Message Board Archive: Thread Number 34

Does anybody know if the "LAST KIND WORD BLUES" by GEECHIE WILEY & ELVIE
THOMAS is available as a recording someplace? Thanks, GC

Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 19:15:40 -0400
From: ari@secondmind.com (Ari Eisinger)
Subject: Feedback: Last Kind Words Blues
Message Number: 34.1

"Last Kind Words Blues" by Geechie Wiley and Elvie Thomas is on
_Mississippi Girls_, a CD on the Story of Blues label. The catalog
number is CD 3515-2. It's also on one of the Document CDs and, I
believe, on the soundtrack album from the move _Crumb_. What a beautiful
record!
The _Mississippi Girls_ CD has the complete recordings of Wiley and
Thomas as well as of Mattie Delaney. Both are scrumptious. I must warn
you, though, that some of the Rosie Mae Moore tunes on this album are,
shall we say, not ones I'd rush out to buy.

Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 07:47:55 -0400
From: rob@hub.org (Rob Hutten)
Subject: Last Kind Words Blues
Message Number: 34.1.1

Ari wrote:

    "Last Kind Words Blues" by Geechie Wiley and Elvie Thomas is on
    _Mississippi Girls_, a CD on the Story of Blues label. The
    catalog number is CD 3515-2. It's also on one of the Document
    CDs and, I believe, on the soundtrack album from the move
    _Crumb_. What a beautiful record!

It's also on one of the newish Yazoo "Before The Blues" discs, which are
very much worth seeking out. Last Kind Words is indeed an incredible
song. I do a version with modified lyrics (sorry Greg!) and I even add a
chord (horrors!). It's been a while since I've heard the Wiley's
recording, but I think she sticks to the Em, Am and B7 chords. I toss a
G in there somewhere.

Are there any theories as to where the heck this song came from? It's
unlike any Mississippi music I've heard from that period, black or
white.

    The _Mississippi Girls_ CD has the complete recordings of Wiley
    and Thomas as well as of Mattie Delaney. Both are scrumptious. I
    must warn you, though, that some of the Rosie Mae Moore tunes on
    this album are, shall we say, not ones I'd rush out to buy.

Moore had an atrociously shrill voice, but she was accompanied by the
wonderful Ishmon Bracey on one of her recordings, namely Stranger Blues
from the Ishmon Bracey & Charley Taylor disc on Document. I'm a big fan
of Bracey, but I still have to skip over this track... -Rob

Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 23:29:30 -0400
From: ari@secondmind.com (Ari Eisinger)
Subject: Yazoo sound quality breakthrough?
Message Number: 34.1.1.1

Speaking of the _Before the Blues_ series on Yazoo, has anyone
else noticed what appears to me to be a major breakthrough in
sound quality on some of the recent Yazoos? I'm not positive
because lately I've been listening to my CDs on bad equipment,
but it seems to me that the recent Yazoos sound incomparably
better than almost all previous reissues of 78s. They have very little
surface noise, but don't sound muted either as most of the Columbia
reissues do. The Yazoo recordings finally sound just like an actual
person playing and singing! ;)
I've noticed this improvement on the _Before the Blues_ series, and also
on _Memphis Masters_.
One other stellar remastering job is on the _Moanin' All Over_
Blind Lemon Jefferson CD on the Tradition label. Since Blind
Lemon seems to have been massacred in terms of sound quality more than
anyone else I've heard, it's important to do good
remastering. The sound quality here is not good, but it is
better than I've heard elsewhere. You can hear alot of what
Blind Lemon is doing that you can't hear on other reissues. I'm not
crazy about the choice of songs or the low number of songs on the album,
but, MAN it sounds good! I wish someone would do the same thing with his
entire output. He's my hero.

Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 09:37:43 -0400
From: ari@secondmind.com (Ari Eisinger)
Subject: More: _Moanin' All Over_ engineer
Message Number: 34.1.1.1.1

Since I posted the above message, I found out that the engineer on the
aforementioned amazing Blind Lemon Jefferson reissue CD _Moanin' All
Over_ is named Seth Winner. Way to go, Seth!

Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 18:20:52 -0400
From: secmuse@cris.com (the curator)
Subject: Feedback: on sound
Message Number: 34.1.1.1.2

richard nevins is single-handedly responsible for the newer analog to
digital transfer breakthroughs that you've been enjoying,via a careful
ear & painstaking attention to details.along with the process that
brings forth the music in a totally natural way,super-charged converters
are used, minimal eq if any,perfect tracking,and the elimination of a
step-process which allows a closer generation to the master (an often
dangerous undertaking as the parts used are extra- prone to damage). you
must also realize that yazoo cds have far more information on them than
is the norm;home-player type a/d converters in
your(non-professional)playback equiptment never reaches the optimum.as
the quality of home-machine technology advances,more musical
information(enjoyment)lies in waiting for us all.yazoo has literally
searched the world for the best copies of the actual sound documents,and
sonically,all the lps are now in the process of truly becoming
obsolete.the fear amoung the icon grabbers(78 collectors themselves)is
that the yazoos often replace the need to listen to the actual 78. with
proper playback,it's quite obvious that even a new 78 will not reflect
all the work that richard had put into the digital product.this is a
hard pill to swallow for the bellyachin' purists,but we've reached the
point now where the old arguments no longer apply as to sound
quality(used to be=l.p. vs. original).this is the essence of
preservation. this also,on the other hand,does NOT apply to other sexy
remastering projects by the bigshots,where the music & noise is pushed
into the background with lots of digital magic tricks.rarely are these
successful in conveying the true character of the original performance.
pvc

Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 17:47:23 -0400
From: ari@secondmind.com (Ari Eisinger)
Subject: Feedback: Last Kind Words Blues
Message Number: 34.1.1.2

Rob mentioned that "Last Kind Words Blues" is on one of the CDs in the
"Before the Blues" series on Yazoo. It turns out to be Volume 2 (catalog
number 2016). I'm so impressed with the sound quality on the new Yazoo
reissues!

Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 07:47:15 -0400
From: rob@hub.org (Rob Hutten)
Subject: Last Kind Words - Lyrics
Message Number: 34.1.1.3

Gary Crouth asked me to post the lyrics to this song. Here's my best
stab at a direct transcription. The [...] sections are where my ears
failed me...

Last Kind Words
Geechie Wiley

The last kind words I heard my daddy say
Lord, the last kind words I heard my daddy say
 
If I die, if I die in the German war
I want you to send my body, send it to my mother-in-law
 
If I get killed, if I get killed, pleae don't bury my soul
I [...] just leave me out, let the buzzards eat me whole

When you see me comin', look 'cross the rich man's field
If I don't bring you flowers, I'll bring you [...] 
 
I went to the depot, I looked up at the sun
Cried, some train don't come, gonna be some walkin' done
 
My mama told me, just before she died
Lord,  [...] daughter, don't you be so wild...
 
The Mississippi river, you know it's deep and wide
I can stand right here, see my [face?] from the other side
 
What you do to me baby it never [....] outta me
I may not be after [...]

Here's the version I worked out. I dropped some verses and added others
stolen from other sources.

    Am                               G
The last kind words I heard my daddy say 
                      B7             Em
The last kind words I heard my daddy say

If I die, if I die, son, in the German war
Want you to send my body back to my mother-in-law

If I'm killed, If I'm killed, don't bury me at all
just let my body lie, let the buzzards eat me whole

The Mississippi river runs long, deep and wide
I'm standing here but you're on the Arkansas side

The woman I hate, I see her every day
but the woman I love, she's so far away

My momma raised me reckless, daddy died and left me wild
I ain't good lookin' but I'm some woman's angel child...