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Hey Lawdy Mama (blues song)

"Oh Lordy Mama"
Oh Lordy Mama single cover.jpg
Single by Buddy Moss
B-side "Misery Man Blues"
Released 1934 (1934)
Format 10-inch 78 rpm record
Recorded New York, August 8, 1934
Genre Blues
Length 02:42
Label Melotone (no. 13234)
Buddy Moss singles chronology
"When the Hearse Rolls Me from My Door"/ "Insane Blues"
(1934)
"Oh Lordy Mama"
(1934)
"Stinging Bull Nettle"/ "Love Me Baby"
(1934)

"Hey Lawdy Mama" (or "Oh Lordy Mama") is a Piedmont blues song recorded by Buddy Moss in 1934. The song became popular among jazz musicians with early recordings by Count Basie and Louis Armstrong. In 1943, a version recorded by Andy Kirk and His Twelve Clouds of Joy, with vocals by June Richmond, was a hit, reaching number four on the Billboard R&B chart. Since then, a variety of artists have recorded their interpretations of "Hey Lawdy Mama".

Buddy Moss' "Oh Lordy Mama" is an uptempo twelve-bar blues with distinct vocal phrasing:

Meet me down at the river, you can bring me my shoes and clothes
Oh Lordy mama, great God almighty
Said meet me down at the river, bring me my shoes and clothes
Says I ain't got so many, but I got so far to go

The song was performed as a solo piece, with Moss providing the vocal and guitar accompaniment.

After Moss' single, similar versions followed: "Oh Lawdy Mama" by Curley Weaver (Decca 7664, April 23, 1935) and "Hey Lawdy Mama" by Bumble Bee Slim (Decca 7126, August 7, 1935). These were released before Billboard magazine or a similar service began tracking such releases, so it is difficult to gauge which of these versions was the most popular, although Bumble Bee Slim's title is the one most commonly used on later versions (and often credited to Slim, also known as Amos Easton). Moss recorded a sequel "Oh Lordy Mama No. 2" (ARC 6-04-56, August 21, 1935).

In 1936, Bumble Bee Slim re-recorded "Hey Lawdy Mama" with some new lyrics as "Meet Me in the Bottom" (Decca 7170, February 7, 1936).

Meet me in the bottom, bring my boots and shoes
Oh Lawdy mama, great God almighty
Meet me in the bottom, bring my boots and shoes
I've got to leave this town I, got no time to lose

Earlier recorded versions of the song are not identified, although Pink Anderson, who recorded a version of "Meet Me in the Bottom" in 1961 (which closely follows Slim's song), remembered the song "from just after the first World War". Slim's "Meet Me in the Bottom" set the pattern for later versions by other artists, which would include elements of "Hey Lawdy Mama" and "Meet Me in the Bottom" as well as new lyrics.


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