bum Bum" http://www.box.net/shared/0h4om4nbcb
At the opening of the Paramount track I added the second verse at the
pitch on the Documents issue, just to illustrate what that sounded like.
I would really appreciate some feedback on these results. My feeling is
that although Bogus Ben Covington is present on the Grafton tracks, "Ben
Curry" might not have been the "same person" as Covington as suggested
in Dixon and Godrich, or at least not the person Paramount was trying to
credit for this session. This is still complicated, as the vocal on the
flip, "You Rascal You" does sound like it could be Covington -- as all
of the sides from this session are sped up, one would have to locate a
way to pitch them all correctly to really know. And I think the notion
that "Ben Curry" is the true name of Ben Covington should be
re-addressed; while the SSDI does not list a Ben Curry within this time
frame, there is an entry for Ben Covington, born in 1899 and died in
Knoxville Tennessee; not in 1935 but 1980. It might not be Bogus Ben,
but it certainly adds enough reasonable doubt in this matter to invite
more questions.
TRANSCRIPTIONS
Bogus Ben Covington
Boodle-de-dum Blues (C-4630)
Br 7121
I was down in the alley
Trying to sell my coal today
I was down in the alley
Trying to sell my coal today
And a woman run out and hollar
Gehhh-t my mule away
She wanted to Boodely Bum Bum
She hollahed Boodely Bum Bum
Ahhh Boodley Bum
Boodley Bum
Boodley Bum Bum
I went with Ice Man Jackson
He sold his ice and coal
I went with Ice Man Jackson
He sold his ice and coal
But he blowed in all his money
Buyyyy-in sweet jelly roll
He wanted to Boodley Bum Bum
Awwww Boodley Bum Bum
Jes had to Boodley Bum
Boodley Bum
Boodley Bum Bum
We stopped on 18 and Federal
Just two blocks west of State
Stopped on 18 and Federal
Just two blocks west of State
And when he got up under that vi-dockt
Well, he would not wait
He had to Boodley Bum Bum
Awwww Boodley Bum Bum
Ahhhh Boo
Dloo
Boodley Bum Bum
She said money don't excite me
And that we all know well
She said money don't excite me
And that we all know well
But Jackson showed her fifty dollahs
And she almost fell
She wanted to Boodley Bum Bum
Jes had to Boodley Bum Bum
Awwww Boodley Bum
Boodley Bum
Boodley Bum Bum
She had wind like a Greyhound
And she sho could run
She had wind like a Greyhound
And she sho could run
And Jackson got on like a reindeer
Annnnd he runned her some
Ahhhh Boodley Bum Bum
Ohhhh Boodley Bum Bum
It was a Boodley Bum
Boodley Bum
Boodley Bum Bum
Ben Curry Boodle De Bum Bum
(L-1252-2) Pm 13118
I was down in alley mama
Tryin to sell my coal today
I was down in alley mama
Tryin to sell my coal today
An a woman run out an hollared
Ge -hhht my mule away
See how dey Boodie Bum Bum
Heyy Boodie Bum Bum
See what a Boodie
A Boodie
A Boodie Bum Bum
Well I rode wit Ice Man Jackson
He throwed his ice in cold
And I rode wit Ice Man Jackson
He throw his ice in cold
And Jackson rolled in all his money
Iiiiice -- he let it roll
He got it Boodie Bum Bum
Heyy Boodie Bum buh -
They called it Boodie
Boodie
Boodie Bum Bum
She said money don't excite her
And that we all know well
She said money don't excite her
And that we all know wellll
And then we showed her fifty dollars
Annnnd she almost fell
She hollared Boodie Bum Ba
C'mon and Boodie Bum Ba
C'mon and Boodie
Boodie
Boodie Bum Ba
Well that l'il ol piggy wiggy
That's who dat [unint.] sow
Well that l'il ol piggy wiggy
That's who dat [unint. - diff word] sow
Mama turn over on your side
I want my milk right now
He wanna Boodie Bum Ba
Here go da Boodie Bum Ba
He wanna Boodie
A Boodie
A Boodie Bum Ba
Now a black cat told a white cat
Less go cross town and clown
Yeah the black cat told the white cat
Less go cross town and clown
And the white cat told the black cat
[missing line?]
He wanted Boodie Bum Bum
They called it Boodie Bum Bum
He wanted Boodie
Boodie
A Boodie Bum Bum
And the tom cat told the kitty
Hey you come in out night
Mmmmmmmm mmmmm
You comin out to - nigggght
And the kitty told the tom cat
You might want to fight
You wanna Boodie Bum Bop
There go da Boodie Bum Ba
You go da Doodie
Doodie
Doodie Bum Ba
David N. "Uncle Dave" Lewis
Assistant Editor, Classical
Ann Arbor, MI