Music Song Lyrics Musician Makes Mention of Hoodoo

Unread post by **mamaambota2003** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 5:21 pm

I love that CD! I'd like to play appropriate music in my shop. Does
anyone have good suggestions as to CD's that might be good in a
Hoodoo Shop?

Ambota

Unread post by **catherineyronwode** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 5:44 pm

--- In hrcourse@yahoogroups.com, "mamaambota2003" <OakPsts@a...> wrote:
> > I love that CD! I'd like to play appropriate music in my shop. Does
> anyone have good suggestions as to CD's that might be good in a
> Hoodoo Shop?
>
> Ambota

Oh, yes. What you do, you write to Yazoo Records c/o the new owners,
Shanachee Records and tell them you need cat yronwode (that's c-a-t- y-
r-o-n-w-o-d-e) to put together a Hoodoo Blues sampler for them with
expository liner notes. Since Sherel knows how to burn CDs (i'm not
gonna let you forget that one, Sherel!) maybe we can convince her to
make up a CD of Hoodoo Blues from my collection.

There was a period back in the 1920s - 30s when just about every blues
singer performed at least one song that mentioned hoodoo, sometimes in
depth and with great detail. I had a wonderful tape made for me by a
friend in the UK, from his collection, and i loaned it to a customer
and the MF disappeared and never returned it. I will never again be
able to get those 78s and i am too embarrassed to ask the man who put
the tape together to do it again, because it was a lot of work for him.
Worst of all, i was only halfway through transcribing those songs and
putting them online at my Hoodoo and Blues Lyrics site when the MF
(whose name is Josh and he is a professional Elvis impersonator,
believe it or not!!!) went missing with my tape. Grrr.

See Hoodoo and Blues Lyrics for the transcriptions i have put online to
date:
http://www.luckymojo.com/blues.html

A few of my personal favourite song that mention hoodoo:

Aunt Caroline Dyer Blues by the Memphis Jug Band
Mojo Hand by Lightnin' Hopkins
Got My Mojo Workin' by Muddy Waters
Seven Sisters Blues by J. T. "Funny Paper" Smith
Hoodoo Lady by Memphis Minnie
Spider Nest Blues by Hattie Hart and the MJB
Little Queen of Spades by Robert Johnson
Keep Your Hand Off Of My Mojo by Coot Grant and Wesley Wilson
Hell Hound On My Trail by Robert Johnson
Jim Tampa Blues by Lucille Bogan
Gettin' Dirty Just Shakin' That Thing by Romeo Nelson
Black Dust Blues by Ma Rainey
Hoodoo Women by Johnnie Temple
I've Been Hoodoo'd by Jim Towel
Come On In My Kitchen by Robert Johnson
Snake Doctor Blues by J. D. "Jelly Jaw" Short
Castin' My Spell by Johnny Otis

cat yronwode

Unread post by **Michelle bush** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 6:35 pm

ANYthing by Robert Johnson

I also play Son house "Death letter" and "John the
Revelator" over and over and over.... ( the white
stripes ripped Son House off and diddn't reference him
on the album that I noticed the similarities in
songs....OH well I'm sure they mean't well)

~Deera
" God came down...in the cool of the day, Called Adam
by his name...But he refused to answer...cuz he was
NEKKID and ashamed...."
~Son House, "john the Revelator"

> >

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voltronjuan38 · Unread post by **voltronjuan38** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 10:36 pm

"Martin Scorsese presents the Blues, Jimi Hendrix" is a great hoodoo
album. The way Hendrix sings about buying up a whole town and putting
it in his shoe, you know he's singing about hoodoo.

Aaron

--- In hrcourse@yahoogroups.com, "mamaambota2003" <OakPsts@a...> wrote:
> I love that CD! I'd like to play appropriate music in my shop. Does
> anyone have good suggestions as to CD's that might be good in a
> Hoodoo Shop?
>
> Ambota

Zachary Dubnoff · Unread post by **Zachary Dubnoff** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 2:55 am

I'd like to add:

The immortal Screamin' Jay Hawkins:

Put a spell on you

Alligator Wine

She put the wammee on me.

__________________________________
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Unread post by **SequoiaHerbs** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 2:32 pm

To all the music lovers out there....there is a great source on my
local radio station. The brother where art thou style is every Sun on
the program "this old porch" on WNCW (www.wncw.org) Now for the
Hoodoos, tune in to the same station on Mardis Gras. I never knew
there were so many songs a/b rootwork. They can fill the whole day
midnight to midnight, singing a/b Doc. Buzzard, John Conq., hands,
foottracks, and black cat bones. They strive to play the original
recording first then might run other interpretaions later in the day.
So Cat, start buying tapes or cd's to burn. If anyone wants they
post playlists on the site, so you know who when and where it was
recorded and if it is avail. for purchase.

Adele

Unread post by **sherel16** » Wed Dec 24, 2003 11:24 am

Hey Cat, I stopped in a used book store today and came upon a book
that might interest you, It's called Blues People by Leroi Jones, he
write that because the African slave had to suppress his homeland
religion it surfaced itself and his music and aphorisms, a song he
mention in the 60's "spreading goober dust all around your bed/When
you wake up you find you own self dead". (have you heard of this
tune.) also the aphorisms, "If the sun is shining and it's raining at
the same time, the devil's beating his wife and sweeping out the
house after dark is disrespectful these two aphorisms I grew up
hearing and had no idea they were base on African religion. The book
is pretty interesting.

I also bought a cool blues cd, called The Chitlin' Circuit, a phrase
first heard by B.B King refering to the black community. I'll have to
play this when my "Hour" comes up in the shop. I know you'll like it.
(beats rap), I miss the shop this week. But I'm enjoying being Santa
to Jacob. Hope Susie better, See ya next week. Sherel oxoxo

Unread post by **sherel16** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 9:40 pm

Cathy, I was looking again at some of the blues lyrics on your website
and came upon the title of the songnthat I mentioned in my earlier
post "Classic blues Hoodoo Clues", it was called Big Fat Mama blues,
mentioned in the book by Leroi Jone's,Blues People however instead
of using the word goofer dust the author says goober dust and
explaining that goober is what a peanut is called by many Southern
Negroes(we knew that). The word itself comes from the african word
gooba, (goober dust) was spread around the victim's hut. In the
South, peanut shells spread in front of someone's door cause
something terrible to happen to him.

Did this gentleman, really mean Goofer and just misinterrupted, or
were peanuts used for this purpose as well? Thanks Cathy

Unread post by **catherineyronwode** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 11:13 pm

--- In hrcourse@yahoogroups.com, "sherel16" <sherel16@y...> wrote:
> > Cathy, I was looking again at some of the blues lyrics on your
> website and came upon the title of the songn that I mentioned in my
> earlier post "Classic blues Hoodoo Clues", it was called Big Fat Mama
> blues, mentioned in the book by Leroi Jone's, Blues People however
> instead of using the word goofer dust the author says goober dust and
> explaining that goober is what a peanut is called by many Southern
> Negroes (we knew that). The word itself comes from the african word
> gooba, (goober dust) was spread around the victim's hut. In the
> South, peanut shells spread in front of someone's door cause
> something terrible to happen to him.
>
> Did this gentleman, really mean Goofer and just misinterrupted, or
> were peanuts used for this purpose as well? Thanks Cathy

Well, Leroi Jones has not proven to be the best linguist i know. Yes,
even black people can make a mistake about black language.

Gooba is an African word that means peanut. That's why they are called
goobers in the USA. It is the custom of black peopl to drop the final r
sound on words (saying do' for door, flo' for floor, and junko for
junker [drug addict]) and it is the custom of most whites to say the
final r quite distinctly, so sometimes whites, when they hear a black
word that actually has no final r, think the black speaker carelessly
dropped it, so they add it in even when it doesn't belong there. That's
how gooba got made into goober and kuwfa got made into goofer.

They are different words -- kufwa means to kill or killing, so goofer
dust is corpse powder or killing powder.

