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Blue Yodel Number 9 (Standing On The Corner)
(Verse 1) a pioneer. Among his other popular nicknames are
Standin’ on the corner I didn’t mean no harm “The Singing Brakeman” and “The Blue Yodeler”.
Along come a police he took me by the arm
It was down in Memphis According to tradition, Rodgers’ birthplace is usually
on the corner of Beale and Main listed as Meridian, Mississippi; however, in
He says big boy you’ll have to tell me your name documents Rodgers signed later in life, his
birthplace was listed as Geiger, Alabama, the home
(Refrain) of his paternal grandparents. Yet historians who have
Dee-oh-dee-lay-ee, eh-ee, oh-dee-lay-ee researched the circumstances of that document, in-
cluding Nolan Porterfield and Barry Mazor,
(Verse 2) continue to identify Pine Springs, Mississippi, just
I said you’ll find my name on the tail of my shirt north of Meridian, as his genuine birthplace.
I’m a Tennessee hustler I don’t have to work Rodgers’ mother died when he was about six or
So listen all you rounders seven years old, and Rodgers, the youngest of three
you better leave my women alone sons, spent the next few years living with various
‘Cause I’ll take my Special relatives in southeast Mississippi and southwest
and run all you rounders home Alabama, near Geiger. In the 1900 Census for
Daleville, Lauderdale County, Mississippi Jimmie’s
(Refrain) mother, Eliza (Bozeman) Rodgers, was listed as
Dee-oh-dee-lay-ee, eh-ee, oh-dee-lay-ee already having had seven children, with four of
them still living at that date. Jimmie (called “James”
(Verse 3) in the census) was probably born sixth of the seven
My good gal love me, everybody knows children. He eventually returned home to live with
And she paid a hundred cash dollars his father, Aaron Rodgers, a maintenance-of-way
to buy me a suit of clothes foreman on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, who had
She come to the joint, a forty-four in each hand settled with a new wife in Meridian.
She said “step aside all you women and men
‘cause I’m looking for my man” Rodgers’ ancestral origins and heritage are uncertain,
though records show his lineage to include some
[Refrain] measure of English ancestry.
Dee-oh-dee-lay-ee, eh-ee, oh-dee-lay-ee
When the Country Music Hall of Fame and
To listen follow this link.... Museum was established in 1961, Rodgers was
enshrined alongside music publisher and songwriter
Fred Rose and iconic singer-songwriter Hank
ames Charles Rodgers (September 8, 1897 – May Williams. Rodgers was elected to the Songwriters
J26, 1933) was an American singer-songwriter and Hall of Fame in 1970 and, as an early influence, to
musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. “Blue Yodel
Widely regarded as “the Father of Country Music”,[1] No. 9” was selected as one of The Rock and Roll Hall
he is best known for his distinctive rhythmic yode- of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
ling. Unusual for a music star, Rodgers rose to prom- Rodgers was ranked No. 33 on CMT’s 40 Greatest
inence based upon his recordings, among country Men of Country Music in 2003.
music’s earliest, rather than concert performances –
which followed to similar public acclaim. (Source Wikipedia)
He has been cited as an inspiration by many artists
and inductees into various halls of fame across both
country music and the blues, in which he was also
60 www.writeawaymag.co.uk
