After college, Mahal moved to Los Angeles and formed the group Rising Sons with Ry Cooder in 1964. The group signed with Columbia Records and released one single and recorded another album which was not released by Columbia until 1992. Taj, frustrated with the mixed reaction to his music quit the group and went solo. Still with Columbia, he released a well received, self titled album in 1968, and based on its success released a second album, Natch'l Blues that same year. Two very different records - Giant Step, with his electric band, and solo De Ole Folks at Home - were released in 1969 together as a double album. This firmly established Taj as an American blues original. The double album The Real Thing, captured him live at this time, with a horn section.
He has received two Grammy awards in the category "Best Contemporary Blues Album", the first in 1997 for Señor Blues, and again in 2000 for Shoutin' in Key. He has performed on various film soundtracks including Sounder and Blues Brothers 2000, in which he also appeared.
Frankie & Albert
Taj Mahal Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Lord how they could love
Vowed to love one another
Baby 'neath the stars above
It was her man and he was doin' her wrong
Frankie went down to the bar room
To get herself a bucket of beer
Say hey has my lovely man been here?
It was my man, an' he was doing me wrong
Bartender said "Ms Frankie
Honey I can't tell you no lie
He left here about an hour ago
With that hussie named Nelly Bly
It was your man, he was doing you wrong"
Frankie, she cried, she cried, she cried
Lord what have I done?
I done give lovin' to this man
He took my love and run
It was my man, and he was doing me wrong
Albert saw Frankie comin', He say
"Oh Lord baby, don't you shoot
Well you know, out from under that red kimono"
The gun went rootie toot toot
She shot that man 'cause he was doin' her wrong
Boo hoo, boo hoo, boo hoo, boo hoo
Frankie say baby what have I done?
You know I shot the only man I loved a cold 41
It was my man an' he was doin' me wrong
Play it for a while
High Sheriff come clippety, clippety, clippety, clippety
Clippety, clippety, clippety the trail
I say, "Look here Frankie I'm gon' tell ya'
You done shot yo' man,
I'm gon' hafta' put cha in da' county jail"
Talkin' 'bout that man an' he was doin' her wrong
Frankie she laid in da' jail house
Now ya' know there ain't no one to go her bail
But 'cha know big Jim say honey
"I'm workin' on you, try to get you outta that jail"
Tell about yo' man 'cause he was doin' you wrong
An' our story go on
Frankie an' Albert were sweethearts
Lord how they could love
Vowed to love one another
Underneath the stars above
Talkin' 'bout that man an' he was doin' her wrong
"Frankie and Albert" is a traditional American song that tells the story of Frankie shooting her lover Albert after finding out that he has been cheating on her with another woman named Nelly Bly. In the first verse, we learn that Frankie and Albert are deeply in love, but Albert has been unfaithful to her. Frankie goes to the bar to ask the bartender if Albert has been there, and he tells her that Albert has left with Nelly. This revelation devastates Frankie, and she is left to consider what she should do next.
The chorus features Frankie's emotional response to the betrayal, as she cries and wonders what she has done to deserve this treatment. When Albert sees Frankie coming, he attempts to talk her out of shooting him, but it's too late, and she kills him in a fit of rage. Frankie is arrested and sent to jail, where she waits for Big Jim to hopefully come to her rescue.
The story of Frankie and Albert is a classic example of a "murder ballad," a genre of folk music that tells tales of violent crimes and their consequences. The song's origins are unclear, but it may have been based on a real-life murder case that took place in St. Louis in the late 19th century. Over the years, the song has been recorded by many different artists, including Lead Belly, Mississippi John Hurt, and Taj Mahal.
Line by Line Meaning
Frankie and Albert were sweethearts
Frankie and Albert were deeply in love
Lord how they could love
Their love was passionate and intense
Vowed to love one another
They promised to love each other forever
Baby 'neath the stars above
They made this promise under the night sky
It was her man and he was doin' her wrong
Albert was cheating on Frankie
Frankie went down to the bar room
Frankie went to the bar to find Albert
To get herself a bucket of beer
She ordered a beer to calm herself down
Say hey to da' lone bartender
Frankie greeted the only bartender in the bar
Say hey has my lovely man been here?