But in an entirely different development, the idea that legumes (beans
or peas -- and goobas are legumes, also called ground-peas because of
the way the pods bury themselves in the ground) have a long, long, long
history of being sacred plants and sometimes taboo plants associated
with the dead and with rebirth. For instance, when i was young i was
told by older black folks that throwing penaut shucks in the house was
like asking for death -- worse than putting your hat on the bed.

Later i read that Pythagors, an ancient Greek, taught his students
never to eat any species of beans because he belived that the souls of
the dead inhabited them. Sine he thought that the soul was airy, like
the breath, and beans make you fart, it seemed to him like you were
expelling the souls of the dead that were in the beans.

Elizabth Cotton, a black blues musician from North Carolina, used to
sing a song called "Shake Sugaree" that had these lines in it
connecting peanuts and death:

I've got a secret and I ain't gonna tell
I'm goin to heaven in a ground-pea shell

So you see there *are* connections between legumes and the spirits of
the dead -- but goofer dust does not contain peanuts, and i have never
heard it called goober dust, either, Leroi Jones and his tin ear not
withstanding.

cat yronwode

Unread post by **catherineyronwode** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 1:57 pm

Lest the minor differences of opinion about Literary versus down home
hoodoo derail us, i present herewith a blast from the past -- a token
of where society HAS been and is not, thank God, going back again.

This is an extract of the liner notes from a very influential album of
blues music that came out in the early 1960s. The author, Paul Oliver,
was white, British, and well-intentioned, but ... (!)

To understand what follows in context, you may need to be aware that
Oliver is referring throughout to musicians such as Tallahassee Tight
and Barefoot Bill who recorded under performance names.

My thanks to Alan Balfour of the pre-war-blues list for the transcription to electronic form:

-----
extract from liner notes to
Blues Fell This Morning
RARE RECORDINGS OF SOUTHERN BLUES SINGERS
Phillips BBL 7369
-----

Like simple people the world over, Southern folk Negroes often
attribute the deterioration or improvement of their fortunes to
superstitious beliefs, the power of Voodoo, or in the case of
Tallahassee Tight from Florida, to the women "who put a medicine on
you". Praying that their luck may change they invent private rituals,
consult the "root doctors" and their "numbers books" before "playing
policy". Pinning their hopes on the turn of a card they gamble in games
of Florida Flip, Coon-can or Georgia Skin. The latter, a fast favourite
of Negro "pikers" is recaptured by the burly, one legged beggar from
Atlanta, Peg Leg Howell, who sings the traditional refrain of "You
better let the deal go down". In the Fall, when the crops have been
gathered and the yard-and-field Negroes have money in their pockets to
burn and the time to lose it, they are an easy prey to the professional
gamblers who appear at the annual "Skin-ball". This is the time of year
when unattached Negroes visit the larger Southern towns to spend their
money in brief, reckless sprees on Mobile's Davis Street, Jackson's
Farish Street, or Dallas' Elm Street where in Texas Bill Day's words
the "women don't mean you no good".

In the teeming ghettoes of Catfish Row in Vicksburg, Ram-Cat Alley in
Greenwood or Nashville's infamous Bush Bottom crime is rife and largely
unchecked. The hopeless congestion, the rotting buildings, vegetable
matter and human life breed violence and corruption, criminals operate
undetected and the promiscuous living is incitement to sudden affrays
and brutal slayings. Hardened criminals in numbers there are without
question, but equally undeniable is the fact that many a "bad" Negro is
the victim of his environment, slum-shocked and destitute. Hard
measures of law enforcement have often been made in desperate attempts
to curb crime which do not touch root causes, and many a Negro finds
himself in jail almost unwittingly. Playing his original, personal
blues on a battered guitar, an Alabama Negro, Barefoot Bill, gives a
hint of one such man's predicament as he sits in jail pathetically
nursing his "Black Cat's Bone".

--Paul Oliver

-----End Extract of Liner Notes-----

Well, that takes me back a log ways. It was liner notes like these that
i read when young that gave me to understand that "that stuff" or
"medicine" was something magical, as was the "black cat's bone," which
was thought to grant invisibility to thieves. So although Paul Oliver
grates on me now, and seems patronizing and distant, i still have to
thank him for having had a good ear for lyrics and for taking the time
to explain them to white listeners during the early 1960s. Even though
he himself frowned upon the subject matter of conjure and made the
typical white outsider's mistake of calling it "Voodoo," he did bring
it into focus, and helped to spread knowledge of it into his own
British cultural world.

cat yronwode

Unread post by **Monique Jones** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 11:51 am

Tonight I was llistening to Nina Simon's "I Put A Spell On You" and
it just had my energies flowing in all the right directions. My new
theme song

Just wanted to share, check it out

(This is Nina Simone's passionate cover version of Screamin' Jay Hawkins' totally-out-of-control R&B hit "I Put A Spell On You" -- and in either singers' interpretation, i agree that it is an amazing song. --cat)

Unread post by **sherel16** » Sat Mar 20, 2004 4:14 pm

"Monique Jones" <MoniqueHasana@H...> wrote:
> > Tonight I was llistening to Nina Simon's "I Put A Spell On You" and
> it just had my energies flowing in all the right directions. My new
> theme song

Hey Monique if you like that, try a little poetry I'm reading, a book
by Luisah Teisah, Jambalaya, and she wrote a poem called Hoodoo
Mama. I've also enjoy her other poem, Girlfried, Catch This Dime
(short but sweet).

Unread post by **mpambunzila** » Fri Jun 11, 2004 3:56 am

To those who might be interested, here is an article that I received in another newsgroup on legendary Bluesman Robert Johnson's son. The article comes from the Los Angeles Times. I hope you enjoy it.

Taylor

Bluesman's Son Gets His Due

Wed Jun 2, 7:55 AM ET
Los Angeles Times

By Ellen Barry Times Staff Writer

CRYSTAL SPRINGS, Miss. - Inside the pink brick estate he built with a blues
fortune, 72-year-old Claud Johnson cannot shake the habits he formed when he
was a poor man.

Three years after moving in, he still has more rooms than he has furniture.
Creamy wall-to-wall stretches across the second floor, which is mostly
empty. To tell the truth, he's not sure if his wife, Miss Ernestine, has
ever gone up there.

He keeps his finicky 25-year-old Mack gravel truck parked nearby, where he
can keep an eye on it through the living room window. He drove the truck, by
his own estimate, one and a quarter million miles. Even as plants poke up
around its chassis, it seems the truck - not the blues or the house - is the
thing that matters to him.

After Claud won his court battle in 1998 and was recognized as the son of
blues music legend Robert Johnson, his lawyer handed him a six-figure
cashier's check and begged him to quit hauling gravel. Claud kept hauling
gravel for five months.

"After 29 years, it just gets in your blood," said Claud, whose smile
reveals glinting gold dental work. "I wake up some mornings, I want to get
on that truck."

Late in life, surrounded by the wealth of a stranger, Claud has begun to
consider a parent he never knew.

Robert Johnson was a blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Disgusted with
fieldwork, he left his sharecropping family around 1930 and took to the
highway, recording, in his unearthly voice, 29 songs.

Johnson's music was so good, other men said, that his talent could not be
natural: Delta legend has it that one day at a backcountry crossroad,
Johnson waited for the devil to come by. After that, Johnson could play any
song he wanted, but he had surrendered his soul.

Johnson was just 27 when he died in August 1938 - poisoned, most people
believe, by a jealous husband in a Greenwood, Miss., juke joint. He was so
poor and unloved, it is said, that his body was dumped into the ground
without a coffin, and to this day, no one is entirely sure where he's
buried. But the brooding songs he wrote and recorded have been discovered
and rediscovered by the generations that came after him.

People in Greenwood have become accustomed to the Japanese tourists who come
looking for Johnson's grave. Just this year, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer
Eric Clapton released "Me and Mr. Johnson," a CD devoted entirely to
Johnson's blues.

In the midst of all this celebrity is Claud Johnson, who did not know until
he was almost 40 that his father had recorded music.

Claud is that rare thing, said blues historian Gayle Dean Wardlow: an
ordinary man who was drawn into a legend.

"He's just a little old country boy from Crystal Springs, Miss.," said
Wardlow. "It's almost like, I guess, one of those Shakespearean things. He
got pulled into it, totally."

