Clifton Hicks "Morphine" (Banjo Bill Cornett Version)

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In the early 2000s a family friend of Kentucky State Rep. William "Banjo Bill" Cornett (1890-1960) gave me a home recording of the late banjoist playing "Morphine Blues." This track is conspicuously missing from a published compilation purported to contain Cornett's "lost recordings."

George R. Gibson (b. 1938), a neighbor of Cornett's, popularized another version of "Morphine" on his 1999 album _Last_ _Possum_ _Up_ _the_ _Tree._ Gibson's lyrics and banjo technique were subsequently spread during the 2000s by his protégés Matt Kinman, Clifton Hicks, Brett Ratliff, and John Haywood.

Cornett's lyrics are reproduced below.

I dreamed last night saw my pockets full of money
I was rolling in a big crap game,
But when I woke it was all a joke
I didn't have a brownie to my name

I loved her once I loved her twice
I love her and it ain't no lie,
If I only knew she cared nothing for me
I would take morphine until I die

Yes I'd take me a dose of old morphine
Then I'd bid this old world goodbye.

Gibson writes:
"Gran Hudson said his father, Steve Hudson, sang this song. Gran said his father always sang 'I took it in a hell of a way,' instead of 'I took it in that morphine way,' so I sometimes sing it this way. James Sloan would intone in a speaking voice 'Ain't that a scandal and a shame' after the line 'And I didn't have one penny to my name.' Banjo Bill Cornett from Hindman, Kentucky, sang a version of this song in which he used the line, 'I didn't have a brownie to my name.'"

I took morphine last Saturday night,
Lord I took it in that morphine way,
If the Doctor hadn't come just as he did,
Lord I'd a'been in my grave today.

Well it's peaches honey, Rye, Rock and Rye,
Oh baby let me tell you my dream,

I dreamed last night had a pocket full of money,
And a quarter in a big dice game.
But when I awoke, it was only a joke,
And I didn't have one penny to my name.

I took morphine last Saturday night,
Lord I took it a Hell of a way,
If the Doctor hadn't come just as he did,
Lord I'd a'been in my grave today.

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