Diamond Joe (Traditional)

registrated for copyright are Harry Belafonte, Tex Logan, Arthur Wood, Dick Connette, Barry Shane Saunders and John Mellencamp - Bob Dylan, Jack R. Elliott and others as arrangers [GEMA]

Sources:

Journal of American Folklore, July-Sept. 1911: Folk-Song and Folk-Poetry as Found in the Secular Songs oft he Southern Negroes by Howard Odum

Information in Arizona Place Names by Will Croft Barnes:

Information in Arizona Place Names by Will Croft Barnes [relevance?]

John Lomax in Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads (1938): "Diamond Joe was a Texas cattleman, the story goes, so rich that he was said to wear diamonds for his vest buttons. I learned this song years ago," says J. B. Dillingham, for fifty years a conductor on Houston and Texas Central trains running out of Austin.

Nicholas Hawes (thanks!)

Sheet Music:

John Lomax in Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads (1938)

Acoustic Music Source Book / Richard Matteson

Recordings:

1927 - Georgia Crackers

1935 - J.D. Dillingham - Austin, Texas, November 1935 - John A. Lomax Southern States Collection, 1933-1937

1937 - Charles "Big Charlie" Butler - Field Recordings, Mississippi & Alabama

1944 - Lee Hays - NYC - radio broadcast for BBC Ballad Opera - listen to --> http://research.culturalequity.org/get-radio-detailed-show.do?showId=9 (Seq. no.1) - (written for this radio broadcast by Baldwin "Butch" Hawes to the melody The State of Arkansas)

1953 - Cisco Houston - Folkways, on: 900 Miles And Other R.R. Songs

1958 - The New Lost City Ramblers - on: Volume 5

1960 - Harry Belafonte - on: Swing Dat Hammer

1961-66 - Joe & Dave

1963 - Tom Rush - on: Blues, Songs and Ballads

1964 - Ramblin' Jack Elliott - Vanguard, on: The Newport Folk Festival 1963: The Evening Concerts, Vol. 1

1964-69 - Rod Stewart, Ron Wood, Art Wood

1983 - Ian Tyson - on: Old Corrals and Sagebrush & Other Cowboy Culture Classics

1988 - Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band - Grateful Dead, on: Almost Acoustic

1990 - Laurie Lewis & Grant Street - Flying Fish, on: Singin' My Troubles Away

1992 - Bob Dylan - summer 1992 - Malibu CA - Columbia, on: Good As I Been To You - Bob Dylan (v,g)

1992 - Don Edwards - Warner Bros., on: Songs of the Trail

1992 - Phil Tanner's Skillet Lickers - Global Village, on: The Tanner Legacy: Now

1995 - Joe Val - on: Diamond Joe

2000 - Last Forever - Elektra Entertainment, on: Trainfare Home

2001 - Crooked Jades - Copper Creek, on: The Unfortunate Rake, Vol. 1

2001 - The Red Clay Ramblers - Www.rcr.com Records, on: Yonder

2002 - The Big Wu - March 13, 1998 - Minneapolis MA - Bivco, on: 3-13-98

2003 - Bob Dylan - July 2002 - Canoga Park CA (Ray-Art Studios) - Columbia, on soundtrack: Masked And Anonymous - Bob Dylan (v,g), Charlie Sexton (g,v), Larry Campbell (g,v), Tony Garnier (b), George Recile (d)

2003 - John Mellencamp - ACK!, on: Trouble No More

2004 - Marc Herman - Mr. Fisticuffs Productions, on: Neon

2004 - Wolfe Bros. - Copper Creek, on: Old Roads - New Journeys

2006 - Guy Clark - Dualtone Music, on: Workbench Songs

2007 - Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper - Bear Family, on: Big Midnight Special

2007 - Molly & Jack Tuttle - Back Studio, on: The Old Apple Tree

2008 - 3 Penny Acre - on: 3 Penny Acre

2009 - Sam Bush - Sugarhill, on: Circles Around Me

Version as collected by Howard Odum (publ. 1911 in Journal of American Folklore)
Diamon' Joe, you better come an' git me:
Don't you see my man done quit?
Diamon' Joe com'n git me.

Diamon' Joe he had a wife, they  parted every night;
When the weather it got cool,
Ole Joe he come back to that black gal.

