Ramblin' Jack Elliott (born Elliott Charles Adnopoz, 1 August 1931) is a Gr… Read Full Bio ↴Ramblin' Jack Elliott (born Elliott Charles Adnopoz, 1 August 1931) is a Grammy Award winning American folk performer.

Originally from New York, Elliott grew up in a Jewish family and had always wanted to be a cowboy. Pressured by his parents to follow in his father's footsteps and become a doctor, Elliott resisted and inspired by the rodeos he attended at Madison Square Garden, he ran away from home at the age of 15 and joined the J.E. Ranch Rodeo. Although he was only with the rodeo for three months (before his parents tracked him down and he was sent home), Elliott was exposed to his first singing cowboy, a rodeo clown who played guitar and banjo and sang songs.

Returning home, Elliott taught himself to play guitar and started busking for a living. Eventually he hooked up with Woody Guthrie and lived with him as a kind of student.

With banjo player Derroll Adams, he later toured Great Britain and Europe and had a lasting effect on the music scene there. By 1960, he had made three folk albums for the British label, Topic. Playing in the small clubs and pubs of London by day, he would then take his act to the smart, west end night clubs. Upon arriving back in the U.S., Elliott discovered he had become well-known within the folk scene.

Elliott's greatest influence was Woody Guthrie. Guthrie's son, Arlo, has said that because of his dad's illness and early death, he never really got to know him. Arlo acknowledged that he learned his dad's songs and musical style through Elliott.

Elliott's musical style influenced Bob Dylan so heavily that Dylan's first gig in New York City was billed as "Son of Jack Elliott." While Dylan rose to prominence through his compositions, Elliott continued as an interpretive troubadour, bringing old songs to new audiences in an idiosyncratic manner.

Elliott appeared on Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue and played Longheno de Castro in Dylan's Renaldo and Clara.

Jack Elliott's style is distinctive in its use of excellent guitar technique matched with laconic, humorous storytelling and an emotional intensity in the singing.

Elliott's nickname is due not to his travel habits, but rather to the countless stories he would relate before answering the simplest of questions. Folk singer Odetta claims that it was her mother who gave him the name by remarking, "Oh Jack Elliott, yeah, he can sure ramble on!"

He was famously parodied in on the BBC in the 1960s by Kenneth Williams as Rambling Syd Rumpo who was a recurring character on Round the Horne. His claims of authenticity as a folk artist (despite being a Jewish doctor's son from New York City) and disparagement of other folk artists were also parodied by the Folksmen (Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer) in A Mighty Wind both in the name of their "hit" Ramblin' and in their claims that their version was more authentic than the New Main Street Singers's version.

Jack Elliott's first recording in 20 years, "South Coast", earned him his first Grammy in 1995. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1998. Ramblin' Jack's long career and strained relationship with his daughter Aiyana were chronicled in her 2000 documentary, "The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack".

At 75, he has recently changed labels and released "I Stand Alone" on the Anti- label, with an assortment of guest backup players including members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers; again, an idiosyncratic collection of little-known music delivered with humor and intensity. He is on record as saying his intention was to title the album "Not For The Tourists" because it was recorded in response to his daughter's request for songs he loved but never played in concert. When she asked why he did not play them in public, he replied "These songs are not for the tourists".

New Stranger Blues
Ramblin' Jack Elliott Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I'm a stranger here, just blowed in your town
I'm a stranger here, just blowed in your town
Just because I'm a stranger everybody wants to dog me around

Lord, I wonder do my good gal know I'm here?
Lord, I wonder do my good gal know I'm here
Well, if she do she sure don't seem to care

How can some people dog a poor stranger so
How can some people dog a poor stranger so
They should remember they gonna reap what they sow

I would stay up North but nothing here that I can do
I would stay up North but nothing here that I can do
Just hang around the corner and sing the poor stranger blues

Mama, I'm going back South if I wear ninety-nine pairs of shoes

Mama, I'm going back South if I wear ninety-nine pairs of shoes
Then I know I'll be welcome and I won't have the stranger's blues

Overall Meaning

In Ramblin' Jack Elliott's song "New Stranger Blues", the singer is expressing his feelings of being ostracized and mistreated because he is a stranger in town. He mentions that just because he is unfamiliar to the people in the town, they treat him poorly. He wonders if his good gal knows that he is there, and if she does, why she does not seem to care. The singer asks how people can treat a poor stranger so badly, and reminds them that what goes around comes around. He mentions that there is nothing for him in the North, and contemplates going back South where he feels he will be welcomed and will no longer have to feel like a stranger.

The song touches on themes of alienation and mistreatment towards outsiders. The singer's sense of displacement is emphasized throughout the song, from the opening line "I'm a stranger here", to his discussion of being "dogged" and mistreated. At the same time, the song also carries a message of hope and resilience, as the singer contemplates finding a place where he is welcome and where he no longer feels like a stranger.

Line by Line Meaning

I'm a stranger here, just blowed in your town
I am new to this place and just arrived here.

Just because I'm a stranger everybody wants to dog me around
People tend to treat me unfairly just because I am new here.

Lord, I wonder do my good gal know I'm here?
I am thinking if my beloved knows that I am here.

Well, if she do she sure don't seem to care
Even if she knows, it feels like she doesn't care.

How can some people dog a poor stranger so
Why do some people treat a newcomer unfairly like this?

They should remember they gonna reap what they sow
Those who mistreat others will eventually face the consequences of their actions.

I would stay up North but nothing here that I can do
I would stay here, but there are no opportunities for me.

Just hang around the corner and sing the poor stranger blues
All I can do is stand on the street corner and sing songs about being a poor stranger.

Mama, I'm going back South if I wear ninety-nine pairs of shoes
Mother, I will go back to the South even if I have to wear many pairs of shoes to cover the distance.

Then I know I'll be welcome and I won't have the stranger's blues
I am confident that I will receive a warm welcome in the South and I will feel at home there.

Contributed by Alexis F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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