Stavin Chain

DESCRIPTION: "Stavin Chain he's dead and gone, Left me to carry the good work on, Evrybody ought to be like Stavin Chain." The singer complains about river life, misses his woman, and says that everyone should be like Stavin Chain. (His sexual exploits are described.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (collected from "Tricky Sam")
KEYWORDS: river work separation sex animal
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, pp. 305-306, "Stavin' Chain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wheeler-SteamboatinDays, pp. 16-17, "Stavin Chain" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MWhee016 (Full)
Roud #9994
RECORDINGS:
Anonymous singer, "Stavin' Chain" (on Unexp1)
Zuzu Bollin, "Stavin' Chain" (Torch 6912, n.d.)
Wilson Jones (Stavin' Chain), "Stavin' Chain" (on "Field Recordings Vol. 16 Alabama-Louisiana-Arkansas-Texas (1934-1940)," Document Records CD DOCD-5675 (2004))
Blind Willie McTell, "Chainey" (on USWMcTell01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Poor Howard" (lyrics)
NOTES [128 words]: I would not have considered Willie McTell's "Chainey" to be a version of "Stavin' Chain" without Allan Balfour's liner notes to USWMcTell01. McTell's version has no "dead and gone" theme but there is a tag line that fits the "Stavin' Chain" pattern -- "Lord, lord, lord-y lord, Nobody love like Chainey do" -- and verses to support the tag line. As a performance, McTells's recording is close, in tune and style, to Wilson Jones's. Jones also has no "dead and gone" theme and says "You know you can do just like Chainey did." Incidentally, the McTell/Jones tunes and structures are close to Lil Johnson's "Stavin' Chain" (her text -- "you can't ride, honey you can't ride this train, I'm the chief engineer, gonna run it like Stavin' Chain" -- does not fit here).- BS
Last updated in version 4.0
File: MWhee016

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