Seasick Steve Folk America at the Barbican

APPLAUSE

Yee-hoo!

Mm-hmm.

Whoo!

# I got the blues so bad it hurt my feet to walk

# I got the blues so bad it hurt my feet to walk

# Would not feel so bad but it hurt my tongue to talk

# Some folk said a worried blues ain't tough

# Some folk said a worried blues ain't tough

# But it might not kill ya

#But it handle you mighty rough

# I'm gonna jump through the keyhole in your door

# I'm gonna jump right through the keyhole in your door

# Jump so fast your old man'll never know

# Hitch up my buggy Saddle my black mare

# Hitch up my buggy Saddle my black mare

# Gonna find my woman on the road somewhere

# She caught the rumblin'

# I caught the fallin' down

# She caught the rumblin'

# And I caught the fallin' down

# Turn my back and never look around

# And I never look around

# And I never look around. #

APPLAUSE

An old boy, Furry Lewis, he wrote that tune

and I was playing on the street one time

and someone took me to meet Furry up in a little apartment.

I think he made that, like, in the Twenties, all accounts.

Ah...

In the 1920s, the levee broke on the Mississippi River

and so there was lots of work to be done

once they got the flood waters down.

And, you know, really...

Lots of people worked on the levee, building the levees up,

they're just banks of dirt to hold the water in.

So, lots of songs was written around that time

about the hard work on the levee.

I heard Fred McDowell do this tune,

a long time ago,

it's called Levee Camp Blues.

# Yeah, I worked on the levee, baby

# Till I went stone blind

# Baby, you ain't gonna do me

# Oh Lord, like you done poor Shine

# Yeah, I took your money, baby

# Yeah, I declare you won't take mine

# I'm a long line skinner, baby

# Oh Lord, I got the shortest life

# Yeah, I'm a long line skinner, baby

# Yeah, I swear I've got the shortest life

# How can I drive him?

# Mule gone stone blind

# Yeah, I worked old Lou

# Oh Lord, yeah, I work old Belle

# Yeah, I worked old Lou

# Yeah, I swear I work old Belle

# I cannot find

# A mule with a shoulder well... #

Come on, boy.

# My captain got a wall to bury

# Whoa Lord, he can't keep time

# Yeah, my captain got a wall to bury

# Yeah, I swear he can't keep no time

# How can I drive him?

# Mule gone stone blind

# Mule gone stone blind

# Mule gone stone blind

# How can I drive him?

# How can I drive him? #

APPLAUSE

Where's Dan at?

Goddarnit, can't even find a drummer when you need one!

LAUGHTER

There he comes - Dan Magnusson!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Y'all remember Animal on The Muppet Show?

-LAUGHTER

-Yeah!

That's all I'm gonna say.

LAUGHTER AND WHISTLING

A lot of boys rode the trains in the Depression,

they didn't do it for fun, exactly, you know.

I think at the height of the Depression there was two...

two or three hundred thousand people riding trains.

Just movin',

trying to find some work and going here and there and such.

But I didn't know nothin' about that,

so when I was a young man, I rode trains,

I didn't know it had gone out of fashion.

LAUGHTER

HE LAUGHS

And, er...

There was a place down in Memphis...

..there's a yard there called Johnston Yard

and where the yard narrows down...

A yard is a martialling yard, where all the trains are put together

to go wherever they're goin'

and then it narrows down to what's called the neck of the yard.

And going east,

out of Johnston Yard in Memphis,

there's a place called Prospect Crossover.

It's got lots of trees, kinda bushes and stuff there.

And the train usually has to stop there,

cos they got a switcherman who gotta...

They got trains comin' in and out,

so if you're afraid to jump on a train when it's movin',

which I am,

this is a good place to get on a train.

I just gave you a hint.

If you ever feel like jumpin' on a train...

LAUGHTER

Prospect Crossover off of Mallory,

Neck, Johnston Yard.

That's all I'm gonna say.

Cos it's illegal.

# Whoa, waiting for the train

# Today, yesterday, just the same

# Whoa, waiting for a train

# Down at the end of Prospect Lane... #

Have mercy now.

# I got my ear down to the ground

# Listenin' for that rumblin' sound

# Deliver me from this town

# Today I'm gonna be homeward bound

# Hoo-hoo

# Hoo-hoo

# Hoo-hoo... #

I'm gonna get you now.

Yeah!

# I got my ear down to the ground

# Listenin' for that rumblin' sound

# Deliver me from this town Today I'm gonna be homeward bound

# Hoo-hoo

# Hoo-woo-hoo

# Hoo-woo-hoo

# Whoa, waitin' for the train

# Today, yesterday, just the same

# Whoa, waitin' for the train

# Down at the end of Prospect Lane... #

Come on, now!

Well...

# Down at the end of Prospect Lane

# Waitin' for the train

# Waitin' for the train. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I'm gonna get naked now.

LAUGHTER

Down in the South,

they got this nasty little bug called a chigger.

Chigger live in the high grass.

And you get in the high grass and the chigger jump on you

and the momma leave a little baby on your leg.

And the baby...

Momma jump off and the baby chew on you for a few days.

And then the baby leave you.

And then you gonna know about something called itchin'.

HE LAUGHS

This ain't no mosquito bite,

this is something you're gonna have for weeks.

You'll be like...

You get little sores all over you, nasty.

So, this song is gonna teach you what to do

if you get into chigger territory.

And if you don't listen, don't blame me, that's all I wanna say.

LAUGHTER

# Leave me alone, little chiggers

# Don't lay your babies on my leg

# Leave me alone, little chiggers

# Of this one thing, the Lord I beg

# Hear me beg, y'all

# Hear me beg, y'all

# I wear my socks up to my knees

# They still make a motel out of me

# They come when it hot and it muggy

# It's so unfair, can't you see?

# Can't you see, y'all?

# Can't you see, y'all... #

Hoh!

HE GRUNTS

# I wear my socks up to my knees

# They still make a motel out of me

# They come when it hot and it muggy

# It's so unfair, can't you see?

# Can't you see, y'all?

# Can't you see, y'all?

# Can't you see...y'all... #

CHEERING

So, if you ever get yourself down in the South in the summertime,

maybe the high grass,

that's chigger territory.

So, this is what you gotta do.

When you get home,

take off all your clothes!

Especially your socks!

Then you put 'em in the washing machine.

On the hottest cycle you got.

The lobster cycle.

Then, when you're all naked...

I'm just picturin' that now.

LAUGHTER

I think I got it.

..you put yourself in the bathtub.

On the hottest you can stand it.

Lobster cycle!

Cos hot water the only thing known to kill the chiggers!

And that's only if you're lucky.

And if you're really lucky

and I mean really lucky...

# They won't eat you alive, yeah

# They won't eat you alive

# They won't eat you alive

# I wear my socks up to my knees

# They still make a motel out of me

# They come when it hot and it muggy

# It's so unfair, can't you see?

# Can't you see, y'all?

# Can't you see, y'all?

# Can't you see, y'all?

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Oh, no.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE # I wear my socks up to my knees

# They still make a motel out of me

# They come when it hot and it muggy

# It's so unfair, can't you see?

# Can't you see, y'all?

# Can't you see, y'all? #

Yeah!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Subtitles by Mark Corrigan Red Bee Media Ltd

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