Alberta Blues

DESCRIPTION: Alberta where you been so long": he's had no loving; and "where'd you stay last night": bright sun when she got home. He asks for "a little bit of loving." He met Alberta "way across the sea, Wouldn't write me no letter, she didn't care for me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Mississippi Sheiks)
KEYWORDS: love request rejection home parting separation nonballad lover
FOUND IN:
RECORDINGS:
Jimmy Gordon and His Vip Vop Band, "Alberta, Alberta" (Decca 7490, 1938)
Lead Belly, "Alberta" on "The Smithsonian Folkways Collection" (Smithsonian-Folkways SFW 40201, 2015)
Furry Lewis, "Roberta" on "Back On My Feet Again" (Bluesville BVLP 1036, 1961)
Mississippi Sheiks, "Alberta Blues" (OKeh 8773,1930)
Eric Clapton, "Alberta" on "Unplugged" (Reprise Records 9362-45024-2, 1992)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Corinna, Corinna" (original source)
NOTES [393 words]: Three line blues: the first line is repeated -- more or less -- and the last line completes the thought.
The description follows the Mississippi Shieks recording. Most verses are built on floating lines that other singers copy or modify. So, Clapton changes "... where'd you stay last night, ... sun is shining bright" to "... where'd you stay last night, ... clothes don't fit you right," a floating response (see, for example, Tampa Red, "Sweet Woman" (Bluebird B5812, 1934)). Singers follow the story line but add floating verses of their own. Jimmy Gordon adds "Good bye and fare you well, When I get back don't anybody tell." Furry Lewis adds "Roberta left yesterday and I'm going today, I'm getting tired of your low down way" and "... you're on my mind, Let you cry by the nickel die by the dime." Clapton sings "... you're on my mind, Aint had no loving such a great long time." The Sheiks rework a "Red Rooster" line to "If you see Alberta tell her to hurry home, Hasn't been no loving since you've been gone" (hear, for example, Howlin' Wolf (Chess 1804,1961)). Lead Belly sings "... you make a preacher lay his Bible down, ... make a jack rabbit hug a hound" (once again, see Tampa Red, "Sweet Woman"). One line does not float but changes: Mississippi Sheiks have "I met Alberta way across the sea" while Jimmy Gordon sings "Alberta, Alberta went across the sea" and Furry Lewis sings "I see Roberta going 'cross the sea"; all three agree "She didn't write me no letter, she didn't care for me." (If the singer "met Alberta way across the sea" was he a soldier in the first world war?)
Some singers start with "Alberta Blues" and turn it into something else. For example, Bill Gillum and his Jazz Boys, "Alberta Blues" (Bluebird B7341,1937) comes close on one verse--"Albera, Alberta, what makes you treat me so, You don't treat me no better than the man you had before" -- but the other verses are not at all like the Sheiks' song. Also, see "Vernita Blues."
Bo Carter was a member and manager of the Sheiks. When I was looking at Carter's discography I realized that I had missed an obvious connection. According to the Index entry for "Corinna, Corinna," Bo Carter and Charlie
McCoy recorded that song in 1929, before the Sheiks recorded "Alberta." So "Alberta" is a derivative of "Corinna, Corinna" as well as the source for "Vernita Blues." - BS
Last updated in version 5.2
File: RcAlBlu

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