This is my favourite Skip James Track. Contrary to the idiots defaming him in other comments here, his father was the bootlegger. He entered a music competition in 1931 in which he played several songs in different blues styles. He was offered a cash prize or royalties for his songs. He chose the latter. As the great depression sunk in he never received a cent. Skip disappeared for 30 years. There was nothing. Then he was discovered in a hospital by some blues enthusiasts. He was visiting 'kin'. They arranged to have him appear at the Newport Folk Festival where he was amazing and can be seen on film. He died in 1969 and is revered by so many including Bonnie Rait.
I have to say man, as a guy that is an idiot but appreciates people like you smart guys who have a passion for history, I love your desire to keep these moments in history alive, remember listening to one of his live performances of "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" and it was clear he was an intelligent man born in the wrong era, would imagine he was smart enough to appreciate royalties over a lump sum in that day and age, bad luck hit him in every aspect of his life. poor bloke.
I've only seen that look in the eyes of Irish singers, like Thomas McCarthy, after emerging from a song. They are on a deep journey, and they invite us to join them on it, rocky as it may be.
Skip is treasured by so many who 'know and feel' what others can't for some reason. His music cuts through the ribcage and sinew and hits the heart directly.
Amazing. It seems like every time he played his songs, he played them a little different--like a jazz man--and this is certainly the best rendition I've ever heard.
Skip dedicated his life to the church. He wrote many religious songs before becoming a pastor. You can feel it in his distinguished style he was humble and not dedicated to becoming rich and famous and was a pious man.
@@jonw6921 it's not minor a lot of blues artist tuned by ear once or twice and wouldn't tune often so the guitars are always slightly out of tune from our standards but in my opinion we just tune wrong . Led Zeppelin would tune their guitars to open g then drop them to get that blues sound!!
@@KirtianM The way I understood it he was a pimp in his younger days and a curmudgeon suspicious of any other artist stealing his techniques in the 60s. By all accounts he seems like a dick. Great music nonetheless
man, the sarcastic thing with the nice melody and the tragical lyric is so intense that it looks like a frickin demon wrote that... Seriously, Skippy, you're scary man...
Nehemiah James (Skippy) actually had cancer during this recording.. died 2 years later. Kinda puts a lot of the song in perspective to me.. What with his playing being weak and his emotions running so high.. It's beautiful. "I never missed that water, till my well ran dry..."
Skip's high, thin and mournful voice is chilling. Especially on a dark quiet night lighted by a full moon. 'Hard Time Killing Floor Blues' . . . . Listened on the night of a blue moon not too far back . . . . in December I believe.
Bonafide genius in the great Skip James....the guitar play is flawless my Lord Mr. Skip James and the lyrica and feel amazing. America's finest original music
I love Skip James and have since the late 1960s, when I was in my early teens. He was as good in the 1960s as he was in the 1930s despite being in poor health (he died in 1969). Have the three-volume set from where this video was taken.
Its amazing that somebody voted less than 5 stars! I loved it. I think the hardest thing and most rewarding thing is when the guitar compliments the voice.
seeing that nobody talks about such great artists anymore makes me feel empty. the thought of being (almost) forgotten is pretty scary. glad that there are still people who listen to this type of music.
Skip James. Not only a great talent, but a class act in every sense of the word.Thank you for posting the magnificent piece of blues history and sharing it with others.
Obrigado, Skip James, por permitir a minha alma uma conducção mágica ao Mississipi. Nossos espíritos têm um contacto poderoso desde sempre, viva Skip James.
I love this man...many years after,many bands with much more instruments are trying to do a cover of his songs and it doesn't sound right...and he is doing it with one guitar and with his voice..!!!
It's hard to make a choice. All so unique. Elizabeth Cotton / Jimi, the kitterfists. Their choice was survival. Many didn't for long. Skip is so brillliant.. But my first exposure to him was Jack Bruce (also brilliant).Thanks to these early recordings, and this later, dubious technology, we can appreciate and learn something. Nehamiah, but his name really fits with his music, it's Biblical. I'm so glad.
Really inspirtional. I mean, even Robert Johnson would cover Skip James's songs. Skip helped make alternative tunings famous. He'd use open minor tunings, open sus4 tunings, open major, tunings down, using capos, ect. Great guitarest. If you really like the stuff he does here, you'll want "Blues from the delta" which was the stuff he made shortly before he died. If you want to hear his early delta blues, get the 1931 recordings.
