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Generic verses
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Generic verses |
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Subject: Generic verses From: PHJim Date: 09 Feb 16 - 04:44 PM At a jam the other night, I noticed folks singing songs I'd never heard before with verses that I've heard many times in other songs and even in other genres: "Got a pocket full of nickels and a hand full of dimes, Got a house full of children; ain't none of 'em mine." "If you don't like my peaches, Baby don'tcha shake my tree. Get outa my orchard and let my peaches be." "I've got a woman, she's so tall, She sleeps in the kitchen with her feet in the hall." Any more of these generic verses? And where have you heard them? |
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Subject: RE: Generic verses From: Steve Gardham Date: 09 Feb 16 - 05:35 PM In academic circles they're usually called 'commonplaces' and on the folk scene they have come to be known as 'floating verses'. They have been around a long time, not necessarily the ones you quote, but as a phenomenon, probably before print, certainly the 17th century. |
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Subject: RE: Generic verses From: Steve Gardham Date: 09 Feb 16 - 05:37 PM Try putting both of those into the search facility and if that doesn't turn up what you want try Googling them. Here's a starter 'If I had the wings..........' |
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Subject: RE: Generic verses From: MGM·Lion Date: 09 Feb 16 - 06:01 PM Some of these floaters are very striking poetry. As I have often remarked, here & elsewhere, the Came to riverside ... Belly & swam ... Other side ... Heels & ran commonplace/floater is one of the best summations anywhere of an urgent journey in great haste. ≈M≈ |
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Subject: RE: Generic verses From: GUEST,wysiwyg minus cookie Date: 10 Feb 16 - 10:05 AM AKA zipper verses. I see from the examples that many have been appropriated from cultures not one's own. ;-( |
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Subject: RE: Generic verses From: PHJim Date: 10 Feb 16 - 12:15 PM I took Steve Gardham's advice and did some Googling with his guide words. Here's some interesting info: The 'peaches' verse has a long history in popular music. It appears as the chorus of an unpublished song composed by Irving Berlin in May 1914: "If you don't want my peaches / You'd better stop shaking my tree". The song "Mamma's Got the Blues", written by Clarence Williams and S. Martin and recorded by Bessie Smith in 1923, has the line: "If you don't like my peaches then let my orchard be". In her version of "St. Louis Blues", Ella Fitzgerald sang, "If you don't like my peaches, why do you shake my tree? / Stay out of my orchard, and let my peach tree be". In 1929 Blind Lemon Jefferson recorded "Peach Orchard Mama" ("... you swore nobody'd pick your fruit but me / I found three kid men shaking down your peaches free")... A bit more Googling found the words to the Irving Berlin song, not a blues: Mary Snow had a beau Who was bashful and shy She simply couldn't make the boy propose No matter how she'd try Mary grew tired of waiting So she called her beau one side While he stood there biting his fingernails Mary cried: [Refrain:] If you don't want my peaches You'd better stop shaking my tree Let me say that you're mighty slow You're as cold as an Eskimo There's a thousand others waiting Waiting to propose to me So, if you don't want my peaches You'd better stop shaking my tree" GUEST,wysiwyg minus cookie, I guess this might have been appropriated by blues singers from Irving Berlin, but he may well have gotten the line from some other blues singer. I'm sure that's where The Beatles got it for their garbled version of Carl Perkins' Matchbox. Another verse that's been used in a lot of songs is: I'm sittin' here wonderin' "Will a matchbox hold my clothes?" Yes I'm sittin' here wnderin',"Will a matchbox hold my clothes?" I ain't got so many, but I've got a long way to go. I first heard this from Lonnie Johnson and assumed it meant that he had so few clothes that they'd fit in a matchbox. For some reason, Carl Perkins thought it meant a shortage of matches and he sang: I'm sittin' here wonderin',"Will a matchbox hold my clothes?" I ain't got so many matches, but I got a long way to go. The Beatles mis heard the song and sang: I said I'm sitting here watching Matchbox hole in my clothes I said I'm sitting here wondering Matchbox hole in my clothes I ain't got no matches but I sure Got a long way to go |
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