Frankie asked the bartender if Albert had been there
It was my man, an' he was doing me wrong
The bartender confirmed that Albert had been there and was cheating on Frankie
Bartender said 'Ms Frankie Honey I can't tell you no lie
The bartender couldn't hide the truth from Frankie
He left here about an hour ago
Albert had only just left the bar
With that hussie named Nelly Bly
Albert left with another woman
Frankie, she cried, she cried, she cried
Frankie was devastated by the news
Lord what have I done?
Frankie regretted giving her love to Albert
I done give lovin' to this man
Frankie had given her love to a man who didn't deserve it
He took my love and run
Albert took advantage of Frankie's love and left her
It was my man, and he was doing me wrong
Albert was still cheating on Frankie
Albert saw Frankie comin', He say
Albert saw Frankie approaching and spoke to her
'Oh Lord baby, don't you shoot
Albert begged Frankie not to shoot him
Well you know, out from under that red kimono'
Albert made a disrespectful comment about Frankie's clothing
The gun went rootie toot toot
Frankie shot Albert
She shot that man 'cause he was doin' her wrong
Frankie shot Albert because he was cheating on her
Boo hoo, boo hoo, boo hoo, boo hoo
Frankie was crying and upset
Frankie say baby what have I done?
Frankie realized the gravity of her actions
You know I shot the only man I loved a cold 41
Frankie realizes that she killed the man she loved
High Sheriff come clippety, clippety, clippety, clippety
The sheriff approached the scene quickly
Clippety, clippety, clippety the trail
The sound of the sheriff's footsteps could be heard
I say, 'Look here Frankie I'm gon' tell ya'
The sheriff addressed Frankie
You done shot yo' man,
The sheriff accused Frankie of shooting Albert
I'm gon' hafta' put cha in da' county jail
The sheriff was going to put Frankie in jail
Tell about yo' man 'cause he was doin' you wrong
The reason for Frankie's arrest was Albert's infidelity
Frankie she laid in da' jail house
Frankie was sent to jail
Now ya' know there ain't no one to go her bail
Frankie was stuck in jail without anyone to bail her out
But 'cha know big Jim say honey
Frankie's friend Big Jim was going to help her
'I'm workin' on you, try to get you outta that jail'
Big Jim was going to try and get Frankie out of jail
An' our story go on
The story of Frankie and Albert's tragic love affair continues
Frankie an' Albert were sweethearts
Frankie and Albert were deeply in love
Lord how they could love
Their love was passionate and intense
Vowed to love one another
They promised to love each other forever
Underneath the stars above
They professed their love under the night sky
Talkin' 'bout that man an' he was doin' her wrong
Their love was destroyed by Albert's infidelity
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: RANDY NEWMAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@tonys4396
History
The song was inspired by one or more actual murders. One of these took place in an apartment building located at 212 Targee Street in St. Louis, Missouri, at 2:00 on the morning of October 15, 1899. Frankie Baker (1876 – 1952),[1] a 22-year-old woman, shot her 17-year-old lover Allen (also known as "Albert") Britt in the abdomen. Britt had just returned from a cakewalk at a local dance hall, where he and another woman, Nelly Bly (also known as "Alice Pryor" and no relation to the pioneering reporter who adopted the pseudonym Nellie Bly), had won a prize in a slow-dancing contest. Britt died of his wounds four days later at the City Hospital.[2][3][4] On trial, Baker claimed that Britt had attacked her with a knife and that she acted in self-defense; she was acquitted and died in a Portland, Oregon, mental institution in 1952.[citation needed]
In 1899, popular St Louis balladeer Bill Dooley composed "Frankie Killed Allen" shortly after the Baker murder case.[5] The first published version of the music to "Frankie and Johnny" appeared in 1904, credited to and copyrighted by Hughie Cannon, the composer of "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey"; the piece, a variant version of whose melody is sung today, was titled "He Done Me Wrong" and subtitled "Death of Bill Bailey."[6]