Sweet Mother of Jesus this is sweet song. The Lord is singing and saying it through this man, God bless this and us all. Thanks for giving this to us all.
there is no appearance like this. what did the film makers say to Skip? hey man, we wanna film you playing Crown Jane in front of this building, and he did. this is the most sentimental piece i've ever heard. he nails it to the bone, there is no mistakes, he just play from his heart and kicks it in the ass. this is pure art. thanks for the upload, favorited on many youtube accounts. thanks for saving this piece of history!
Well this was part of the American folk blues festival witch was a collaboration with a bunch of artists, in this particular scene son house and bukka white are sitting next to him. But I agree, skip James is playing straight out of his soul. (As do son house and bukka white in their performances)
Erik Giertyk This is the best description I've ever heard of this master. Skip James and Mississippi John Hurt for me, the most emotional performers. Right to the bone!
many years ago a love in my life sent me this song shortly after breaking up w me... it is a chilling and mean song, but dang it is addictive, beautiful, good, good.
I've always thought of it as a metaphor for drug addiction. What with crow Jane being an old fashioned Southern American term for a dark skinned woman, the references to silver spoons, and not missing the water until it ran dry (like an addiction, not missing something until it's gone)
+Jack Fisher I can certainly see that as well. Especially when he mentions he won't anyone take "her" place. I'm no expert on drug addiction but i've read many people who get clean switch to a different or lesser drug to ease their withdrawal, so maybe the guy is trying to quit cold turkey? Thanks for your interpretation.
My name is Jane (tagged with Crazy Jane by friends). In 4 months I’ll be ..70). I did not want a funeral until I heard and watched Mr James do this Crow Jane. Now I want a funeral with this video played. Or at least have it played when they put me only 6 feet under. This is the only music I want to hear anymore.
Except Hooker was Hill Country, Muddy was Delta blues but quickly became what we know now as Chicago blues, and Skip James, although from the delta, his playing had much more in common with Piedmont style blues than the music commonly associated with Delta blues.
Crow Janie, Crow Janie, Crow Jane, don't you hold you head high Someday, baby, you know you got to die You got to lay down and... You got to die, you got to... And I wanna buy me a pistol, wants me forty rounds of ball Shoot Crow Jane, just to see her fall She got to fall, she got to... She got to fall, she got to... That's the reason I begged Crow Jane not to hold her head so high Someday, baby, you know you got to die You got to lay down and... And I dug her grave with s silver spade Ain't nobody gonna take my Crow Jane place You can't take her place no, you can't take her... You know, I dug her grave eight feet in the ground I didn't feel sorry until they let her down They had to let her down, let her...they had to let her down... That's the reason I begged Crow Jane not to hold her head too high Someday, baby, you know you got to die You got to lay down and... You know, I let her down with a golden chain And every link I would call my Crow Jane's name Crow Jane, Crow... Crow Jane, Crow... You know I never missed my water till my well went dry Didn't miss Crow Jane until the day she died Till the day she... That's the reason I begged Crow Jane not to hold her head too high Someday, baby, you know you got to die You got to lay down and...you got to die, you got to... That's the reason I begged Crow Jane not to hold her head too high Someday, baby, you know you got to die You got to lay down and...
I'm just saying that Africa was no picnic. There was constant threat of starvation (but no Live aid or comic relief at that time), tropical disease, war between rival tribes not to mention dangerous animals like lions, tigers hippos and crocodiles. Slavery, although terrible at least provided a way out of the savagery of the jungle and into a life of security.
This is about a white woman who is the wife of a plantation owner, in the days of slavery, white women really held their head up very high,also was snobby,so the brother sings about her superior attitude so he wants to shoot the bitch according to him the frustration of the moment in that time frame it was a very dark period for people from Africa at that time no right,no one to help you,just think about it the Africans that was here before sacrificed their lives so other of the future would be able to get jobs,become famous in Hollywood and the music industry even the armed forces and also to become president of the united States a lot was given up we must never forget that in this country.
Thank God there is footage like this around. And how else would I be getting to see it other than youtube? Young kids will never appreciate the pre-youtube days...
