Ida Red

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"Ida Red"
Written by Traditional
Language English
Form Appalachian folk music
Original artist Traditional
Recorded by (many artists)

"Ida Red" is an American traditional song of unknown origins. It is chiefly identified by variations of the chorus:

Ida Red, Ida Red, I'm a plumb fool 'bout Ida Red.

Verses are unrelated, rather humorous, and free form, changing from performance to performance. Ida Red's identity is unknown, but is feminine in most uses.

The earliest recording is a one by Fiddlin' Powers & Family (Victor 19434, 1924), which includes vocals. There is also a early well-known instrumental by Dykes Magic City Trio, (Brunswick 125, 1927).[1]

Ida Red, the personage, appears in a number of other songs only distantly realated to the song "Ida Red".

One, by Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers whose "Shootin' Creek" (Columbia 15286-D, 1928), a version of "Cripple Creek", contains verses from "Ida Red", ie.:

Ida Red, she's a darned ol' fool,
Tried to put a saddle on a hump-back mule.

Alan Lomax includes another in his collection of "Negro Bad Men" songs titled "Ida Red".[2] Other than the title, this song is in no way related to the folk song. This song is of a criminal feeling sorry for himself. In every verse he wails to his woman:

Oh, weep! Oh, my Ida!

There are also several songs that share the same tune but unrelated subject matter. These include "Down The Road" and "Over The Road I'm Bound to Go".

Contents

[edit] Western swing

"Sunday Night", by F.W. Root, 1878, provided some of the lyrics for the Bob Wills version of "Ida Red".
"Sunday Night", by F.W. Root, 1878, provided some of the lyrics for the Bob Wills version of "Ida Red".

In the 1930s Bob Wills took the old tune and set it to a 2/4 dance beat to be played by his Western swing dance band, the Texas Playboys. His 1938 recording (Vocalion 05079) became a hit. The song, as originally recorded by Wills, borrowed lyrics from an 1878 popular song written Frederick W. Root ("Sunday Night"). The Wills version opens with:

Light's in the parlor, fire's in the grate,
Clock on the mantle says it's a'gettin' late,
Curtains on the window, snowy white,
The parlor's pleasant on Sunday night.

"Sunday Night" opens with:

The light is in the parlor, A fire is in the grate;
The clock upon the mantle Ticks out "it's getting late"
The curtains at the windows Are made of snowy white,
The parlor is a pleasant place To sit on Sunday night, To sit on Sunday, Sunday night.[3]

Wills and his Texas Playboys performed this arrangement of "Ida Red" in two of his movies; 'Go West, Young Lady (1941) and Blazing the Western Trail (1945).

[edit] "Ida Red Likes The Boogie"

In 1949, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys brought out a boogie woogie version of "Ida Red" called "Ida Red Likes The Boogie" (MGM K10570). In 1950 it spent 22 weeks on the charts, reaching #10.[4] "Ida Red Likes The Boogie" has been recorded by other artists numerous times since.

[edit] "Maybellene"

In 1955, Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" reached #10 on the pop charts and #1 on the R&B charts. Berry based the music in his song on Bob Wills' versions of "Ida Red".[5]


[edit] Bluegrass and Country

Bluegrass and country versions, as perfomed by Bill Monroe and Roy Acuff, use the traditional humorous free floating verses, but in 4/4 time instead of following the easy going Appalachian tempo.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Laird, Brunswick Records, pp 439-440.
  2. ^ Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs, Chapter IV "Negro Bad Men", p. 110.
  3. ^ Root, "Sunday Night".
  4. ^ Whitburn, The Bilboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits, p. 392.
  5. ^ Pegg, Brown Eyed Handsome Man, p. 39: "The version [of 'Ida Red] Chuck Berry may well have been familiar with, however, were both recorded a little later. Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys recorded a version in 1938 whose only similarity with Berry's song and with the original folksong seems to have been the humor in the lyricas and the driving 2/4 beat. Another version, recorded in 1952 by blues singer Amos Easton, recording under his usual pseudonym of Bumble Bee Slim, has a jazzier feel. Musically, Easton's and Berry's songs have little in common, although the double-string slurs in the guitar breaks in Easton's song are reminiscent of another one of Berry's admitted heroes, Carl Hogan of Louis Jordan's band. A third song, Bob Wills's sequel to his 'Ida Red,' called 'Ida Red Likes the Boogie,' may also have contributed musically to Berry's song ['Maybellene']. Recorded in 1949, its guitar parts featured a double-stopped bend that Chuck Berry would have first heard in the recordings of another one of his guitar heroes, T-Bone Walker."

[edit] Bibliography

  • Laird, Ross. Brunswick Records: A Discography of Recordings, 1916-1931. Greenwood Press, 2001. ISBN 0-313-31867-0
  • Lomax, John A. and Alan Lomax. American Ballads and Folk Songs. Dover Publications (reprint), 1994. ISBN 0486282767
  • Pegg, Bruce. Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life And Hard Times Of Chuck Berry. Routledge , 2005. ISBN-10: 0415937515
  • Root, Frederic Woodman. "Sunday Night". Root & Sons Music Co., 1879. (Sheet music from Library of Congress)
  • Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits. Billboard Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8230-8291-1
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