0:01:01 > 0:01:03In the 1920s, record companies sent scouts
0:01:03 > 0:01:06to the most remote areas of the United States.
0:01:08 > 0:01:09For the first time,
0:01:09 > 0:01:11they recorded the music of everyday working people.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16Some of those artists are remembered as pioneers and innovators,
0:01:16 > 0:01:19others only as names on old record labels.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25But their recordings reveal a rich tapestry of cultures.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32And Americans of all kinds could finally hear one another
0:01:32 > 0:01:35in their myriad languages,
0:01:35 > 0:01:36melodies and rhythms.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44Here are some of their stories.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00In the first decades of the 20th century,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04one of the most popular genres of American music
0:02:04 > 0:02:06came from the islands of Hawaii.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Hawaiian ensembles toured across the country and around the world.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16All featuring a unique instrument -
0:02:16 > 0:02:18the steel guitar.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25Its soaring sound would become central
0:02:25 > 0:02:27to a dazzling range of styles.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32# Well, I'm going away now, honey
0:02:32 > 0:02:34# And I ain't never
0:02:34 > 0:02:36# Coming back no more... #
0:02:41 > 0:02:44# Why can't I free
0:02:44 > 0:02:47# Your doubtful mind
0:02:47 > 0:02:52# And melt your cold, cold heart? #
0:03:39 > 0:03:41But who invented the steel guitar...
0:03:43 > 0:03:46..and first explored its quantum tones?
0:03:53 > 0:03:56My name's AlyssaBeth K Archambault,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59and my great-uncle is Joseph Kekuku,
0:03:59 > 0:04:01the inventor of the Hawaiian steel guitar.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06When Joseph was 11 years old,
0:04:06 > 0:04:10he happened to be walking down a railroad track with his guitar
0:04:10 > 0:04:11and he picked up a metal bolt,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14and he made his way down the tracks and, at some point,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17the bolt hit the strings of the guitar
0:04:17 > 0:04:20and it made the sound that caught his ear.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27Following his accidental discovery,
0:04:27 > 0:04:31Joseph Kekuku spent hours in the metal shop at Kamehameha School
0:04:31 > 0:04:33perfecting a slide.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Adding steel strings to his guitar
0:04:35 > 0:04:37and raising them from the fret board,
0:04:37 > 0:04:40he created an instrument that would travel the world.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42He was only 11 years old,
0:04:42 > 0:04:46and that is pretty young to be so devoted
0:04:46 > 0:04:50to creating something new that didn't exist.
0:04:51 > 0:04:52So when I hear the steel,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55it brings back memories of my uncle.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59He worked to perfect that sound.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02Then he taught it at Kamehameha Schools,
0:05:02 > 0:05:07and all the students there were taking the lessons.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10And then they went home to their separate islands,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13and they taught it to those that were on the islands,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15so it really spread fast.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23He mastered the Hawaiian steel guitar for seven years
0:05:23 > 0:05:25and he taught his cousin, Sam Nainoa,
0:05:25 > 0:05:27how to play the steel guitar.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31On a rare, self-issued recording,
0:05:31 > 0:05:35Sam Nainoa explains the origins of the steel guitar.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38'Ladies and gentlemen,
0:05:38 > 0:05:39'this is Sam K Nainoa speaking,
0:05:39 > 0:05:41'a real native.'
0:05:41 > 0:05:45Since the origination of the Hawaiian guitar by my cousin,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Joseph Kekuku of Laie, Oahu,
0:05:48 > 0:05:53no-one has ever come forward to explain the intricate workings
0:05:53 > 0:05:55of this unique instrument.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58Here is the catch with the Hawaiian guitar.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02You have only one finger to reach out for your notes,
0:06:02 > 0:06:04which is the steel bar
0:06:04 > 0:06:08held in the palm of the left hand.
0:06:08 > 0:06:14I will now offer for your approval a medley of Hawaiian selections.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16STEEL GUITAR MUSIC
0:06:48 > 0:06:52In 1904, Joseph Kekuku travelled to the mainland,
0:06:52 > 0:06:53seeking a new audience.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56He teamed up with a hula dancer, Toots Paka,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59to form one of the most popular acts
0:06:59 > 0:07:03on the touring vaudeville circuit.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07He felt so inspired because he had a mission.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11So he took the mainland, he took the world,
0:07:11 > 0:07:13he never came back home.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17He was so dedicated to the Hawaiian guitar
0:07:17 > 0:07:19that he stayed in the mainland.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22- ARCHIVE NEWS REPORT:- 'No World's Fair in history was so beautiful
0:07:22 > 0:07:24'as this one at night.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26'Tens of thousands of jewels reflected all colours of the rainbow
0:07:26 > 0:07:28'from the famous tower
0:07:28 > 0:07:31'while the great fan-shaped rays from the Scintillator
0:07:31 > 0:07:32'thrilled every spectator.'
0:07:33 > 0:07:37In 1915, Kekuku and other island musicians
0:07:37 > 0:07:41performed in the Hawaiian Pavilion at the San Franciscan World's Fair,
0:07:41 > 0:07:43which attracted over 17 million visitors.
0:07:45 > 0:07:46By the following year,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49Americans were buying more recordings of Hawaiian music
0:07:49 > 0:07:51than of any other genre.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56Kekuku formed his own group and toured from coast to coast.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01Meanwhile, his invention had spread far beyond Hawaiian music.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04Country bands adapted it to play fiddle tunes.
