WHEN IM GONE

Judy Roderick & the Forbears with special guest Mac Rebennack

Welcome! And thanks for your interest. If you arrived here from the disc, congratulations on navigating Dexofon’s first enhanced disc – a trip down the information dirt road! Its exciting to be able to offer this new way to interact and share. We have spared a few trees by using the internet to pass along these lyrics. Please share your experience in an email, so any potholes or wrong turns can be addressed. Get in touch if you need images for press or background for airplay – and check back here… there is more to come!

If you havent already, please send an email with Judy in the subject, so you can be informed of any exciting news about Judy’s music, or just sign the email list to the right. There are a bunch of songs still unreleased… The latest big news is the original Columbia “Aint Nothin but the Blues” is now available for download on iTunes! Stay tuned to www.dexofon.com for more developements! Your privacy will be respected.

Scroll down for a listing of Judy’s currently available discography! And be sure to visit www.judyroderick.com when you have a minute for some history and reflections from those who knew her.
All the best,
Dexter Payne

Looking for song lyrics? Memorize the words, get a guitar and make up your own chords.
You will be the hit of the party… Judy always was!

 

When Im Gone lyrics
(many are claimed as Roderick/Ashford unless noted otherwise)

 

1. Gone to Memphis/Sweet Southern

People often ask me
Honey why do you stay
Well I hand ’em down some reason
Cause it’s easier that way
You could bet your fondest dollar
Some sweet southern
day
When the train-fare costs a nickel
And the hotels cost a dime
I’d be down on the road
Gone to Memphis

Through another week just barely
Nothin left to say
Just waitin’ on some some something
Well you think I’d learn someday
Somethin’ aint for nothin’
And that’s what I got to pay
For if I got paid for singin’ each sweet
Southern day away
I’d be down on the road
Gone to Memphis

This low lazy livin’
Gonna make some dreamer pay
We’ll trade away tomorrow
For one sweet southern day
But time is cheap until you see
Weeks just slip away
If Id have gone ahead instead of said
Ill go some other day
Id be down on the road
Gone to Memphis

 

2. Im So Glad (Memphis Minnie/E. Lawler)

I’m so glad I don’t know what to do
I’m so glad I don’t know what to do
Got a letter from my baby, sayin’ he’d be home soon

Last night that same love dream come slippin’ through my room
Last night that same love dream come slippin’ through my room
Woke up this mornin’, all of my dreams had come true

Love my baby I love him most the best
I love my baby I love him most the best
Cause he’s so sweet, and he’s different from the rest

Lips so soft baby dont you hold me tight
Lips so soft baby dont you hold me tight
Feels just like we’re gonna be here all night

 

3. Queen of the Street

Five rings for your fingers
Six strings for your tunes
Let me see that smile you smile
When someone’s pleasing you
Come on by and let me try
To put you in the mood
Come on down around the corner
Who is it who keeps you on your honor honey
No need to cheat, no need to steal
How does it feel
Queen of the street

No more deaf and dumb now baby
Phony factory
Mansions in your highest places
Never will see me
Women of my past
I heard sing the blues
Orphan eyes rhinestone ribbons
Five and dime killer women
They don’t cheat, they don’t steal
How does it feel
Queen of the street

Duck for the oyster
Dig for the clam
Just wanna swing you and your partner
From up on the old bandstand
You get hot we’ll get hotter
‘Til we all out of hand
Alamand left and start your starter
Gonna work up a little clam chowder baby
We gonna rock, we gonna reel
How does it feel
Queen of the street

 

4. Surprises

Surprises mean nothing when no one believes
I loved you when nobody cared
That you gave to them freely
What you thought could be shared
And the sweet sounds were lost to the wind

Vibrations rebounding from unhearing minds
I listened when nobody dared
Just to make you feel easy
When you told them you cared
And they left you alone to yourself

Your long losing lover is waiting in tears
With thanks for the time that you spared
When to leave seemed so easy
And to stay seemed a lie
And you touched me one last time around

