Clarence Ashley: “The Cuckoo” & “Little Sadie”

Folksinger Clarence “Tom” Ashley left a lasting legacy with his versions of songs like “The Cuckoo” and “Little Sadie,” influencing artists such as Bob Dylan.

Clarence Ashley was among the folk and blues singers “rediscovered” during the 1950s and 1960s. Ashley, known as “Tom,” began performing in the early 1900’s, singing and playing banjo or guitar. He played with artists such as Doc Watson and lived to see his influence on a range of singers, even sharing a stage with Bob Dylan at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival. He is known for his performances of songs such as “The Cuckoo” and “Little Sadie.”

Ashley was born in Tennessee on September 29, 1895, and he died in North Carolina on June 2, 1967. You may have first heard his voice on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music records, where one of the songs he performs is “The Coo Coo Bird.”

The song, also with other titles such as “The Cuckoo” and “The Cuckoo is a Pretty Bird,” is an English folk song. The song begins with the bird, which is often associated with spring and with infidelity, and then goes on in various versions to lament about luck in love or gambling. Ashley’s version focuses on the latter.

I’ve played cards in England;
I’ve played cards in Spain;
I’ll bet you ten dollars,
I’ll beat you next game
.

In the video below from the DVD “Legends of Old Time Music,” Ashley performs his version of “The Cuckoo.” Also, at the beginning of the clip he is interviewed about his music career. Check it out.

Another song that Ashley recorded, but with a darker tone, is “Little Sadie.” Ashley recorded the folk ballad in 1928. The singer, named Lee Brown, tells about killing a woman (in some versions his wife), fleeing, getting caught, and ultimately being sentenced by a judge: “Forty-one days and forty-one nights / Forty-one years to wear the ball and the stripes.”

Music critic Greil Marcus, writing in the liner notes for Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969-1971), noted, “There’s something horribly laconic about Ashley’s 1929 recording of “Little Sadie.” Crinklingly ominous banjo notes trace a circle in which every story goes back to its beginning and starts up again, a circle in which every act is inevitable, worthless, and meaningless, a folk nihilism long before existentialism caught on in Paris.” Below is Ashley’s version of “Little Sadie.” Check it out.

Bob Dylan recorded a version of “Little Sadie” that appeared on his Self-Portrait (1970) album. And two more versions appear on Dylan’s Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (1969-1971), which was released in 2013. On the latter album, Marcus found Dylan’s “In Search of Little Sadie” to be “a revelation.”

Marcus traces this Dylan version as the voice of a blustering killer, not caring (as in the character in Ashley’s version). But then the murderer finds fear in what may happen to himself.

In The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, author Michael Gray notes that it is most likely that Dylan’s versions of “Little Sadie” were because of his knowledge of Ashley’s recording. He also notes that Dylan would have known Ashley’s recording of “The Coo-Coo Bird” from the Anthology of American Folk Music.

Dylan’s versions of “Little Sadie” are not on Youtube, but perhaps the most famous descendant of Ashley’s song is Johnny Cash’s version of “Cocaine Blues.” Singer-songwriter T.J. “Red” Arnall wrote “Cocaine Blues” as a reworked “Little Sadie” and recorded the song in 1947. Here, Cash performs “Cocaine Blues” in 1968 at Folsom Prison.

I do not believe anyone has yet connected the subject of the folk song “Little Sadie” to a real person. Some have found evidence that the song originated in an African-American community in the South. Wherever the song came from, singers like Clarence Ashley have kept the tale alive in their own ways.

Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Steve Earle: “Dublin Blues”

    Steve Earle Guy

    Steve Earle is releasing a new album as a tribute to Texas singer-songwriter Guy Clark. The new album, Guy, will feature sixteen tracks, including the newly released single, “Dublin Blues.”

    As a big fan of guy Clark, I am excited to hear that Earle is dedicating an album to his friend. But it will be difficult to surpass the wonderful 2011 multi-artist tribute to Clark, This One’s for Him. Still, Earle’s personal connection to Clark as well as his great talent make him the perfect person to spread the word about the underappreciated singer-songwriter. Earle did a similar feat for his other mentor Townes Van Zandt with the album Townes in 2009.

    The new album will feature a number of Guy Clark’s classic songs, like “L.A. Freeway,” “The Randall Knife,” “Desperados Waiting For a Train,” and “She Ain’t Going Nowhere.” Earle recently released the first single, “Dublin Blues.” Check it out.

    Interestingly, Clark’s song “Dublin Blues” is itself a tribute to another legend, Doc Watson. And the music for the song goes back much further than that. Check out our previous post on the story behind “Dublin Blues.”

    What do you think of Earle’s cover? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Guy Clark Has Heard Doc Watson Play “Columbus Stockade Blues” (Song Within a Song)

    Dublin Blues Columbus Stockade Blues In the wonderful song “Dublin Blues,” Guy Clark sings about a lost love and his own pain. The alcoholic singer sits in Dublin with the shakes wishing he were back in Austin, drinking “Mad Dog Margaritas/ And not carin’ where you are.” The singer ask for forgiveness and recounts some of the sights he has seen, but he cannot forget the object of the song or walk away from her.

    “Dublin Blues”

    In “Dublin Blues,” the singer lists some of his travels. And Clark notes what he has seen and heard.

    I have seen the David,
    I’ve seen the Mona Lisa too,
    I have heard Doc Watson
    Play “Columbus Stockade Blues.”

    The line about “Columbus Stockade Blues” caught my ear. Songs do sometimes refer to other songs, but it is not often you hear them compared to the Mona Lisa.  Here is Guy Clark singing “Dublin Blues.”

    Why Does Clark Reference “Columbus Stockade Blues”?

    I was not sure I had heard Doc Watson play “Columbus Stockade Blues.” So I became curious about this song that Guy Clark compares to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and the Michelangelo’s David.

    “Columbus Stockade Blues” is so old that nobody knows who wrote it. An informative Grateful Dead website notes that the earliest known version is by Darby and Tarlton. On Doc Watson’s album, the song is credited to Jimmy Davis and Eva Sargent.

    Jimmy Davis, the Louisiana governor famous for “You Are My Sunshine,” made “Columbus Stockade Blues” popular in the 1940s. But it is the Doc Watson version that haunted Guy Clark so much that he cited it in “Dublin Blues.”

    What is interesting about Guy Clark’s tribute to “Columbus Stockade Blues” is that Watson’s song has the same theme as Guy Clark’s song that references it. Those unfamiliar with the Watson song, however, will miss the connection because the title does not give it away.

    As in “Dublin Blues,” the song “Columbus Stockade Blues” begins with the singer wishing he were somewhere else, as he sits in Columbus, Georgia wishing he was “back in Tennessee.” He recounts that he thought the woman would love him forever, but he recognizes the woman loves another. Broken-hearted, he tells her to go ahead and “Leave me, little darling, I don’t mind.” But we know he does mind.

    The real difference between Watson’s song and Clark’s song comes where we find out the reason for the title, “Columbus Stockade Blues.” Watson’s singer is in prison.

    Last night as I lay sleeping,
    Oh, I dreamd that I was you in my arms;
    When I woke I was mistaken;
    Lord, I was still behind these bars.

    Inspiration for “Dublin Blues” from “Handsome Molly”

    “Dublin Blues” is connected to another song besides “Columbus Stockade Blues.”  Singer-songwriter Tom Russell has noted that “Dublin Blues” has its origins in a song called “Handsome Molly,” written by fiddle player D.B. Grayson, who was born in 1887.

    Like “Dublin Blues” and “Columbus Stockade Blues,” the song “Handsome Molly” is about heartache.  It begins in a similar way to “Dublin Blues” with the singer wishing he were somewhere else. “Well, I wish I was in London,/ Or some other seaport town.” The sound of “Dublin Blues” is similar to “Handsome Molly,” although Clark slows it down to emphasize the agony of the heartbreak.

    Clark possibly was inspired to use the tune from “Handsome Molly” because Watson recorded a famous version of “Handsome Molly.”  Thus, Clark’s “Dublin Blues” is doubly connected to Watson, referencing a Watson song while using music from another song connected to Watson.  Here is Watson playing “Handsome Molly.”

    Both Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger have recorded “Handsome Molly.” Below is Dylan’s version of “Handsome Molly.”