0:08:06 > 0:08:07And black southerners made it
0:08:07 > 0:08:10one of the most distinctive sounds in blues.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14# Oh, my, oh, my... #
0:08:22 > 0:08:26And then it just took off and went all over the world.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30Not just in Hawaii - the mainland, and Europe and everywhere.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34In 1919, Kekuku travelled to London
0:08:34 > 0:08:38with a popular Hawaiian musical revue, The Bird Of Paradise.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43A worldwide smash, the show played to kings and queens,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47and inspired the international craze for Hawaiian music.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50They were in such demand.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52I mean, just like you think about Elvis Presley,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55they were more than that, in a sense.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58In the '20s and '30s, all the way up to the '40s,
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Hawaiian music was really kind of the rage.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04It's an area that's kind of cut off to itself,
0:09:04 > 0:09:06it has its own weather,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09its energy, its moisture, its pace,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12you know, its mixture.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14It's a totally different thing.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18They were just so in love with Hawaii
0:09:18 > 0:09:21and these men who played that steel guitar.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26It's a way to visualise beach,
0:09:26 > 0:09:30the sun, the beautiful paradise.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34And people in the mainland who have snow and cold
0:09:34 > 0:09:36and tornado and all that, you know,
0:09:36 > 0:09:41it took them away from all that type of natural disaster
0:09:41 > 0:09:45so they could live like, oh, wow, they're in Paradise,
0:09:45 > 0:09:46they're in Hawaii.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51Kekuku returned to America in 1927
0:09:51 > 0:09:53to discover a new wave of Hawaiian groups
0:09:53 > 0:09:56being recorded across the country,
0:09:56 > 0:09:58including Sol K Bright,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Nelstone's Hawaiians,
0:10:01 > 0:10:02and Kalama's Quartet.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07SINGS SONOROUSLY IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE
0:10:49 > 0:10:51Joseph Kekuku's only known recordings
0:10:51 > 0:10:55are as a virtually inaudible presence on some wax cylinders
0:10:55 > 0:10:58by the Paka group. Until now.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02At a luau celebrating the unveiling of his statue in La'ie,
0:11:03 > 0:11:06we play a newly discovered record he made in London in 1925.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10His family is hearing it for the first time.
0:11:13 > 0:11:14STRUMMED UKULELE WITH STEEL GUITAR
0:11:46 > 0:11:47LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:11:49 > 0:11:54I was told so taken aback to hear my great uncle recorded,
0:11:54 > 0:11:56actually recorded, his moves and his sounds.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00It was really great to hear it for the first time.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11HAWAIIAN SINGING
0:12:36 > 0:12:38I got to give Uncle Joe credit.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41If it wasn't for him, we might not have had steel guitar.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45I feel proud that I'm passing on this history of our steel guitar,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48so our kids build their own.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50They're making their own steel guitar.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54They say, "Uncle, check this one out. This is a cool steel guitar."
0:12:54 > 0:12:55"We made it! I did!" You know.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59So, we're passing on that from Uncle Joe.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Passing the history on, of steel guitar.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05And it hit his guitar, and he made a sound.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09The bolt made a sliding sound.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12What does it sound like?
0:13:12 > 0:13:14It sounds like that.
0:13:17 > 0:13:18That is the sound of Hawaii.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35ACCORDION PLAYS
0:13:40 > 0:13:43Cajun music was born of exile.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Made by French-speaking Acadians forced out of eastern Canada,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50who settled in the marshy Bayou country of South Louisiana.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55CAJUN FRENCH SINGING
0:13:55 > 0:13:59Through the years, they blended their old French song
0:13:59 > 0:14:02with sounds from Spain, Germany, Africa,
0:14:02 > 0:14:04the local native Americans and their Anglo neighbours.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11The result was a musical jambalaya - home-made, heartfelt,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14and infectiously danceable.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24Cajun music has always been passed down through the families.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26We learned it from our dad and uncles.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Our grandpa played music, his dad played music.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33This music really resembles the landscape from which it's born.
0:14:33 > 0:14:38The Bayous are very crooked and winding and slow,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42just like the music can be very unconventional. It's not square.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45We call it "croche". It means crooked.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47It doesn't resemble any other music.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55There's definitely a sense of urgency and Cajun music
0:14:55 > 0:14:57from living where you love to live
0:14:57 > 0:15:00but also a lot of suffering that goes along with it
0:15:00 > 0:15:02because it's a very intense, harsh, landscape.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15The story of Cajun recording begins with one legendary family.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19The guitarist and singer Cleoma Breaux,
0:15:19 > 0:15:23her brothers - Amedee, Ophe, and Cleopha -
0:15:23 > 0:15:26and her husband Joe Falcon.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31Cleoma was really the rock of her family.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34She helped raise her brothers when their dad had left.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37She was one of the only females to play
0:15:37 > 0:15:40in a male-dominated music scene and was breaking the mould
0:15:40 > 0:15:44and making a whole new opportunity for Cajun music
0:15:44 > 0:15:46and she ended up being the first one to record.
0:15:48 > 0:15:53By 1928, record men like Columbia's Frank Walker had established
0:15:53 > 0:15:56the familiar genres of country, jazz, and blues,
0:15:56 > 0:15:58and were looking for something different.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02During a trip to New Orleans, Walker decided to explore
0:16:02 > 0:16:04the possibilities of the remote Bayou country.
0:16:07 > 0:16:12So, I went up around Lafayette and I was astounded at the interest
0:16:12 > 0:16:16that there was in their little Saturday night dances.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20Every single singer would have little concertina-type instrument
0:16:20 > 0:16:23and a one-stringed fiddle,
0:16:23 > 0:16:24and a triangle.
0:16:24 > 0:16:25Those were the instruments.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27And, of course, they sang in Cajun.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30To me, it had a funny sound,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33so I brought the group down to New Orleans
0:16:33 > 0:16:36and we recorded, just to have something different.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40Cleoma and Joe performed Allons A Lafayette,
0:16:40 > 0:16:41Let's Go To Lafayette,
0:16:41 > 0:16:44the first Cajun song to be released on record.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48The Columbia record guys weren't sure about recording
0:16:48 > 0:16:50this tiny two-piece band.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52But George Burrow, who Joe and Cleoma had brought with them,
0:16:52 > 0:16:56a local businessman, knew how popular this music would become.
