Dupree's birth date is disputed, given as July 4, July 10, and July 23, in the years 1908, 1909, or 1910. He died January 21, 1992, in Hanover, Germany. Dupree's playing is almost all straight blues and boogie woogie, with no ballads or pop songs, not even blues ballads. He was not a sophisticated musician or singer, but he had a wry and clever way with words: "Mama, move your false teeth, papa wanna scratch your gums." He sometimes sang as if he had a cleft palate and even recorded under the name Harelip Jack Dupree. This was an artistic conceit, as Dupree had excellent clear articulation, particularly for a blues singer.
He sang about life as he found it, singing about jail, drinking, drug addiction, although he himself was a light drinker and did not use other drugs. His "Junker's Blues" is still sung in New Orleans, and was also transmogrified by Fats Domino into his first hit "The Fat Man". Dupree's songs included not only gloomy topics, such as "TB Blues" and "Angola Blues" (about the infamous Louisiana prison farm), but also cheerful subjects like the "Dupree Shake Dance": "Come on, mama, on your hands and knees, do that shake dance as you please".
On his best known LP, 1958's "Blues from the Gutter" for Atlantic, he was accompanied on guitar by Larry Dale, whose playing on that LP inspired Brian Jones (of Rolling Stones fame) ("Yeah! I have to play this… what a sound").
Dupree was a New Orleans blues and boogie-woogie pianist, a barrelhouse "professor". His father was from the Belgian Congo and his mother was part African American and Cherokee. His birth date has been given as July 4, July 10, and July 23, 1908, 1909, or 1910; the researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc give July 4, 1910.
He was orphaned at the age of eight and was sent to the Colored Waifs Home in New Orleans, an institution for orphaned or delinquent boys (about the same time, Louis Armstrong was also sent there as a child, after being arrested as a "dangerous and suspicious character". Dupree taught himself to play the piano there and later apprenticed with Tuts Washington and Willie Hall, whom he called his father and from whom he learned "Junker's Blues". He was also a "spy boy" for the Yellow Pocahontas tribe of the Mardi Gras Indians. He soon began playing in barrelhouses and other drinking establishments.
He began a life of travelling, living in Chicago, where he worked with Georgia Tom, and in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he met Scrapper Blackwell and Leroy Carr. He also worked as a cook. In Detroit, after Joe Louis encouraged him to become a boxer, he fought 107 bouts, winning Golden Gloves and other championships and picking up the nickname Champion Jack, which he used the rest of his life.
He returned to Chicago at the age of 30 and joined a circle of recording artists, including Big Bill Broonzy and Tampa Red, who introduced him to the record producer Lester Melrose. Many of Dupree's songs were later credited to Melrose as composer, and Melrose claimed publishing rights to them.
Dupree's career was interrupted by military service in World War II. He was a cook in the United States Navy and was held by the Japanese for two years as a prisoner of war.
After the war, his biggest commercial success was "Walkin' the Blues", which he recorded as a duet with Teddy McRae. This led to several national tours and eventually a European tour. In 1959 he played an unofficial (and unpaid) duo gig with Alexis Korner at the London School of Economics.
Dupree moved to Europe in 1960, settling first in Switzerland and then Denmark, England, Sweden and, finally, Germany. On June 17, 1971, he played at the Montreux Jazz Festival, in the Casino Kursaal, with King Curtis, backed by Cornell Dupree on guitar, Jerry Jemmott on bass and Oliver Jackson on drums. The recording of the concert was released in 1973 as the album King Curtis & Champion Jack Dupree: Blues at Montreux on the Atlantic label.
During the 1970s and 1980s he lived at Ovenden in Halifax, England. A piano he used was later discovered at Calderdale College in Halifax. He continued to record in Europe with the Kenn Lending Band, Louisiana Red and Axel Zwingenberger and made many live appearances. He also worked again as a cook, specializing in New Orleans cuisine. He returned to the United States from time to time and performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
It seemed that Dupree could not escape from the prejudice and racism anywhere he settled in the United States. Finally in late 1958, he decided to move to Europe. Over the next 32 years, he lived in a number of locales in Switzerland, France, England, Denmark and Germany. He also recorded a multitude of wonderful albums during this time for a long list of European labels. Among these is the outstanding live recording, "Blues at Montreux" on Atco that also featured sax great, King Curtis.
He died from complications of cancer on January 21, 1992 in Hanover. As one of the most prolific recording Bluesmen of all time, he left a large catalog of material. Champion Jack Dupree was posthumously honored by the Blues Foundation, receiving election into their Hall of Fame, along with "Blues From The Gutter" being selected as an entry as a "Classic of Blues" recording (Albums).
I Had a Dream
Champion Jack Dupree Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Yeah
And that's the one thing in the world for a hard workin' man to do,
You know
Yeah, you better see Sigmund Freud.
Yeah, you know, that's bad, you know
For you don't never
I don't know what you dream, but I know
When I go to bed I dream about old wagon wheels, old boxcars,
Old broken down flat-clad chihuahua's .
