"Corrina, Corrina" (
lyrics) was recorded by Bob Dylan with a band (including Bruce Langhorne, Dick Wellstood et al.) on October 26th 1962. One take was released on "Freewheelin'", another one as a single b-side with "Mixed-Up Confusion". Two solo performances have survived: one studio outtake recorded 24.4.1962 and one live version from Gerde's Folk City 16.4.1962. A demo for Whitmark (November 1962) is not in general circulation.
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mp3s:
Gerde’s Folk City 16.4.1962
Columbia Studios 24.4.1962
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Though there were "Corrinas" already in 19th century music the original inspiration for the 20th century song family may have been a popular song published in 1918: "Has Anybody Seen My Corrine" by Roger Graham (who was.also involved in "I Ain't Got Nobody"
and Lukie Johnson.
Vernon Dalhart, 1918 from Cylinder Preservation And Digitization Project
Wilbur Sweatman, 1918/19 from redhotjazz.com
My girl ran away last night,
I did my best to treat her right,
For no reason I can see
I was crazy 'bout her 'fore she was wild about me.
I'm so worried 'bout to cry
To think she left and never said good-bye
Heartbroken and alone
I want my baby to come home.
Has anybody seen my Corrine?
Oh, she's a dream
She is my baby doll
Just like a banfire
She set my heart on fire
I regret the day,
The day that I was born,
[?] my lovin' Corrina has gone
She has done me wrong
[...]
If anybody has seen my Corrine?
No matter where Corrina may be,
Tell my Corrina to come right back to me,
I want some lovin' sweetie dear.
Frankie Jaxon in 1927 recorded a hilarious parody called "Corrine" (revived in 1929 as "Corrine Blues" and in 1939 as "Callin' Corrine"
. Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Corinna Blues" (1926) has a completely different melody and refers only in one verse - that looks like it was derived from the 1918 song - to that particular girl:
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's been gone.
But the very first recording of the "Corrina" known today was "Corrine, Corrina" by
Chatman & McCoy in New Orleans in November or December 1928 (Brunswick 7080, Supertone S2212, Vocalion 02701):
An mp3 is available from
publicdomain4u.com
Corrina, Corrina, where you been so long?
Corrina, Corrina, where you been so long?
I ain't had no lovin', since you've been gone
Corrina, Corrina, where'd you stay last night?
Corrina, Corrina, where'd you stay last night?
Come in this mornin', sun was shinin' bright.
[etc: 6 more verses]
On December 17th the same outfit - now calling themselves the
Jackson Blue Boys - recorded the song for another label and changed the girl's name to "Sweet Alberta"(Columbia 14397-D), using for the most part the same lyrics but this time including Jefferson's "tell her to hurry home" line. And in December 1930 they recycled the same melody for a song called "The Northern Starvers Are Returning Home" (Okeh 8853) so all important record labels had a chance to get a slice of the cake and the musicians managed to get paid three times for one song.
Bo Chatmon played the fiddle. He was one of the important and very active Chatmon-family from Mississippi . Some of its members later recorded as the
Mississippi Sheiks . But he also had his own career as recording artist. As Bo Carter he was very busy until 1940 and specialized in "dirty" songs like "Banana In My Fruit Basket".
Charlie McCoy - the brother of
Joe McCoy, who was married to and recorded with Memphis Minnie - was an excellent guitar player and mandolinist who took part in many recording sessions, for example he accompanied Tommy Johnson. In the 30s he was with his brother Joe member of the
Harlem Hamfats, a very popular and influential proto-Rhythm & Blues group with horns. The guitar player on this sessions was most likely
Walter Vinson , singer and core member of the Mississippi Sheiks. All three were part of a circle of extremely versatile and Mississippi string band musicians. They used to perform everything from current popular songs to Blues both for black and white audiences. From the late 20s to the early 40s they were among the African American artists recorded most often.
There are theories circulating that "Corinna" might be an older "Folk-Song". But that is very doubtful. The history of this song most likely only began with its first recording and I know of no evidence that it existed before that date. All later versions surely derive from this original performance. "Stylistic lineages in this song tend to be fairly transparent, suggesting that transmission occurred not orally, but through the recorded medium" (Todd Harvey, p. 21) Bo Chatmon was an excellent songwriter who knew a lot of music and he was well-versed in Blues, string-band music as well as current and older popular song traditions. I don't see any reason to deny his abilities and creativity as the writer of "Corrine" by calling this song a "traditional".
There is a good chance that he in fact might have been inspired either by the original "Has Anybody Seen Corrine" or by Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Corinne Blues". Jefferson was very popular at that time and his recordings were well known. Most likely Chatman simply took that "Corinna" verse, rewrote it and built a new song with a different melody around that topic. That's exactly the way Blues-songwriters used to work. The rest of the lyrics look like a pastiche of popular songs and Blues from the 10s and 20s. Songs like "I Ain't Got Nobody", "Nobody's Blues But Mine", "What's The Matter Now" - all recorded for example by Bessie Smith in 1925 and 1926, or "Oh What A Pal Was Mary" - a 1919 Pop hit - may have been the source of some ideas and floating lines.
