Annotation:Milwaukee Blues

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X:1 T:Milwaukee Blues S:Odell Smith (1908-1959, North Carolina) M:C| L:1/8 Q:"Moderately Quick" R:Country Blues D:Columbia 15688-D, North Carolina Ramblers (1930) F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/milwaukee-blues Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:C e2e2 edcA|c2Ac- c4|d2B2 Gd2B|d2B2 G3c| e2e2 edcA|c2Ac- c4|EGA{B}c- cAG2|(_E=E) C2C4| [M:2/4]FGAc-|[M:C|]c8-|c(^c d2) dc A2|G8-|G6_E2-| =EGAc- cAG2|[M:2/4](_ED)C2|[M:C|]C8-|C8||

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MILWAUKEE BLUES. American, Country Blues Tune/Song (cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part.

Odell Smith, fiddle, with the Carolina Buddies, a group that also included Norman Woodlieff (seated), an original North Carolina Ramblers alumnae.

"Milwaukee Blues" was recorded in September, 1930, by Charlie Poole (1892-1931) and the North Carolina Ramblers [1] at Poole's last session. The group had undergone some personnel changes since they started recording in 1925. The fiddler at the time of the recording was Odell Smith (1908-1959), a mill worker who quit his job to record and perform with Poole. After Poole died, Smith went on to play with the Carolina Buddies, then broadcast over WMFR. In the mid-1930's he partnered with guitarist Clifton Kinny "Cliff" Clinard (1915-2001) in bands with a few iterations, particularly as the Rhythm Buddies. Clinard left for service during World War II and Smith found work as a sheet metal worker, but continued to play for dances.

The Rambler's recording was released in 1931, followed soon thereafter by another version by Ramblers guitarist Roy Harvey (with Jess Johnson on vocals), under the pseudonym 'John Martin'. Whether Poole or Harvey wrote "Milwaukee Blues" is open to question. Norm Cohen points out that Harvey worked on the railroads for most of his life (he was the youngest engineer on the Virginian Railway, at age 22) and brought several railroad songs to the Ramblers, including "Bill Mason" and "The Wreck of the Virginian Number Three." Poole himself was no stranger to railroads and lived a peripatetic lifestyle, and could have picked up the basics of "Milwaukee Blues" in his travels. Cohen believes the song derives from a 'tangle' of songs that deals with hoboes and wanderers; he writes:

Charlie Poole, Jr., stated his father wrote "Milwaukee Blues" and among Poole's scrapbooks was a sheet of song titles including "Milwaukee Blues", with the notation "by C.P." In one sense, then, it probably was "his" song, although he was not its author, as modern readers understand the term. More to the point, the title "Milwaukee Blues" is pencilled in alongside a crossed-out title, "Hobo Jones," which more firmly identifies the piece with its true relatives.

The words to the song go:

One Tuesday morning and it looked like rain
Around the curve come a passenger train
On the blind sat old Bill Jones
A good old hobo and he's trying to get home
Trying to get home, he's trying to get home
He's a good old hobo and he's trying to get home

Way down in Georgia on a tramp
The roads are getting muddy and the leaves are getting damp
I've got to catch a freight train and leave this town
Cause they don't allow no hobos a-hanging around
Hanging around, yes, a-hanging around
Cause they don't allow no hobos a-hanging around

I left Atlanta one morning before day
The brakeman said, "You'll have to pay"
Got no money but I'll pawn my shoes
I want to go west, I got the Milwaukee blues
Got the Milwaukee blues, got the Milwaukee blues
I want to go west, I got the Milwaukee blues

Old Bill Jones said before he died
"Fix the roads so the 'bos can ride
When they ride they will ride the rods
Put all their trust in the hands of God
In the hands of God, in the hands of God
They'll put all their trust in the hands of God"

Old Bill Jones said before he died
There's two more roads he'd like to ride
Fireman said "What can it be?"
"Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe
Santa Fe, yes, Santa Fe
Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe"