DELiA'S GONE: A letter from Mr. Johnson

Rick,

When I helped Porkchop make Fry Pharmacy, we paid royalties to Johnny Cash for Delia's Gone. Now, I realize it's a much older tune.  I haven't done a huge amount of research on it, but it may all come from Alphonso "Blind Blake" Blake Higgs.  I have a Josh White songbook that says Josh started playing it in 1939. Youtube has several other covers. Thought you might enjoy Alphonso's version recorded in the 50's.

Chris

Mark "Porkchop" Holder @ MySpace // Facebook 

Some low-down non-triflin' versions of Delia: 

Blind Blake mp3 // Mark "porkchop" Holder mp3 // Ben Nichols mp3 // 
Waylon mp3 // Ron Wood mp3 // Blind Willie McTell mp3

A singer and leader of the house band at the Royal Victoria Hotel in Nassau, Bahamas, Blind Blake's music was a strange mix of old island classics, more recent calypso compositions and American ballads. His musicians combined jazz guitar licks with vocal harmonies and West Indian rhythms, with the result that his recordings have an easy humour and swing that few musicians from any continent can match. Born Alphonso Blake Higgs, commonly known as 'Blind Blake', was born at Matthew Town, Inagua, Bahamas, in 1915. He was adept at string instruments - ukulele, banjo, tenor banjo, six-string guitar - and also played the piano. He lost his eyesight at the age of sixteen and kept pursuing the goal of a career in music and a unique style, a blend of folksong, calypso and early jazz. The traditional song 'Peas and Rice' featured here (almost a Bahaman national anthem) originated during the First World War when the scarcity of imported cooking fats forced the substitution of local coconut oil. And one of the oldest Bahamian songs is the tragi-comic ballad 'John B. Sail' (later adapted and performed by many artists, notoriously The Beach Boys as 'Sloop John B.' on their 'Pet Sounds' album). The 'John B.' was an old sponger boat whose crew were in the habit of getting merry whenever they reached port...His most popular song 'Love, Love Alone' ("It was love, love alone, 'cause King Edward to leave the throne") was based on the love affair of King Edward VIII with Wallis Simpson. Blind Blake wrote about sixty Goombay songs starting in the 1930s, including 'Run Come See Jerusalem', based on the effects of the 1929 Hurricane, 'Jones (Oh Jones)' and 'J. P. Morgan'. This CD is drawn from a series of recordings made in the early 1950s when his band 'The Royal Victoria Hotel Calypsos' featured Dudley Butter (guitar, maracas), Chatfield Ward (guitar), Freddie Lewis (lead guitar), George Wilson (bass fiddle), and at times Lou Adams on trumpet. The band's popularity with tourists led to them being widely heard in the US, and they became an inspiration to many folk revival musicians. Josh White and Johnny Cash covered 'Delia', Pete Seeger 'Foolish Frog', Dave Van Ronk 'Yas, Yas, Yas', and 'Run, Come See Jerusalem' was done by dozens of groups.

Alphonso (Blind) Blake Higgs version of Delia 

Delia cursed Tony

Around one Saturday night

And she cursed him such a wicked curse

That he's swear to take her life

(chorus)

Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone.

Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone

The first time Tony shot Delia

Well he shot her right in her side

The second time he shot her

She gave up the ghost and died

(chorus)

The reason why Tony shot Delia

Because she cursed him a wicked curse

And if Tony hadn't shot little Delia

Perhaps she might have cursed him worse

(chorus)

On Monday Tony was arrested

Tuesday his case was tried

The jurymen brought him down guilty

He began to rollin' his goo goo eyes

(chorus)

The judge said sixty four years in prison

Tony told the judge that is no time

I have a younger brother 

who's serving nine hundred and ninety nine

(chorus)

Tony, he is in prison

Drinking of his silver cup

While Delia she lies in the grave

Fighting her level best to get up

(chorus)

Josh White version

Delia cursed poor Tooly

Cursed him such a wicked curse

If he hadn't shot her

She'd a cursed him ten times worse

(chorus)

Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone.

Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone

The sent him for the doctor

He came all dressed in white

Done everything a doctor could do

But he couldn't save Delia's life

(chorus)

Then her mother, she came a-runnin'

All dressed in black

She cried all day and she cried all night

But she couldn't bring Delia back

(chorus)

On a Monday he was arrested

Tuesday he was tried

Jury-box found him guilty

And the verdict was to die

(chorus)

He said, "Jailer, oh Jailer,

How can I sleep?

All around my bed at night

I can hear little Delia's feet