I heard three teenagers cover this song about a year ago and was blown away. Good to know there are still a few young kids digging up the good stuff.
I listened to this stuff as a teen
@@ExcitedAnacondaSnake-hg8ecsame here
This is my favourite Skip James Track. Contrary to the idiots defaming him in other comments here, his father was the bootlegger. He entered a music competition in 1931 in which he played several songs in different blues styles. He was offered a cash prize or royalties for his songs. He chose the latter. As the great depression sunk in he never received a cent.
Skip disappeared for 30 years. There was nothing. Then he was discovered in a hospital by some blues enthusiasts. He was visiting 'kin'. They arranged to have him appear at the Newport Folk Festival where he was amazing and can be seen on film.
He died in 1969 and is revered by so many including Bonnie Rait.
I have to say man, as a guy that is an idiot but appreciates people like you smart guys who have a passion for history, I love your desire to keep these moments in history alive, remember listening to one of his live performances of "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" and it was clear he was an intelligent man born in the wrong era, would imagine he was smart enough to appreciate royalties over a lump sum in that day and age, bad luck hit him in every aspect of his life. poor bloke.
Even if he was, who cares. Half of my county were bootleggers back in the 30s lol. It's how you made money when there was no other way
The look on his eyes at the end of the song, he feels his music...wow
like he was in a trance...lol
I think at this point he'd been battling cancer for years.
Maybe he didn't want to look at the camera sitting 2 inches from his face?
I've only seen that look in the eyes of Irish singers, like Thomas McCarthy, after emerging from a song. They are on a deep journey, and they invite us to join them on it, rocky as it may be.
the story has meaning to him.
I've always found the Delta blues to be so powerful. It truly does move your soul.
Skip wasn't Delta. He was from Bentonia.
That look at the end of the video 😢, you know that man passed through a lot of stuff
Exactly. After the build of the performance id finished and you get that look... It is a human who has seen/done horrific things.
Wish I could give this a "like" each time I listen.
Skip is treasured by so many who 'know and feel' what others can't for some reason. His music cuts through the ribcage and sinew and hits the heart directly.
specifying the spade as being "silver" is somehow very chilling
it's the little things
You can call a spade a spade...
and a golden chain. This is mythic stuff. Like Blind Willie McTell's "Dying Crapshooter's Blues" -- amazing funeral images
Anton Mikofsky yeah the silver spade and the golden chain, it’s like some sort of dark fairytale almost.
that spade is tiny,had a lot of money down inside.............
read somewhere that the silver spade refers to a power shovel (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silver_Spade) and used to "dig his grave ".
Amazing. It seems like every time he played his songs, he played them a little different--like a jazz man--and this is certainly the best rendition I've ever heard.
God I'm so glad youtube exists... It would be much harder to discover great music like this if it didn't.
This is truly one of the greatest songs ever penned by man.
Holy shit. This dude rocks. How have I never heard of him? I've been slackin'.
his style is quite different from the other blues artists. Lots of picking like folk.
Skip dedicated his life to the church. He wrote many religious songs before becoming a pastor. You can feel it in his distinguished style he was humble and not dedicated to becoming rich and famous and was a pious man.
He often plays with an open d minor tuning which sets a unique tone. His rhythm is hypnotic too. Chills.
Bentonia is style. czcams.com/video/6EyI9hKdJbM/video.html&feature=share
@@jonw6921 it's not minor a lot of blues artist tuned by ear once or twice and wouldn't tune often so the guitars are always slightly out of tune from our standards but in my opinion we just tune wrong . Led Zeppelin would tune their guitars to open g then drop them to get that blues sound!!
@@KirtianM The way I understood it he was a pimp in his younger days and a curmudgeon suspicious of any other artist stealing his techniques in the 60s. By all accounts he seems like a dick. Great music nonetheless
So beautiful! Where would American music be without this saint and all his gifts?
This song needs to be for forever....not two minutes!! Thank you Skip!
"never missed that water till my well went dry" THANK YOU SKIP!!
1:45 Those eyes of a bluesman. Just look at them and understand how great he is.
more heart in this shit than in poor quality salami
Unbelievable. You can't teach this kind of blues. Can't shake it either
this is my favourite song in the world
therefore, your future looks bright
Ur my kind of woman.
