Geeshie Wiley (sometimes rendered as Geechie Wiley) was an American female … Read Full Bio ↴Geeshie Wiley (sometimes rendered as Geechie Wiley) was an American female blues singer and guitar player. There are no known photographs or images of her. She recorded with Elvie Thomas in the early 1930s.

Wiley's biographical details are limited and the few details recalled in various sources are contradictory.
The nickname "Geechie" or "Geechee" was most commonly given to people from around coastal South Carolina and Georgia, and is an alternate name for the Gullah ethnic group of that region.
Robert "Mack" McCormick, an American musicologist and folklorist, has claimed to have visited Wiley's former home, and spoken to members of her immediate family, while carrying out fieldwork in Oklahoma. McCormick also interviewed Wiley's recording partner Elvie Thomas in Texas in 1961, and was told that her first name was Lillie Mae.
Ishman Bracey (whose testimony may not be reliable) stated Wiley hailed from Natchez, Mississippi, and was romantically linked to Papa Charlie McCoy. It is thought that in the 1920s she worked in a medicine show in Jackson, Mississippi. Some suggests that Wiley may have married Casey Bill Weldon following his divorce from Memphis Minnie.

The singer and bass player Herbert Wiley, of Oxford, Mississippi, told Ted Gioia that Geeshie Wiley was a cousin on his father's side, and that the family had farmed in South Carolina; Wiley's father said that he thought Geeshie had died in 1938 or 1939. Herbert believed that she was possibly buried in the family burial plot in Oxford, MS. The musicologist and genealogist Eric S. LeBlanc has suggested that Geeshie Wiley's legal name was Wadie May Wiley, and that she was born near Oxford in 1906.

In March 1930, Wiley recorded "Last Kind Word Blues" and "Skinny Leg Blues" for Paramount Records in Grafton, Wisconsin. Elvie Thomas provided guitar accompaniment. Thomas herself also recorded two songs at the time; "Motherless Child Blues" and "Over to My House," with Wiley playing guitar and supplying vocal harmonies. In March 1931 Wiley and Thomas returned to Grafton and recorded "Pick Poor Robin Clean" and "Eagles on a Half."

Her song "Last Kind Word Blues" was used in the documentary Crumb (1994) by Terry Zwigoff in the scene where Robert Crumb puts a record on (not the Wiley selection) and sits down to listen. During the song a slideshow of his cartoons is shown. The song also appeared on the latter day compilation album, Mississippi Masters: Early American Blues Classics 1927-1935 (Yazoo Records).

David Johansen and the Harry Smiths covered "Last Kind Words" on their 2002 album Shaker. Johansen also sang a portion of "Last Kind Words" in the movie Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (2003).

C.W. Stoneking included a faithful cover of "Last Kind Word Blues" on his 2006 album Mississippi & Piedmont Blues 1927-1941.

Dex Romweber Duo released a version of "Last Kind Word Blues", featuring Jack White, on White's vinyl only label, Third Man Records.

Ransom Riggs included "Last Kind Word Blues" on his defining video, "Talking Pictures", in which he talks about vintage photographs.

Discography 78rpm:

Paramount Records #12951 - March 1930 Geeshie Wiley: "Last Kind Words" / "Skinny Leg Blues"
Paramount Records #12977 - March 1930 Elvie Thomas & Geeshie Wiley: "Motherless Child Blues" / "Over to My House"
Paramount Records #13074 - March 1931 Geeshie Wiley & Elvie Thomas: "Pick Poor Robin Clean" / "Eagles On a Half"

“If Geeshie Wiley did not exist, she could not be invented: her scope and creativity dwarfs most blues artists. She seems to represent the moment when black secular music was coalescing into blues.”
Don Kent's liner notes to Mississippi Masters: Early American Blues Classics 1927-35 (Yazoo CD 2007, 1994)

Pick Poor Robin Clean
Geeshie Wiley Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Hello there Geechie. Hello there Slack. What are you doing down here? I'm just down here trying to play these boys the new Cock Robin. Let me hear it, then.

