I'm Alabama Bound

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"I'm Alabama Bound"
Music by	Robert Hoffman
Published	1909
Language	English
Form	Ragtime

"I'm Alabama Bound" is a ragtime melody composed by Robert Hoffman in 1909. Hoffman "respectfully" dedicated it to one M. T. Scarlata.^[1] The cover of its first edition (published by Robert Ebberman, New Orleans, 1909) advertises the music as "Also Known As The Alabama Blues" which has led some to suspect it of being one of the first blues songs. However, as written, it is an up-tempo rag (Rag Time Two Step) with no associated lyrics.

It has been recorded numerous times in different styles—both written and in sound recordings—with a number of different sets of lyrics.

Two recording artists claimed composing credits for the tune under two different titles and both with differing lyrics: Trixie Simth for "Railroad Blues" (Paramount 12262, 1925) and Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton for "Don't You Leave Me Here" (Bluebird 10450, 1939).

Huddie "LeadBelly" Ledbetter recorded perhaps the most well-know version of "I'm Alabama Bound" ("Alabama Bound", Victor 27268, 1940).

Contents 1 Lyrics 1.1 1849—Minstrel 1.2 1909—Rag 1.3 1915/1916—Negro folk song 1.4 1925—Blues 1.5 1934—Folk song 1.6 1939—Jazz 2 Versions 3 Recording artists 4 References 5 Bibliography

[edit] Lyrics

The first lyrics associated with the melody was a 1909 sound recording attibuting the words to the owner of a New Orleans sheet music publishing company. The actual source of the lyrics is unclear, however, but they may have come out of a folk tradition.

[edit] 1849—Minstrel

The earliest lyrics expressing the sentiment found in some of the later songs are found in a popular song, "I Hab Leff Alabama", written by Marshall S. Pike and published in 1849. The chorus, which is not the same melody, written in dialect in the original, is:

Alabama agen, Alabama agen,

And if I ebber lib till the sun rise tomorrow,

I’s a gwine to go back to Alabama agen.^[2]

[edit] 1909—Rag

The first lyrics actually recorded to the music were by Price's Band (Columbia A-901) in November, 1909. The music was attributed to Hoffman and words to John J. Puderer. Charles Adams Prince was a popular march band leader of the day, perfoming cake-walks and military marches. Puderer was the proprieter of The Music Shop in New Orleans, who published Hoffman's sheet music. The verses, in rag-time, were pretty much the same as those found in later versions:

I'm Alabama bound, I'm Alabama bound,

I've tried you out, I've got to turn you down.

The Columbia recording also included such staple coon song lyrics as:

I done told you, nigger, for to be like me,

Just drink good whisky, let your cocaine be.

[edit] 1915/1916—Negro folk song

Alan Lomax attests to words found in his 1934 collection of "Alabama Bound" as being found in Newman I. White's Negro Folk-Songs (1915-1916).^[3] White's fragments, which are not set to music, are:

If de train goes and leaves me here,

I got a mile to ride, I'm Alabama bound.^[4]

[edit] 1925—Blues

Trixie Smith's 1925 "Railroad Blues" contains such lyrics as:

Now, if the train stays on the track, I'm Alabama bound.

Now, if the train stays on the track, I'm Alabama bound.^[5]

[edit] 1934—Folk song

Lomax's 1934 "Alabama Bound", collected from prisioners in Texas, Louisana, and Mississippi, contains such verses as:

I'm Alabama boun', I'm Alabama boun',

Jes' as sho' as de train pull out, eas' today, I'm Alabama boun',

Great God a mighty, babe, I'm Alabama boun'.^[6]

and,

Why doncha be like me? Why doncha be like me?

Drink yo' high-tension whisky, babe, an' let yo' cocaine be, An' let yo' cocaine be.

Great God a mighty, babe, An' let yo' cocaine be.^[7]

[edit] 1939—Jazz

And finally, Jelley Roll Morton's 1939 "Don't You Leave Me Here" has verses such as:

I'm Alabama bound, Alabama bound,

If you like me, honey babe, you've got to leave this town.

She said, "Don't you leave me here, don't you leave me here,

But, sweet papa, if you must go, leave a dime for beer.

[edit] Versions

John W. "Blind" Boone included a short section of "I'm Alabama Bound" in his "Southern Rag Medley No. Two (Strains from Flat Branch)." The sheet music, published by Allen Music Co., Columbia, Missouri, (copyright 1913), was transcribed from Boone's piano roll which he recorded for the QRS company in 1912.

[edit] Recording artists

Date	Artist	Title	Label
1909	Prince's Band	I'm Alabama Bound	Columbia A-0901
1925	Charlie Jackson	I'm Alabama Bound	Paramount 12289
1925	Trixie Simth	Railroad Blues †	Paramount 12262
1938	Delmore Brothers	I'm Alabama Bound	Bluebird 8264
1939	Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton	Don't You Leave Me Here	Bluebird 10450
1940	Louis Jordan & His Tympani 5	I'm Alabama Bound	Decca 7723
1940	Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter & The Golden Gate Quartet	Alabama Bound	Victor 27268
† "Railroad Blues" is only partly "I'm Alabama Bound."

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Boone, John W. "Blind Boone's Southern Rag Medley No. Two: Strains From The Flat Branch". Allen Music Co., 1913. (Sheet music)
• Cohen, Norm. Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong. University of Illinois Press, 2000. ISBN 0252068815
• Hoffman, Robert. "I'm Alabama Bound". Robert Ebberman, 1909. (Charles H. Templeton, Sr. Sheet Music Collection–Mississippi State University)
• Lomax, John A. and Alan Lomax. American Ballads and Folk Songs. Dover Publications (reprint), 1994. ISBN 0486282767
• Pike, Marshall S. "I Hab Leff Alabama". The Harmoneons: New and Original Melodies Sung by Them at Their Principal Concerts, pp. 3-5. A & J.P. Ordway, 1849. (Library of Congress)
• Waltz, Robert B; David G. Engle. "Alabama Bound". The Traditional Ballad Index: An Annotated Bibliography of the Folk Songs of the English-Speaking World. Hosted by California State University, Fresno, Folklore, 2007.