Black Pony Blues (Coal Black Mare)

DESCRIPTION: Singer's black mare can win against any horse; "ain't a horse in Kentucky my horse can't beat." He gives her gold teeth, earrings, and streamlined shoes. He rode her for days and she never broke her pace. He would follow her to any land.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (recording, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup)
KEYWORDS: sex racing nonballad horse lover
FOUND IN: US(SE)
RECORDINGS:
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, "Black Pony Blues" (Bluebird B-8896, 1941); "Coal Black Mare" (1969, on "Look on Yonder's Wall," Delmark DS-614)
Lovey Williams, "Coal Black Mare" (on USMississippi01)
NOTES [94 words]: The description follows Arthur Crudup's recording.
Charley Patton's "Pony Blues" (Paramount 12792, 1929) may have provided the idea for this blues. His first verse, as far as I can make out, is, "Baby, get my pony saddle my black mare (x2), I'm go find a rider baby in this world somewhere" --at least Son House (1998, on "The Original Delta Blues", Columbia CK 65515) sings it "somewhere" -- but the rest of the lyrics have not been picked up by Crudup or Lovey Williams. In any case Patton's, Crudup's and Williams's black mare is a stand-in for a black lover. - BS
Last updated in version 5.1
File: RcBlPoBl

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