Mine too
So the only truth is death. Taxes are a lie. Hup!
man, the sarcastic thing with the nice melody and the tragical lyric is so intense that it looks like a frickin demon wrote that...
Seriously, Skippy, you're scary man...
Jonathan Amaral that mississippi delta blues dawwgg!! Itll do that to you and no telling if he had his run in on the cross roads!
Its about the crow that would bother him in his backyard
Nehemiah James (Skippy) actually had cancer during this recording.. died 2 years later.
Kinda puts a lot of the song in perspective to me.. What with his playing being weak and his emotions running so high.. It's beautiful.
"I never missed that water, till my well ran dry..."
Skip's high, thin and mournful voice is chilling. Especially on a dark quiet night lighted by a full moon.
'Hard Time Killing Floor Blues' . . . . Listened on the night of a blue moon not too far back . . . . in December I believe.
Shout out to Mama Africa.
I love his voice! And he has such a command over that guitar.
This guy was the best. Really under appreciated in my opinion.
Bonafide genius in the great Skip James....the guitar play is flawless my Lord Mr. Skip James and the lyrica and feel amazing. America's finest original music
The wee flaws are the best bits. The natural improvisations. He seems to care more about the words and boot of the song, than his sparkling backing.
I love Skip James and have since the late 1960s, when I was in my early teens. He was as good in the 1960s as he was in the 1930s despite being in poor health (he died in 1969). Have the three-volume set from where this video was taken.
Its amazing that somebody voted less than 5 stars! I loved it. I think the hardest thing and most rewarding thing is when the guitar compliments the voice.
SKIP JAMES : A LEGEND
I don't think I've ever listened to this song just once, always 2 or 3 times in a row
This is GREAT MUSIC....too bad there aren't more players like this around.
Yo Skip James dope as fuck
he is 100 times doper than fuck ;)
Every time I listen to Skip sing this I just want to put the song in loop and listen to it over and over again.
seeing that nobody talks about such great artists anymore makes me feel empty. the thought of being (almost) forgotten is pretty scary. glad that there are still people who listen to this type of music.
Skip James. Not only a great talent, but a class act in every sense of the word.Thank you for posting the magnificent piece of blues history and sharing it with others.
The blues is the most beautiful evil you will ever hear....The darkness
Man, where have I been most of my life? Thought I knew lots of the blues greats...but holy cow, Skip James was special, love his work.
His guitar playing was great but it's really his voice that made him unique I think. It's really haunting.
This song is hypnotizing me. I can't help myself but listening to it over and over again. Thanks for posting it!! :-)
13 years ago?....i just found this...im listening over and over...
Damn I’m listening to it NOW
14 years ago... this comment is just one year younger than me.
Alan Wilson (RIP) brought me here.
Everyone's gotta enjoy some classic blues every once in a while :3
Here in 2019, who else?
Obrigado, Skip James, por permitir a minha alma uma conducção mágica ao Mississipi. Nossos espíritos têm um contacto poderoso desde sempre, viva Skip James.
he pours his heart into this song,how can i ever get my guitaring skills up to this standard.
Your ear is bent in one of the good, good directions, you'll have you're own sound, voice and style.
Real good playing! A 'haunting sound'..
I love this man...many years after,many bands with much more instruments are trying to do a cover of his songs and it doesn't sound right...and he is doing it with one guitar and with his voice..!!!
this is amazing footage, what a great song.
Simply majestic....Crow jane..So profound but brilliant..X :)
Word.
i've watched this video like 40 times in the past week, just staring at his guitar technique
I love this guy. Never heard it before, incredible organic finger picking and what a beautiful voice. Just slammin'!
Every time I listen to this it always amazes me that it's just one man that's making all that music. :) Brilliant. What else is there to say?
This is who Jimi wanted to be when he grew up.
If you are revealing an account, that's incredible, yes it would seem so n love jimi 2 ,:-0
Such an underrated bluesman.
Found this video back in 2006 when I was 14 and been coming back over and over since then. I’m 30 now. Thanks for this upload whoever you are.
he plays in open C alot too. But yeah, he is absolutley my favorite bluesman as well. He is the greatest.
It's hard to make a choice. All so unique. Elizabeth Cotton / Jimi, the kitterfists. Their choice was survival. Many didn't for long.