Since 1974, Robert Johnson's songbook had been in the hands of a California
record producer and blues archivist, Stephen LaVere, who sought out the
musician's half-sister, Carrie Thompson, and promised to split the profits
evenly.

Over the next decade, that bargain dissolved into a catfight. LaVere was
pressuring bands like Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones to pay to use the
music. Thompson, meanwhile, had turned against LaVere, and attempted to
sever the contract.

Then, in 1990, Sony put out a boxed set of Johnson's music, expecting it to
appeal to a narrow audience of blues connoisseurs. It won a Grammy and sold
more than 500,000 copies.

When word got out that Robert Johnson's estate could be worth millions,
putative heirs appeared by the dozen.

Willis Brumfield, the estate's executor, began getting calls at odd hours
from people who claimed they were Johnson's long-lost twin brother or
daughter, he said.

"They had some idea it was a fortune of money," Brumfield said, "and it
was."

Out of this cacophony emerged Claud Johnson.

A few people already knew who he was. In 1970, a Texas cultural historian
named Mack McCormick had traveled to Crystal Springs to search for Robert
Johnson's relatives, and found himself face to face with a twinkly old
woman, who, he recalls, "just burbled over. She said, 'My boy is his baby.'
" Blues buffs passed the information among themselves - a son! But Claud
continued with his quiet life.

The estate eventually grew to $1.3 million. But Robert Johnson's executors
found that they had no clearly established heir. Thompson, the half-sister,
had died in 1983, and her half-sister and son were still wrangling with
LaVere over the licensing rights. LaVere recalled mentioning Claud to the
executors.

Not long after that, Claud received a summons in the heirship case. "I
didn't know what to do with the letter," Claud said. He decided to hire a
lawyer.

When Claud retained the services of Jim Kitchens, a prominent Jackson trial
lawyer and former district attorney, they were already friends of 30 years'
standing, from the days when Claud dropped off deliveries for Kitchens'
family store in Crystal Springs. Kitchens bought barbecue at Claud's pit,
and Miss Ernestine treated him, Kitchens said, "like one of her own kids."
In Kitchens' office, an overhead fan revolves lazily and a picture of Elvis

Presley is propped against an upright piano.

"He [Claud] walked in one day and said, 'Jim, do you know who Robert Johnson
was?'

"I said, 'Sure I do,' " Kitchens recalled.

"He said, 'How do you know that?'

"I said, 'I listen to public radio.'

"He said, 'That was my daddy.' "

"I said, 'What?'

He said, 'That was my daddy.'

"I said, 'Who else knows this?'

"He said, 'Well, there's my momma.' "

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Among the dirt farms of southern Mississippi, where Claud was raised, there
were two kinds of people: those who listened to the blues and those who did
not. Claud knew early in life that he was the second kind.

Born out of wedlock to 17-year-old Virgie Mae Smith, he was mostly raised by
Virgie Mae's father, a preacher and sharecropper, in a house where music was
slapped back like the creeping fingertips of the devil.

If the blues came on the radio, a hand flew to the radio and switched it
off. Once, Claud's uncle bought him a guitar, but his grandfather told him
to put it down immediately.

His grandparents told him his father was Robert Johnson, a blues singer.
Robert Johnson had given Virgie Mae a small amount of money after learning
of Claud's birth - $20 or $30 - but showed little interest in the boy after
that. Around his fifth birthday, Claud watched from the doorway of his
grandparents' house as they talked to a grown man in a light-colored shirt
and black pants.

"They stood on the porch. They made him stand in the yard," he said. "They
talked to him a few minutes and then he went away."

Pulled out of school every year to work in the fields, Claud dropped out for
good in the sixth grade and found satisfaction in work, long hours of it,
sometimes at two or three jobs. He sold barbecue from a pit beside his
house, worked at gas stations and a car dealership; his wife waited tables
at a local diner.

Claud saved enough to buy his own gravel truck - a machine so crotchety that
he carried a tangle of cables and four extra batteries in order to start it,
Kitchens remembers. Often Claud drove it for 18 hours a day. In this way, he
and Ernestine put five children through college.

His grandparents' stern influence had served him as a rudder, steadying him
throughout his life, he said.

"It learned me something about life, growing up that way," he said.

Then, in his 60s, the heirship case opened a view into a second Mississippi:
a place where, in moments of glamour, young people ducked the narrow rules
of sharecropping life.

In testimony, Claud's 79-year-old mother and her friends would describe the
dark clubs where the field workers gathered, laughing, in the half-light of
evening.

They described his father: a man known for slipping out without saying
goodbye, for traveling under aliases, for sleeping in boxcars and emerging
with pants that looked like they had just been steam-ironed.

They described performances where Robert Johnson sat alone with a guitar and
held them all still. They described what happened when he met up with
17-year-old Virgie Mae Smith on her way to school.

In the end, the crucial testimony came from Virgie Mae's closest friend,
Eula Mae Williams, an 80-year-old midwife with pure white hair, who recalled
an evening walk she took with her fiance and Virgie Mae and Robert Johnson.

To the shock of the assembled lawyers, who had to pause during questioning
because they were laughing so hard, she described how both couples made love
standing up in the pine forest, watching each other the whole time.

She was questioned by Victor McTeer, an attorney from Greenville who was
representing Carrie Thompson's relatives as they contested Claud's claim to
the estate.

Q: Well, let me, let me share something with you, because I'm really curious
about this. Maybe I have a more limited experience. But you're saying to me
that you were watching them make love?

A: M-hm.

Q: While you were making love?

A: M-hm.

Q: You don't think that's at all odd?

A: Say what?

Q: Have you ever done that before or since?

A: Yes.

Q: Watch other people make love?

A: Yes, I have done it before. Yes, I've done it after I married. Yes.

Q: You watched other people make love?

A: Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Q: Other than ... other than Mr. Johnson and Virgie Cain [her married name].

A: Right.

Q: Really?

A: You haven't?

Q: No. Really haven't.

A: I'm sorry for you.

Today, in the working-class neighborhood where he raised his children, Claud
lives in a grand house on 47 acres of property, with a long, curving
driveway.

His victory stands out in the annals of Mississippi probate law.

For an illegitimate child to prove the paternity of a long-dead man is a
daunting legal challenge. It took 10 years, two trips to the Mississippi
Supreme Court and two trips to the U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites) to
settle the question. Claud's mother died in 1998, months before he received
the money.

In a way, the most remarkable thing is that anyone in Mississippi is holding
Robert Johnson's wealth at all.

The first two or three generations of blues musicians saw their music
diffuse into American culture, but most of them died without securing rights
to their composition. If their relatives received anything later, it was
tiny. The strip of Mississippi that gave rise to the blues remains one of
the poorest places in America.

"If it's not unique, it's close to unique," said Thomas Freeland, a
Mississippi attorney and blues historian.

When the San Francisco-based band the Grateful Dead recorded songs by the
North Carolina blues musician Elizabeth Cotton, Freeland said, "the story
is, [she] bought a dishwasher with the royalties."

Inside the pink brick gates to their land, the Johnsons live somewhat
awkwardly with the wealth they inherited. On a recent afternoon, Miss
Ernestine was sitting in the garage, listening to a religious program on the
car radio. Claud looked critically at his vast lawn, irritated by the task
of mowing it.

Inside, a small decorative Bible sat on a coffee table, resting on a lacy
pillow. A large framed poster of Robert Johnson hung on the wall. Claud
listens to his father's blues recordings sometimes now, although he prefers
gospel.

He doesn't have much to say about the windfall he received - money, he said,
does not mean too much to him.

"I was excited when I found out there was going to be a little bit of money
in it," he said. "I was a little excited. And then that went away."

What remains is a quiet resentment toward Robert Johnson's other relatives,
whose lawyers for years argued that he was not the musician's son. Claud has
never met any of them, but the challenge, he says, has offended him.

"I've always known all my life who I was and whose son I was," he said.
"Never got angry over it. Like I said, my grandparents they always told me
Robert Johnson was my father."

Already, he was a solitary, careful man.

