DE KALB BLUES

Questions?
Song Title
DE KALB BLUES
Writers
Ledbetter, Huddie, Lomax Alan, Lomax John A
Publisher
FOLKWAYS MUSIC PUBLISHERS, INC. (BMI)
Co-Publisher
Non-TRO Affiliate
% Publisher Controls
50%-US/100% WORLD EX US
Territory Controlled
WORLD
Themes/Keywords
Blues, Drinking, Money, Poor, Walking, Women
Lyrics
De Kalb blues, Lord, make me feel so bad,
Just to think about the times I once have had.

Wasn’t for the powder and the straightenin’ comb,
Lord, the De Kalb woman would not have no home.

Blues was whiskey, I would stay drunk all the time,
I’d stay drunk, baby, to wear you off my mind.

DeKalb blues, Lord, make me feel so bad,
Just to think about the times I once have had.

Feel like walkin’, feel like stoppin’ here,
Like to find some woman, baby, to feel my care.

Look here, woman, see what you done done,
You made me love you, now your man done come.

(Additional verses from 1935 recording)
Wasn’t for the powder and the store bought hair,
Then De Kalb women would not go nowhere.

Buy me a pistol, get me a Gatlin’ gun
If I carried you baby, we gonna have some fun.

Some folks told me De Kalb blues wasn’t bad,
Why them’s the worstest blues that I ever had.

Look here, baby, see what you told me,
I’m down in mind and worried, everything I see.

Feelin’, baby, jump overboard and down,
Singing about my woman, she done left this town.

Jumped in the river and I started to drown,
Thought about my baby, and I turned around.

Look here, baby, what more can I do?
Lord, I had five dollars, then I’d give you two.
Some folks told me De Kalb blues wasn’t bad,
I done give you, baby, all the money I had.

(Additional verses as printed in “Negro Folk Songs As Sung by Lead Belly”)
Won’t cook no dinner, won’t wash no clothes,
Woman, you won’t do nothin’, hon’, but walk the road.

Heart ain’t iron, babe, must be marble stone,
‘Cause I took you in when you did not have no home.

Good-lookin’ woman, can I go home with you?
I done ask you, that’s all a poor boy can do.

Heard you had money, and I come to see,
Would you take a poor old slave like me?

You can go if you ain’t feared of my man,
He’s a bad man with a forty-one in his hand.

Bad man comin’, comin’ with his gun,
I ain’t got a gun but I ain’t gonna run.

I’d rather be dead and be in my grave,
Than be here to be some woman’s slave.

Train I’m ridin’ don’t do no stoppin’ here,
Keep on ridin’, find some woman to feel my care.

Come here, baby, let me hold your hand,
Bet my bottom dollar, you got a brand new man.

Took you in baby, you did not have no home,
Thank God I leaved you, baby, and that’s all.

First time I met you, cryin’ for a nickel or a dime,
When you cooked my dinner, you swear you ain’t got time.

De Kalb blues, babe, make me feel so bad,
That must have been the De Kalb blues I had.

Oh Lordy, babe, sit down on my knees,
Someone took my pistol and my B.V.D.s.

Recordings

Recording Artist Genre Mood Arrangement Era iTunes
Lead Belly Blues Melancholy, Nostalgic, Sad Acoustic Guitar, Vocal 1930's Buy >

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