How Do They Do It That Way?

I think this song is totally sweet, and fie on you feminists. Men do bring good cheer (some do, anyway), and darn if it don't suck when you're clueless about how to get laid. Victoria Spivey.

Have you ever had the feeling

| G |

That someone could come out leading you?

| D | G | D |

If you had it's not so bad

| G |

Unless you find that it is all untrue

| D | G | G |

Take a good girl to keep her man

| Bm | Bm |

Some can't do it, others can

| Bm | Dº7 |

I'm no chump but I would jump

| G |

If I could find someone that's not unlike me too.

| D | G | D |

Oh, when the river runs, flowers are blooming in May

| G | G | G | G |

And if you get good business, how do you do it that way?

| D | D | G | D |

Street-walking women, they are happy and gay,

| G | G | G | G |

But I'm never happy, how do you get that way?

| D | D | G | G |

I want a man to be near because he brings good cheer

| C | C | E | E |

But the men don't like me, they don't seem to care

| A7 | A7 | D | D |

Well, they can come and go, to and fro everyday

| G | G | G | G |

But I can't make them like me, how do you do it that way?

| D | D | G | D |

[instrumental break]

Now, if you want something good, you mustn't knock on wood

Just get a good man to look up under your hood

And when the rooster and the hen go to the barn to play

Well, the hen has chickens, how do they do it that way?

If You Don't Give Me What I Want (I'm Gonna Get It Somewhere Else)

I learned this one right after "He May Be Your Dog," which my mom helped me figure out. I wanted to try to figure the chords out on my own, and I was tickled to realize that the chord progression is almost identical!

Every day this week I've told you what I need

| G | D |

You promise and you promise but you don't show anything

| G | D |

So listen once for all

| G | D |

For this is my last call

| E - A7 | D |

If you don't give me what I want

| G | E7 |

I'm gonna get it somewhere else

| A7 - D | G --(D-G)

It's pickles to pickles and dill to dill

| G | D |

If you don't give me, someone will

| E - (A7-D) |

You may refuse top give me chops

| G7 -- | C --|

But I know other butcher's shops, and

| E -- | A7--D-- |

If you don't give me what I want

| G | E7 |

I'm gonna get it somewhere else

| A7 - D | G --(D-G)

If you don't give me what I want

I'm gonna get it somewhere else

It's pepper to pepper and salt to salt

If you won't give me, ain't my fault.

For three straight days I have heard you say

"Yes, we have no bananas today," but

If you don't give me what I want

I'm gonna get it somewhere else.

I don't want no ham, I don't want no eggs,

I don't want what I don't want and I sure don't wanna beg

So think it over twice

I'll take a fool's advice

If you don't give me what I want

I'm gonna get it somewhere else

It's ashes to ashes and dust to dust,

If you won't give me, someone must

I'm just a gal what's full of youth

That's why I'm going to tell the truth, so

If you don't give me what I want

I'm gonna get it somewhere else

[instrumental break]

I heard a tune that knocked me cold

But darling you are growing old, and

If you can't give me what I want

I'm gonna go and get it somewhere else.

Mistreating Daddy

I got a friend to help me figure out the chords for this one; he had to listen to it about 10 times in a row and kept shouting things like, "Damn you, Bessie!" You see, no chord progression repeats without some variation. I love how saucy this song is, in spite of the beaten woman verse. I was really sold on the middle section; there are certainly times when I want to warn people that I could cut them all to pieces like I would a piece of meat. Bessie Smith sings it about a third higher.

Daddy, Mama's got the blues

| G - D | G - G7 |

The kind of blues that's hard to lose

| C | G |

'Cause you mistreatin' me

| G | D |

And drove me from your door.

| A7 | D |

Daddy, you ain't heard the news:

| G - D | G - G7 |

There's another papa in your shoes

| C | G |

You ain't even got a chance with me no more

| A7 | D |

So be on your p's and q's.

| A7 | D |

Mistreating daddy, mistreating Mama all the time

| D7 | D7 |

Just because she wouldn't let you

| D7 | D7 |

Mistreating daddy, Mama's drawn a danger line

| G | G |

If you cross it I'll get you.

| G | G |

If you see me sitting on another daddy's knee

| C | C |

Don't bother me, I'm as mean as can be

| G | G |

I'm like that butcher, right down the street:

| A7 | A7 |

I could cut you all to pieces like I would a piece of meat

| D -- | -- |

Mistreating daddy, you used to knock your mama down

| D7 | D7 |

Then you knew I fell for you

| D7 | D7 |

And be so nervous, I would start dogging

| G | G |

Round here every time I saw you

| C | C |

But now I've got you off of my mind

| C | D#º7 |

And found another daddy who's just my kind

| G | E7 |

Mistreating daddy, I've got another papa now.

| Am | D7 | G |

I've got a tip for people talking about

| C | C |

I will grab my daddy and turn him wrong side out

| G | E7 |

Mistreating daddy, I've got a good papa now.

| Am | D7 | G | G7 --

Winding Stream

I've never actually heard the original Carter Family version of this song; I grew up listening to my mom sing it with her friends. I looked up the chords online, then tweaked them when I realized the tune I sang was slightly different.