0:16:57 > 0:17:02They, kind of, laughed. They say, "How many records would you order?"
0:17:02 > 0:17:06He said "500." He grabbed his cheque book and said,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10"Make you a cheque for 500 records, right now." He said, "500?"
0:17:10 > 0:17:14He say, "We never sold that many to nobody. With big orchestras."
0:17:14 > 0:17:18"How in the world could we sell 500 to just a two-piece band?"
0:17:18 > 0:17:20"Well," he said, "make it."
0:17:20 > 0:17:23And that's why we made it and it went over big.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23My grandpa and my great aunt used to tell me
0:18:23 > 0:18:26how, when they grew up in Mamou,
0:18:26 > 0:18:31they would hear that song coming out of the doors of these houses.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35Everyone was so excited to have a Cajun song on record
0:18:35 > 0:18:38because they had record players but there was no Cajun music.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41So, when Cajun music comes out on a record,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44it gives you pride about your culture and about your music.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47So, people were playing that record so often.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50They say you can't even find a record that still plays
0:18:50 > 0:18:52because everyone who had one wore it out.
0:18:52 > 0:18:53They loved it so much.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20When the Breaux family were recording this music,
0:19:20 > 0:19:21in the late '20s,
0:19:21 > 0:19:24they were really recording almost the new sound of Cajun music
0:19:24 > 0:19:26because when the German accordion became available
0:19:26 > 0:19:27in the department stores,
0:19:27 > 0:19:31the Cajuns really took to it because it was a lot louder
0:19:31 > 0:19:34and it allowed them to play to much larger audiences
0:19:34 > 0:19:35than just a house dance.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38Joe Falcon, amazing accordion player,
0:19:38 > 0:19:41learned from Cleoma's brother Amedee Breaux.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45Amedee Breaux is a legendary figure in Cajun music.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49Cleoma's three brothers, their music has so much feeling
0:19:49 > 0:19:50and so much passion
0:19:50 > 0:19:54that you just feel an incredible urgency in their music.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58And it's amazing that the Breaux family is still playing
0:19:58 > 0:19:59around Acadiana today.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02I'm Gary Breaux, I'm grandson of Amedee Breaux,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05which I refer to as Papa Medee.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07I'm Jimmy Breaux,
0:20:07 > 0:20:08the other grandson of Amedee Breaux.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10I'm Gerry Mouton,
0:20:10 > 0:20:14grandson of Amedee Breaux and I refer to him as Papa Medee.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19I'm Pat Breaux and Papa Medee is my grandfather.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23And we're the Breaux Freres up-to-date.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29Papa Medee was invited to a recording contest.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31They were in a big barn.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34He climbed up, went on the rafters,
0:20:34 > 0:20:37and walked across the rafters of the barn
0:20:37 > 0:20:40and played Allons A Lafayette,
0:20:40 > 0:20:42while he was walking across the rafters.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45So, needless to say, he won the contest.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53These were not listening rooms. These were very rowdy bar rooms.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55A lot of fighting, lots of drinking, a lot of moonshine.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58The word was, the Breaux Brothers liked to drink a lot
0:20:58 > 0:21:00and they like to fight a lot. And you feel it in their music.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04It was definitely a very vibrant music scene, to say the least.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06You know, you hear the whole stories about the dancehalls.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08They had the chicken wire around the band.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11That was supposed to keep their beer bottles
0:21:11 > 0:21:13- from flying at the band if the band was bad.- Yeah.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16I think the chicken wire was there for the Breaux Brothers
0:21:16 > 0:21:18not to get to the audience.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21Yeah, they were something else.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25In April 1929, Amedee Breaux and his brother Ophe
0:21:25 > 0:21:28travelled to Atlanta and cut their first record
0:21:28 > 0:21:30with Cleoma on guitar.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33Cleoma brought them to record and, if she hadn't,
0:21:33 > 0:21:35we might never know what songs they had to offer
0:21:35 > 0:21:38and how much they influence Cajun music today.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42They recorded over a dozen amazing tunes in that one session.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46Which became a lot of the pillars of modern Cajun music
0:21:46 > 0:21:48and have crept their way into American mainstream music,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51such as Jolie Blonde, which was written by Amedee Breaux.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55My grandmother was not a blonde.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58I think this was an experience my Papa Medee had
0:21:58 > 0:22:01with a young blonde, and she left him.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03And it really tore him up.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07I always know it as Jolie Blonde but they called it...
0:22:07 > 0:22:08Ma Blonde Est Partie.
0:22:08 > 0:22:09Ma Blonde Est Partie.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12Yeah. That means "my blonde is gone."
0:22:13 > 0:22:17# Jolie blonde, regardes donc quoi t'as fait
0:22:17 > 0:22:20# Tu m'as quitte pour t'en aller
0:22:22 > 0:22:26# Pour t'en aller avec un autre que moi
0:22:26 > 0:22:30# Quel espoir et quel avenir, mais, moi, je vais avoir?
0:22:48 > 0:22:53# Jolie blonde, tu m'as laisse, moi tout seul
0:22:53 > 0:22:57# Pour t'en aller chez ta famille
0:22:57 > 0:23:02# Si t'aurais pas ecoute tous les conseils de les autres
0:23:02 > 0:23:06# Tu serais ici-t-avec moi aujourd'hui... #
0:23:10 > 0:23:15"Jolie blonde, jolie fille", that means "pretty blonde, pretty girl".
0:23:15 > 0:23:20Tu m'as quitte pour t'en aller. You left me for another.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23Jolie blonde, tu m'as laisse, moi tout seul.
0:23:23 > 0:23:28Jolie blonde, you left me all alone.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30It was all based on a broken heart.
0:23:39 > 0:23:44It's such a sad lament of his love life and it's such a...