But time come to pass,
When old Joe quit his last,
An' he never went to see her any mo'

Version Tex Logan, trad.
(Georgia Crackers / Bob Dylan (soundtrack Masked And Anonymous))
Diamond Joe, come and get me
My wife now done quit me
Diamond Joe, you better come and get me, Diamond Joe

I'm gonna buy me a sack of flour
Cook me a hoecake every hour
Diamond Joe, you better come and get me, Diamond Joe

I'm gonna buy me a piece of meat
Cook me a slice but once a week
Diamond Joe, you better come and get me, Diamond Joe

I'm gonna buy me a sack of meal
Take me a hoecake to the field
Diamond Joe, you better come and get me, Diamond Joe

I'm gonna buy me a jug of whiskey
I'm gonna make my baby frisky
Diamond Joe, you better come and get me, Diamond Joe

I'm gonna buy me a jug of rum
I'm gonna give my Ida some
Diamond Joe, you better come and get me, Diamond Joe

Diamond Joe, come and get me
My wife now done quit me
Diamond Joe, you better come and get me, Diamond Joe

Version J.D. Dillingham, publ. by John Lomax in Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads (1938):
Old Diamond Joe was a rich old jay
With lots of cowboys in his pay
He rode the range with his cowboy band
And many a mav'rick got his brand

Roll on, boys, roll, don't you roll so slow
Roll on, boys, roll, don't you roll so slow
Ki-o-ho-ho, ki-o-ho-ho
You roll like cattle never rolled before

I am a poor cowboy, I've got no home
I'm here today and tomorrow I'm gone
I've got no folks, I'm forced to roam
Where I hang my hat is home, sweet home

If I was as rich as Diamond Joe
I'd work today and I'd work no mo'
For they work me so hard and they pay so slow
I don't give a durn if I work or no

I left my gal in a Texas shack
And told her I was a-coming back
But I lost at cards, then got in jail
Then found myself on the Chisholm Trail

I'll stay with the herd till they reach the end
Then I'll draw my time and blow it in
Just one more spree and one more jail
Then I'll head right back on the lonesome trail

I'll cross old Red at the Texas line
And head straight back to that gal of mine
I'll sit in the shade and sing my song
And watch the herds as they move along

When my summons come to leave this world
I'll say good-by to my little girl
I'll fold my hands when I have to go
And say farewell to Diamond Joe

Version Harry Belafonte (after Charlie Butler)
 Ain't gonna work in the country
And neither on Forester's farm
I'm gonna stay 'till my Marybell come
She gone call me Tom

I'm gonna ask you a question
Captain tell me no lie
Will I stand this rotten old jail
Till the day I die

Diamond Joe come-a getta me, Diamond Joe

I'm tired eating this cornbread
And can't even wash when it rain
If I could get me some meat and soap
If I could lose my chain

Diamond Joe come-a getta me, Diamond Joe

Last night I heard the bloodhounds
Two of the men done escape
One was framed for murder
And the other one framed for rape

Diamond Joe will they catch 'em, Diamond Joe

Now I bust rock in the summer
In the spring winter and fall
If I have me some powder
Great God I'll blast me a hole in the wall

Diamond Joe, come-a getta me Diamond Joe

Version Baldwin "Butch" Hawes (words), music The State of Arkansas
(Cisco Houston / Bob Dylan (Good As I Been To You))
Now there's a man you'll hear about
Most anywhere you go
And his holdings are in Texas
And his name is Diamond Joe

And he carries all his money
In a diamond-studded jaw
He never took much trouble
With the process of the law

I hired out to Diamond Joe, boys
Did offer him my hand
He gave me a string of horses
So old they could not stand

And I nearly starved to death, boys
He did mistreat me so
And I never saved a dollar
In the pay of Diamond Joe

Now his bread it was corn dodger
And his meat you couldn't chaw.
Nearly drove me crazy
With the waggin' of his jaw.

And the tellin' of his story
Mean to let you know,
That there never was a rounder
That could lie like Diamond Joe.

Now, I tried three times to quit him
But he did argue so:
I'm still punchin' cattle
In the pay of Diamond Joe.

And when I'm called up yonder
And it's my time to go
Give my blankets to my buddies
Give the fleas to Diamond Joe.