The song has also been linked to Frances "Frankie" Stewart Silver, convicted in 1832 of murdering her husband Charles Silver in Burke County, North Carolina. Unlike Frankie Baker, Silver was executed.[3][7]
Another variant of the melody, with words and music credited to Frank and Bert Leighton, appeared in 1908 under the title "Bill You Done Me Wrong;" this song was republished in 1912 as "Frankie and Johnny," this time with the words that appear in modern folk variations:
Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts
They had a quarrel one day
Johnny he vowed that he would leave her
Said he was going away
He's never coming home
Also:
Frankie took aim with her forty-four
Three times with a rooty-toot-toot
The 1912 "Frankie and Johnny" by the Leighton Brothers and Ren Shields also identifies "Nellie Bly" as the new girl to whom Johnny has given his heart. What has come to be the traditional version of the melody was also published in 1912, as the verse to the song "You're My Baby," with music is attributed to Nat. D. Ayer.[8]
The familiar "Frankie and Johnny were lovers" lyrics first appeared (as "Frankie and Albert") in On the Trail of Negro Folksongs by Dorothy Scarborough, published in 1925; a similar version with the "Frankie and Johnny" names appeared in 1927 in Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag.[9]
Several students of folk music have asserted that the song long predates the earliest published versions; according to Leonard Feather in his Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz[10] it was sung at the Siege of Vicksburg (1863) during the American Civil War[11] and Sandburg said it was widespread before 1888, while John Jacob Niles reported that it emerged before 1830.[3] The fact, however, that the familiar version does not appear in print before 1925 is "strange indeed for such an allegedly old and well-known song," according to music historian James J. Fuld, who suggests that it "is not so ancient as some of the folk-song writers would have one believe."[12]
Recordings
"Frankie and Johnny"
Single by Brook Benton
from the album The Boll Weevil Song and 11 Other Great Hits
B-side "It's Just a House Without You"
Released August 1961
Format 7"
Recorded July 1961
Genre Pop, R&B
Length 2:27
Label Mercury
Songwriter(s) Traditional, arranged by Brook Benton
Producer(s) Shelby Singleton
Brook Benton singles chronology
"The Boll Weevil Song"
(1961) "Frankie and Johnny"
(1961) "Revenge"
(1961)
At least 256 recordings of "Frankie and Johnny" have been made since the early 20th century. Singers include Brook Benton, Mike Bloomfield, Big Bill Broonzy, Mississippi Joe Callicott, Johnny Cash, Sam Cooke, Frank Crumit, Sammy Davis Jr., Lonnie Donegan, Bob Dylan, Roscoe Holcomb, Lena Horne, Mississippi John Hurt, Burl Ives, Jack Johnson, Lead Belly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lindsay Lohan, Taj Mahal, Van Morrison, Charlie Patton, Les Paul, Charlie Poole, Jimmie Rodgers, Anika Noni Rose, Pete Seeger, Dinah Shore, Chris Smither, Gene Vincent, Fats Waller, Doc Watson, Stevie Wonder, and Josh White.
A 1966 recording by Elvis Presley became a gold record as the title song of a Presley movie.
The earliest country recording of a Frankie song is Ernest Thompson's 1924 Columbia recording of "Frankie Baker", which is listed in Tony Russell's Country Music Records A Discography, 1921-1942, Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0195366211. Thompson was a blind street singer from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
As a jazz standard it has also been recorded by numerous bands and instrumentalists including Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Count Basie, Bunny Berigan, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman. Champion Jack Dupree set his version in New Orleans, retitling it "Rampart and Dumaine."
Ace Cannon recorded an instrumental version for his 1994 album Entertainer.