0:23:44 > 0:23:47It's a song that just really touches you so deeply you could feel his
0:23:47 > 0:23:51pain and that way, you know, Cajun music really is the Blues.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55When Jolie Blonde became a hit in the late '30s,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58that was the first time that Cajun music really entered
0:23:58 > 0:23:59American mainstream.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02Over time, Jolie Blonde became known as the Cajun national anthem.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06You know, it's being performed by people as big as Bruce Springsteen,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09something that he performed nationally all the time.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12Waylon Jennings did a version of it with Buddy Holly producing it
0:24:12 > 0:24:14and playing guitar.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17# Jolie blonde... #
0:24:17 > 0:24:19Roy Acuff did it, Moon Mullican
0:24:19 > 0:24:21and they all got it from Harry Choates.
0:24:21 > 0:24:26Harry Choates made it a national hit. You know, it was on the charts.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30Harry Choates got it from Crowley's own Amede Breaux,
0:24:30 > 0:24:33that little guy right there, in 1929, recorded Ma Blonde Est Partie,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36which became known as Jolie Blonde.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Your dad, he had Amede's accordion. Do you happen to have it?
0:24:40 > 0:24:45- I've got it right here.- Wow. - It's been restored.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48They had more than one accordion at these sessions and it could be
0:24:48 > 0:24:51- this accordion that actually recorded Jolie Blonde.- Yeah.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54This is Uncle Ophe, one of the brothers,
0:24:54 > 0:24:58this is his fiddle, which Dad has kept.
0:24:58 > 0:25:04Also I have the tit fers, or the irons, that they also used.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13Cajun music is passed down through families
0:25:13 > 0:25:15and just like the Breaux family, it was the same thing for them.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18They all played it as a family.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22You're playing your traditional music, but you're also incorporating
0:25:22 > 0:25:27other elements of the music you hear around you and, you know, it's the
0:25:27 > 0:25:31natural want of any culture, especially any artist to want to be
0:25:31 > 0:25:36relevant and to want to play music that appeals to people of your day,
0:25:36 > 0:25:39but still to hold, you know, what you need to bring forward
0:25:39 > 0:25:41in your own tradition.
0:25:57 > 0:26:04# Jolie blonde, tu m'as laisse Moi tout seul
0:26:04 > 0:26:09# Pour t'en aller chez ta famille
0:26:09 > 0:26:15# Si t'aurais pas ecoute tous les conseils de les autres
0:26:15 > 0:26:21# Tu serais ici-t-avec moi aujourd'hui
0:26:30 > 0:26:31# Oh!
0:26:43 > 0:26:49# Jolie blonde, jolie fille
0:26:49 > 0:26:54# Tu m'as quitte pour t'en aller
0:26:55 > 0:27:01# Pour t'en aller avec un autre que moi
0:27:01 > 0:27:05# Quel espoir et quel avenir, mais, moi, je vais avoir?
0:27:05 > 0:27:07# Jolie blonde... #
0:27:47 > 0:27:52# John Henry was a steel driving man
0:27:52 > 0:27:56# Yes, he went down Well, he went down
0:28:02 > 0:28:07# You just take this hammer and carry it to my captain
0:28:07 > 0:28:11# Oh, tell him I'm gone Won't you tell him I'm gone? #
0:28:25 > 0:28:27John, we've got time.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30Tell a little bit about how you first made
0:28:30 > 0:28:34- a record way...way back in 1927, do you remember?- Oh, yeah.
0:28:34 > 0:28:39'28, pardon me, and '29.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45Learned to play guitar, I had no teacher.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48I was just an eight-year old boy,
0:28:48 > 0:28:52I'd go in and go to bed, but I wouldn't go to sleep.
0:28:52 > 0:28:53I'd get the guitar.
0:29:00 > 0:29:05I kept on at that till I learned to play one number and I said,
0:29:05 > 0:29:09"Wow." And when I learned to play that number, why,
0:29:09 > 0:29:13- I didn't care who heard it then. - LAUGHTER
0:29:27 > 0:29:30The odyssey of Mississippi John Hurt from his original discovery
0:29:30 > 0:29:34in the 1920s to his rediscovery in the '60s
0:29:34 > 0:29:37is the saga of American Epic in microcosm.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45In the abandoned hamlet of Avalon, Mississippi...
0:29:45 > 0:29:49we meet John Hurt's granddaughter Mary Frances Hurt
0:29:49 > 0:29:52outside the humble cabin where he once lived.
0:29:53 > 0:29:55You know, when I talk about Avalon and you say,
0:29:55 > 0:29:57"Oh, there's nothing there, it's just a sign,"
0:29:57 > 0:30:03but I remember where my parents used to live and I remember all of
0:30:03 > 0:30:06the families that used to live there,
0:30:06 > 0:30:10the store that used to be there and the cotton gin and everything.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13This town existed and it was a real place, real families,
0:30:13 > 0:30:15real people lived there.
0:30:19 > 0:30:25It was a tiny little village with three grocery stores.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27Well, I say grocery stores,
0:30:27 > 0:30:30the stores contained everything
0:30:30 > 0:30:34from flowers and even mules.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37When I was a kid, he lived above the store and
0:30:37 > 0:30:41he would be standing always by the mailbox, just like he was waiting
0:30:41 > 0:30:44for somebody to come up the hill.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47And he always had this radiant smile.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50His smile was like a pebble thrown in the lake and it would just
0:30:50 > 0:30:54spread and it was just so wonderful.
0:30:55 > 0:31:00People just knew him as Mississippi John Hurt, but he was Daddy John.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06The store here was a gathering place,
0:31:06 > 0:31:08especially on Saturday night.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11John Hurt spent many an hour
0:31:11 > 0:31:15playing music inside the store and on the porch out here.