Claud, a church deacon, has had such a lifelong fear of poisoning he did not
eat at his mother-in-law's house for two years after his wedding.

Even at home, if he gets up from a meal leaving a half-drunk glass of water,
he will not touch it on his return.

"I'm just curious that way," he said, with a slow smile. "It just sticks in
the back of my mind what happened to him."

With all these people talking to him about Robert Johnson's music, too, he's
had occasion to wonder about a few things.

He remembers the guitar being lifted from his hands that time long ago. He
says that he has a nice singing voice.

One after another, people from outside Mississippi have come to Claud to
tell him the effect Robert Johnson had on their lives: Magical, haunting,
almost godlike.

He wonders what it would have been like if his father had stuck around.
And he wonders, from time to time, if, in that alternate version of his
life, he would have played the blues.

Unread post by **Quimbisero** » Sat Jun 12, 2004 1:09 am

That's a fascinating story, Taylor. Thanks.

Eoghan

Paulette Brewer · Unread post by **Paulette Brewer** » Sat Jun 12, 2004 1:21 am

Thank you for sharing this!
paulette28205
----- Original Message -----
From: Taylor Baxter
To: hrcourse@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 10:42 AM
Subject: [hrc] Robert Johnson's son

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Unread post by **sherel16** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 2:52 am

I just love a happy ending. I told my cousins about this story , (their from
Belzoni, Miss.
not very far) and they got a kick out of it as will. Thanks for sharing.
Sherel
oxoxo

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Unread post by **paulette28205** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 11:16 pm

Mambo Angle, please give us the words to your money song. I could
not here all of it last night on the hoodoo hour. Another
clairifacation I need from you is about the dirt collected for uses
in a candle. Did you say to get the dirt from a rich man's grave or
garden?
Thank you,
paulette28205

Unread post by **catherineyronwode** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:38 pm

Many of my students will be familiar with Tommy Johnson, the blues
singer who famously sold himself to the devil at the crossroads (see
the HITAP page
http://www.luckymojo,.com/crossroads.html
for details) and who played a role in the movie "O Brother Where Art
Thou?"

Well, we have talked a lot about ancestor work in the lessons, in this
elist, and on the weekly Rootwork Hour radio show. So you all will
definitely understand why Tommy Johnson's family needs your help. No
money is necessary -- all you have to do is read this, pass it along,
and send a few letters to the folks who can put the pressure where
needed. Their addresses follow at the end of the press release.

Here's the story.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--------------------------------------------

New Orleans, Louisiana. Friday October 15, 2004

TOMMY JOHNSON FAMILY DENIED RIGHT TO PLACE HEADSTONE
THREE YEARS AFTER DEDICATION.
----
MISSISSIPPI TOUT$ BLUES HERITAGE
BUT TAKES NO ACTION TO AID FAMILY.

Three years after The Mount Zion Memorial Fund and the family of Tommy
Johnson unveiled a headstone memorial in Crystal Springs, in 2001, the
600 lb., beautifully engraved, granite slab still sits in the Crystal
Springs Library, miles from the cemetery where Johnson is buried.

The Copiah County Board of Supervisors, charged by law with maintaining
the Warm Springs Methodist Cemetery because of its official historic
status, has denied all access to the cemetery where dozens of African
American gravesites are located, by refusing to reclaim a road which
was "given" to a local farmer under dubious legal circumstances.

For the last three years the Mount Zion Memorial Fund has worked with
Vera Johnson Collins, Tommy Johnson's niece, through a series of legal
roadblocks and delays and the State of Mississippi, fully aware of the
situation, has done absolutely nothing.

The "Year of the Blues" has come and gone, and the Tommy Johnson
Memorial, paid for by Ms. Bonnie Raitt, has remained on display at the
Public Library, in mute testimony to the true history of Mississippi's
racial nullification, failure and neglect.

The Mount Zion Memorial Fund and the family of Tommy Johnson is asking
that any all groups or individuals who would like to support the
effort to place Tommy Johnson's headstone on his grave and to re-open
this historic cemetery please write

Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, MS 39205

And demand that the State of Mississippi intervene immediately to
correct this moral wrong and to finally do something honorable to get
right with the Blues.

Skip Henderson
Butch Ruth

For more information please contact:
Skip Henderson, P.O. Box 3872, New Orleans, La. 70177 or email:
mysterycity@e... <mailto:mysterycity@e...>
or Butch Ruth at: butch7480@y...
mailto:butch7480@y...<mailto:butch7480@y...>

----------------------------------------------

Here is a complete list of people to contact.

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, MS 39205
Phone: 601.359.3150
Fax: 601.359.3741

Mississippi Lieutenant Governor Amy Tuck
P.O. Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215
Phone: (601)359-3200
Fax: (601)359-4054

State Representatives Link
http://www.state.ms.us/frameset.jsp?URL ... ate.ms.us/
hr_membs.htm
(click on membership roster for contact information)

State Senate Roster Link
http://www.state.ms.us/frameset.jsp?URL ... ate.ms.us/
ss_membs.htm
(click on membership roster for contact information)

Mississippi Government Homepage
http://www.state.ms.us/ms_sub_sub_templ ... egory_ID=9

Mississippi Development Authority/ Division of Tourism
Mollie Gregory
P. O. Box 849
Jackson, MS 39205
Phone 601.359.3297
mgregory@m... <mailto:mgregory@m...>

Mississippi Arts Commission
Tim Hedgepeth, Executive Director
239 North Lamar Street, Suite 207
Jackson, Mississippi 39201
Phone: 601-359-6030
TDD: 800-582-2233
Fax: 601-359-6008

Mississippi Public Broadcasting
3825 Ridgewood Road
Jackson, MS 39211
(Voice) 601-432-6565
(Voice) 1-800-922-9698
(Fax) 601-432-6654
Contact page http://www.etv.state.ms.us/about_us/contact.htm
Executive Director:
Marie Antoon mailto:marie.antoon@mpbonline.org
Director of Content Development:
Gene Edwards mailto:gene.edwards@mpbonline.org
Arts and Cultural Programming:
William Fulton mailto:william.fulton@mpbonline.org
News and Public Affairs:
Dick Rizzo mailto:dick.rizzo@mpbonline.org
Radio:
Bob Holland mailto:bob.holland@mpbonline.org

Unread post by **AnkleBells** » Wed Oct 27, 2004 10:09 pm

Cat, What newspaper did you get that article from
about Tommy Johnson's grave site being deined to Family?
Carla

(It was passed along through the pre-war-blues elist. It has been an ongoing issue for a couple of years now and has been reported in various print and electronic venues. --cat)

Unread post by **MissMichaele** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 8:07 pm

This is a forward from the 2004 class list.

Michaele

===

--- In hrcourse2004@yahoogroups.com, "pnt72" <pnt72@y...> wrote:
Hello Cat --

I believe that I read on one of your spell pages that for a love
spell one should say the "Song of Songs" (also known as the Song of
Solomon).

My question is -- do you say the entire chapter? Or just a certain
verse or verses?

Thank you.

Patricia

(The Song of Solomon consists of verses by a woman and verses by a
man -- some people prefer to select only the verses that apply to
themselves. Others read the entire thing (the whole megillah). Do as
you see fit. --cat)
--- End forwarded message ---

Unread post by **Honeybeelight** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 11:14 pm

When I started taking this course, I got interested in references to hoodoo in
the blues. I am a big fan of Bessie Smith, and started listening for any
possible hoodoo references. I have to say that I didn't find any at first, but I
think I might have found one in "Down Hearted Blues" (1923):

It may be a week, it may be a month or two,
It may be a week, it may be a month or two,
But the day you quit me, honey, it's comin' home to you.

I got the world in a jug, the stopper's in my hand,
I got the world in a jug, the stopper's in my hand,
I'm gonna hold it until you meet some of my demands.

I wanted to post this
1) in case cat didn't already have this (hard to believe, though) and

2) I was curious about what sort of hoodoo spell this might be, if indeed that's
what it is.

Melissa A.