Surprises me nothing when no one believes
I loved you though nobody cares
That you left here with nothing
But your own peace of mind
And the pleasure of trying again

Listen let me listen, to what you have said
Your words are so gentle to wear
That my head need not be right
Just to hear and believe
Are you once in a lifetime then gone

 

5. When Im Gone

Please don’t talk about it when I’m gone
Rumors started that you can’t live down
Don’t you say a word
The folks will overhear you
They’re gonna know which way I’ve gone

I took the car and I snuck out of town
Delayed vacation sort of on my own
If anyone should ask you
You tell ’em that I had to
They can all let their eyebrows down now

I’d like to put your feet up take your time
Watch the morning wake up in your eyes
And when there’s too much hustle
I’d take your hand and run to
Someplace where a child can
Find his own mind…unwind

There ain’t nothin’ about you
Nothing that I don’t like
It’s just there’s somethin’ about you
Keeps you on my mind

I’d like I’d like to be your
Bicycle seat down the road of life
Make it to heaven on a changing line
The music’s fine if it moves your behind

Please don’t talk about it when I’m gone
Rumors started that you can’t live down
If I catch you in and
It comes our way again
It ain’t the average daily door to door, no
It’s something more

 

6. Live in Love (Hank Williams/Walker/Sullivan)

I’m gonna live in love under the stars above
Hold you close to my heart
You gave me hope for new when I was sad and blue
Nothin’s gonna keep us apart
I sang a lonesome song until you came along
Lookin’ at a bright sunny day
I’m tellin’ you what love can do
You oughta live in love always

I’m gonna shout hurray and praise that lucky day
You came walkin’ right into my life
I went and changed my plan, I’m a different man
Through with all that trouble and strife
I used to feel so bad, now I feel so glad
Lookin’ at a bright sunny day
I’m tellin’ you what love can do
I’m gonna live in love always

 

7. Your Eyes Remind Me

CH:   Your eyes remind me
Of someone dear to me
He disappeared from my life
And when you’re near me
I get that warm feeling that
Someone is with me tonight

I need some talkin’ to
Oh break out the best you’ve got
‘Cause we’re goin’ to have us a few
I don’t think of old times
Drinkin’ and dancin’s fine
Whoa – now about you

Well I work every day
And I come here to get away
It’s the first time I’ve ever seen you
I used to fall in love
But I don’t like trouble much
I’ve learned that I can be fooled

CH Your eyes remind me…

Say goodnight
And walk me outside
The cool air would do me some good
Oh stay the night
‘Cause nothing compares to
Loving one who loves you

CH Your eyes remind me…

Save my life
‘Cause nothing compares to
Loving one who loves you

 

8. (American) Money Blues

Money – got a hold on me and it won’t let go
Money – got a hold on me and it won’t let go
I don’t know and I can’t explain
How my spending comes out to more than my pay
Earning my keep turn me grey someday
Money blues are here to stay

Credit – ain’t no doggone good, I misuse it so
Credit – ain’t no doggone good, I misuse it so
The man says to buy it on time
He says you wont spend a dime
Honey look at the hole we’re in
Sell my soul just to start again

Money – it ain’t worth a dime if you lose your friend
Money – it ain’t worth a dime if you lose your friend
Honey I lost mine
Whinin all the time
Takin’ a line just to make amends
‘Cause It ain’ worth a dime if you lose your friends

People – it can bring you down and you dread it so
People – it can bring you down and you dread it so
The man’s gonna take away what I owe
I never have enough, wish I could make it grow
I’d plant money trees in a row
Sit and watch my money grow

 

9. Denver to Dallas (Roderick/DeBacker/Payne)

Been down to Denver, been to Dallas too y’all
I been to East St Louis, had the St louis blues y’all
Daddy used to be a rollin” stone
Mama was the kind to keep a man at home

He used to be the kind that liked to run around y’all
Mama took a trick and it was one for one y’all
Daddy used to be a rollin’ stone
Mama was the kind to keep a man at home

