Lightnin' Hopkins_ His Life and Blues - Alan Govenar [18]
Oh tell me mama, how d’ye want your rollin’ done (x2)
Says, your face to the ground and your poodle up to the sun
She got little bitty legs, gee, but below her thighs (x2)
She’s got something on-a-yonder works like a bo’ hog’s eye
Says, “I’ll be your doctor, pay your bills” (x2)
Says, “If the doctor won’t cure you, I’ve got something will”
From Texas Alexander, Hopkins learned to emphasize lyrics and the need to rhyme, often at the expense of meter. Alexander rarely sang in meter, though he could turn a phrase and extend his lyrics into a looser, more sprawling structure that might have an extra measure, or thirteen or fourteen bars instead of twelve. By taking this approach, Alexander demonstrated to Sam the power of improvisation, and how ordinary speech could become the fodder of a song lyric.
Moreover, Texas Alexander gave Hopkins a tangible sense of the benefits that making records might bring. Alexander drove a Cadillac, and it made Sam realize that even a black musician from a small town in Texas could be successful in the music business. “First Cadillac that I was known to be,” Hopkins said, “one them expensive cars, you know, he went somewhere and he showed up in Normangee and that was longest and most ugly car. Long Cadillac—one of those the first made, you know. Cuz colored people they didn’t have even T-Model Fords then. He come in a Cadillac. Texas was doing all right for hisself.”9 To own a Cadillac at the onset of the Great Depression was impressive, but apparently Texas Alexander’s records had sold quite well in the late 1920s to rural audiences, as well as among people who had started moving to the city but still enjoyed a taste of the older country styles.
In his song “Deceitful Blues” he sang, “I’m gonna trade this Lincoln, get me a Cadillac eight.” In these 1934 recordings, Texas Alexander was trying to keep up with the times, most significantly by adding a small jazz combo, but in the end, his efforts were in vain: his lyrics and singing remained as rural as before. In “Blues in My Mind” the lyrics had more conventional, and even sentimental lines, such as “I’m crying, with tears in my eyes.” But he still retained his irreverent edge in “Polo Blues,” in which he sang:
You can hand me my pistol, shotgun and some shells
I’m gonna kill my woman, send the poor gal to hell
You can get your milk from a polo [an animal that had had its horns removed], cream from a jersey cow
Your pigment from your pig, and your bacon from a no-good sow
In “Prairie Dog Hole” he took pride in his irreligious life: “Lord, My Father, Lord Thy Kingdom come/Send me back my baby and my will be done,” and then declared, “I went to church and the people called on me to pray/I set down on my knees and forgot just what to say.”10
According to Sam, some time in 1934, probably after Texas Alexander’s second session for the Vocalion label in Fort Worth, they made it to Houston to audition for a radio station. They were joined by harmonica player Billy Bizor, another of Sam’s purported cousins, but it’s unclear whether or not they were actually given a radio spot. “First time into Houston,” Sam said, “I just went to
Houston because I heard the name of Houston, and what a town it was…. Texas
and I worked on West Dallas Street [in the thriving Fourth Ward]…. Texas an’ I’d work up and down the street, him and me.”11 The city piqued his interest, but he didn’t go back for nearly five years. At this point in his life, Sam wasn’t ready to leave the country. Life was tough in Leon County, but he knew his way around. “Big cities,” he said, “I hadn’t been used to ‘em. I’d been used to little three or four stores, and they call it Centerville