(Thanks, Melissa! I have known this song since i was a young girl, as my step-father collected old jazz 78s (i think of Bessie Smith as more a jazz singer than a blues singer). It does appear to be a reference to a bottle spell, particularly the kind made with personal concerns and some "hot stuff" that is shaken up to rule and control someone for love. Rosa Henderson also recorded a similar song in New York City in December 1923, under the title "Got The World In A Jug (Stopper's In My Hand)," credited to Henderson and Gilbert. It is not a blues, but rather a rag type jazz song. Some of the lyrics go:

( I got the world in a jug, the stopper's in my hand
( I'm gonna hold it till you come under my command

(I need to have more time (or a helper!) to put more songs on my blues lyrics and hoodoo site -- i've got the Bessie Smith one in my hard drive, but have lacked the time to htmlize it. --cat)

rootwomin@yahoo.com · Unread post by **rootwomin@yahoo.com** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 3:04 pm

Greetings All~

I found an interesting article discussing paying blues artists (or in most
cases their descendants) royalties for their work.

Enjoy!

Rootwomin

------

In 1964 the Beatles took America by storm on the basis of some
catchy original songs and a scattering of `50s rock 'n roll retreads
like "Matchbox." In quick succession they were followed by bands
like the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Animals, Them, the Yardbirds,
Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd. What would become known as the "British
Invasion" changed the face of American and world pop music
forever.

Continues at --

http://www.blackcommentator.com/128/128 ... es_pf.html

-----

(I have read this article and recommend it. It deals with the subject of financial reparations for past economic abuses and it makes some very good points. --cat)

Unread post by **Kathleen** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 1:34 pm

There's a documentary called, "You See Me Laughin'"
about bluesmen in Mississippi currently running on
IFC. I'm about an hour into it and so far I'm really
enjoying it, it has a lot of good music in it, and
there was a brief discussion of the crossroads.

Anyways, I thought I'd post in case anyone is
interested in watching it. According to Yahoo TV
future airings (east coast time) are:

Apr 26 06:00pm
Apr 27 10:15am
Apr 27 04:15pm

Kathleen

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

Unread post by **Rebecca** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 5:43 pm

There's a documentary called, "You See Me Laughin'"
about bluesmen in Mississippi currently running on
IFC. I'm about an hour into it and so far I'm really
enjoying it, it has a lot of good music in it, and
there was a brief discussion of the crossroads.

Anyways, I thought I'd post in case anyone is
interested in watching it. According to Yahoo TV
future airings (east coast time) are:

Apr 26 06:00pm
Apr 27 10:15am
Apr 27 04:15pm

Kathleen

Thank you so much for letting us know Kathleen!!!!!!

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Unread post by **CKioni** » Tue May 10, 2005 11:05 pm

From the Office of Rev., Dr. Christos Kioni, Ph. D.

Metaphysical Consultant, Spiritual Practitioner

1-321-214-0865 By Appointment Only - DrKioni.com <https://drkioni.com/>

"Navitas Insisto Sententia" Energy Follows Thought

Greetings and Salutations Happy Hoodooers!

The Hoodoo Blues Juke Box - Group 1 is now full. Only 30 members can
belong to a group.

However The Hoodoo Blues Juke Box - Group 2 is now open

I suggest you request your personal invitation to join quickly. Use the
link below to request your invitation.

http://directory.grouper.com/g.aspx?g=125847

Both Groups have identical files, so those of you who belong to Group 1
don't need to request an invitation.

Happy Hoodooing!

Dr. Kioni

$ $ ¢ ¢ $ $$ $ ¢ ¢ $ $$ $ ¢ ¢ $ $$ $ ¢ ¢ $ $$ $ ¢ ¢ $ $

Free Inspiring Daily Quotes Courtesy of Dr. Kioni

http://www.mydailyinsights.com/cmd.asp?af=128747

$ $ ¢ ¢ $ $$ $ ¢ ¢ $ $$ $ ¢ ¢ $ $$ $ ¢ ¢ $ $$ $ ¢ ¢ $ $

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Unread post by **Rebecca** » Wed May 11, 2005 6:37 pm

I am having trouble with grooper. I downloaded it but when I start my computer in the morning it says that there was a problem and it can't open.

Rebecca

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Unread post by **CKioni** » Fri May 13, 2005 8:59 pm

I am aware that some people are experiencing difficulty using or
installing the Grouper application that runs the Hoodoo Blues Jukebox.
Please go to http://grouper.com/support/ for help. I do not own the
Grouper application and I cannot offer technical support for it. if you
read the Quick Start Guide, FAQ, and User Guide, you will become
familiar with Grouper and see it is easy to use and a lot of fun too.

BTW, I added songs by Screamin' Jay Hawkins today

Rev., Dr. Christos Kioni, Ph.D.
Spiritual Practitioner, Metaphysical Consultant
<https://drkioni.com/> https://DrKioni.com - 321-214-0865 - by appt.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Unread post by **Rig Ahntona** » Sat May 14, 2005 10:55 pm

"Dr. Christos Kioni" <drkioni@drkioni.com> wrote:

> > ...I am aware that some people are experiencing
> difficulty using orinstalling the Grouper
> application that runs the Hoodoo Blues Jukebox....

I got the impression that it doesn't work for dail-up when I tried to join... is this correct? If not, I'll try again.

Thanks -

Sharon

http://www.rosemerryandtime.com/theosa/Index1.html

Unread post by **Rig Ahntona** » Sat May 14, 2005 11:33 pm

Happy Birthday Cat!

(Thanks. --cat)

Unread post by **CKioni** » Mon May 16, 2005 1:53 am

Message: 3
Date: Sat, 14 May 2005 12:55:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: tara scon <tara_scon@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: The Hoodoo Blues JukeBox - Grouper Application

--
> >I got the impression that it doesn't work for dail-up when I tried to
join... is this correct? >If not, I'll try again.
--

Sharon, dial-up Internet access is much to slow for streaming media
content of any kind. However your dial-up connection should not prohibit
you from access the Hoodoo Blues Juke Box. You will nonetheless
experience poor streaming with the constant buffering associated with
using dial-up for streaming media. Do yourself a favor, upgrade at least
to DSL.

Rev., Dr. Christos Kioni, Ph.D.
Spiritual Practitioner, Metaphysical Consultant
https://DrKioni.com - 321-214-0865

Unread post by **Rig Ahntona** » Tue May 17, 2005 1:53 pm

Thanks Dr. K--

You invited me on the 1st go round but I don't think I have the invite anymore...can you send me one again? I'll just go ahead and download it so I'll have it when I am able upgrade from dial-up and just suffer along in the meantime.

--Sharon

Unread post by **Lee Canipe** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 10:51 am

I was wondering if anyone could recommend some good Gospel music? I'm
Episcopalian, and while our music is very beautiful (solemn and reserved), it doesn't quite have that grab you in the gut and make you want to move quality

My mother's church (Disciples of Christ) sang Gospel, but it was more of a traditional Anglo Protestant variety. I have Aretha Franklin's live album Amazing Grace and I LOVE it! I was wondering if anyone knew of anything similar? Listening to this kind of music really helps put me in the spirit for healing and blessing work. Thanks.

