Me And The Devil Blues

P-IMA-IMA. This is a picking pattern: P's the thumb, I the index, M the middle, and A the next one after that. I expect these come from Italian words but I'm lazy to check it. They've got a lock on a lot of musical terminology though... but then, if I were wrong, this would be the reason I was wrong...

But isn't this level of philosophising actually getting to be harder than looking it up? One is on the web...

No, as it turns out. I've looked around slightly and haven't learned the truth; in French, one has Pouce, Index, Majeur, Annulaire... and that's as far as I'm going just now because I came to post about this song.

Anyhow, I do the ol' p-ima-ima pick... sort of a country three-feely oom-pah-pah deal... with a C chord and a G7 and the "melody line" is mostly just matching the notes to the bit the thumb hits (and is pretty doggone singsongy)... my musicianship is still pretty much at zero even though I somehow play the damn thing better and better all the time...anyhow here's

The Devil and Mr. Blake
(Blake/Vlorbik)

I rose up at the dawn of day
Get thee away, get thee away
The Lord of this World by my side does stand
And he holds my moneybag in his hand

For my worldly things God makes him pay
And he'd pay for more if to him I would pray
But though you can do the worst you can do
Be assured Mister Devil, I won't pray to you

He says if i won't worship him for a god
I'll eat coarser food and I'll go worse shod
But as I don't value such things as these
Do, Mister Devil, just as God please

And maybe do the first verse again if, God willing, anybody actually appears to be enjoying it or something... because this is pretty much ready to go. I guess I've got it memorized well enough to give it a try. So all I need is an audience... the toughest roadtest begins by actually getting out of the driveway.

The longawaited midsummer Concert for Midstate U is shaping up something like I Love My Beer, For John Henry, Pinky's Blues (instrumental), Mr. Blake, Seven Curses, and Measure for Measure. Still not enough. One or more Tom Lehrer songs yet to be relearned (The Masochism Tango most likely); ditto Elvis Costello (Two Little Hitlers?). More by Bob if by anyone: Hurricane was once one of my greatest crowdpleasers (and I used to know dozens and dozens more). The MadOne is gonna get pretty tired of this stuff...