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tom, i did a little research on those two songs you don’t have on your list. didn’t find anything about “duck and dive” (there’s a possibility that it’s not the real title after all, since it’s listed on that site with a interrogation point), but regarding “that’s how i got to memphis”, take a look at this:
http://www.mail-archive.com/postcard2@u.washington.edu/msg03010.html
Longtime Chicagoan Mark Linn got an introduction to Hall in the
early 90s, when he caught a performance of his “That’s How I Got to
Memphis” by Lucinda Williams in Baltimore.Kelly Willis nails “That’s How I
Got to Memphis”–the last track commissioned since, Linn admits, he’d
held the tune for Lucinda Williams, who had promised to contribute and
whose father, poet Miller Williams, is friends with Hall. (Williams was
busy recording her notoriously perfect record, Car Wheels on a Gravel
Road.)the song is listed on the album “ballad of 40 dollars”, released in 1969: http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/tom_t__hall/ballad_of_forty_dollars/
Wow, well this mystery continues even further. I found these credits on ” That’s How I Got To Memphis’ here. Something is just not kosher unless I’m not following along correctly.
http://www.cowboylyrics.com/tabs/miller-buddy/thats-how-i-got-to-memphis-3669.html
Recorded by Buddy Miller’
Written by Tom T. Hall ????
Gurf Morlix contributed on guitar.
Several videos on YouTube of “That’s How I Got To Memphis.” This one credits Tom T. Hall as well. It seems to me as though Lucinda has been ripped off in a major way!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18Ao4XfcXhk
Tom T. Hall:
i think this indicates that lucinda may have just covered the song on that show (kut-fm, austin, 86), just as she did on this early 90s baltimore gig that the article i previously posted indicates.
i mean, we would have to listen to it and compare with the lyrics to be 100% sure, but to my mind it’s quite clear that the song was written by tom t. hall and covered by lucinda, buddy miller, deryl dodd et al.
perhaps that’s the reason why this song is not on tom’s list.
@Lefty wrote:
Congratulations, TO, on “Post of the Year” (imho). Great stuff!
Indeed. Also, thanks to all Friendly Forum members who have contributed to this fascinating “archeological dig.”
More & more, I am seeing the justification for a box set of unreleased songs & alternate takes of released songs! (Hint, hint! 😉 )
Tom
Just a couple of months ago we were starving for new info on the Friendly Forum, now we are overwhelmed. 2010 is going to be another banner year for Lucinda material. Thanks TOverby for all that and for looking into “The Lost Songs” and Lefty says it all.
@Lefty wrote:Congratulations, TO, on “Post of the Year” (imho). Great stuff!
Anyway some info on two of the songs- Full Moon and Letters as written by the “Queen Bee” herself.
QUOTE:
There’s one from the early Nineties, “Well Well Well,” that was on the demos for Sweet Old World and never made it on that record. What prompted me to go back and review my songs was Laura Cantrell coming out with “Letters.” That was written in the late Seventies, when I was living in Houston, or maybe right after I left there. A mutual friend gave her an old demo tape. Lo and behold, Laura ended up putting it on her record. I heard it and went, “Oh my God!” I never thought that song would see the light of day, but the fact that she heard something in it ….
A lot of my early stuff I feel like I’ve outgrown. It’s not as developed as my later stuff, not as sophisticated.
One time I was in a bar in Devil’s Corner in Nashville, and Nanci Griffith was in there. She said: “I just love that song ‘Full Moon.’ That’s my favorite song by you.” I said, “You’ve got to be kidding.” I didn’t take stuff like that seriously until Laura Cantrell did “Letters,” and I went, “Holy shit, maybe I should take a closer look at these.”
END QUOTE:
Here is the full article from the Austin Chronicle Feb. 20, 2009 ( probably a re-post?)http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A744017
The song “Duck and Dive?” could prove to be more challenging to investigate (as was this version of “Blue”)as punchdrunklove put it.
The only Google matching it is a Native American song for a Pow Wow.
Thanks again TOM for all this good stuff.
lwj@punchdrunklove wrote:
i think this indicates that lucinda may have just covered the song on that show (kut-fm, austin, 86), just as she did on this early 90s baltimore gig that the article i previously posted indicates.
i mean, we would have to listen to it and compare with the lyrics to be 100% sure, but to my mind it’s quite clear that the song was written by tom t. hall and covered by lucinda, buddy miller, deryl dodd et al.
perhaps that’s the reason why this song is not on tom’s list.
I do believe you are correct. It was very late last night / early this morning while I was searching. I was only finding the song, the youtubes and such, with credits dated from the 90’s. I thought it might be a Lucinda song from the blog you posted AND the KUT On Air which was in 1984. HOWEVER, I finally found this greatest hits record of Tom T. Hall dated 1972 with “That’s How I Got To Memphis.”