Peace,
Lee

(Names to look for: Sam Cooke and the Soul-Stirieers. The Dixie Hummingbirds. The Swan Silvertones. The Gospel Harmonettes. The Fairfield Four. Reverend James Cleveland. Mahalia Jackson. Shirley Caesar. The all-time best historical collection of gospel music, from both black and white Pentecostal traditions, is "Goodbye Babylon" on the Dust to Digital label. It is costly, but 100% worth the cost, as it comes in a wooden box with 5 discs of music, a 180-page or so book (not a booklet; a BOOK) that is fully illustrated and contains complete lyrics transcruptions for all songs -- plus a fabulous 6th disc of famous, classic sung sermons (also fully transcribed) by Rev. J.M. Gates ("Getting Ready for Christmas Day" and "Death Might Be Your Santa Claus"), Rev. A.W. Nix ("Black Diamond Express to Hell, parts 1 and 2"), Rev. Emmett Dickenson ("Hell and What It is" -- which is not what the title may lead you to believe), Rev. E.D. Campbell ("Take Me to the Water" -- a rite of baptism on record, very unusual), Rev. E.S. "Shy" Moore ("Christ, the Teacher" -- accompanied by an uncredited Will Shade of the Memphis Jug Band!!!!!), Rev. James Morris Webb ("Moses Was Rescued by a Negro Woman"), Rev. J.C. Burnett ("The Gambler's Doom" -- a version of the sermon text better known under the title "Deck of Cards"), and much, much more. --cat)

Unread post by **catherineyronwode** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 11:23 pm

Thanks to some help from a course member who wishes to remain semi-
anonymous, i have uploaded five more blues songs with hoodoo related
lyrics to the Bluesand Hoodoo archive. Two are incomplete, but still
useful; the other three are complete. The URLS are:

http://www.luckymojo.com/bluesbrokeandh ... erson.html
Broke and Hungry Blues by Blind Lemon Jefferson (incomplete)

http://www.luckymojo.com/bluescutoutwheatstraw.html
Cut Out Blues by Peetie Wheatstraw (incomplete)

http://www.luckymojo.com/bluesoldblackcatarnold.html
Old Black Cat Blues (Jinx Blues) by (James) Kokomo Arnold

http://www.luckymojo.com/bluespolicyblake.html
Policy Blues by (Arthur) Blind Blake

http://www.luckymojo.com/bluespolicywheelarnold.html
Policy Wheel Blues by (James) Kokomo Arnold

Enjoy! And if you have lyrics to contribute, please do!

cat yronwode

Unread post by **MissMichaele** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 6:34 pm

> (Two dollars used to be called "whore's wages." An old blues song by
> Lucile Bogan (Bessie jackson) called "Shave "em Dry" goes,
>
> My back is made of whalebone,
> And my cock is made of brass,
> And my fucking is made for working man's two dollars,
> Great God, round to kiss my ass.
>
>

--cat)

Whoo yeah. I found the entire lyrics online (haven't figured out if there's
an actual .mp3 file there or just an icon that doesn't work:
http://tinyurl.com/7uad4) Sounds like Lucille Bogan was a hell of a lot of
scary fun.

But, you know, I'm just way too vanilla in more ways than one: what exactly
are we "shaving dry", here? Anybody know?

Michaele ("Honey, hoodoo ya wanna do next?") Maurer

.,-*'`'*-,.,-*'`'*-,.,-*'`'*-,.,-*'`'*-,.,-*'`'*-,.,-*'`'*-,.
It is only by following your deepest instinct that you can lead a rich life
and if you let your fear of consequence prevent you from following your
deepest instinct then your life will be safe, expedient and thin. --
Katharine Butler Hathaway (1946)

Unread post by **Honeybeelight** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 11:10 pm

--- In hrcourse@yahoogroups.com, "Michaele Maurer" <redjasper@c...>
wrote:
> > > (Two dollars used to be called "whore's wages." An old blues song by
> > Lucile Bogan (Bessie jackson) called "Shave "em Dry" goes,
> >
> > My back is made of whalebone,
> > And my cock is made of brass,
> > And my fucking is made for working man's two dollars,
> > Great God, round to kiss my ass.
> >
> >

--cat)
>
> Whoo yeah. I found the entire lyrics online (haven't figured out if there's
> an actual .mp3 file there or just an icon that doesn't work:
> http://tinyurl.com/7uad4) Sounds like Lucille Bogan was a hell of a lot of
> scary fun.

You can find the song by clicking on the title here:

http://www.immortalia.com/html/records- ... /index.htm

I've got a recording on a compilation called *Sugar in My Bowl,* on the
Buzzola label. They also have an album called *Diabolical Hoodoo.* The
liner notes for the latter are woefully misinformed, but it's fun anyway.
> >
> But, you know, I'm just way too vanilla in more ways than one: what exactly
> are we "shaving dry", here? Anybody know?

I bet I'm more vanilla than you! (The contest nobody wants to win!) Honestly, I
don't really know, but at a guess she's talking about repeated swiping motions
until all the "shaving cream" is gone. If you see what I mean.

There is another song on the same album called *He's Just My Size* and I
easily figured out the desirability of the man who "people, he was just my
size," and who "makes my biscuits rise," but I couldn't figure out this one:

He don't run around with women, he don't ride in taxicabs (2X)
And he treats me better than the man I used to have.

Why taxicabs? The closest I could get was a thing in Mae West's play *The
Drag* where taxicabs are a place where male prostitutes can pick up "rough
trade," but that's a shot in the dark.

Melissa

Unread post by **MissMichaele** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 6:33 pm

--- In hrcourse@yahoogroups.com, "mdaaron1" <mdaaron@m...> wrote:
> > I've got a recording on a compilation called *Sugar in My Bowl,* on
the
> > Buzzola label.

<snip>
> > There is another song on the same album called *He's Just My Size*
and I
> > easily figured out the desirability of the man who "people, he was
just my
> > size," and who "makes my biscuits rise," but I couldn't figure out
this one:
> >
> He don't run around with women, he don't ride in taxicabs (2X)
> And he treats me better than the man I used to have.
>
> Why taxicabs? The closest I could get was a thing in Mae West's
play *The
> > Drag* where taxicabs are a place where male prostitutes can pick
up "rough
> > trade," but that's a shot in the dark.

Well, you may be closer to the mark than you think. Ma Rainey used to
sing, "I was out last night with all of my friends/Musta been women,
'cause I don't like no men," and she did mean "like" in THAT WAY.
(Prove It On Me Blues, I think it is.) And look at the "high end" of
that scene in New York: the Harlem Renaissance. Countee Cullen ran
away to Europe with his best man, about six months after his wedding.
I've heard a few mumblings-in-print about Langston Hughes being
bisexual; Bessie Smith, too, I think. And of course, there are bits
and pieces all over blues lyrics - I know Cat could supply us with an
armload.

Or maybe he just knows the value of a dollar, and takes the bus home
to his baby.

Michaele ("vanilla for loooove") Maurer

Unread post by **Jon Hughett** » Sun Jul 31, 2005 12:33 pm

Melissa wrote:

> > There is another song on the same album called *He's Just My Size*
and I
> > easily figured out the desirability of the man who "people, he was
just my
> > size," and who "makes my biscuits rise," but I couldn't figure out
this one:
> >
> He don't run around with women, he don't ride in taxicabs (2X)
> And he treats me better than the man I used to have.
>
> Why taxicabs? The closest I could get was a thing in Mae West's
play *The
> > Drag* where taxicabs are a place where male prostitutes can pick up
"rough
> > trade," but that's a shot in the dark.
>
> Melissa

Hi Melissa,
Back in the 80's I was bartending in Milwaukee and when I went to get
my license I was told I could not have both a Taxicab license and a
Bartending license at the same time. I was curious ands asked why and
the answer was because it was a part of the local
pandering/prostitution laws. If you were holding both licenses, you
could be steering alot of Johns to the ladies of the night. So, My two
cents is that if you're riding in a taxicab, you might just be there
because you know the cabbie will know were all the 'ladies' are.

Jon

Unread post by **Honeybeelight** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 12:06 am

--- In hrcourse@yahoogroups.com, "Jon Hughett" <jhughett@m...> wrote:
> > Hi Melissa,
> Back in the 80's I was bartending in Milwaukee and when I went to get
> my license I was told I could not have both a Taxicab license and a
> Bartending license at the same time. I was curious ands asked why and
> the answer was because it was a part of the local
> pandering/prostitution laws. If you were holding both licenses, you
> could be steering alot of Johns to the ladies of the night. So, My two
> cents is that if you're riding in a taxicab, you might just be there
> because you know the cabbie will know were all the 'ladies' are.
>
> Jon

Hey thanks! I know it's slightly OT but this had been worrying me for a while
and I couldn't find any answers online.

MM

Unread post by **Quimbisero** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 8:16 pm

Hello all,

I've seen a notice that PBS is airing an Eric Clapton tribute to
Robert Jonhson on Thursday at 10PM. Check your local schedules. Even
if there is little mention of Hoodoo, it still has be some, dare I say
it, damned good music.

