Rank Stranger

[Mountaindrifter74]

I have a question about the song (one of my personal favorites) Rank Stranger. I know in the original version by The Stanly Brothers there's a part where it goes "They've all moved away said the voice of a stranger...to a beautiful HOME by the bright crystal sea..."
In the version by Ricky Skaggs (my personal favorite version) he says "to a beautiful LAND by the bright crystal sea".
Does anyone know why Ricky sang it this way? Probably a useless question, but I just like to know things like that as the lyrics have such deep meaning in that song.
Thanks!

[Ivan Kelsall]

He either forgot the correct word or thought that 'land' was just as ,or more appropriate. I'd stick with the original wording myself,just for 'authenticity',
Ivan

[UsuallyPickin]

Well.... that is curious if for no reason that Skaggs played and toured with Stanley early in his career. I expect that he has played that song a few thousand times by now. Lyrics do shuffle about a bit over the years though....... hmmmmm... R/

[Russ Jordan]

I just listened to Ricky's version on Bluegrass Rules cd. He sings "beautiful home" on there and on video here:.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVIyiEpfUIs

[jesserules]

Maybe he was thinking of a similar line, from "Wayfaring Stranger" -


And there's no sickness, toil, nor trouble
In that bright land to which I go

[Willie Poole]

Sometimes in the studio a person gets a little tired and might sing a wrong word and if its late and isn`t too far away from the original words they just let it slip by...I sing quite a few songs with those small mistakes....Also ( I have heard) if there are enough changes in a song they don`t have to pay royalties....Maybe more wrong words in the rest of the song....I doubt it but it is possible....

[FLATROCK HILL]

I've noticed a few discrepancies like that too. In the case you mentioned, I don't think there is any meaningful significance in the change between 'home' and 'land'.
When you sing the song, just go with what feels best to you. (Or, as Ivan suggested, the original is probably best for the sake of authenticity.)
What sometimes frustrates me is when Skaggs opts to change melody or chords for no apparent reason. Take the Stanley Bros. song 'Ridin' That Midnight Train'. In the last line of the chorus...'These awful blues will follow me wherever I may go', Ricky changes the timing of the #1 chord and #5 chord (on wherever). It sounds good both ways I guess, but it can kinda derail the song in a jam.

I'll bet that most of the time when these songs are recorded, none of the participants would dream that their work will be studied and dissected so thoroughly. ;)

[Bradley]

I like it when chord arrangements are changed up especially on the songs that have been played at
least 1,356,783,923 times. I love jam sessions but the problem I think is that we spend too much time
playing the same 15 songs in the same style over and over and over. So when I hear a new recorded song
with a new musical arrangement I always applaud the artist for mixing it up. As far as changing lyrics I am
not too much for that but a little variety in the arrangements are always welcomed by me.

[Marty Jacobson]

Bradley, you might like this one, then.. very different instrumentation, for the most part classic lyrics.
DOQfJMlV6oU

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hey Flatrock - When i first hear RS sing 'Midnight Train' i wondered what the heck was going on. He sings ''My heads are hanging low'' - how many heads has that guy got ?. Of course what he's really singing is ''My head's a hangin' low'',but i thought that what i 'thought' i heard had more comedy value !,:))
Ivan;)

[FLATROCK HILL]

Hey Flatrock - When i first hear RS sing 'Midnight Train' i wondered what the heck was going on. He sings ''My heads are hanging low'' - how many heads has that guy got ?. Of course what he's really singing is ''My head's a hangin' low'',but i thought that what i 'thought' i heard had more comedy value !

When you find yourself in that condition, you have every right to sing the blues!

[Drew Egerton]

Have you seen the man's chin(s) move when he plays in the last 10 years? That should answer your questions.

Sorry, that might have been mean but I find it hilarious to watch!

[Russ Jordan]

Mountaindrifter74,

From what Ricky Skaggs recording of Rank Strangers did you hear "beautiful land"?

[CavScout]

I'll admit that while I love Ricky's version I get a twitch when I hear "land" cuz its sposta be "home".

[farmerjones]

Who's to say Ralph sang it the same every time?

Listen to a Man of Constant Sorrow: "A state where I was born and bread." or "A place where I was born and bread."

Kenny Baker never played the same thing twice, why should anyone sing the same thing twice?

[Mike Bunting]

Who's to say Ralph sang it the same every time?