    Conclusion

    Ultimately, Clark’s song “Dublin Blues” is a nice tribute to Watson, who passed away in 2012. Clark honors Watson and the traditional song by comparing “Columbus Stockade Blues” to great works of art while incorporating much of the storyline into his own song.

    Clark’s singer sits in Dublin outside the penitentiary, but he remains locked in his own prison of alcoholism, sorrow, and regret. These are two great songs about lost love and the destruction that may result from a broken heart.

    And they are both great works of art.

    What is your favorite song that mentions another song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    “I’ll Fly Away” and the Prisoner

    Albert BrumleyOn October 9, 2013, the state of Arizona executed the 71-year-old Edward H. Schad, Jr. by lethal injection in Florence, Arizona. Schad, the oldest person on the state’s death row, had been convicted of killing a man during a robbery almost 35 years earlier.

    The warden asked Schad if he had any last words. And the inmate responded, “Well, after 34 years, I’m free to fly away home. Thank you, warden. Those are my last words.”

    The Song That Inspired the Last Words

    Reverend Ronald Koplitz, who was Schad’s pastor and who met the prisoner in 1981 while serving as prison chaplain, explained that the last words were a reference to the hymn “I’ll Fly Away.” Rev. Koplitz had become friends with Schad and kept in touch with him after his time as prison chaplain.

    Rev. Koplitz gave Schad the song “I’ll Fly Away” a few weeks before the execution.  And apparently, Schad felt a connection to the song.

    “I’ll Fly Away”

    The song that gave some comfort to the prisoner in his final moments before being killed goes back to 1929.  In that year, Albert E. Brumley wrote “I’ll Fly Away.” The wonderful hymn, about eternal life and flying away “to that home on God’s celestial shore,” is one of the most popular gospel songs of all time.

    There are a number of great versions of “I’ll Fly Away.” The song has appeared in several movies, including in nice a version by Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). Doc Watson played an instrumental version of “I’ll Fly Away” in his last public performance.  And the song appeared in The Waltons.

    Here is a great live version by Gillian Welch.

    “The Prisoner” Inspired the Song that Inspired a Prisoner

    When Schad referenced the song on the death gurney in Arizona, he likely did not know that his invocation of the song inside prison walls sort of brought the hymn home. When Brumley began writing the song while picking cotton, he was inspired by a song called “The Prisoner’s Song.”

    Brumley thought about that song regarding a prisoner thinking of leaving his love behind.  And he used a brilliant analogy using prison to represent life on earth.

    Brumley was inspired by specific lyrics in “The Prisoner’s Song.” The line “Now, if I had the wings of an angel,/Over these prison walls I would fly” led to Brumley’s theme about flying away.

    In this video, Johnny Cash sings “The Prisoner’s Song” on a January 20, 1971 episode of his TV show.

    During the introduction, Cash refers to the popularity of “The Prisoner’s Song.” Vernon Dalhart initially recorded the song in 1924 as a B-side to his version of “The Wreck of the Old 97.” “The Prisoner’s Song,” which likely was written by Dalhart’s cousin Guy Massey and/or Guy’s brother Robert Massey, became a big hit for Dalhart.

    In “I’ll Fly Away,” Brumley also retained the prison theme, using it as representing life on earth: “Like a bird from these prison walls I’ll fly.” It is not hard to see how Brumley’s wonderful song might bring some comfort to someone like Schad, strapped down on the execution gurney facing certain death. Music soothes both saints and sinners.

    What is your favorite version of “I’ll Fly Aawy”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Doc Watson: “John Hardy”

    Essential Doc Watson Musician Doc Watson passed away on May 29, 2012 at the age of 89 following complications from abdominal surgery. Watson, who went blind at the age of one, influenced many musicians with his flatpicking style of playing the guitar.

    In this clip from a documentary about Earl Scruggs, Watson and Scruggs play the song “John Hardy” at Watson’s home. “John Hardy” is about a real person who killed a fellow worker at a coal camp and then was hanged in January 1894.

    Before Hardy’s hanging, he was remorseful and allegedly composed the ballad in his jail cell and sang it on the scaffold. Woody Guthrie used the music from “John Henry” for one of his own classic songs.

    Earl Scruggs passed away earlier in 2012 in March. Unfortunately we will not hear the likes of Watson and Scruggs playing together again. At least in this world.

    What is your favorite Doc Watson performance? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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