Eoghan

Unread post by **Sister Jacqueline** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 1:59 am

While reading yesterday's messages this morning (Tues.), the song
"Smiling Faces" by the Staple Singers popped into my head; especially
the lines: "beware of the handshake; it hides a snake. (Can ya dig it?
Can ya dig it?) Beware of the clap on the back, it just might hold you
back"

Would these words be concealed references to the placing of oils or
sachets on an unsuspecting person?

The song further goes in to "jealousy, misery, envy that you can't see
behind smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes they don't tell the truth."

Now, knowing that the Staples family was originally a gospel group,
might lend credence to my thought.

Longwinded, I am now getting to my question. What other songs in
popular music (say from the 50/60's on) refers to conjure or hoodoo?
OK, s "Black Magic Woman" and "Love Potion No.9" are pretty obvious,
and we also have Dr. John the Night Tripper, but what OTHER songs
could contain hudden messges about hoodoo?

Other than that, I guess I was just picking up a song being played
somewhaere in this world. Smile, y'all.

Jackie

(Pop music extends a lot farther back in time than the 1960s, child! Try "Who Do You Love" by Bo Diddley -- get the pun on Hoodoo You[r] Love -- and then trip around with all those 1950s and 1960s songs by Willie Dixon like "Rubbin' My Root," and "Seventh Son" and of course Preston Foster's "Got My Mojo Workin'" But go nack even earelier -- to the many, many blues songs about goofer dust, mojo hands, and so forth. I have an entire web site on this subject. It is called "Blues Lyrics and Hoodoo" and the entry page is

http://www.luckymojo.com/blues.html

Look over the many lyrics and lists of songs at that site and believe me, there are many dozens more i have not even transcribed or notated yet. --cat)

Unread post by **Sister Jacqueline** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 11:28 pm

cat,

With all due respects an adoration to you who is the one who can
figger out the Robert Johnson thing, (And tell the story sooo well) I
know you know so much about music, especially blues, and hoodoo. I
even referred you to my professor this summer, who should have
contacted you, regarding her African American Humanities class when
she gets to that part of the book (music). I think your imput here (or
maybe even a class appearance -- goodie, goodie! YAY!) would be gggggreat!.

I was just thinking from more modern music. Understanding, the old
blues masters have influenced some of the great musicians of today,
Eric the God being one of them; I was curious about others. Especially
since I am getting older and the music is harder to understand (Boy, I
am sure parents said that same thing about 60's music!

Any ideas, gang?

Jackie

PS I only know "I put a spell on you" from Creedence Clearwater

("I Put a Spell on You" was actually written and first performed by Screamin' Jay Hawkins in the 1950s. Which reminds me to note "Castin' My Spell On You" by Johnny Otis, also from the 1950s. These two are from the same era as "Love Potion Number Nine" by Lieber and Stoller (recorded by the Coasters) which you had mentioned in your initial listing, and Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" which i had mentioned in my first response to you. None of these are by old "blues masters." They are all Top 40 hits. --cat)

Unread post by **Rebecca** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 11:38 pm

KCET the public station in this area had a Eric Clapton special last night. It was a tribute to Robert Johnson. It was fantastic! Love that old blues.

Rebecca

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Tracy Thomas · Unread post by **Tracy Thomas** » Thu Aug 11, 2005 11:48 pm

> Studio One <studioonefloral@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> What songs in popular music (say from the 50/60's on)
> refers to conjure or hoodoo?

Jackie,

I always thought that Regina Belle song "Baby Come To me" was a little hoodooey since she speaks of the moon being a friend of hers which leads his pathway straight to her and she is basically putting this man under her spell with her words going straight to his heart. It always sounded like that to me, but maybe I'm reading into it since its exactly the way I think. (o:

Tracy~

Unread post by **Umbandista** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 4:32 pm

In a message dated 8/11/2005 11:29:19 PM Pacific Standard Time,
studioonefloral@yahoo.com writes:

< I was just thinking from more modern music. (respectfully snipped)
Any ideas, gang?

Jackie >

There was an Australian power pop band in the 1980's/early 1990's called The
Hoodoo Gurus who recorded a song called "Bring the Hoodoo Down" which
includes the lyrics:

"Somewhere in Haiti
Baron Samedi
Brings the Hoodoo down"

Not exactly the kind of Hoodoo we are discussing here, LOL, but they also
recorded a wicked version of "Who Do You Love" and retitled it appropriately
"Hoodoo You Love".

They were very influenced by 1960's American rock and in "Americana" and
recorded songs about Baseball, Louisiana Cajun Country. The "Hoodoo" in their
name was a tongue in cheek homage to the American South. The band broke up
about 10 years ago but their music is still available on CD and via downloads.

Kathy

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Unread post by **luckyhoodoo** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 1:57 am

In a message dated 8/12/2005 1:28:58 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
studioonefloral@yahoo.com writes:

("I Put a Spell on You" was actually written and first performed by
Screamin' Jay Hawkins in the 1950s. Which reminds me to note "Castin' My Spell On
You" by Johnny Otis, also from the 1950s. These two are from the same era as
"Love Potion Number Nine" by Lieber and Stoller (recorded by the Coasters) which
you had mentioned in your initial listing, and Bo Diddley's "Who Do You
Love" which i had mentioned in my first response to you. None of these are by old
"blues masters." They are all Top 40 hits. --cat)

I have the "Screamin' Jay Hawkins" version but I can tell you straight up
that nothing beats Nina Simone's rendition.

-Jason (LuckyH.)

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Unread post by **Quimbisero** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 2:04 am

While I remain profoundly divided in my feelings concerning Country
music, a couple of decades ago I experienced an epiphany which changed
forever my understanding of the sources that contributed to Country music.

I have been involved most of my life with Gaelic culture - both the
language and the music. About twenty-five years ago, I was helping
someone learn the lyrics to some Irish language songs. When I
translated one in particular what she said to me stopped me in my tracks.

The song in question was a popular one in traditional music from
Gaelic speaking Donegal, Brighid Óg Ní Mhaille (Young Bridget O'Malley)

The first verse goes like this:

Is a Bhríd Óg Ní Mháille
'S tú d'fhág mo chroí cráite
'S chuir tú arraingeacha
An bháis trí cheartlár mo chroí
Tá na mílte fear i ngrá
Le d'éadan ciúin náireach
Is go dtug tú barr breáchtacht'
Ar Thír Oirghiall más fíor

And literally translated it reads

Young Bridget O'Malley,
It is you who have left my heart broken
And you put an arrow and a hundred
through the very center of my heart.
Thousands of men are in love with your beautiful
bashful face,
And you are the greatest beauty
in Oriel for certain.

She said, "Oh, what you mean is 'You shot a hundred and one arrows
through the bullseye of my heart'. Damn, that's a C&W lyric. No wonder
the Irish like Country music so much." And I had to admit she was right.

Eoghan

(Well, this is getting off-topic, but it calls to mind my 20 year quest to understand the Cajun lyrics to Nathan Abshire's fabulous "Pine Grove Blues." The song is unusual in that Abshire sang all his songs in French, but unlike many other Cajuns, he preferred Creole of Black melody lines. "Pine Grove Blues" is indeed a bluesy piece, evenn though played with the typical French accordian.

So one day i was asking about this in a pre-war blues elist, and a French guy on the list gave me my REVELATION. He translated the Cajun French to real French and then into fractured English, something like

Oh my Negresse, tell me where you stayed last evening;
You returned home before noon when the sun was high

I immediately recognized that "Pine Grove Blues" was a Cajun reworking of an African American blues song:

Hey, baby, tell me where did you sleep last night,
Come home this morning, sun was shinin' bright

--cat)

Unread post by **Michelle bush** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 8:05 pm

> "Oh my Negresse, tell me where you stayed last evening;
> You returned home before noon when the sun was high"

Miss Cat,

I've been listening to Leadbelly alot and where
there's a good chance you already know this It struck
me that he does a version of that song but it's called
"In the Pines" but he sings it

"Black girl, black girl dont lie to me
tell me where did you sleep last night"

"In the Pines, In the Pines
where the sun, never shines"

Dad heard it and said there is an old bluegrass
version of it too.