I ain't never dreamed
Nothin' about a pretty woman or a woman walkin' around nude or
Something like that, I can't get them dreams together you know.
Too hard a work, you know.
Not a hard-working man's dream.
No, no, no.
I had a dream, and what a dream was on my mind. (My, my)
I had a dream, a dream was on my mind
Lord I said to myself, how could a hard working man dream all the time?
Well I dream my wife had ten babies, and every one of them looked like me
(What?) Yes, man! (A sinful world!)
Yes, I dream my wife had ten babies, and every one of them looked like me
I know they was mine, man, I know that (In the dream you mean!)
But when I woke up this morning, not a baby did I see
Well I dream I got married, I got married to a millionaire
Boy I was in the money, wasn't I? (A millionairess!)
Yes I dream I got married, I got married to a millionaire
She took me down to the bank (uh-uh), she said, Jack Dupree, all your money's in there!
But I turned over in my bed and I grabbed my pillow and put it over my head
(uh-uh)
Yes, I turned over in my bed, grabbed my pillow and put it over my head
Because that was the worst dream I never had
For a second I thought I was dead
Wake me up, s
o I can face reality
Wake me up so I can face reality
With dreams like these, it's a wonder hard working men get any sleep
In Champion Jack Dupree's song I Had A Dream, he discusses the dreams that come to him at night. He proclaims that he only dreams about things that are not particularly enjoyable, such as old wagon wheels, boxcars, and broken-down dogs, never anything nice or sexual. His dreams are not typical of what we might associate with dreams or what we might expect from a musician. He also notes that he knows a lot of people who have dark dreams and that they should see Sigmund Freud. Freud is famous for his psychoanalytic theories and pioneering work in psychology.
In the second verse, Dupree continues with his dreams, sharing that he dreamt of having ten babies with his wife, indicating that he assumed the kids must look like him. This dream is ludicrous, but it displays his sense of humor. He then dreams of marrying a millionaire woman who takes all of his money to the bank. Although the money may sound nice, the dream was so terrible that he puts a pillow over his head to escape it.
The last few lines of the song see Dupree requesting someone to wake him up so that he can face reality. He notes that with dreams like his, it is a wonder that hard-working men get any sleep. This song presents a humorous take on dreams and their interpretation, especially for the working-class man.
Line by Line Meaning
Man, you know one thing I always dream...
I frequently have dreams, and there is one thing that I always dream about.
And that's the one thing in the world for a hard workin' man to do,
You know
Dreaming is one of the few things that a hard-working man can do.
Yeah, you better see Sigmund Freud.
Yeah, you know, that's bad, you know
For you don't never
Dream nothin' nice.
You should see a psychologist because it's unhealthy to always dream about negative things.
I don't know what you dream, but I know
When I go to bed I dream about old wagon wheels, old boxcars,
Old broken down flat-clad chihuahua's .
I don't know what you dream about, but when I sleep, I dream about old, dilapidated things.
I ain't never dreamed
Nothin' about a pretty woman or a woman walkin' around nude or
Something like that, I can't get them dreams together you know.
Too hard a work, you know.
I have never had a dream about an attractive woman, because those types of dreams are too hard to come by.
Not a hard-working man's dream.
No, no, no.
Dreams about attractive women are not typically experienced by hard-working men.
I had a dream, and what a dream was on my mind. (My, my)
I had a dream, a dream was on my mind
Lord I said to myself, how could a hard working man dream all the time?
I had a dream that was on my mind, and I wondered how it was possible for a hard-working man to dream so much.
Well I dream my wife had ten babies, and every one of them looked like me
(What?) Yes, man! (A sinful world!)
Yes, I dream my wife had ten babies, and every one of them looked like me
I know they was mine, man, I know that (In the dream you mean!)
But when I woke up this morning, not a baby did I see
I dreamt that my wife had ten babies that resembled me, indicating that they were indeed all mine, but when I woke up, there were no babies present.
Well I dream I got married, I got married to a millionaire
Boy I was in the money, wasn't I? (A millionairess!)
Yes I dream I got married, I got married to a millionaire
She took me down to the bank (uh-uh), she said, Jack Dupree, all your money's in there!
I dreamt that I married a millionaire or millionairess, and they took me to the bank to reveal that all of my money was already there.
But I turned over in my bed and I grabbed my pillow and put it over my head
(uh-uh)
Yes, I turned over in my bed, grabbed my pillow and put it over my head
Because that was the worst dream I never had
For a second I thought I was dead
I woke up from that dream and immediately covered my head with my pillow because I had the worst dream ever, and I briefly thought that I had died.
Wake me up, s
The song ends abruptly, leaving the listener with the impression that the singer wants to be woken up from his bad dream.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DAVID PORTER, ISAAC HAYES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Jake Fantom
on She Cooks Me Cabbage
The only line that confuses me is "and she called them turnip greens." Anyone got an idea what Champion Jack is trying to convey here? Why would she cook him cabbage and call it turnip greens?