[Dixielandjazz] Re: The Meaning of C. C. Rider

[Bill Haesler]

Dear Steve,
Regarding: >I have never heard the original, just the rock version Mitch
Ryder and the Detroit Wheels released in the mid 60's. Are his lyrics the
original ones?< 
The basic answer to your question is yes and no.
The Mitch Ryder lyrics are based on the original Ma Rainey version and Ryder
gives credit to her. (See below)

SEE SEE RIDER
MA RAINEY version
Verse: 
I'M so unhappy, I feel so blue
I always feel so sad

I made a mistake, right from the start Lord,
It seems so hard to part

Oh, but this letter that I will write
I hope he will remember, when he receives it

Chorus:
See, see, rider, see what you done done, Lawd, Lawd, Lawd
Made me love you, now you gal done come
You made me love you, now your gal done come

I'm going away baby, won't be back 'til fall, Lawd, Lawd, Lawd
Goin' away baby, won't be back 'til fall
If I find me a good man, I won't be back at all

I'm gonna buy me a pistol. Just as long as I am tall, Lawd, Lawd, Lawd
Gonna kill my man and catch the Cannonball
If he don't have me, he won't have no gal at all.

[Recorded for Paramount on 16 Oct 1924 with her Georgia Jazz Band. A
contingent from the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra: Louis Armstrong, c;
Charlie Green, tb; Buster Bailey, cl; Henderson, p; Charlie Dixon, bj.
It can be heard on the indispensable redhotjazz.com site. There is an
additional chorus, which Ma does not sing.]

C.C. RIDER
"DETROIT MEDLEY" version
Well now see, C.C. Rider
well now see, see what you have done
Well now see, C.C. Rider
well now see, see what you have done
Well you made me love you woman
Now your man has come

So I'm goin' away now baby
And I won't be back till fall
I'm goin' away now baby
And I won't be back till fall
Just might find me a good girl
Might not be comin' back at all

Well now see, C.C. Rider
See now the moon is shining bright
Well now see, C.C. Rider
See now the moon is shining bright
Just might find me that good girl
And everything would be alright

[(Rainey) by Gertrude ('Ma') Rainey (Paramount 12252) 1924. Originally
performed by Mitch Rider and The Detroit Wheels. Used as stable part of the
DETROIT MEDLEY. Played in a slower version in 1971.
This is the "DETROIT MEDLEY" version. Check also the 1971 slow version.]

The original question >the meaning of CC Rider< does not appear to have been
satisfactorily answered, as yet, on the DJML.
There are several early recorded titles (Easy Rider/See See Rider/CC Rider)
of the Ma Rainey tune. Which itself probably came from a 'traditional' blues
source.
So far as I can find, it seems that 'See See Rider' is a corruption of 'Easy
Rider', the guitar slung over a blues-man's back. This inevitably led to the
allegory for a lover in blues songs.
'CC Rider' (a corrupted abbreviation of 'Easy/See See') as sung by Big Bill
Broonzy (1934) and Leadbelly (1940) is the same tune, with similar but
different lyrics. Boonzy and Ledbetter/Lomax take composer credit for their
own versions.
In each case the meaning is the much the same. Someone leaving their 'Easy
Rider' (lover).
[Our resident blues expert, Anton Crouch, may like to comment.]
Kind regards,
Bill. 
PS: Jelly Roll Morton talks about 'See Rider" on the Library of Congress
recordings (recently released on CD by Rounder) but I have not had time to
check out what he says. Too busy - not doing the things I'm supposed to be
doing!