I picked poor Robin clean, I picked poor Robin clean
I picked his head, picked his feet
I would a picked his body but it wasn't fit to eat
I picked poor Robin clean, picked poor Robin clean
And I'll be satisfied having a family

Lord, did that jaybird laugh when I picked poor Robin clean
Poor Robin clean, picked poor Robin clean
Oh did that jaybird laugh when I picked poor Robin clean
And I'll be satisfied having a family

Get off my money, and don't get funny
'Cause I'm a nigger, I don't cut no figure
Then old Miss Sadie, she is my baby
And I'm a hustling coon, that's just what I am

You bet I picked poor Robin clean
Picked poor Robin clean, picked poor Robin clean
I picked his head, picked his feet
I would a picked his body but it wasn't fit to eat
Picked poor Robin clean, picked poor Robin clean
And I'll be satisfied having a family

Won't be long now

I picked poor Robin clean, picked poor Robin clean
Picked his head, picked his feet
I would a picked his body but it wasn't fit to eat

I picked poor Robin clean, picked poor Robin clean
And I'll be satisfied having a family

Overall Meaning

Geeshie Wiley's song "Pick Poor Robin Clean" is a unique take on the folk ballad of "Cock Robin," which is a story about a bird who tragically gets killed by a predator. However, Wiley's version flips the narrative and uses the story of the bird's death as a metaphor for her own financial struggles. In the song, she portrays herself as a hustling coon who is trying to survive in a world that is hostile towards Black people. She sings about "picking poor Robin clean," which can be interpreted as her finding ways to scrape by and make ends meet in any way possible. Despite the hardships she faces, she is determined to have a family and be content with what she has.

Line by Line Meaning

I picked poor Robin clean, I picked poor Robin clean
I completely scavenged and picked apart the body of a bird named Robin

I picked his head, picked his feet
I scavenged through the body of Robin and gathered whatever meat I could find, including the head and feet

I would a picked his body but it wasn't fit to eat
I searched through Robin's body as much as I could, but the rest of his body was not suitable for consumption

And I'll be satisfied having a family
My family will have enough to eat now that I have scavenged Robin's remains

Lord, did that jaybird laugh when I picked poor Robin clean
The jaybird noticed my activities and laughed at me while I was scavenging the remains of Robin

Get off my money, and don't get funny
Don't try to steal from me, I am a black person and won't be a victim

'Cause I'm a nigger, I don't cut no figure
I am a black person and I don't care what people think of me

Then old Miss Sadie, she is my baby
My lover is a white woman named Miss Sadie

And I'm a hustling coon, that's just what I am
I make a living as a con artist and that's who I am

You bet I picked poor Robin clean
I definitely scavenged and gathered as much meat as possible from Robin

Won't be long now
I am confident that I will succeed in life soon

Writer(s): Geeshie Wiley

Contributed by Riley A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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Most interesting comment from YouTube:

William Harris

3y↑2

From Wikipedia, lyrics are the most accurate available, and probably correct. This song is a cover from a Louis Jordan recording, so back checking those is possible.

Spoken Thomas: Hello there Geechie.
Wiley: Hello there Slack.
Thomas: What are you doing down here?
Wiley: I'm just down here trying to play these boys the new Cock Robin. Thomas: Let me hear it, then.

Sung: I picked poor Robin clean, I picked poor Robin clean
I picked his head, picked his feet
I would a picked his body but it wasn't fit to eat
I picked poor Robin clean, picked poor Robin clean
And I'll be satisfied having a family

Lord, did that jaybird laugh when I picked poor Robin clean
Poor Robin clean, picked poor Robin clean
Oh did that jaybird laugh when I picked poor Robin clean
And I'll be satisfied having a family

Get off my money, and don't get funny
'Cause I'm a nigger, 'don't cut no figure
Then old Miss Sadie, she is my baby
And I'm a hustling coon, that's just what I am

You bet I picked poor Robin clean
Picked poor Robin clean, picked poor Robin clean
I picked his head, picked his feet
I would a picked his body but it wasn't fit to eat
Picked poor Robin clean, picked poor Robin clean
And I'll be satisfied having a family

Won't be long now

I picked poor Robin clean, picked poor Robin clean
Picked his head, picked his feet
I would a picked his body but it wasn't fit to eat
I picked poor Robin clean, picked poor Robin clean
And I'll be satisfied having a family

All comments from YouTube:

Manoel Luiz

8y↑8

Como já dito antes, é gratificante ouvir as magníficas canções dos primórdios do blues, do country e mesmo do r'r., maneco - Porto Alegre- RS - Brasil.

