Corrina, Corrina (song)
Encyclopedia
"Corrine, Corrina" is a 12 bar
country blues song
in the AAB form. "Corrine, Corrina" was first recorded by "Bo Carter" Chatmon
(Brunswick
7080, December 1928
). However, it was not copyrighted until 1932 by Chatmon and his publishers, Mitchell Parish
and J. Mayo Williams
. The song is familiar for its opening verse:
The Mississippi Sheiks
, as the Jackson Blue Boys with Papa Charlie McCoy
on vocals, recorded the same song in 1930; this time as "Sweet Alberta" (Columbia
14397-D), substituting the words Sweet Alberta for Corrine, Corrina.
"Corrine, Corrina" has become a standard in a number of musical styles, including blues, rock and roll, Cajun, and Western swing.
The title of the song varies from recording to recording; chiefly with the variant "Corrina, Corrina".
(Edison
6166) recorded a vocal version in 1918, and Wilbur Sweatman
's Original Jazz Band (Columbia
A-2663), an instrumental version the same year. Graham's song contains sentiments similar to "Corrine, Corrina":
Blind Lemon Jefferson
recorded a version of "C.C. Rider" in April 1926 entitled "Corrina Blues" which contains a verse in a similar vein:
The Mississippi Sheiks
also recorded "Sweet Maggie" in the 1930s.
adapted "Corrine, Corrina" to a Western swing
dance song. Following his recording with The Texas Playboys (OKeh
06530) on April 15, 1940, the song entered the standard repertoire of all Western swing bands, influencing the adoption of "Corrine, Corrina" by Cajun bands
and later by individual country artists.
Although the Playboys' rendition set the standard, early Western swing groups had already recorded "Corrine, Corrina". Western swing bandleaders easily adapted almost any style of music into their dance numbers, but the Mississippi Sheiks' string band country blues style came easier than some. Milton Brown and his Musical Brownies
recorded the song during a session on August 8, 1934, after meeting the Sheiks at a similar recording session earlier that year. Their version was titled "Where You Been So Long, Corrine?" (Bluebird
B-5808).
"Corrine, Corrina" is also an important song related to Western swing's pioneering use of electrically amplified stringed instruments. It was one of the songs recorded during a session in Dallas on September 28, 1935 by Roy Newman and His Boys (OKeh 03117). Their guitarist, Jim Boyd, played what is the first use of an electrically amplified guitar
found on a recording.
Cliff Bruner's
Texas Wanderers also recorded an early version of Chatmon's song on February 5, 1937 (Decca
5350).
of the 1960s when Bob Dylan
began playing a version he titled "Corrina, Corrina". His version, sung in a blues-like manner, however, is not "Corrine, Corrina" musically, even though containing lyrics from that song. His song is from "Stones In My Passway" (Vocalion
3723) recorded by Robert Johnson in 1937. Besides the musical similarities, Dylan's song includes lyrics taken from Johnson's song:
He also found a relationship to "Alberta, Let Your Hair Hang Low
" which few others find:
Twelve bar blues
The 12-bar blues is one of the most popular chord progressions in popular music, including the blues. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics and phrase and chord structure and duration...
country blues song
Country blues
Country blues is a general term that refers to all the acoustic, mainly guitar-driven forms of the blues. It often incorporated elements of rural gospel, ragtime, hillbilly, and dixieland jazz...
in the AAB form. "Corrine, Corrina" was first recorded by "Bo Carter" Chatmon
Bo Carter
Armenter "Bo Carter" Chatmon was an American early blues musician. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks in concerts, and on a few of their recordings...
(Brunswick
Brunswick Records
Brunswick Records is a United States based record label. The label is currently distributed by E1 Entertainment.-From 1916:Records under the "Brunswick" label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company...
7080, December 1928
1928 in music
-Events:*April 27 - Igor Stravinsky's ballet Apollon musagète is premiered in Washington.*September 11 - Leoš Janáček's String Quartet No. 2, Intimate Letters, is premiered in Brno....
). However, it was not copyrighted until 1932 by Chatmon and his publishers, Mitchell Parish
Mitchell Parish
Mitchell Parish was an American lyricist.-Early life:Parish was born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky to a Jewish family in Lithuania. His family emigrated to the United States, arriving on February 3, 1901 on the SS Dresden when he was less than a year old...
and J. Mayo Williams
J. Mayo Williams
Jay Mayo "Ink" Williams was a pioneering African-American producer of recorded blues music. Ink Williams earned his nickname by his ability to get the signatures of talented African-American musicians on recording contracts...
