SHORTY GEORGE

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Song Title
SHORTY GEORGE
Writers
Ledbetter, Huddie, Lomax Alan, Lomax John A
Publisher
Essex Music Benelux B.V.
% Publisher Controls
100
Territory Controlled
Luxembourg
Themes/Keywords
Cheat, Rivalry, Steal, Train, travel, Womanizer, Women
Lyrics
Well, Shorty George ain’t no friend of mine; (2)
He keeps a-taking all the women, leaving the men behind.

I went to the depot, looked up on the sign;
Oh, the train she ride took my girl ‘fore time.

I’m gonna ask the captain, “Captain, if you don’t care,
I’m gonna take my baby and bring her right back here.”

Shorty George traveling though the land,
Don’t take all the women, take some woman’s man.

Some got six months, some got two and three years,
But there’s so many good men got lifetime here.

Shorty George done been here and gone,
Left so many good men a long way from home.

(additional verses on Biograph CD)
I want to tell you, captain, it’s a dirty shame
Shorty George got my woman, have me all in vain.

Well, I can’t do nothing, hon’, but wave my hand,
Got my lifetime sentence down in Sugarland.

I got something to tell you, don’t let it make you mad,
I ain’t got long down here, honey, you heard I had.

(additional verses from Library of Congress sessions)
It was nineteen hundred and thirty-four,
My baby she left me standing in the door.

Lord, I went to the depot, turning round and round
Looking for my baby, she was Alabama bound.

Shorty George done been here and gone,
Lord, he’s taken my woman to a world unknown.


Lay down at night, Lord, dreaming in my sleep
That I saw my baby making a before-day creep.

Got up this morning, Lord, I fold my arms,
Lord, too late to holler when the train was gone.

Taken so many women, Lord, from the men
And there’s so many good men, lifetime in the pen.

Recordings

Recording Artist Genre Mood Arrangement Era iTunes
BUDDY RICH AND HIS ORCHESTRA Jazz Fun, Smooth, Upbeat Bass, Drums, Horns, Instrumental, Piano, Saxophone 1950's Buy >
DICKIE BISHOP AND HIS SIDEKICKS Buy >
Lead Belly Blues Nostalgic, Soulful Acoustic Guitar, Vocal 1930's Buy >

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