0:31:15 > 0:31:17When he started recording records,
0:31:17 > 0:31:21it just kind of made everyone here happy.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27In 1928, Tommy Rockwell, a producer for OKeh Records, and his
0:31:27 > 0:31:31engineer Bob Stevens travelled to Memphis in search of new artists.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34These are remarks from Bob Stevens,
0:31:34 > 0:31:38the engineer who was there with Tommy Rockwell
0:31:38 > 0:31:41in Memphis in 1928.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44"Tommy Rockwell and I went on our field trip to Memphis where
0:31:44 > 0:31:47"we already had some acts set up to record.
0:31:47 > 0:31:49"Tommy told me he could take care of things and
0:31:49 > 0:31:53"he suggested that I take a trip down the Mississippi Delta
0:31:53 > 0:31:56"and see what I could find in the way of race stuff,
0:31:56 > 0:31:59"then come back inland for hillbilly stuff.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03"So I stopped in all the little towns and the local record stores
0:32:03 > 0:32:06"to see what was going on and I wound up in Jackson, Mississippi.
0:32:06 > 0:32:07"I thought, 'To hell with it.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11" 'This is ridiculous!' So I suggested we organise an old-time
0:32:11 > 0:32:15"fiddling contest, the winners would get an OKeh contract.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18"While this was going on," Mr Stevens adds,
0:32:18 > 0:32:21"we kept hearing about some wild Blues singer named Mississippi John Hurt,
0:32:21 > 0:32:24"so we set out to find him. The trouble we had!
0:32:24 > 0:32:26"Finally we tracked him down late at night.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30"We had to put the headlights on to the door of his shack before we knocked.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33"This guy came to the door, damn near turned white when he saw us,
0:32:33 > 0:32:35"he thought we were a lynching party.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37"We told him who we were and he asked us in.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39"He threw a few logs on the fire.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41"He took out his guitar and starts to sing.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44"He was great! So we booked him into Memphis,
0:32:44 > 0:32:48"he made a few sides for us and then he disappeared again."
0:32:49 > 0:32:50Well, he didn't really.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56In Memphis, Tommy Rockwell and Bob Stevens recorded John Hurt
0:32:56 > 0:32:57in the McCall building.
0:33:01 > 0:33:03# Frankie went down to the corner saloon
0:33:03 > 0:33:05# She didn't go to be gone long
0:33:05 > 0:33:07# She peeked through the keyhole in the door
0:33:07 > 0:33:09# Spied Albert in Alice's arms
0:33:09 > 0:33:14# He's my man and he done me wrong... #
0:33:14 > 0:33:18Frankie is based on the 1899 shooting of Albert Britt by his
0:33:18 > 0:33:20lover Frankie Baker,
0:33:20 > 0:33:22after she caught him in bed with another woman.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27As Frankie and Johnny, it became a popular standard,
0:33:27 > 0:33:31recorded by Jimmy Rogers, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder and Elvis Presley,
0:33:31 > 0:33:36but John Hurt sang an earlier version closer to the true story.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40# Frankie shot Albert and she shot him three or four times
0:33:40 > 0:33:44# Says, stroll back, I'd smoke my gun, let me see Albert dying
0:33:44 > 0:33:48# He's my man and he done me wrong... #
0:33:51 > 0:33:55After the recording session, John Hurt went home to Avalon.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00A few weeks later, he received a record in the mail.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03The only problem, he had nothing to play it on.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05So he had to ask the woman whose land
0:34:05 > 0:34:10he was looking after the cows on, would she kindly play the
0:34:10 > 0:34:12record for him, so she said, "Well, all right, John.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16"I'll leave you standing outside the screen door and I'll crank it
0:34:16 > 0:34:18"up for you so you can hear it," you know?
0:34:18 > 0:34:22And she took it back and said, "Oh, that's you on that record, isn't it?"
0:34:22 > 0:34:27That woman's daughter is Annie Cook and she remembers that day.
0:34:27 > 0:34:32We had an old-time Victrola that you'd crank
0:34:32 > 0:34:35and it was just unbelievable,
0:34:35 > 0:34:39just like when we got the first car,
0:34:39 > 0:34:43how exciting something like that was then.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45# Frankie and the judge walked down on the stand
0:34:45 > 0:34:47# And walked out side to side
0:34:47 > 0:34:51# The judge says to Frankie You're going to be justified
0:34:51 > 0:34:54# For killing a man and he done you wrong. #
0:35:00 > 0:35:01Ain't that pretty?
0:35:03 > 0:35:05I think it is.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11Before long, John Hurt received a letter from Tommy Rockwell,
0:35:11 > 0:35:14asking him to come to New York City for more recordings.
0:35:15 > 0:35:20There he recorded one of his most popular songs, Candy Man.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24# Well, all you ladies all gather round
0:35:24 > 0:35:26# That good sweet candy man's in town
0:35:26 > 0:35:28# It's the candy man
0:35:28 > 0:35:31# It's the candy man...
0:35:40 > 0:35:42# He likes a stick of candy just nine inch long
0:35:42 > 0:35:46# He sells as fast a hog can chew his corn, it's the candy man
0:35:46 > 0:35:49# It's the candy man. #
0:35:52 > 0:35:57Homesick and lost in the big city, Hurt composed Avalon Blues,
0:35:57 > 0:36:00a heartfelt tribute to his hometown.