Among the first and most important covers was one by Tampa Red & Georgia Tom, recorded in December 1929 ("Corrine, Corrina", Vocalion 1450). This must have sold very well as they followed it up four month later in April 1930 with "Corinne Corrina No 2" (Vocalion 1496) including a set of new verses. From then on this song grew to very popular and crossed all race and genre barriers. There have been a great number of of covers and adaptions, one
list I saw includes ca. 30 until 1945 and many more since then.
The Mississippi Sheiks (Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatman) kept her in the family and recorded the song as "Alberta" in 1930. Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell adapted "Corrina" in 1934 as "Hold Them Puppies" . And of course Big Joe Turner's fine version with Art Tatum on piano (1941, revived in 1956) should be mentioned. Country music artists like Cliff Bruner (1937) and Bob Wills (1940) have recorded it too as have Jazz bands like those of Red Nichols (1930), Cab Calloway (1931), Wingy Manone (1939) or Cajun singers like Leo Sileau (1935) and Lawrence Walker (1940). In 1961 even Ray "Tell Laura I Love Her" Peterson had a hit with that song
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recordings:
one
zip folder incl 9 Corrinas and her sisters (Blind Lemon Jefferson, Jackson Blue Boys, Tampa Red, Mississippi Sheiks, Leroy Carr, Cliff Bruner, Bob Wills, Big Joe Turner)
on redhotjazz:
Frankie Jaxon (1929 & 1939 versions),
Red Nichols ,
Wingy Manone
versions by Ray Peterson are available on You Tube:
original recording &
TV 1965
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Bob Dylan's version was a rather drastic rewrite leaving not much of the song's original mood and content. "He abandons the happy-go-lucky jugband feel of many interpretations" (Trager, p. 115) and turns it into a slow, mournful Blues. Only very few original lines remain, instead he uses a variant of a verse from Robert Johnson's "Stones In My Passway"
I have a bird to whistle, and I have a bird to sing
Have a bird to whistle, and I have a bird to sing
I got a woman that I'm lovin', boy, but she don't mean a thing
The early live version from April 62 includes some more borrowings from Robert Johnson, like the "hellhound" and the "38 Special". In some way he tried to turn it into a "real" Blues á la Robert Johnson and make it different from the Pop-music versions (see Harvey, p. 22). But on the other hand he worked exactly like a Blues writer by taking one element of a song and creating a new one around it. In fact his "Corrina" is so different from the precursors that he could have copyrighted it for himself as it is more or less a new song and not a rearranged "traditional".
Interestingly his version became something like another link in the chain: Taj Mahal based his "Corrina" (on
Natch'l Blues, 1968) on Bob's variant: he centers it around the Robert Johnson - lines and completely leaves the context of the original "Corrinas":
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Taj Mahal mp3s
16.1.1971
8.7.2004
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The general problem with "Corrina" and "Alberta" is that there are different songs using the same girls' names - capitalizing on the original song's popularity - and related songs using different girls' names. So there were other "Corrinas", for example Blind Boy Fuller's "Corrine What Makes You Treat Me So" (1937) or Walter Davis' "Corrine" (1939) and there were other "Albertas". Lead Belly's "Alberta" (1935) is a completely different song, his "Corrina" is called "Roberta" (1935; and Eric Clapton renamed her "Alberta" when he borrowed this song for his Unplugged concert). Jazz Gillum recorded an "Alberta Blues" in 1938, but that is basically a variant of "Big Road Blues". The "Alberta" Dylan recorded in two versions for Self Portrait in March 1970 belongs to still another song family and will be discussed in part 2.
Sources & Credits:
Todd Harvey, The Formative Dylan. Transmission And Stylistic Influences, 1961 - 1963, Lanham, Maryland & London 2001, p. 20-22.
Christopher Waterman, Race Music: Bo Chatmon, "Corrine, Corrina," And The Excluded Middle, in: Ronald Radano & Philip V. Bohlman (ed.), Music And The Racial Imagination, Chicago & London 2000, p. 167 -205, online version at
utexas.edu (most extensive discussion of the song's history available at the moment)
Entries for "Corinna" in Dylan encyclopedias by Oliver Trager and Michael Gray
Robert M.W.Dixon/John Godrich/Howard Rye, Blues & Gospel Records 1890-1943. Fourth Edition, Oxford 1997
The "Corinne, Corrina" Website (includes a extensive list of recordings)
Thanks to Stew, with whom I discussed these songs about a year ago
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