Antedating of "Country and Western" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Eric Nielsen]

Sloppy of me. I thought this concordance gave examples of Dylan lyrics
found in Country Blues songs--which are clearly an important influence for
much of his work. I should have checked it out better.

I did find that Dylan quoted the Mississippi Sheiks' "You'll Work Down to
Me Someday" in his song "Narrow Way":

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/tempest-20120830

"....If I can't work up to you, you'll surely have to work down to me
someday."
 from the album, *Tempest*.

Years ago, I heard that Howling Wolf developed his moan and howl out of
attempts to copy Jimmie Rodgers' yodeling. If true, I'm glad he stopped at
that now classic sound he produced on *Moaning at Midnight *and *Smokestack
Lightning.*

Eric
On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 11:09 AM, Ben Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Country and Western" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Tue, Dec 11, 2012 at 6:01 AM, Eric Nielsen wrote:
> > 7 MISSISSIPPI SHEIKS: probably Bo or Lonnie Chatman (fiddle); Walter
> > Vincson (vocal, guitar)
> > San Antonio, Texas. June 12, 1930
> > 404146-B Yodeling Fiddling Blues (OKeh 8834)
> [...]
> >
> http://www.dylan61.se/michael%20taft,%20blues%20anthology.txt.WebConcordance/michael%20taft,%20blues%20anthology.txt1.htm#25664
> >
> > It seems Dylan referenced this song in one of his own.
>
> Which song was that? Even though that blues concordance is hosted on
> Lars Lindh's Bob Dylan fan site, that doesn't mean the lyrics were
> referenced in Dylan songs. Dylan did, however, cover a few other
> Mississippi Sheiks songs, like "Sittin' on Top of the World."
>
> As for "Yodeling Fiddling Blues," Francis Davis says in "The History
> of the Blues" that it was inspired by the "Blue Yodels" of Jimmie
> Rodgers.
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=3xQwHeUXqKYC&pg=PT99
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org