Ways of the women scare me some y’all
Do what you do like it’s never been done y’all
Daddy used to be a rollin’ stone
Mama was the kind to keep a man at home

Waco folks eat blackeyed peas y’all
A railroad man chews a dirty breeze
From Denver to Dallas they all agree
Poor dont mean they’re easy to please
Daddy used to be a rollin’ stone
Mama was the kind to keep a man at home

 

10. Dream of You (Sy Oliver/Lunceford/Moran)

Gee but I’m blue and so lonely
I dont know what to do but
Dream of you
Baby dream of you

Dreams dont come true
Still I cant keep from
Dreamin’ dreams of you
Thats all I do
Baby dream of you

There once was a
Time I called you mine
Then I lost you and
Now you’ve gone
Life no longer seems
Half so fine

I sit here blue and so lonely
Theres nothin left to do but
Dream of you
Baby dream of you

 

11. Shout Sister Shout (Arthur Crudup)

Shout sister shout
Everybody swingin’
Shout sister shout
While the whole town is ringin’
Early in the mornin’
‘Bout the break of day
You know oh my baby
These are the words she said

CH
Shout sister shout
Everybody swingin’
Shout sister shout
While the whole town is ringin’

Shout sister shout
Ain’t you mighty happy
Shout sister shout
Everybody’s happy
Early in the mornin’
‘Bout the break of day
You know well my baby
These are the words she said

CH Shout sister shout…

Shout sister shout everybody holler
Shout sister shout let me pull you by your collar
De-de-de-de-de-de-de the bands about to bust
Put your hands together don’t put up no fuss

CH Shout sister shout …

 

12. Floods of South Dakota

Someday you’ll build a cabin on the hillside
Someday you’ll find the gold you’re lookin’ for
And maybe someday in the diamond mines of friendship
You will find someone to share that winding road
For all time, you can count on me and all that’s mine

Sunsets always make me homesick
Stirrin’ up the wonder in me
It must be my place, as long as I remember
I been starin’ out old 183
So be kind, I won’t be here longer than a sunrise

CH:      Sunshine and floods of South Dakota
Come from the same skies
I don’t really think there’s much
That I could call mine
Someday is a thing I cannot hold
And it’s gonna tell you something
When you watch the river roll up to your door

Sweet life never lookin’ back
I don’t think I’d ever own a patch of ground
Lord from up high say on that railroad track
It’s just a second passing by and then it’s gone.
For old times, sendin’ you this song to say that we’re all fine

CH    Sunshine and floods of …

 

Judy Roderick Discography:
AINT NOTHIN BUT THE BLUES
(Columbia CS 8953 & CL 2153):

Judy backed by John Hammond Jr, Milt Hinton, Wilbur & Sidney
DeParis, Lew McGarity and Bobby Scott. What a band for the first shot!
Still out of print and never reissued on CD, but newly available for download at iTunes!

 

WOMAN BLUE
(Vanguard 79197):
Reissued on CD by Vanguard, with bonus tracks, photos and extra liner notes by Dexter Payne, this classic features Dick Weissman and the late Artie Traum.

 

NEVADA JUKEBOX (ATCO):
Reissued on CD!Order # CCM09542 at www.ccmusic.com, with Don DeBacker and John Brent Williams, produced by Bill Symzck.
Dont be overly confused by the listing as “Sixty Million Buffalo” or “60 Million Buffalo” – just get it!

 

Judy also appears on some collections/samplers:

Vanguard Blues Sampler (74002)

1996 Vanguard Collector’s Edition (6366)

1997 Washington Square Memoirs (Rhino 74264)

Dont forget Judy’s cameo appearances on Big Sky Mudflap records Armchair Cabaret (Helios) and Sensible Shoes (Flying Fish), now available at www.bigskymudflaps.com

 

Thats all for now, dear Listener!
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Meanwhile, I bet you’ve still got some lyrics to learn! Happy singing!

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dexofon.com and get to know Dexter’s music as well… Judy liked it!