. The song is familiar for its opening verse:
- Corrine, Corrina, where you been so long?
- Corrine, Corrina, where you been so long?
- I ain't had no lovin', since you've been gone.
The Mississippi Sheiks
Mississippi Sheiks
The Mississippi Sheiks were a popular and influential guitar and fiddle group of the 1930s. They were notable mostly for playing country blues, but were adept at many styles of United States popular music of the time, and their records were bought by both black and white audiences.In 2004, they...
, as the Jackson Blue Boys with Papa Charlie McCoy
Papa Charlie McCoy
Charles "Papa Charlie" McCoy was an African American delta blues musician and songwriter.-Career:Born in Jackson, Mississippi, McCoy was best known by the nickname 'Papa Charlie'. He became one of the major blues accompanists of his time...
on vocals, recorded the same song in 1930; this time as "Sweet Alberta" (Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
14397-D), substituting the words Sweet Alberta for Corrine, Corrina.
"Corrine, Corrina" has become a standard in a number of musical styles, including blues, rock and roll, Cajun, and Western swing.
The title of the song varies from recording to recording; chiefly with the variant "Corrina, Corrina".
History
"Corrine, Corrina" may have traditional roots, however, earlier songs are different musically and lyrically. One of the earliest is the commercial sheet music song "Has Anybody Seen My Corrine?" published by Roger Graham in 1918. Vernon DalhartVernon Dalhart
Vernon Dalhart , born Marion Try Slaughter, was a popular American singer and songwriter of the early decades of the 20th century. He is a major influence in the field of country music.-Early life:...
(Edison
Edison Records
Edison Records was one of the earliest record labels which pioneered recorded sound and was an important player in the early recording industry.- Early phonographs before commercial mass produced records :...
6166) recorded a vocal version in 1918, and Wilbur Sweatman
Wilbur Sweatman
Wilbur C. Sweatman was an African-American ragtime and dixieland jazz composer, bandleader, and clarinetist....
's Original Jazz Band (Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
A-2663), an instrumental version the same year. Graham's song contains sentiments similar to "Corrine, Corrina":
- Has anybody seen my Corrine?
- No matter where Corrina may be,
- Tell my Corrina to come right back to me,
- I want some lovin' sweetie dear.
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Blind Lemon Jefferson
"Blind" Lemon Jefferson was an American blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues"....
recorded a version of "C.C. Rider" in April 1926 entitled "Corrina Blues" which contains a verse in a similar vein:
- If you see Corrina, tell her to hurry home
- I ain't had no true love since Corrina been gone
- I ain't had no true love since Corrina been gone
- I ain't had no true love since Corrina been gone
The Mississippi Sheiks
Mississippi Sheiks
The Mississippi Sheiks were a popular and influential guitar and fiddle group of the 1930s. They were notable mostly for playing country blues, but were adept at many styles of United States popular music of the time, and their records were bought by both black and white audiences.In 2004, they...
also recorded "Sweet Maggie" in the 1930s.
- Sweet Maggie sweet Maggie where you bin so long
- Tell me sweet Maggie where you bin so long
- There hasn’t bin no lovin since you bin gone.
- Sweet Maggie sweet Maggie where’d you stay last night
- Sweet Maggie sweet Maggie where’d you stay last night
- You come home this morning the sun was shining bright.
- I met sweet Maggie way across that sea
- I met sweet Maggie way across that sea
- She wouldn’t write me no letter she didn’t care about me.
- Sweet Maggie sweet Maggie what you gonna do
- Sweet Maggie sweet Maggie what you gonna do
- Just a little bit of lovin and let your heart be true.
- Sweet Maggie sweet Maggie dear pal of mine
- Sweet Maggie sweet Maggie dear pal of mine
- Nowt you left me walkin tears rollin down and cryin.
- If you see sweet Maggie tell her to hurry home
- If you see sweet Maggie tell her to hurry home
- There hasn’t bin no lovin since you bin gone.
- Tell me sweet Maggie what’s the matter now
- Tell me sweet Maggie what’s the matter now
- You didn’t write me no letter you didn’t love me no how.
- Goodbye sweet Maggie now you fare so well
- Goodbye sweet Maggie now I declare you well
- When I get back here can’t anyone tell.
