Stavin’ Chain Blues, Big Joe Williams and J.D. Short, Delmark Records, 1965

I’ve had this record for more than 50 years, and I am no closer to understanding the lyrics to Stavin’ Chain Blues now than then. J.D. Short sings it—too bad for me, I can understand everything Big Joe Williams sings. I could tell it was sex or violence (or maybe both). After more than an hour in YouTube, I can say Short’s version is about violence, most of the other versions are about all kinds of sex. One site claimed to know, having Alan Lomax as a source. Lomax knew this Stavin’ Chain character that Jelly Roll Morton sang about was Wilson Jones, a blues musician that Lomax photographed and recorded in 1934. Stavin’ Chain was a pimp. But there isn’t a song I can find that says that. An illustration of Stavin’ Chain has a drawing of a black man in prison stripes, but no details. One version I found quickly said “my heart is full of pain/they got me down with a stavin’ chain.” It was easy to understand but no sex. There must be 25 versions along the line of ‘you can’t ride my train, I’m the chief engineer, and I’m gonna run it just like Stavin’ Chain.’ Train songs in that context are sex. Mance Lipscomb says he’s winin’ boy (frequently teamed with Stavin’ Chain). He had mamma on the porch doing the double twist. Janis Joplin, who showed up on that search, had ‘mamma down on the levee doing the double twist.’ After all that, I’m sure it’s about sex. Sorry I can’t be more specific. Some singers turned it into an almost generic dirty song. [If Stavin’ Chain couldn’t find a woman, he would find his fist.]  I’m pretty sure Short says Stavin’ Chain went to prison for killing a woman; upon his release, he went back for killing a man.