Kokomo by The Memphis Jug Band

Alan Lomax Blues Project recording of Kokomo by The Memphis Jug Band. Original Lyrics for comparison:OLD ORIGINAL KOKOMO BLUES One and one is two, mamaTwo and two is fourYou mess around here, pretty mamaYou know you got to goCryin', oooh, baby don't you want to goBack to the Eleven Light CityTo sweet old Kokomo Now four and one is five, mamaFive and one is sixYou mess around here, pretty mamaYou're going to get me trickedCryin', oooh, baby don't you want to goBack to the Eleven Light CityTo sweet old Kokomo Now six and one is seven, mamaSeven and one is eightYou mess around here, pretty mamaYou're going to make me lateCryin', oooh, baby don't you want to goBack to the Eleven Light CityTo sweet old Kokomo Says I told you, mamaWhen you first fell across my bedYou been drinkin' your ole bad whiskeyAnd talkin' all out your headCryin', oooh, baby don't you want to goBack to the Eleven Light CityTo sweet old Kokomo I don't drink because I'm dry, mamaDon't drink because I'm blueThe reason I drink, pretty mamaI can't get along with youCryin', oooh, baby don't you want to goBack to the Eleven Light CityTo sweet old Kokomo Now eight and one is nine, mamaNine and one is tenYou mess around here, pretty mamaI'm going to take you inCryin', oooh, baby don't you want to goBack to the Eleven Light CityTo sweet old Kokomo Now ten and one is eleven, mamaEleven and one is twelveYou mess around here, pretty mamaYou going to catch a lot of hellCryin', oooh, baby don't you want to goBack to the Eleven Light CityTo sweet old Kokomo Source: Kokomo Arnold 'Blues Classics by Kokomo Arnold: Peetie Wheatstraw' Blues Classics 4. Recorded 10 September 1934 Chicago Decca De 7026. PS.Paul Oliver gives Arnold's version of the 'Eleven Light City' with reference to Arnold's only interview given to French blues historian, Jacques Demetre: Generally, they [versions of Arnold's 'Old Original'] were recorded as 'Eleven Light City Blues' and in all instances the strange phrase of 'Eleven Light City', apparently unrelated to any of the listed nicknames for towns, remained. Arnold explained the significance of the words in part to Jacques Demetre, telling him that Eleven Light City was the name of a drugstore near 35th and State where a girl with whom he was consorting was working. The store sold a brand of coffee labelled 'Koko' and it was from this, with an alliteration of his own, that he devised the phrase 'sweet Kokomo'. Mayo Williams however saw the commercial possibilities in exploiting the association of the brand name with Arnold and dubbed him 'Kokomo Arnold' for this and his subsequent records. He thought that Big Bill Broonzy's belief that he owned a grocery store stemmed from this, for in fact he never owned nor worked in one. There still remain certain problems not wholly explained by this - not least of which is the significance of Eleven Light City as a name itself, or whether in fact a brand of coffee called 'Koko' was so marketed. [Paul Oliver 'Off The Record' The Baton Press 1984 pp 105-106]

Channel: Music
Uploaded: January 13, 2008 at 7:44 am
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