Johnny Cash version
"Frankie's Man, Johnny"
Single by Johnny Cash
A-side "Frankie's Man, Johnny"
"You Dreamer You"
Released 1959
Format 7" vinyl
Genre Country
Label Columbia 4-41371
Songwriter(s) traditional, arr. Johnny Cash[13]
Music video
"Frankie's Man, Johnny" (audio only, mono)
"Frankie's Man, Johnny" (audio only, stereo)
on YouTube
Johnny Cash released this song under the title "Frankie's Man, Johnny" as his third Columbia single[14] (Columbia 4-41371, with "You Dreamer You" on the opposite side)[15][16][17][18][19] in April 1959.[15]
"Frankie's Man, Johnny" reached number 9 on the Billboard country chart[20] and number 57 on the Hot 100.,[14][21] while "You Dreamer You" made it to number 13 on the country chart[22] and didn't enter the Hot 100.
@tonys4396
@Erwin Boermans History
The song was inspired by one or more actual murders. One of these took place in an apartment building located at 212 Targee Street in St. Louis, Missouri, at 2:00 on the morning of October 15, 1899. Frankie Baker (1876 – 1952),[1] a 22-year-old woman, shot her 17-year-old lover Allen (also known as "Albert") Britt in the abdomen. Britt had just returned from a cakewalk at a local dance hall, where he and another woman, Nelly Bly (also known as "Alice Pryor" and no relation to the pioneering reporter who adopted the pseudonym Nellie Bly), had won a prize in a slow-dancing contest. Britt died of his wounds four days later at the City Hospital.[2][3][4] On trial, Baker claimed that Britt had attacked her with a knife and that she acted in self-defense; she was acquitted and died in a Portland, Oregon, mental institution in 1952.[citation needed]
In 1899, popular St Louis balladeer Bill Dooley composed "Frankie Killed Allen" shortly after the Baker murder case.[5] The first published version of the music to "Frankie and Johnny" appeared in 1904, credited to and copyrighted by Hughie Cannon, the composer of "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey"; the piece, a variant version of whose melody is sung today, was titled "He Done Me Wrong" and subtitled "Death of Bill Bailey."[6]
The song has also been linked to Frances "Frankie" Stewart Silver, convicted in 1832 of murdering her husband Charles Silver in Burke County, North Carolina. Unlike Frankie Baker, Silver was executed.[3][7]
Another variant of the melody, with words and music credited to Frank and Bert Leighton, appeared in 1908 under the title "Bill You Done Me Wrong;" this song was republished in 1912 as "Frankie and Johnny," this time with the words that appear in modern folk variations:
Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts
They had a quarrel one day
Johnny he vowed that he would leave her
Said he was going away
He's never coming home
Also:
Frankie took aim with her forty-four
Three times with a rooty-toot-toot
The 1912 "Frankie and Johnny" by the Leighton Brothers and Ren Shields also identifies "Nellie Bly" as the new girl to whom Johnny has given his heart. What has come to be the traditional version of the melody was also published in 1912, as the verse to the song "You're My Baby," with music is attributed to Nat. D. Ayer.[8]
The familiar "Frankie and Johnny were lovers" lyrics first appeared (as "Frankie and Albert") in On the Trail of Negro Folksongs by Dorothy Scarborough, published in 1925; a similar version with the "Frankie and Johnny" names appeared in 1927 in Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag.[9]
Several students of folk music have asserted that the song long predates the earliest published versions; according to Leonard Feather in his Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz[10] it was sung at the Siege of Vicksburg (1863) during the American Civil War[11] and Sandburg said it was widespread before 1888, while John Jacob Niles reported that it emerged before 1830.[3] The fact, however, that the familiar version does not appear in print before 1925 is "strange indeed for such an allegedly old and well-known song," according to music historian James J. Fuld, who suggests that it "is not so ancient as some of the folk-song writers would have one believe."[12]
Recordings
"Frankie and Johnny"
Single by Brook Benton
from the album The Boll Weevil Song and 11 Other Great Hits
B-side "It's Just a House Without You"
Released August 1961
Format 7"
Recorded July 1961
Genre Pop, R&B
Length 2:27
Label Mercury
Songwriter(s) Traditional, arranged by Brook Benton
Producer(s) Shelby Singleton
Brook Benton singles chronology
"The Boll Weevil Song"
(1961) "Frankie and Johnny"
(1961) "Revenge"
(1961)
At least 256 recordings of "Frankie and Johnny" have been made since the early 20th century. Singers include Brook Benton, Mike Bloomfield, Big Bill Broonzy, Mississippi Joe Callicott, Johnny Cash, Sam Cooke, Frank Crumit, Sammy Davis Jr., Lonnie Donegan, Bob Dylan, Roscoe Holcomb, Lena Horne, Mississippi John Hurt, Burl Ives, Jack Johnson, Lead Belly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lindsay Lohan, Taj Mahal, Van Morrison, Charlie Patton, Les Paul, Charlie Poole, Jimmie Rodgers, Anika Noni Rose, Pete Seeger, Dinah Shore, Chris Smither, Gene Vincent, Fats Waller, Doc Watson, Stevie Wonder, and Josh White.