Bruce Phillips

10y↑9

Thanks for posting this. I used in my class at USC--I am teaching Ellison's Invisible Man and this song is referenced in the book. Having the actual music to hear added a lot

William Harris

3y↑2

Bruce Belcher

2y↑1

This is a recording of a song previously recorded by Luke Jordan, not Louis Jordan. This sounds like it is probably a traditional song, rather than something that Luke Jordan wrote.

Andre Carvalho

8y↑2

this is fantastic

simonpenum

14y

Thankyou I've been looking for more of her stuff for ages

Bruce McDermott

10y↑9

Wow! Trying to put a voice with today's NY Times Magazine's wonderful article on Geeshie and Elvie. Thanks.

Barry Margolis

9y↑6

This is a cover of Luke Jordan's original recording on Victor from about 1926.

C Porter

4y↑4

John Fahey wasn't even born at the time of this recording, never did he even mention it. The only thing he ever did with a 78, other than sell them while an alcoholic, was cut two experimental records on the Perfect Label (the same one from 1922-1938, 1940, 1980) when a College kid named Dean Blackwood got a hold of it from god knows where in the mid 1990s.

17 76

10y↑1

Ahhh the Blues...

cuntymash

13y

i feel it in my gutsssssssssssss xx

Karl Strand

Now I know where Sonny Burgess got Sadie's Back In Town.

busessuck1

14y

She's accompanied by Elvie Thomas on this song - most likely she was better looking than the woman pictured

hwgray

"most likely she was better looking than the woman pictured" Really? What's wrong with the looks of the woman pictured?

ElComadreja777

13y

@OneGreatChance That's actually the OJL cover you're reffering to and like it or not, that's the way many people looked back then.

hwgray

"that's the way many people looked back then." And that's the way that many people look, today.

gammeltfossil

9y↑1

"Fahey referred to it as 'American Primitive' after the 'French Primitive' painters, meaning untutored."

It's a compilation of the blues, country and string bands, that inspired John Fahey and his peers from the sixties and onwards. No racism to see here, carry on.

Eliezer Pennywhistler

+gammeltfossil
Who mentioned race or racism?

gammeltfossil

+Eliezer Pennywhistler

OneGreatChance

"Geez, look at the Cover with "American Primitive". Record companies were pretty racist back then".

Eliezer Pennywhistler

+gammeltfossil Oh. Down there. Asked four years ago. And answered three years ago.

Got it. Thanks.

gammeltfossil

+Eliezer Pennywhistler

None of the other replies gave the etymology.

Eliezer Pennywhistler

Fahey invented the term "'American Primitive" after the French Primitive painters, meaning untutored.

Nicolas Lebrun

12y↑1

I don't think there is a racist intent in saying "American primitive". It qualifies the music, not the people who made it.

Richard Leigh

It qualifies the recording quality, not the music. I don't know what primitive music would sound like.

U.S. SAM

6y↑2

+ skorecki7 "from john fahey's final revenant masterpiece in blues" ??????? How does John get any credit for something written & performed before he was even born ? Just trying to understand why you are crediting him at all ?

wolverina23

I agree

Erik Jones

9y↑1

How do you pronounce geeshie?

Eliezer Pennywhistler

9y↑1

+Erik Jones Just like it looks.

Scott Semple

At the beginning of the recording, before they start singing, you can hear them call each other by their nicknames, Geeshie and Slack.

Eliezer Pennywhistler

8y↑1

That's only if you actually LISTEN to the recording, though.

Stefan Schleps

Hard G.

Pasanamon

10y↑4

No racist please. This is music. American Primitive on the cover tells you about the songs so old you're going to hear. Early American music, no color involved.