Oh, give to me a winding stream

| D | D | D | D |

It must not be too wide

| D | D | A | A |

With waving leaves of maple trees

| A | A | A | A |

That reach from either side

| A | A | D | D |

The waters must be deep enough

| D | D | D | D |

To float a small canoe

| D | D | G | G |

With no one else but you

| A | A | D | D |

Do not disturb my waking dream

| D | D | D | D | D | D | A7 | A7 |

The splendor of that winding stream

| A7 | A7 | A7 | A7 | A7 | A7 | D | D |

Flow'r in my canoe

| D | D | D | D |

Her eyes they looked me through

| D | D | G | G |

A maiden fair with golden hair

| G | G | D | D |

Looks very much like you.

| A | A | D | D |

The sparkling trout beneath the bank

Doth leave his hiding place

Kingfisher from the bough above

So eager to give chase.

The spreading branches overhead

The sun was peeking through

While looking, dear, at you.

[chorus]

He May Be Your Dog But He's Wearing My Collar

Good luck finding this baby anywhere else. Rosa Henderson. This isn't the key she sings in, but it's playable, and it's more comfortable for my range. I think it's lower by a Major third.

I'm not ashamed to say what's in my heart

| G | D |

I'm not ashamed to say what's in my heart

| G | D |

Because I know the best of friends must part

| D | D | G | D |

You came to me, you said my dog was yours

| G | D |

You came to me, you said my dog was yours

| G | D |

I'm not ashamed to speak my mind because

| D | D | G | D |

He may be your dog, but he's wearing my collar

| G | G - E |

I'm putting you wise

| A7 - D | G |

He may be your dog, but it's me he'll follow

| G | D |

when he wants good exercise.

| D | A7 - D |

All day long you'll treat him right

| G7 | G7 |

But you'll find him at my house every night

| C9 | D9 - G |

He may be your dog, but he's wearing my collar

| G | G - E |

How you gonna keep him home?

| A7 - D | G |

I'm not ashamed to say when I am wrong

I'm not ashamed to say when I am wrong

Because I know a lie can't stand up long

Down in my home to lie is some disgrace

Down in my home to lie is some disgrace

That's why I mean to tell you to your face:

He may be your dog, but he's wearing my collar

I'm putting you wise

He may be your dog, but it's me he'll follow

when he wants good exercise.

He might eat right off your hand,

But you can't make him beg like Mama can

He may be your dog, but he's wearing my collar

How you gonna keep him home?

[instrumental break]

He's with you each night 'til six

Then he comes over here and does his tricks

He may be your dog, but he's wearing my collar

How you gonna keep him home?

Down In The Willow Garden; or, Rose Connely

This is a traditional song we Amurricans get from the English, and these are the words I sing. I don't care if no one knows about innkeepers drugging their guests back in the day; it makes more sense than "burgundy" wine--what other than sleeping drugs would there be for his true love not to know?

Down in the willow garden

|C |C |C |Am

Where me and my love did meet

|C |C |Am

'Twas there while we were courting

|C |C |C |Am

My love dropped off to sleep.

|C |G |C

I had a bottle of the burglar's wine

|Am |Am |C |Am

Which my true love did not know,

|C |C |Am

And there I murdered my own true love

|C |C |C |Am

Down on the banks below.

|C |G |C

I drew my saber through her

It was a bloody knife

Threw her into the river

Which was a dreadful sight

My father often told me

That money would set me free

If I'd but murder that pretty little miss

Whose name was Rose Connely

Now he waits at his cabin door

Wiping his tear-dimmed eye

And watches as his only son

Climbs up the scaffold high

My race is run beneath the sun

Low hell is waiting for me

For I did murder my own true love

Whose name was Rose Connely.

Blues

Songs I'd like to know:

• "Don't Advertise Your Man," Rosa Henderson
• "Pinchbacks, Take Them Away," Bessie Smith
• "Let's Talk About My Sweetie," Rosa Henderson
• "Any-Kind-a-Man," Victoria Spivey
• "Mistreatin' Daddy," Bessie Smith
• "Jug Band Blues," Sara Martin
• "Wild Women Don't Have The Blues," Ida Cox
• "If You Don't Give Me What I Want," Rosa Henderson
• "You Gotta Give Me Some," Bessie Smith
• "In My Girlish Days," Memphis Minnie
• "Murder In The First Degree," Victoria Spivey
• "Blue Spirit Blues," Bessie Smith
• "Adam & Eve Had The Blues"
• "Poplar Bluff Blues," Rosa Henderson
• "I'm Gonna Be A Lovin' Old Soul," Sara Martin
• "Moaning The Blues," Victoria Spivey
• "Keep Your Big Mouth Closed," Memphis Minnie
• "One Hour Mama," Ida Cox
• "Take It Right Back," Bessie Smith
• "He May Be Your Dog But He's Wearing My Collar," Rosa Henderson
• "Can't Get A Word In Edgeways," Walter Vincson
• "Mama Will Be Gone," Rosa Henderson
• "Loose Like That," The Mississippi Sheiks
• "How Do They Do It That Way?" Victoria Spivey
• "Hesitation Blues," Janis Joplin
• "Stormy Weather," Billie Holliday
• "Worn Out Daddy," Ida Cox