A 1966 recording by Elvis Presley became a gold record as the title song of a Presley movie.
The earliest country recording of a Frankie song is Ernest Thompson's 1924 Columbia recording of "Frankie Baker", which is listed in Tony Russell's Country Music Records A Discography, 1921-1942, Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0195366211. Thompson was a blind street singer from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
As a jazz standard it has also been recorded by numerous bands and instrumentalists including Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Count Basie, Bunny Berigan, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman. Champion Jack Dupree set his version in New Orleans, retitling it "Rampart and Dumaine."
Ace Cannon recorded an instrumental version for his 1994 album Entertainer.
Johnny Cash version
"Frankie's Man, Johnny"
Single by Johnny Cash
A-side "Frankie's Man, Johnny"
"You Dreamer You"
Released 1959
Format 7" vinyl
Genre Country
Label Columbia 4-41371
Songwriter(s) traditional, arr. Johnny Cash[13]
Music video
"Frankie's Man, Johnny" (audio only, mono)
"Frankie's Man, Johnny" (audio only, stereo)
on YouTube
Johnny Cash released this song under the title "Frankie's Man, Johnny" as his third Columbia single[14] (Columbia 4-41371, with "You Dreamer You" on the opposite side)[15][16][17][18][19] in April 1959.[15]
"Frankie's Man, Johnny" reached number 9 on the Billboard country chart[20] and number 57 on the Hot 100.,[14][21] while "You Dreamer You" made it to number 13 on the country chart[22] and didn't enter the Hot 100.
@oldbladderhorn
Taj sure does butcher this tune trying and failing to call up The spirit of old Mississippi John
with Taj sluring that blue bent note vocal an copied by his chorister backing singers
just pure butchery trying to be more clever than John it hurt my listening ... so so so (here)
I edited out my insomniac late night late morning rant.
a few months have passed from that early summer (rant)
Yeah! and its blowing a sweet November gale here in Wales UK rain and wind forecast for a week
dark and wet...just love this weather.
So someone took offence at my ADHA autistic rant yes it' comes on much worse after having no sleep.
And I don't take any Medication for either as thats the way to ruination, becoming a pill junky.
i burn my excessive nagging moody energies
by writing trash...
and sweet Cathy S .. party no fu*** way can't figure out what all the facial gestures are all about.
worse than monkey's you crazy normies do my head?
@Narikeljinjira
Sublime Taj
@richardroadman2239
Brilliant. None better. God Bless the Pointer Sisters.
@cathyspinelli9541
Dear God
@davidmatthews3131
My favorite Taj tune ( tho he do set the bar high )
@jerome7942
Magnifique, merci
@erwinboermans1394
Merci a vous!
@user-jl9fm1zl4b
I sang that song too. With the group "Cry Baby" on Russian television in 1994. Alexander Kazankov.
@henryfredericks5478
Correct , the song was not written by M.John Hurt, but what a great version of an American folk tale!
So many of these songs no one living knows who's the original author "and quite frankly my dear
they didn't care as long as they got to hear the story sung in a poetic,melodic form!
Maestro
T🇰🇳
@malcdogg412
RIP my brotha Chuck
@RAMLIA1
Great !