0:36:01 > 0:36:05# Got to New York this morning just about 9.30
0:36:09 > 0:36:13# Hollerin' one mornin' in Avalon Could hardly keep from crying... #
0:36:15 > 0:36:20Hurt returned to Avalon picking up odd jobs to survive
0:36:20 > 0:36:23and waited to hear more from OKeh,
0:36:23 > 0:36:27but the Depression hit and the entire record business fell
0:36:27 > 0:36:29on hard times.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32Hurt wrote to the company in New York offering to make new recordings.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34His letters went unanswered.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41For 35 years, he eked out a living by sharecropping and minding cows,
0:36:41 > 0:36:46only playing music for his family and neighbours.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48By the 1950s, Mississippi John Hurt's records
0:36:48 > 0:36:53were forgotten, except by a small circle of collectors
0:36:53 > 0:36:57searching junk store record bands for his battered 78s.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01He had recorded 20 songs for OKeh,
0:37:01 > 0:37:04seven of those performances have never been found.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07# It's the candy man. #
0:37:08 > 0:37:13Archivists like Michael Brooks have devoted their lives to preserving
0:37:13 > 0:37:17the surviving record masters which are known as metal parts.
0:37:18 > 0:37:23These metal parts are really part of history, because music reflects what
0:37:23 > 0:37:29goes on in a country, in the world, and this is American history here.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33And there were hundreds and hundreds of thousands of these made.
0:37:34 > 0:37:39And in the Depression, metal was a good source to melt down and sell.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43A popular tune from 1926 meant nothing in 1934,
0:37:43 > 0:37:48so toss it out, and then the next decimation of these parts
0:37:48 > 0:37:50came in World War II, which was far greater,
0:37:50 > 0:37:53because everyone was looking round for scrap metal.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57Everything went to the war effort, so a Louis Armstrong,
0:37:57 > 0:38:01a Carter Family, a Jimmy Rogers, they were melted down,
0:38:01 > 0:38:07given to the government and remade into weapons of mass destruction.
0:38:07 > 0:38:08And you think, you know, there might be
0:38:08 > 0:38:12a Mississippi John Hurt being dropped over Germany or something.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15So there isn't that much left any more.
0:38:15 > 0:38:20I would say that metal parts pre-, say pre-mid-30s,
0:38:20 > 0:38:23I would say 90% is gone.
0:38:23 > 0:38:28So we are trying to reconstruct what happened in the world,
0:38:28 > 0:38:30what the popular music was
0:38:30 > 0:38:33and we have to scratch around to find things.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38In the 1950s, a few small record labels began releasing vinyl
0:38:38 > 0:38:41compilations of rare recordings by little-known figures
0:38:41 > 0:38:45like Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Sleepy John Estes
0:38:45 > 0:38:47and Mississippi John Hurt.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51This is a copy of the famous Harry Smith anthology of American
0:38:51 > 0:38:54folk music the way it appeared when Folkways Records first published it.
0:38:54 > 0:38:58John Hurt was represented by two cuts on that record.
0:38:58 > 0:38:59This is the original edition.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03It had the red cover and if you took the records out too often,
0:39:03 > 0:39:07the edges began to split up on the ends.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09This is from 1952,
0:39:09 > 0:39:12this is like 1,000 years ago, it's very much a product of its time.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15Soon adventurous young record collectors were heading south
0:39:15 > 0:39:19in search of the artists who had made those precious 78s,
0:39:19 > 0:39:23but Mississippi John Hurt seemed impossibly obscure
0:39:23 > 0:39:24and few even dreamt he was alive.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30# Avalon, my hometown Always on my mind
0:39:34 > 0:39:37# Avalon, my hometown Always on my mind
0:39:42 > 0:39:45# Pretty mama's in Avalon Want me there all the time. #
0:39:45 > 0:39:49Then, one day, a collector named Dick Spotswood
0:39:49 > 0:39:52heard a rare copy of Avalon Blues.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56There was one John Hurt title that none of the Hurt fans, such as
0:39:56 > 0:39:59we were in the late 1950s had ever heard, and the first thing
0:39:59 > 0:40:03I heard was the lyric that says, "Avalon is my hometown,
0:40:03 > 0:40:07"it's always on my mind," and so I extrapolated from that
0:40:07 > 0:40:10that there must be a place in Mississippi called Avalon
0:40:10 > 0:40:14and went to the Atlas to look it up, and there it was.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17It was clear by just looking at the map that it wasn't
0:40:17 > 0:40:19anything more than a speck on the road.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25When another friend decided that he was going to go down to the
0:40:25 > 0:40:29Mardi Gras in New Orleans in 1963, I looked at the map again,
0:40:29 > 0:40:32I said, "It's not too far out of your way to stop by
0:40:32 > 0:40:34"Avalon, Mississippi,
0:40:34 > 0:40:38"and see if anybody has ever heard of John Hurt," and so he did and
0:40:38 > 0:40:41the first person he asked gave him directions to John Hurt's house.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46He goes, "Are you the person that made this sound?" He goes, "Yeah."
0:40:46 > 0:40:48And he said, "Can you play this song?"
0:40:48 > 0:40:51And Daddy John responded, "I could if I had a guitar."
0:40:51 > 0:40:56And the guy had a guitar, so he played this song for him and
0:40:56 > 0:41:01he goes, "Do you know how famous you are?" And Daddy John is like, "No."
0:41:01 > 0:41:06You know, he was... No. He had no idea.
0:41:07 > 0:41:08Looking for the best way
0:41:08 > 0:41:11to introduce John Hurt to a world of new listeners,
0:41:11 > 0:41:15Dick Spottswood managed to get him booked as a last-minute attraction
0:41:15 > 0:41:18for the 1963 Newport Folk Festival.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20Dick Spottswood.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22APPLAUSE
0:41:23 > 0:41:25I've been asked to say a few words about John,
0:41:25 > 0:41:29so I'll make it brief as possible so you can hear him play himself.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32When we found him this spring, he hadn't played guitar for years,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35but he picks it up now, and plays like a champ.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38- STRUMS GUITAR - It's been quite a while since I...
0:41:38 > 0:41:41did any of this, and I'm...
0:41:41 > 0:41:44I'm real happy to be with y'all.
0:41:44 > 0:41:46You know, I can't help but be happy.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49Last...
