Black Bottom Blues | Performance
Added 2018-09-25 00:52:36 +0000 UTCgCGCD, relative (aka Hook & Line tuning, Double C or One-Finger C). Learned from master banjoists George Gibson and John Haywood of southeast Kentucky with verses borrowed from Bessie Smith and Nick Bate of the Steel City Jugslammers.
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I went down in Black Bottom just to get me a pint of booze
But I woke up in the jail house wearing them big old brogan shoes
O sweet mama I've got them Black Bottom blues!
If you go down in Black Bottom just to have you a little fun
Have your sixteen dollars ready when the police wagon comes
When I went down in Black Bottom all the jay birds there sang bass
When I went down in Black Bottom, Lord a child did slap my face
(verse from 1920s recording of Bessie Smith)
When you go down in Black Bottom hide your money in your hand
Cause them women in Black Bottom they'll fight you like a man
(verse from Nick Bate of the Steel City Jug Slammers)
When you go down in Black Bottom hide your money in your shoe
Cause them women in Black Bottom they'll make short work of you
When you go down in Black Bottom hide your money in your pants
Cause them women in Black Bottom won't give a man a chance
Comments
There is another black bottom over in Isom ky, about 10 minutes east of Whitesburg. Don't know if there is any relevance but it's the only one I know of
Patrick Campbell
2018-09-26 00:21:00 +0000 UTCThere is a Black Bottom in Harlan County, Kentucky which I suppose is where this version gets it's name. A quick search reveals another Kentucky town called Black Bottom as well as a Black Bottom neighborhood in Detroit. I suspect it either denotes an area of rich "bottom land" possessing dark soil and/or a community where mostly black Americans settled.
Clifton Hicks
2018-09-25 23:02:17 +0000 UTCI wonder what the relationship is between this song and Deep Ellum Blues. They're clearly variants of the same song, and often share verses. Deep Ellum is in Dallas. Where is Black Bottom? I think I once read it's in Georgia. Anyone know anything about the history of these two songs? Once I knew a preacher Preached the Bible through and through Then he went down in Deep Ellum Now his preachin' days are through
Micheál Mac Labhrás
2018-09-25 21:52:57 +0000 UTC
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