Charley Patton - 34 Blues lyrics

rate me

I ain't gonna tell nobody, '34 have done for me

I ain't gonna tell nobody what, '34 have done for me

Took my roller(1), I was broke as I could be

They run me from Will Dockery's(2), Willie Brown, I

want your job

They run me from Will Dockery's, Willie Brown, I want

your job

(spoken: Buddy, what's the matter?)

I went out and told papa Charley,

"I don't want you hangin' round on my job no more"

Fella, down in the country, it almost make you cry

Fella, down in the country, it almost make you cry

(spoken: My God, children!)

Women and children flaggin' freight trains for rides

Carmen got a little six Buick, big six Chevrolet car

Carmen got a little six Buick, little six Chevrolet car

(spoken: My God, what solid power!)

And it don't do nothin' but, follow behind Holloway's

farmer's plow

And it may bring sorrow, Lord, it may bring tears

It may bring sorrow, Lord, and it may bring tears

Oh, Lord, oh, Lord, let me see your brand new year

___

Note 1: roller, according to Chris Schell "I believe

Mississippi slang for a car being used to transport a

woman is "doroller or biscuit roller. Roller

meaning car would seem to me to make more sense in

terms of this song which involves a woman leaving and

in terms of the title which may refer to the year of

the car." Thanks To Chris Schell;

Note 2: the farm of Will Dockery, in Patton's native

town Dockery, a Delta plantation town;

This is another familiar Delta piece. Robert Johnson

used the same melody in "If I had Possession Over

Judgment Day" and "Traveling Riverside Blues". It has

also been recorded under the title "Roll And Tumble

Blues". Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf have issued

versions of this as well.