~Michelle

Good call, Michelle -- yes, Nathan Abshire's "Pine Grove Blues" is a cousin to Leadbelly's "In the Pines" -- and to the Mississippi Shieks' "Corrine, Corrina." The lyrics in all three are similar but the melody of "Pine Grove Blues" sounds more like that of "Corrine, Corrina" crossed with "Mule Skinner Blues" by Jimmie Rodgers. --cat)

Unread post by **catherineyronwode** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:54 am

I have added another transcripton of lyrics to a pre-war rural acoustic

blues song that is about hoodoo, conjure, and rootwork to the Blues

Lyrics and Hoodoo web site.

It is "Don't Put That Thing On Me" by Clifford Gibson of Alabama,

recorded circa 1927. The URL is

http://www.luckymojo.com/bluesdontputthatgibson.html

Cordially,

cat yronwode

Blues Lyrics and Hoodoo

http://www.luckymojo.com/blues.html

gillecroisd · Unread post by **gillecroisd** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 9:28 am

I'm working a spell that requires that the discarded materials be
buried in my front yard. I live in a condo at a ski resort ... my yard
is covered with 70+ inches of snow, burial is highly unfeasible and I
have no front porch or doorstep under which to bury the remains. I've
tucked them under my doormat for the time being, but I'd obviously
prefer a permanent location. Any suggestions?

Warm regards,

Christopher Armstrong

(Your choice seems sound. Othes use potted plants, as well, with an eye out to Spring weather and eventual burial in the Earth. --cat)

Magus Thom Potter · Unread post by **Magus Thom Potter** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 11:27 am

gillecroisd wrote:

> > I'm working a spell that requires that the discarded materials be
> buried in my front yard. I live in a condo at a ski resort ... my yard
> is covered with 70+ inches of snow, burial is highly unfeasible and I
> have no front porch or doorstep under which to bury the remains. Any
> suggestions?

--

/From the Desk of Admirable GrayMuzzle:/

» *Thom says:* ~ How about a planter, or a 10gal pickle bucket with
dirt. Then, when the ground thaws, you can take it out a little further
and plant it there.

~«

Blood is blood Everything else is taste. /Thomas Potter (Vampire
Proverb)/
/Thomas Potter: Hemet, CA/:

Unread post by **Aaron** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 2:07 pm

Hi Cat, I've been wondering if the hoodoo influence in blues and

African American Culture ever showed up in the swing, bop, big band

styles of the time, like the Cab Calloway era.

Do you know of if this did indeed exist or of any examples?

(Yes, hoodoo songs made it into the big band repertoire as well as rural acoustic blues. Just last night we were watching couple of shorts from the mid 1930s with the Nina Mae McKinney and the Nicholas Brothers -- "Pie Pie Blackbird" and "The Black Network," which are sort of precursors to modern music viedos -- and they mentioned goofer dust in one of the songs. I'll get around to transcribing the song sometime.... Both shorts are available on a DVD of King Vidor's "Helleluljah" (which stars McKinney) as a special feature. --cat)

Unread post by **catherineyronwode** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 1:34 am

I have just put the complete lyrics to both versions of "Sold It to The
Devil" online at my Blues Lyrics and Hoodoo Archive.

http://www.luckymojo.com/bluessolditjohnson.html
Sold It to the Devil by The Yas Yas Girl (Merline Johnson) 1937

http://www.luckymojo.com/bluessoldittwitty.html
Sold It to the Devil by Black Spider Dumpling (John D. Twitty) 1937

Enjoy them -- there is one verse diferent between the two, and that
verse is pretty cool.

cat yronwode
Blues Lyrics and Hoodoo
http://www.luckymojo.com/blues.html

Unread post by **Gina Karicas** » Tue May 16, 2006 3:15 pm

Hello, everyone.
I was doing some reminiscing this am and remembered a popular song of my childhood. (no smarmy remarks as to how long ago it must have been, now...LOL)
Anyone here heard this before? Those who listen to popular music of Cuba, and central america may have...

tengo a San Antonio
puesto de cabeza
si no me busca novio
nadie lo endereza

> > translation:

I have Saint Anthony
standing on his head
if he doesn't find me a boyfriend
no one can put him upright

chorus (not really translatable)

Palo palo palo
palo palito paloe
eh eh ah
palo palito paloe

Love,
Gina

Cill Dara - shift 17

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Unread post by **Quimbisero** » Wed May 17, 2006 2:11 pm

Celia song that so nicely.

Eoghan

Unread post by **Gina Karicas** » Mon May 22, 2006 2:17 am

Celia song that so nicely.

Eoghan
******************************************

Celia! Oh, Celia............ only the QUEEN of song. I grew up listening to her. And I'm pretty sure she WOULD have put San Antonio de cabeza, if necessary.

Love,
Gina

Cill Dara - shift 17

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Unread post by **Mike Rock** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 6:59 pm

A very sad time for us here in Austin..

http://www.cliffordantone.com/

mike
http://www.mike-rock.com

(Aww, that's a shame. A nice guy, nice club, home to a lot of good music. --cat)

Unread post by **Auntie Sindy Todo** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 9:28 pm

A very sad time for us here in Austin..

http://www.cliffordantone.com/

mike
http://www.mike-rock.com

(Aww, that's a shame. A nice guy, nice club, home to a lot of good
music. --cat)

We read about CJ in the newspaper the other day. He was my distant cousin
on my Lebanese side, and I have lots of memories of my youth and many crazy
times being reckless, stoned and with not a care in the world going to
Austin to visit all our gang down there. We hung out and were exposed to
many great music legends...I've seen the best when they were just piss-ants
struggling to get heard. It was funny when I moved to Seattle and saw all
this worship for Stevie Ray Vaughn. I remember so well when he played all
the joints in Austin, Beaumont etc. He was just another talent from Austin.
Really. We lived in Denton the other music town in Texas in the 70's and
man what a place to be...Whew, a flood of memories. I'll get on the phone
this weekend and call all my old cronies to reminisce. Thank you Mike for
sending this to us(me). Bless you sweet CJ. X- Sindy

l7hair · Unread post by **l7hair** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 10:13 pm

--- In hrcourse@yahoogroups.com, "SINDY TODO" <todojs@...> wrote:
> >
> We read about CJ in the newspaper the other day. He was my distant
cousin
> > on my Lebanese side, and I have lots of memories of my youth and

Sorry to hear of your loss.

> > We lived in Denton the other music town in Texas in the 70's and
> man what a place to be...Whew, a flood of memories.

Hey, I lived in Denton in the 70's and the 80's and the beginning of
the 90's...

You're right, Denton was always a good town to see
bands. Too bad I was too young in the 70's to enjoy the music.
However, the eighties brought Brave Combo, The Reverend Horton Heat,
and The New Bohemians. ;-)Sorry, Cat, for getting off topic and down
memory lane.

spellbound1957 · Unread post by **spellbound1957** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 9:37 pm

greetings !! i caught a documentary on my local cabel chanel(encore
entertainment) over the weekend that i'd like to turn you on
to....titled: last of the mississippi jukes/by robert mugs 2003. it's
filmed in jackson mississippi and is about the towns efforts to save a
historical hotel"the sumers hotel" from demolition. the sumers also
houses "the subway lounge" a legendary blues joint. it's got great
music from the local talent and if you read betwix the lines a little
mojo comes thru.........peace,#841 jeaneen

Unread post by **MissMichaele** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 1:11 pm

--- In hrcourse@yahoogroups.com, "spellbound1957" <spellbound1957@...>
wrote:
> >
> greetings !! i caught a documentary on my local cabel chanel(encore
> entertainment) over the weekend that i'd like to turn you on
> to....titled: last of the mississippi jukes/by robert mugs 2003. it's
> filmed in jackson mississippi and is about the towns efforts to save a
> historical hotel"the sumers hotel" from demolition. the sumers also
> houses "the subway lounge" a legendary blues joint. it's got great
> music from the local talent and if you read betwix the lines a little
> mojo comes thru.........peace,#841 jeaneen
>

Thank you so much for this tip! Netflix has it, so I'll be watching it
next week.

Michaele / Mother Lode