Our deep dive into historical old-time fiddle music continues. Behold one Earl Johnson, fiddler, and his walloping tune “I Don’t Love Nobody” from 1927. Our musicology team has been working overtime, and below, Dear Reader, you can find biographical details, beguiling analyses, full lyrics, and session details, amidst our usual incitements to drink and dance. We suggest that you have a few sips of swamp gas (aka moonshine), turn up the volume, and yes: jump around.
We’re talking some greasy, rowdy, electric, filthy fiddling.
One imagines the strings of Johnson’s instrument fraying after every “hoedown.”
However it goes, it goes madly. Whoever sings the high falsetto novelty stuff in
the chorus — well, that fellow will understand your loneliness, Pilgrim, and he’ll
make you feel A-okay about the lack of love in your life. It’s a standoff,
basically. “I don’t love nobody, nobody loves me.” Might as well hop in concert
to the bedlam. Might as well laugh and cry all at once. “Boop” goes the cap on
the moonshine.
Johnson was born into a musical family, in 1886, near Atlanta. Early on
and throughout his career, he played with luminary Georgia musician Fiddlin’
John Carson. [Nota bene: It is possible that Johnson is ‘second fiddle’ on
Carson’s version of “Goodbye Liza Jane,” a tune that is part of the “Liza
Jane” family of songs.] A virtuosic performer himself, Johnson became state
fiddle champion (in Georgia) in 1926, a year before he cut this side for OKeh
Records. In all, he recorded more than 50 tunes for a variety of labels, toured
broadly, and was eventually enshrined in the Atlanta Country Music Hall of
Fame.
Earl Johnson
Like many musicians of his era, including Carson and African
American guitar player Peg
Leg Howell, Johnson repurposed songs that had been mainstays of burnt cork
minstrelsy. “I Don’t Love Nobody” was written by minstrel performer Lew Sully
and dates to at least 1896, if not earlier. The lyrics of the original Sully version
are horrendously racist, while, mercifully, the Johnson version is much milder,
almost to the point of being a completely different song: in fact, the ‘speaker’
of Johnson’s song is probably meant to be white and not a white person
pretending to be Black. Nevertheless, the singing style of Johnson and his
bandmates may blend old-time and minstrel traditions. It is important to
acknowledge this type of difficult archaeology, even as we can appreciate Johnson’s
fiddling skills and the upbeat rowdiness of the music.
Here, now, we offer instructions on how to proceed. Scroll
up to the top of the page and click “play” on the video. That would be number
one, and after that — well — allow yourself to be swung maaaaadly.
Lyrics, session details, and sources of information follow. Enjoy.
lyrics:
I Don’t Love Nobody (1927)
Earl Johnson & His Dixie Entertainers
Met Miss Martha Johnson down at a colored ball
Tried her best to shake me, that wouldn’t work at all
She told me her troubles, she asked me for a dime
G’wan now honey, you ain’t no gal of mine
Chorus:
I don’t love nobody, nobody loves me
You’re after all my money, you don’t care for me
Gonna live single, always be free
I don’t love nobody, nobody loves me
Went out with [a matron]* down on Peter Street
Met some tall li’l lady, she smiled at me so [mean]**
She told me she loved me, and marry me to git away
G’wan now honey, you ain’t gonna talk with me
Chorus
Down in Alabama, settled down for life
Met a girl named Dinah, I choosed her for my wife
See that gal every Sunday, and I asked her to marry away
See that gal on Monday, and this is what she said:
Chorus
Met Miss Martha Johnson down at a colored ball
Tried her best to shake me, that wouldn’t work at all
She told me her troubles, she asked me for a dime
G’wan now honey, you ain’t no gal of mine
Chorus
Notes:
*Second verse, first
line: “matron” is what we hear. Other possibilities include “Mabel” or some
half-slurred version of “promenading”
**Second
verse, second line: “mean” is what we hear. Another possibility might be a half-slurred
version of “sweet”
session details:
Earl Johnson & His Dixie Entertainers. Earl Johnson,
fiddle; Byrd Moore, guitar and lead vocal; Emmett Bankston, banjo; Ensemble
chorus; Other musicians, if any, unknown. Recorded March 23, 1927 in Atlanta,
Ga. Released as OKeh 45101.
--Daniel, Wayne W. Pickin’ on Peachtree: A History of
Country Music in Atlanta, Georgia. University of Illinois Press, 1990
--Discography of American Historical Recordings page
for “I Don’t Love Nobody”
--Earl Johnson biography
at AllMusic Guide
--Sully, Lew. “I Don’t Love Nobody.” Howley, Haviland &
Co. (New York: 1896). This burnt cork minstrelsy sheet music publication can be
accessed at its Library of Congress page;
be forewarned that the content is offensive
