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

Mark Porkchop Holder - Fry Pharmacy

"The blues is a religion. You can hear it and feel just like you feel in church. Your head will bow, your eyes will close, hair will stand up on your arm. I can play it. I can make you feel it. I can. I was born in the country and raised up in town. I'm natural born able to shake'em on down."
- Mark Porkchop Holder

Mark Porkshop Holder has just released his second album and it's a wicked simple sample of the big man's skills. Holder, former guitarist for the Black Diamond Heavies, has flown under the blues radar for too long and that's a damn shame because he's one of the finest guitarists out there. But hell a brother has to work for a living, right? Maybe the thing I dig most about Porkchop is he brings the sound of menace back to the blues. Case in point his super creepy evol cover of Robt. Johnson's Me & The Devil (thoughtfully chosen as track 13). Hell, i'd pay ten bucks just to hear Porkchop's guitar solo on this track! I've always dug Charlie Patton over Johnson but this may have me digging that Johnson box out again (he covers Johnson's Possession too). Speaking of Patton, Porchop drives the mans Stone Pony right back to Natchez where it belongs. Porkchop lays his slide down slow, loose and heavy on Johnny Cash's Delia and makes it even more mournful. But this album ain't all about covers. Holder's own works shine bright as well. Captain Captain is a work gang song that shows not only Holder's slide skills but his formidable harp chops as well. Dissappearing is an end of life heartbreaker. The guitar solo at the ends juxtaposes the traditional with a moving almost sitar-like sound. The short instrumental jam Wisconsin Johnson is a thrill ride homage to Deep Blues Festival bossman Chris Johnson. The set ends beautifully with his working of Mr.Blind Willie Johnson's Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed. Brother Holder I do not doubt that He will. Mark Porkchop Holder knows these songs and he embodies them. This is a simple well made recording of a man playing blues slide guitar, harp, and tambourine stomp box yet it has an emotional content and power that most full band blues recordings fail to realize. Each of the tracks here, be they slow, short or long, contain an undercurrent of urgency and drive and dark soulfullness that connects us, that we crave to make us more alive. Hell of a job by a hell of a man.

HEY! YOU! Porkchop can use your help. Currently in hospital for the next several weeks recovering from major surgery on his leg, though he has some insurance, he will need a major cash infusion to pay his share of the bill. If you can spare a measley ten bucks (hell you probably spend close to that on lunch!) Please Buy His CD! Better yet buy two and give one to a friend. You can Buy His CD from his secure MySpace page HERE! Thank You!

Mark Porkchop Holder @ Myspace

Mark Porkchop Holder - Fry Pharmacy - My Whole Life - MP3
Mark Porkchop Holder - Fry Pharmacy - Me and The Devil - MP3

Mark's first album My Black Name is available at CD Baby

My Black Name MP3

Coffin Lid MP3