0:41:49 > 0:41:53I remember doing much of this, why, I was with the Okeh company,
0:41:53 > 0:41:57recording for them '28 and '29.
0:41:57 > 0:41:58So...
0:41:58 > 0:42:02Spottswood discovered me down and out of this scene.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06Why, I thought it was real funny, I said, "Why? What have I did?
0:42:06 > 0:42:08"Is the FBI looking for me?"
0:42:08 > 0:42:10LAUGHTER
0:42:12 > 0:42:15So, the question I'm going to do you...
0:42:15 > 0:42:16is Stack O'Lee.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19PLAYS STACK O'LEE BLUES
0:42:30 > 0:42:35# Police officer, how can it be
0:42:35 > 0:42:39# You can 'rest everybody but cruel Stack O' Lee?
0:42:39 > 0:42:44# That bad man Oh, cruel Stack O' Lee... #
0:42:47 > 0:42:50John Hurt was the surprise hit of the festival,
0:42:50 > 0:42:54and inspired a new generation, including the young Taj Mahal.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58When I first heard John Hurt's music,
0:42:58 > 0:43:02it was like he was somebody I was looking for, he was like the...
0:43:02 > 0:43:04The musical grandfather you were looking for.
0:43:04 > 0:43:09He had another key to the musical universe.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13I tried real hard to learn how to play like him, you know...
0:43:13 > 0:43:17PLAYS STACK O'LEE BLUES
0:43:44 > 0:43:46..but then, there's tunes like Louis Collins.
0:43:46 > 0:43:49Louis Collins is about something that happened real close to him,
0:43:49 > 0:43:53when Louis Collins got into a fight with somebody and got shot.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57And instead of taking it from the bar fight scene,
0:43:57 > 0:44:02which is in the song, he talks from Louis Collins' mother.
0:44:04 > 0:44:06And, you know, "Mrs Collins weeped, Mrs Collins moaned,
0:44:06 > 0:44:09"Moaning for Louis Collins that's dead and gone.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11"The angels laid him away."
0:44:11 > 0:44:14You know, the gentleness really came through in him.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21A record collector shot footage of John Hurt playing Louis Collins
0:44:21 > 0:44:23in a small club in Los Angeles.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26It's the only known colour footage of Hurt performing.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29PLAYS LOUIS COLLINS
0:44:33 > 0:44:35# Mrs Collins weeped
0:44:35 > 0:44:37# Mrs Collins moaned
0:44:37 > 0:44:42# To see her son Louis leavin' home
0:44:42 > 0:44:46# The angels laid him away
0:44:46 > 0:44:50# Oh, the angels laid him away
0:44:51 > 0:44:56# They laid him six feet under the clay
0:44:56 > 0:45:00# The angels laid him away... #
0:45:18 > 0:45:20BIRDSONG
0:45:23 > 0:45:24This place...
0:45:24 > 0:45:28the sounds, the beauty of all of this, he loved that.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34And he came early one morning just to make sure that he just caught
0:45:34 > 0:45:38the right rays and the sun, and everything, and he...
0:45:38 > 0:45:39He had a stroke.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42He never recovered from this stroke.
0:45:44 > 0:45:45And...
0:45:45 > 0:45:48I would say it was a tragedy, but he died the way he loved,
0:45:48 > 0:45:51and he's buried in this place.
0:45:53 > 0:45:54He's home.
0:45:55 > 0:45:56Daddy John is home.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05Well, you always heard that black was beautiful,
0:46:05 > 0:46:10and John was one beautiful man.
0:46:11 > 0:46:15He was kind, and he was...
0:46:15 > 0:46:19Loved people, and people loved him.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21I just wish we had more like him.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31PLAYS SPIKE DRIVER BLUES
0:46:35 > 0:46:39# John Henry was a steel drivin' man
0:46:40 > 0:46:42# Oh, he went down
0:46:42 > 0:46:44# Well, he went down
0:46:46 > 0:46:51# This is the hammer that killed John Henry
0:46:51 > 0:46:54# But it won't kill me
0:46:54 > 0:46:56# It won't kill me
0:46:56 > 0:46:58# It won't kill me
0:47:11 > 0:47:16# John Henry was a steel drivin' man
0:47:16 > 0:47:18# Oh, he went down
0:47:18 > 0:47:21# Well, he went down
0:47:21 > 0:47:23# Well, he went down. #
0:47:25 > 0:47:28APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
0:47:41 > 0:47:45Well, I was. I was, because I had never...
0:47:45 > 0:47:48You know, I made records and that was the end of it.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51I made some records then would go back home.
0:47:51 > 0:47:54I had never did anything more.
0:47:55 > 0:47:59No more than just played the music round the country once in a while.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09This music, that's right.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12Well, I didn't know what this folk music was, and...
0:48:12 > 0:48:14I began to...
0:48:14 > 0:48:17kind of learn what they mean now by folk music.
0:48:19 > 0:48:20Er...
0:48:20 > 0:48:22I think they mean...
0:48:23 > 0:48:26..songs that, er...
0:48:26 > 0:48:30What I call maybe died out, you know?
0:48:30 > 0:48:34They went back and they renewed 'em, that right?
0:48:34 > 0:48:35Am I right?
0:48:38 > 0:48:40Well, you know...
0:48:40 > 0:48:42I read in the Bible, it says,
0:48:42 > 0:48:45"The older men teach the younger ones."
0:48:45 > 0:48:48And I'm glad I've got something that they want.
0:48:48 > 0:48:50That's right.
0:48:50 > 0:48:51HE LAUGHS
0:48:51 > 0:48:53HARMONICA PLAYS
0:48:53 > 0:48:55CHEERING
0:49:02 > 0:49:04'Five...four...three...
0:49:04 > 0:49:07'two... one...'
0:49:18 > 0:49:20It's an inspiring thing, to see a launch.