Skip is so brillliant.. But my first exposure to him was Jack Bruce (also brilliant).Thanks to these early recordings, and this later, dubious technology, we can appreciate and learn something. Nehamiah, but his name really fits with his music, it's Biblical.
I'm so glad.
Really inspirtional. I mean, even Robert Johnson would cover Skip James's songs. Skip helped make alternative tunings famous. He'd use open minor tunings, open sus4 tunings, open major, tunings down, using capos, ect. Great guitarest. If you really like the stuff he does here, you'll want "Blues from the delta" which was the stuff he made shortly before he died. If you want to hear his early delta blues, get the 1931 recordings.
BLUES LEGEND!!! There may be equals but nobody is better. PERIOD FULL STOP!
This brings me to tears. Thank you thank ohh thank you for this being in existence
Try Hobo Blues...john lee hooker....made me cry
What a voice!
Incredible voice and playing. The master of blues, second to none!
The syncopation in this tune as played by Skip is just ... unreal. Can't even imagine holding that line.
Idk, man.. It's brutal!
Love it!
2 millions of these views are all me.
Dramatic, strong !
Absolutely pure love for this song.
Sweet Mother of Jesus this is sweet song. The Lord is singing and saying it through this man, God bless this and us all. Thanks for giving this to us all.
there is no appearance like this. what did the film makers say to Skip? hey man, we wanna film you playing Crown Jane in front of this building, and he did. this is the most sentimental piece i've ever heard. he nails it to the bone, there is no mistakes, he just play from his heart and kicks it in the ass. this is pure art. thanks for the upload, favorited on many youtube accounts. thanks for saving this piece of history!
Well this was part of the American folk blues festival witch was a collaboration with a bunch of artists, in this particular scene son house and bukka white are sitting next to him. But I agree, skip James is playing straight out of his soul. (As do son house and bukka white in their performances)
Erik Giertyk This is the best description I've ever heard of this master. Skip James and Mississippi John Hurt for me, the most emotional performers. Right to the bone!
majklet oh, my bad. Its on a DVD I have titled american folk blues festival. So I kinda assumed. Good to know though!
+Erik Giertyk from 0.58 - 1.03 is all mistook. no mistakes? ha!
Awesome.
this is a beautiful song!😍
many years ago a love in my life sent me this song shortly after breaking up w me...
it is a chilling and mean song, but dang it is addictive, beautiful, good, good.
Because of the time period I see Crow Jane as an personification of Jim Crow. Keeping that in mind it is even more dark and depressing. Amazing song.
I've always thought of it as a metaphor for drug addiction. What with crow Jane being an old fashioned Southern American term for a dark skinned woman, the references to silver spoons, and not missing the water until it ran dry (like an addiction, not missing something until it's gone)
+Jack Fisher i meant to say the reference to dark skinned woman possibly being a heroin reference due to heroins colour
+Jack Fisher I can certainly see that as well. Especially when he mentions he won't anyone take "her" place. I'm no expert on drug addiction but i've read many people who get clean switch to a different or lesser drug to ease their withdrawal, so maybe the guy is trying to quit cold turkey? Thanks for your interpretation.
Crow Jane was an expression that meant dark-skinned female. The song's about feeling like killing your woman.
Thank you for this :)
Do you like blues?
-- yep:)
WoW he oozes talent. When I hear this melody my soul dances.
Fantastic artist ! Magic happens when he does his thing !!
take a 100 years to play like coltrane but strangely take the same amount of time to sound like Skip James.
DADFAD !
Best tuning ever, just so intuitive. Skip's da dadfad master, yeah xD
My name is Jane (tagged with Crazy Jane by friends). In 4 months I’ll be ..70). I did not want a funeral until I heard and watched Mr James do this Crow Jane. Now I want a funeral with this video played. Or at least have it played when they put me only 6 feet under.
This is the only music I want to hear anymore.
Make it 8 ft under fuck it right 😉
Blues is from south of USA, im now in the south of the world, in a little country, Chile, and this music is all for me.
El BLUES es lo mejor!
the big three of Delta-style blues: John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Skip James [the latter under appreciated in comparison to the first two]
Except Hooker was Hill Country, Muddy was Delta blues but quickly became what we know now as Chicago blues, and Skip James, although from the delta, his playing had much more in common with Piedmont style blues than the music commonly associated with Delta blues.