Western Swing standard
Prior to World War II, Bob WillsBob Wills
James Robert Wills , better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western Swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with...
adapted "Corrine, Corrina" to a Western swing
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...
dance song. Following his recording with The Texas Playboys (OKeh
Okeh Records
Okeh Records began as an independent record label based in the United States of America in 1918. From 1926 on, it was a subsidiary of Columbia Records.-History:...
06530) on April 15, 1940, the song entered the standard repertoire of all Western swing bands, influencing the adoption of "Corrine, Corrina" by Cajun bands
Cajun music
Cajun music, an emblematic music of Louisiana, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based, Cajun-influenced zydeco form, both of Acadiana origin...
and later by individual country artists.
Although the Playboys' rendition set the standard, early Western swing groups had already recorded "Corrine, Corrina". Western swing bandleaders easily adapted almost any style of music into their dance numbers, but the Mississippi Sheiks' string band country blues style came easier than some. Milton Brown and his Musical Brownies
Milton Brown
Milton Brown was an American band leader and vocalist who co-founded the genre of Western swing. His band was the first to fuse hillbilly hokum, jazz, and pop together into a unique, distinctly American hybrid, thus giving him the nickname, "Father of Western Swing"...
recorded the song during a session on August 8, 1934, after meeting the Sheiks at a similar recording session earlier that year. Their version was titled "Where You Been So Long, Corrine?" (Bluebird
Bluebird Records
Bluebird Records is a sub-label of RCA Victor Records originally created in 1932 to counter the American Record Company in the "3 records for a dollar" market. Along with ARC's Perfect Records, Melotone Records and Romeo Records, and the independent US Decca label, Bluebird became one of the best...
B-5808).
"Corrine, Corrina" is also an important song related to Western swing's pioneering use of electrically amplified stringed instruments. It was one of the songs recorded during a session in Dallas on September 28, 1935 by Roy Newman and His Boys (OKeh 03117). Their guitarist, Jim Boyd, played what is the first use of an electrically amplified guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
found on a recording.
Cliff Bruner's
Cliff Bruner
Cliff Bruner was a fiddler and bandleader of the western swing era of the 1930s. Bruner's music combined elements of traditional string band music, improvisation, blues, folk, and popular melodies of the times....
Texas Wanderers also recorded an early version of Chatmon's song on February 5, 1937 (Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
5350).
Folk music revival
Many different artists have covered this folk/blues classic, for example Eric Clapton, who sings it with the "Alberta, Alberta" title, Willie Nelson, and Conor Oberst (known from Bright Eyes). They all sing a Bob Dylan type style of it with mostly the same lyrics, except for Oberst who includes in the first verse: I've been worried about you Coquito(a sweet coconut beverage), ever since you've been gone. "Corrine, Corrina" entered the folk-like acoustical tradition during the American folk music revivalAmerican folk music revival
The American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States that began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Richard Dyer-Bennett, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob...
of the 1960s when Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
began playing a version he titled "Corrina, Corrina". His version, sung in a blues-like manner, however, is not "Corrine, Corrina" musically, even though containing lyrics from that song. His song is from "Stones In My Passway" (Vocalion
Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records is a record label active for many years in the United States and in the United Kingdom.-History:Vocalion was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano Company of New York City, which introduced a retail line of phonographs at the same time. The name was derived from one of their...
3723) recorded by Robert Johnson in 1937. Besides the musical similarities, Dylan's song includes lyrics taken from Johnson's song:
- I got a bird that whistles, I got a bird that sings.
- I got a bird that whistles, I got a bird that sings.
He also found a relationship to "Alberta, Let Your Hair Hang Low
Alberta (blues)
-Lead Belly song:Lead Belly recorded a song "Alberta" in four versions. One of these was recorded in New York on January 23, 1935 , and a similar version was recorded in New York on June 15, 1940...
" which few others find:
- Alberta, let your hair hang low,
- Alberta, let your hair hang low,
- I'll give you more gold,
- Than your apron can hold,
- If you'd only let your hair hang low.
External links
- "Corrine, Corrina", Bo CarterBo CarterArmenter "Bo Carter" Chatmon was an American early blues musician. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks in concerts, and on a few of their recordings...
(Brunswick 7080, 1928)—Internet Archive.
- "Has anybody seen my Corinne?" , Ernest HareErnie HareThomas Ernest Hare was a bass/baritone who recorded prolifically during the 1920s and 1930s, finding fame as a radio star on The Happiness Boys radio program.-Career:...
(Emerson 7459, 1918)—Library of Congress Performing Arts Encyclopedia.