0:49:20 > 0:49:23The light flares from the rocket, but the sound travel time
0:49:23 > 0:49:26takes a while, so the rocket starts climbing in silence.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29Great flocks of sea birds sprang up from the mangroves
0:49:29 > 0:49:32as the sound reached them, and so you see this craft
0:49:32 > 0:49:36ascending from the flights of sea birds.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45Voyager was a mission to study the outer planets of the solar system,
0:49:45 > 0:49:48and when you fly past the giant planet Jupiter,
0:49:48 > 0:49:50your spacecraft is accelerated to a speed such
0:49:50 > 0:49:53that it will never return to the solar system.
0:49:53 > 0:49:55It simply leaves,
0:49:55 > 0:49:59and then drifts among the stars of the Milky Way galaxy forever.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03The astronomers Carl Sagan and Frank Drake had the idea
0:50:03 > 0:50:06that if you made a phonograph record,
0:50:06 > 0:50:10you could put music and also encoded photos and sounds and things
0:50:10 > 0:50:14about the Earth, and attach it to these two interstellar spacecraft.
0:50:15 > 0:50:20I produced the Voyager record, and was involved in selecting the music.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30The world contains many sorts of people,
0:50:30 > 0:50:35and there is no such thing as a "best" kind of music.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39You know, it's not the Olympics - some composer doesn't win.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44Some of the most advanced music we have is Western classical music,
0:50:44 > 0:50:47and there's some of that on Voyager, Bach and Beethoven -
0:50:47 > 0:50:50those are wonderful accomplishments -
0:50:50 > 0:50:53but as those composers themselves would have told you,
0:50:53 > 0:50:57Bach for instance, at age 16, was a fiddler at hoedowns.
0:50:57 > 0:50:59Beethoven was a student of folk music.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03Music comes up from the great mass of people.
0:51:03 > 0:51:08It comes up from everyone, the most common folks, and has forever.
0:51:08 > 0:51:13There aren't any humans who don't participate in music in some way.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24I came across this remarkable Blind Willie Johnson field recording
0:51:24 > 0:51:28made in Texas in 1927, called Dark Was The Night Cold Was The Ground.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32The melody is adopted from an old Scots hymn,
0:51:32 > 0:51:37goes back many centuries, and was transformed by Willie Johnson.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39In this recording, he didn't include any lyrics -
0:51:39 > 0:51:44he just sang it as a moan over his guitar instrumental,
0:51:44 > 0:51:47and it had a timeless quality to it.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52It's certainly a piece about the hardship and tragedy of life,
0:51:52 > 0:51:57and the feeling of being alone and desperate and homeless.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00Night has yet to fall anywhere on the planet without touching
0:52:00 > 0:52:03men and women in exactly that situation.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07So, one of my first priorities was,
0:52:07 > 0:52:11let's put this recording on this record
0:52:11 > 0:52:13intended to last for billions of years.
0:52:29 > 0:52:35MUSIC: Dark Was The Night Cold Was The Ground by Blind Willie Johnson
0:53:57 > 0:54:00FOOTSTEPS
0:54:14 > 0:54:16MACHINERY CHUGS
0:54:48 > 0:54:49BUZZER
0:54:55 > 0:54:58BLUES ARRANGEMENT OF MENDELSSOHN'S WEDDING MARCH PLAYS
0:55:08 > 0:55:11SLOW BLUES MELODY PLAYS
0:55:13 > 0:55:16TEMPO SPEEDS TO UPBEAT BLUES MELODY
0:55:24 > 0:55:28# You people can talk about your kosher-rolling mamas
0:55:28 > 0:55:33# While you're cheatin' with your high-speedin' brown
0:55:33 > 0:55:37# Well, I got a woman way down in Mobile, Alabama
0:55:37 > 0:55:42# She's the warmest thing in that town doggone her skin
0:55:42 > 0:55:47# She ain't got no papa leave me alone
0:55:47 > 0:55:51# She ain't got no big boy please take me home
0:55:51 > 0:55:53# This mama just got
0:55:53 > 0:55:55# One object in view
0:55:55 > 0:55:59# And what she said to me I know she's bound to say to you
0:55:59 > 0:56:00# She'll say
0:56:00 > 0:56:05# Papa, if you ain't got no matrimonial inclinations
0:56:05 > 0:56:09# Then keep your hands to yourself
0:56:09 > 0:56:13# Daddy, if you ain't got no bungalow-made reservations
0:56:13 > 0:56:17# Son, don't let your hands be filled
0:56:17 > 0:56:22# Girl, I'm this red-hot papa you heard so much talk about
0:56:22 > 0:56:24# But this is an ice bestest woman
0:56:24 > 0:56:27# Who'll mortally put your fire out, hmmm
0:56:27 > 0:56:31# Papa, if you ain't got no matrimonial inclinations
0:56:31 > 0:56:35# Just keep your hands to yourself Doh-doh-doh
0:56:35 > 0:56:39# When I first met you I had no shoes
0:56:39 > 0:56:44# But look at me now I got these bare-footed blues
0:56:44 > 0:56:49# Papa, if you ain't got no matrimonial intentions
0:56:49 > 0:56:53# Please keep your hands to yourself Doh-doh-doh
0:57:18 > 0:57:22# Papa, if you ain't got no matrimonial inclinations
0:57:22 > 0:57:26# Please keep your hands to yourself
0:57:26 > 0:57:31# Daddy, if you ain't got no bungalow-made reservations
0:57:31 > 0:57:35# Son, don't let your hands be filled
0:57:35 > 0:57:39# Well, I'm this red-hot papa you heard so much talk about
0:57:39 > 0:57:42# But you're an ice bestest woman
0:57:42 > 0:57:44# Who'll mortally put my fire out, hmmm
0:57:44 > 0:57:49# Papa, if you ain't got no matrimonial intentions
0:57:49 > 0:57:52# Oh, death, where is that sting? #