Wild Bill Jones | Performance
Added 2018-04-12 02:02:19 +0000 UTCeBEAB (relative gDGCD, a.k.a. "Sawmill" or "Pretty Polly" tuning!)
I learned this song from master banjoist, storyteller, and researcher George R. Gibson of Knott County, Kentucky. The last verse is original.
Notice that both sung and played parts to this song are somewhat irregularly timed and the playing style is syncopated and "bluesy." Gibson recorded the song c. 2000 for June Appal Recordings/Appalshop using a three finger picking style one a six-string guitar-banjo. My version was mostly cooked up from listening to that recording, although I play using only two fingers and five strings. More often than not, Gibson plays "Wild Bill Jones" straight overhand style tuned to gDGBD--a version from the family of Rich Kirby (I think) that's quite different from this one.
I went out on one day just a rambling holiday
When I met up with that Wild Bill Jones,
He was walking and a'talking by my true lover's side
So I bid him for to leave her alone.
He said my age is 22 much too old to be controlled
So I drew my revolver from my side and destroyed that poor boy's soul,
He fell to the ground and gave one dying moan
Said, "O darling you are left alone."
Well take down your long neck fifth and we'll all get on a spree
For today was the last of the Wild Bill Jones,
And tomorrow'll be the last of me.
Now don't you tell my mother about the bad things I've done
Won't you tell her just to pray for me,
When I'm hanging on the hangman's tree.
Comments
Wow. I like it better than efforts I’ve heard of people doing Boggs’ version. Way darker. I like it that way.
David Stewart
2023-10-21 19:35:34 +0000 UTCThanks, Josh! Fixed it.
Clifton Hicks
2020-11-08 17:54:53 +0000 UTCThanks for this Clifton, I can't pass up on trying a Dock Boggs song. There's a small typo in the TAB I believe. The tuning beside the title says gDGBD but it's actually in the tuning you've noted at the start of the tablature gDGCD - may save someone else being confused. Thanks again.
Josh Donnelly
2020-11-08 12:33:08 +0000 UTCVery very nice. A kind of dreamy out of body feel to it.
leo zinovieff
2020-11-04 21:46:30 +0000 UTCScott, fitting the "Pretty Polly" two-finger drone (or the "double shuffle" overhand drone) seamlessly into the melody isn't necessary, but I do always try to fill it in as tightly as I can. It just really helps smooth out the music, and it will catch any listener's ear.
Clifton Hicks
2020-11-04 16:02:33 +0000 UTCJust, awesome. I've been working on what I might call the Pretty Polly drone for quite a while (Pretty Polly is where I first learned it from you). It is SO hard to keep that drone appearing non-stop throughout the fingering of the other parts. I'm still working on it.
Scott Edelen
2020-11-04 01:53:07 +0000 UTCBelieve you've said it here, think about the story you are singing and let it guide your playing; murder, mayhem and modal tunings go together like shrimp, hot sauce and grits...
Bob Roberts
2020-11-03 19:50:07 +0000 UTC😲 Well, that paints one Hell of a picture! I've never had any black powder revolvers, but I've shot blank charges through a few of them. Definitely a smoky, sparky mess of fire and brimstone.
Clifton Hicks
2020-11-03 19:18:58 +0000 UTCEvokes the fading spectre of flame, smoke and odor from a Colt’s 36 Navy single violent discharge on a heavy and too dark night...
Bob Roberts
2020-11-03 18:53:16 +0000 UTCI've been looking forward to this.
Nick Conner
2020-11-03 17:00:00 +0000 UTCGreat piece of music! I love the complexity of the little riffs you play. By the way, I learned to sing and play quite ok thanks to your and the communities great advices. Cumberland Gap is fun and easy and Pretty Polly is fun as well! I started singing with Dock Boggs song Oh Death and that opened me up for other songs. As soon as I have the feeling it is worth sharing it I will try to put a video in the community section...might take forever!
Jonas Nottbeck
2018-04-13 09:57:38 +0000 UTCFunny was playing along withut reading the tuning with my tubaphone in G tuning and worked out playing in the same pitching, George is a big believer in tuning down to the voice. G natural is the same scale as Eminor
Tony Thomas
2018-04-12 17:20:17 +0000 UTCThanks for answering my request. hard act, simply impossible to repropduce the magic of George playing and singing it, especially once I realize he was just playing for himself. Wish he would record it on a 5 strting since the only recording is of his using the Gibson 6 strimg he has
Tony Thomas
2018-04-12 17:11:01 +0000 UTC
