Friday's Grief Song, 7.28.23
"Tell me how long must I cry?"
This week’s song is by Georgia born Abner Jay.
I heard this song first in the dark of a car careening down I-5 traveling through Oregon on a road trip.
Most people I’ve met who are depressed have good reason to be. This song is refreshing in that he names some very good reasons for his depression in the first line.
“Abner Jay was an itinerant one-man band, songster, social historian and off-colour raconteur, making him a direct line to a different era.
But you never knew what to believe with Abner Jay. He said that his instruments were centuries old, passed down through his family. That his father and grandfather had been slaves. He claimed to have fathered 16 children and that daily doses of water from the Suwannee River in Georgia kept him young.” -BBC The True Story of Abner Jay.
Enjoy this week’s grief song:
I’m So Depressed by Abner Jay.
Listen here on YouTube or alternately here, on Bandcamp where you can buy the album.
I’m so Depressed
Written by: AbnerJay
Album: One Man Band
Released: 2003
I was born during the hard depression day, oh, my Lord.
In July, in South Georgia,
Where the sun was hot in a blaze,
My folk was share cropper
At the end of the year, we had nothing,
We had nothing, we had nothing but grass hoppers
Looking back over my life,
Oh, Lord, I'm so depressed.
Help me, somebody, I need some rest,
Oh, Lord, I'm so depressed.
Every boy needs a girl, every girl needs a boy
I'm a boy so full of love,
I have no one to hold my hand.
Tell me, how long must I wander,
Tell me, how long must I cry
Will there be someone, someone to wipe,
Dry the tear from my eye.
Come on, baby, rub my head,
Rub my head while I lay down in my bed.
Kiss, kiss me, kiss me, baby,
'Til I feel alright, 'til I feel alright.
Oh, looking back over my life,
Oh, Lord, I'm so depressed.
Help me, somebody, I need some rest.
Oh, Lord, I'm so depressed.