@@fuzzface8252 Good point.
The most hardcore tune youll listen to today
I enjoyed every second of this song. Absolutely beautiful.
Awesome.
Such a sad, desolate song, but it sounds so upbeat. Incredible
And to think in the USA they were so persecuted and despised.
Yes, how can people think like that? And these hate mongers were Christians.
Crow Janie, Crow Janie, Crow Jane, don't you hold you head high
Someday, baby, you know you got to die
You got to lay down and...
You got to die, you got to...
And I wanna buy me a pistol, wants me forty rounds of ball
Shoot Crow Jane, just to see her fall
She got to fall, she got to...
She got to fall, she got to...
That's the reason I begged Crow Jane not to hold her head so high
Someday, baby, you know you got to die
You got to lay down and...
And I dug her grave with s silver spade
Ain't nobody gonna take my Crow Jane place
You can't take her place no, you can't take her...
You know, I dug her grave eight feet in the ground
I didn't feel sorry until they let her down
They had to let her down, let her...they had to let her down...
That's the reason I begged Crow Jane not to hold her head too high
Someday, baby, you know you got to die
You got to lay down and...
You know, I let her down with a golden chain
And every link I would call my Crow Jane's name
Crow Jane, Crow... Crow Jane, Crow...
You know I never missed my water till my well went dry
Didn't miss Crow Jane until the day she died
Till the day she...
That's the reason I begged Crow Jane not to hold her head too high
Someday, baby, you know you got to die
You got to lay down and...you got to die, you got to...
That's the reason I begged Crow Jane not to hold her head too high
Someday, baby, you know you got to die
You got to lay down and...
I wish this was on the radio, the radio would then become a place only for true music lovers.
I was born the year this was filmed yet it is timeless. Hard to believe Skip is 65 in this video.
This is music, not the noise on MTV today...
Hahaha, you're so old you don't even know that MTV doesn't play music anymore
4490reddock lol!!! yea man, in RSA they still do. Oh I forgot, it's probably because we're a 3rd world country
Samantha Fish brought me here.
It's reassuring to know that this was one of the earliest CZcams vids.
Brilliant. I'm 29, from Cincinnati and I feel at home right now for some reason. This makes my hair stand up.
i would love to know who crow Jane was anybody know ?
reference to slavery I think. Like 'John Crow', its what the slaves called the white man.
thanks
In many ways slavery was a good thing though
At the very least it provided African Americans with some type of employment, they would have starved to death otherwise.
I'm just saying that Africa was no picnic. There was constant threat of starvation (but no Live aid or comic relief at that time), tropical disease, war between rival tribes not to mention dangerous animals like lions, tigers hippos and crocodiles. Slavery, although terrible at least provided a way out of the savagery of the jungle and into a life of security.
This is about a white woman who is the wife of a plantation owner, in the days of slavery, white women really held their head up very high,also was snobby,so the brother sings about her superior attitude so he wants to shoot the bitch according to him the frustration of the moment in that time frame it was a very dark period for people from Africa at that time no right,no one to help you,just think about it the Africans that was here before sacrificed their lives so other of the future would be able to get jobs,become famous in Hollywood and the music industry even the armed forces and also to become president of the united States a lot was given up we must never forget that in this country.
Thank you for explaining, I didn't know that.
i love this song and i love Skip James.
What a sense of syncopation along with the loose strings and falsetto voice giving it an erie bluesy feeling that was Skip James.
Haunting, other worldly version of Crow Jane. Skip James sings like he's demon- possessed.
Hipster bands taking notice and covering this, dressing up like the dust bowl because everyday is halloween and they have no idea who they are. Lost.
Every day's not Hallowe'en?? What the fuck.....
Sheimer Perfection. Ethered hipsterdom with one sentence and a word.
Cuts to the soul. Very romantic
I want to cry when I see this. It doesn't get any more authentic than this!
Thank God there is footage like this around. And how else would I be getting to see it other than youtube? Young kids will never appreciate the pre-youtube days...
Skip james is a legend :). i like how every time i listen to his songs i always think way back and what it was like several years agos
young kids appreciate the post-youtube days. how else would we be getting to see this other than youtube?
one of the best blues lyric ever penned and one of the most beatiful blues performances ever captured.