TRACK TALK #382 Frankie & Albert

FRANKIE & ALBERT
ALBUM : Good As I Been To You (1992)
Recorded : Été 1992
Released : 3 Novembre 1992

Chanson traditionnelle populaire inspiré d'un meurtre passionnel dans le Missouri.
La première version est attribué à Bill Dooley en 1899 mais le texte définitif date de 1925.
Elle fut reprise notamment par Leadbelly, Jimmie Rodgers, Johnny Cash, Big Bill Broonzy, Sam Cooke, Jerry Lee Lewis, Doc Watson, Fats Waller, Stevie Wonder, Gene Vincent, Elvis Presley et Van Morrison. La version de Dylan est inspiré d'un arrangement de Mississippi John Hurt.
Aucune performance live.



Lyrics
Frankie was a good girl
Everybody knows
Paid one hundred dollars
For Albert's new suit of clothes
He was her man but he done her wrong.

Albert said "I'm leaving you"
Won't be gone for long
Don't wait up for me
A-worry about me when I'm gone
He was her man but he done her wrong.

Frankie went down to the corner saloon
Get a bucket of beer
Said to the bartender
"Has my lovin' man been her ?"
He was her man but he done her wrong.

"Well, I ain't gonna tell you no stories
I ain't gonna tell you no lies
I saw Albert an hour ago
With a gal named Alice Bly"
He was her man but he done her wrong.

Frankie went down to 12th street
Lookin' up through the window high
She saw her Albert there
Lovin' up Alice Bly
He was her man but he done her wrong.

Frankie pulled out a pistol
Pulled out a forty-four
Gun went off a-rootie-toot-toot
And Albert fell on the floor
He was her man but he done her wrong.

Frankie got down upon her knees
Took Albert into her lap
Started to hug and kiss him
But there was no bringin' him back
He was her man but he done her wrong.

"Gimme a thousand policemen
Throw me into a cell
I shot my Albert dead
And now I'm goin' to hell"
He was my man but he done me wrong.

Judge said to the jury
"Plain as a thing can be
A woman shot her lover down
Murder in the second degree"
He was her man but he done her wrong.

Frankie went to the scaffold
Calm as a girl could be
Turned her eyes up toward the heavens
Said "Nearer, my God, to Thee"
He was her man but he done her wrong.

La version de Charley Patton (1929) :



La version de Leadbelly :



La version de Mississippi John Hurt :