Apologies to Tom T. Hall for calling him a thief. 😳 😆
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/tom-t-hall-greatest-hits-vol-1/id15037600
And, may I add…
QUOTE: “A lot of my early stuff I feel like I’ve outgrown. It’s not as developed as my later stuff, not as sophisticated.
One time I was in a bar in Devil’s Corner in Nashville, and Nanci Griffith was in there. She said: “I just love that song ‘Full Moon.’ That’s my favorite song by you.” I said, “You’ve got to be kidding.” I didn’t take stuff like that seriously until Laura Cantrell did “Letters,” and I went, “Holy shit, maybe I should take a closer look at these.” END QUOTE
…had John Mellencamp never covered “Lafayette” I seriously doubt I would have ever found Lucinda.
oh, what an honor to be complimented by nanci griffith. she has an amazing album “other voices, other rooms” that, besides the very strong selection of songs and artists, makes particularly clear how beautifully/respectfully she approaches to material by others (the album features 17 cover songs). not that it was needed, but now it’s 100% safe to assume that “full moon” is more than ever a hidden jewel.
I asked Lucinda last night about “That’s How I Got To Memphis” and Duckin’ & Divin’. THIGTM is indeed a Tom T Hall song, and D & D is actually called Duckin’ & Dodgin’ and is from an old LP she had called Louisiana Penitentiary Songs. I think there is something else from that record that she has done also, because I recall her brining it up before. She says she still has it but we haven’t unboxed all of her LP’s yet.
Full Moon and Ramon are songs that goes back to her days in Houston and the Anderson Fair scene, which is where the connection to Nancy Griffith and Lyle Lovett among others, comes from. There was a documentary made about Anderson Fair a couple years ago, as of now it’s not available for purchase but a trailer can be seen here: http://www.andersonfairthemovie.com/trailer.html
Lucinda not only participated in the doc but the creators of the movie came up with what is probably the oldest footage of Lucinda performing -I think she said it was around 1976. She is performing on a local Houston public TV show (in black and white) and if I recall she is doing Ramon-there is only a few seconds of it but it is quite…well, no other word for it, precious.
I believe we have now acquired the entire piece of footage which I have not yet seen, but at some point we’ll find a place for it.ramon… this one was off my radar.
tom, can you tell us anything about “how it feels” and “don’t kid yourself” – they’re the other two from that show about which we know nothing about.
D & D is actually called Duckin’ & Dodgin’ and is from an old LP she had called Louisiana Penitentiary Songs.
she was planning on releasing it? is this somewhat related to or inspired by that show (don’t know if it was more than one) lucinda performed with her father at a penitentiary in arkansas in the late 70s? maybe concrete and barbed wire (“somewhere in louisiana, my sugar’s doing time”) is from this period, especially now that we know that it was written before 1986…
“How It Feels” is an attempted songwriting collaboration with Jim Lauderdale that was never recorded by either of them (or anybody else) and is just one of those songs that was never quite born. The lyrics for it were in the aforementioned folder with all of the other recently discovered songs. “Don’t Kid Yourself” is a Lucinda song that appears to be from 1984. No immediate plans to release any of this -in fact, technically. as of right now most of these songs exist on paper only. The cassettes that these songs exist on have to be found, although if I recall correctly there is a plastic tub of cassettes in the storage space where keep all of the road gear, and I would guess that those cassettes will contain many of the songs being discussed and more. I’m adding that to my to-do list.
@TOverby wrote:
I asked Lucinda last night about “That’s How I Got To Memphis” and Duckin’ & Divin’. THIGTM is indeed a Tom T Hall song, and D & D is actually called Duckin’ & Dodgin’ and is from an old LP she had called Louisiana Penitentiary Songs.
Found this re: Duckin’ & Dodgin’
Sung by Mathew “Hogman” Maxey
Angola Prisoners’ Blues (Louisiana Folklore Society/Arhoolie)
Folklorist Dr. Harry Oster used the tool room of the Louisiana state penitentiary at Angola to record Angola Prisoners’ Blues in 1959. Of the three guitar-playing convicts featured on this LP — Robert “Guitar” Welch, Matthew “Hogman” Maxey and Robert Pete Williams — it was Welch (born in Memphis in 1896) who was hailed by the prison population as “King of the Blues.
The song is on this album.
Duckin’ And Dodgin’
sung by Hogman Maxey
From the Album Blues From The Big House and other album titles all available on Amazon.
And, now have a listen to this old blues song courtesy of You Tube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4ZqJxxIfZo&feature=youtube_gdata
lwj
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