[Dixielandjazz] Rasslin' Til The Wagon Comes

[Bill Haesler]

  Robert S. Ringwald wrote (in part):
> I don't know about the song "Rasslin' Till The Wagon Comes".  But in 
> the song, "You've been a good Ol' Wagon" that Bessie Smith sings, I 
> always thought the word that sounds like "Rasslin'" was really 
> southern black dialect for "arrested".
> I think the words are, "We'll be arrested when the wagon comes."  But 
> a lot of singers say Rasslin'.
> "We'll be arrested when the wagon comes," makes a lot more sense.

Dear Bob,
I think you mean Bessie's "Gimme a Pigfoot" and the line "We gonna be 
rasslin' when the wagon comes".
If you 'google' this song you will come across lyric sites which quote 
OTHER singers using the word "arrested".
On the Bessie, which was one of the first 78s I owned, she definitely 
sings 'rasslin'" [you can hear the 'n' sound].
I've just replayed the John RT Davies beautifully remastered version on 
the Frog CD. And also the version on Scott Alexander's Red Hot Jazz 
Archive site.
Angela Y Davis confirms my ears in the definitive book 'Blues Legacies 
and Black Feminism' (1998. Vintage Books) which contains accurate 
lyrics for ALL the Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey songs, plus some of 
Billie's thrown in.
In the context of the song I don't think "rasslin'" means the 
hand-to-hand sport carried out in a ring before an audience.
8>)
Kind regards,
Bill.