Listen to a Man of Constant Sorrow: "A state where I was born and bread." or "A place where I was born and bread."

Kenny Baker never played the same thing twice, why should anyone sing the same thing twice?

"....a place where I was born and bred." Unless he was just loafing around, of course :)
As Benny Martin said. "Jazz is never laying the same thing once."

[allenhopkins]

...Listen to a Man of Constant Sorrow: "A state where I was born and bred." or "A place where I was born and bred."...

Born and raised. I think. Rhymes with "days" (sorta).

The thing about having songs (and tunes) transmitted "by ear," either live or through recordings, is that a certain amount of mis-hearing, substitution, and just plain forgetting and improvising, is inevitable. Then we come along and wonder what the "real" version is.

For a good example, listen to the Carter Family's version of Wildwood Flower, with "the pale and the leader and eyes look like blue." Which means nothing. For years I thought myself superior, because smart-ol'-professional-musician-and-scholar me knew that the real words to the 19th century song were, "the pale amanita and islip so blue," and those were the names of flowers.

Except that's balderdash too: "amanita" is a genus of mushrooms, and "Islip" is a town on Long Island, and they're not flowers either. The original c. 1860 song, I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets, has the line "the pale aronatus with eyes of bright blue." Only no one seems to know what an "aronatus" is, either.

So what are the "real" lyrics to Wildwood Flower? They're -- apparently -- whatever you want to sing that sounds vaguely like "the pale and the leader and eyes look like blue." Take it from there.

[Jim Broyles]

It's "Borned and raised." Can't you guys understand English?:cool:

[farmerjones]

NFN, my sister thought Sonny & Cher had a song called, "In the Beagle Zone."


I still think Big Tater's in a Sandy Land, and Sally Anne are related as a drunkard's mishearing. But which title did he hear first?

[Pete Counter]

In my mind its as simple as this...how many songs do you reckon skaggs has the lyrics to in his head? Sometimes your just telling the story and not worrying so much over every particular word, phrase or accent. Reckon he plays the same notes on his mandolin every single time?

[Jesse Weitzenfeld]

Here's a serious question - if Ricky Skaggs is in the recording studio and he gets a word wrong, who's going to tell him?

[tree]

I suspect he'd know it himself if that happened. But even if he didn't, he puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like everybody else.

[AlanN]

It's "Borned and raised." Can't you guys understand English?:cool:

LOL.

And it ain't the only use of that term, neither..."I was borned on Sawmill Road, raised in a cotton patch"

- From the pen of Allen Mills (Lost&Found)

[Willie Poole]

As far as playing a song 1,000 times exactly the same way every time, well that is what bluegrass is, keeping it original, to many folks now days wanting to make it sound complicated by adding extra chords...Back in the days when people settled in the mountains they probably didn`t even know about any minor chords and couldn`t throw them in anywhere they wanted to....Keeping it simple is what I love about bluegrass, I will admit some of the changes sound good but if it gets too complicated and you throw that song out there in a jam session that is the easiest way I know of to break up a jam session, I`ve seen it done many times...Just like having a person in a jam that thinks he is the star and is playing his banjo or dobro as loud as he can without any let up when a person is singing, that seems to be the way so called new bluegrass is heading, drown out the singer, which in some cases might not be a bad idea since the singer is not on key, a lot of this come from modern country music because some of these people just can`t sing on key.....

Sorry to get off of the subject.....Just my 2 cents worth, which I don`t expect everyone to agree with or understand...

Willie

[Ivan Kelsall]

Allen - 'Aronatus' is indeed supposedly the name of a flower,maybe one that we call by a more modern name these days. Flowers have many different names as do culinary plants ie.what you good folks in the US call 'Celantro', in the UK is called 'Corriander',& one man's 'Zucchini' is another's 'Courgette'. I did a search for Aronatus & came up with this pic. it's certainly 'bright' Blue !,
Ivan;)
120407

[AlanN]

Some songs and breaks are best kept unchanged. Like the mandolin solo in Uncle Pen Bill gets on the part "Late in the evenin, about sundown...". It's classic. But on others, there is room to move, like on Big Mon or Wheel Hoss. You gotta hit the key notes to make it the tune, but there is space to improvise. Same with Rawhide, may be not quite so much space. Speaking of which, hit a jam last might where we did a bit of that tune. Well, I tried to, but the banjo man (ahem) had trouble finding an E chord with capo on 5. I said "Let's pick something else". :whistling: