Tag Archives: Cornbread

Cornbread: The Story Behind The Song

Preacher Boy - The National Blues - Lyrics

We’ve just published an enhanced lyric booklet for “The National Blues!” It features lyrics, stories behind the songs, insider guitar tips, and more.

You can download a free copy in either PDF (multi-use) or EPUB (iBooks) format here, or, if you’d like to enjoy the book on your Kindle/Kindle app, you can get it in the Kindle store on Amazon for just .99¢!

Here is an excerpt from the text; a short essay about the origins of the second track on the album:

Cornbread

The seeds of this song have been with me for probably decades at this point; I think I first hazarded a demo of it when we were living in Brooklyn, though I believe the first time I tried to play a version of it was with Colin Brooks, during a songwriter’s conference in Durango, Colorado that my missus and I drove down to from Denver.

Lyrically, the song has changed little over the years, and it’s the stories of the families in the verses that have kept the song with me across the miles. What finally clicked was the music. I wish I could claim it was a magical, revelatory moment, or the result of years of diligence and experimentation, but in fact, the click was a simple one. I changed the tuning on my guitar from Open D to Open G. That was it.

The characters are largely based on real people from my childhood; the names have been changed to protect the innocent, but I left the real names in for the guilty


Cornbread: Guerrilla-Raw & Gittin’ It [LiveVideo]

photo by Jake J Thomas

photo by Jake J Thomas

 

Cornbread

(scroll to the bottom of the post to see guerrilla-raw live video performance!)

Peggy sat cross-legged in her tri-cornered hat
with a Barbie and a GI Joe, playin’ ball and jacks
and the sun went from touchin’ ground, to straddlin’ north and south
to settlin’ on the roof of Mr. Beckman’s house

and when the sun came down, Peggy’s mother put her hands
in the shape of a megaphone, and she yelled hard as she can, she said:

“c’mon honey, c’mon now, I gots a big surprise
there’s fresh butter from the dairy, and the cornbread’s on the rise”

Maxwell ran lap after lap, around the ol’ backstop
with a baseball glove in one hand, in the other soda pop
and Autumn sunshine and moonlight shared a dusky place
and there were shadows and a tan competin’ over Maxwell’s face

and when the clock hit 7 Maxwell’s papa pulled his pipe
from between his yello teeth so’s he could holler into the night, and he said:

“c’mon sonny, c’mon now, I gots a big surprise
there’s fresh butter from the dairy, and the cornbread’s on the rise”

I like a little bit o’ butter, on my cornbread

Jake drew Orphan Jennie motorcycle pictures every day
and he passed him to her during class, when the teacher turned away
at recess and after school and all the weekend long
they’d sit up together on the Beckman’s fence and pretend they was ridin’ on

and Jake’s ma would come around to fetch her son for supper
and she’d tell that Orphan Jenny she was welcome to come over, she’d say:

“c’mon honey, c’mon now, I gots a big surprise
there’s fresh butter from the dairy, and the cornbread’s on the rise”

i like a little butter, on my cornbread


You Gonna Need Me Some Ol’ Cold Winter Day

ASBBQ

Boots to the floor, national in my hands, and my good friend Dr. Virgil Thrasher on my right side. That’s how the night began, and that’s how the evenin’ ended…

And I put the slide to brass, I said I put the slide to brass, and Virgil put them reeds to lips, and Virgil put them reeds to lips and that’s how the night began, and that’s how the evenin’ ended…

Some nights you work your favorites, try and turn ’em inside out, upside down, shake ’em out, to see what secrets they might hold for you that evenin…

Other nights you pull deep into the fedora, see what’s down there in that cavern, see what songs are rattlin’ roundin your sonic sound spelunk for that evenin’

This night was one of the latter sort of evenin’… lots a songs was rattlin’ round the caverns…

So here’s some fresh, raw recordin’ of some live tracks from the evenin… this was Thursday, three September, at the ‘Q…  Aptos St BBQ, that is…

First up, a lil’ somethin’ called:

Cornbread (never yet been released: lyrics at the conclusion of this post)

Then, quite the lil’ rarity for a Preacher Boy set, an arrangement of:

Cold Winter Day (learned from a recording by Blind Willie McTell)

followed by a fine performance from Virgil on a poppin lil’ rendo of There Go John

And finally, a new live performance of a never been released PB song that actually was debuted at ASBBQ back in September of 2014, a lil’ thing called:

Blister & A Bottle Cap (never yet been released)

~

Here’s them lyrics I promised ya:

CORNBREAD

peggie sat cross-legged in her tri-cornered hat
with a barbie and a gi joe, playin ball and jacks
and the sun went from touchin’ ground to straddlin’ north and south
to settlin’ on the roof of mr. beckman’s house

and when the sun went down, janie’s mother put her hands
in the shape of a megaphone and she yelled hard as she can

she yelled “come on honey, come home now, i got a big surprise
there’s fresh butter from the dairy, and the cornbread’s on the rise

now, maxwell ran lap after lap around the ol back-stop
with a baseball glove in one hand, in the other soda pop
autumn sunshine and moonlight shared a dusky place
and there were shadows and a tan competin over maxwell’s face

and when the clock hit seven maxwells papa pulled his pipe
from tween his yella teeth so he could holler into the night

he hollered “come on sonny, come home now, i got a big surprise
there’s fresh butter from the dairy, and the cornbread’s on the rise

i like a little bit of butter, on my cornbread…

jake drew orphan jenny motorcycle pictures everyday
and he passed em to her during class when the teacher turned away
at recess and after school and all the week-end long
they’d sit up together on the beckman’s fence and pretend they was ridin on

and jake’s ma would come around to fetch her son for supper
and she’d tell that orphan jenny she was welcome to come over

she’d say “come on honey, come home now, i got a big surprise
there’s fresh butter from the dairy, and the cornbread’s on the rise

I like a lil’ bit of butter, on my cornbread…


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