Artist: State Street Boys
Author: traditional
Label: Vocalion
Year: 1935
With Big Bill Broonzy and Jazz Gillum. Reissued on Document cd Big Bill Broonzy Complete Recorded Works Vol 3. Broonzy sings: "You can pull me, you can push me, all night long, but pretty mama, don't you tear my clothes". We find a similar concern twenty years later with blue suede shoes fetishist Carl Perkins and his like-minded material boys & girls of rock 'n roll.
Covers:
Blind Boy Fuller [as Mama Let Me Lay It On You; learned it from Rev. Gary Davis]
Walter Coleman [idem]
Georgia White [as Daddy Let Me Lay It On You; answer song]
Washboard Sam [as Baby Don't You Tear My Clothes]
Harlem Hamfats [idem; Joe McCoy and his brother Charlie]
Professor Longhair [as Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand]
Snooks Eaglin [as Mama Don't You Tear My Clothes]
Lightnin' Hopkins [idem]
Bob Dylan [as Baby Let Me Follow You Down; learned it through Eric Von Schmidt]
Hoagy Lands [as Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand]
Rev. Gary Davis [instrumental as Please Baby]
Animals [as Baby Let Me Take You Home, inspired by Hoagy Lands' version]
Dave Van Ronk [as Baby Let Me Lay It On You]
Boz Scaggs [as Baby Let Me Follow You Down]
Roky Erickson [idem]
Little Richard [as Mama Don't You Tear My Clothes]
Mance Lipscomb [claimed he sang it since the 1920s (as Mama Let Me Lay It On You)]
Band [with Dylan during The Last Waltz]
Eric Von Schmidt [on album Baby Let Me Lay It On You]
Roy Book Binder [as Baby Let Me Follow You Down]
Robyn Hitchcock [idem]
Jools Holland [as Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand, credited to Professor Longhair]
Etta James [as Honey Don't Tear My Clothes]
James Cotton [as Honey Don't You Tear My Clothes]
Detroit Cobras [as Baby Let Me Take You Home]
Bryan Ferry [as Baby Let Me Follow You Down]
In '79 Eric Von Schmidt wrote a book about the Cambridge Folk Scene entitled Baby Let Me Follow You Down.
If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)