I first saw CMWB at the RoundHouse at UNSW in the mid 70s and it was something of a revelation! "Wangaratta Wahine" turned into a bit of cult LP for the group I hung out with and I had a copy of it on my old reel-to-reel Akai tape recorder for decades after. When I got a bit more affluent, I gradually started updating some of my tapes to CD but did not make it to the CMWB stuff before starting to go entirely MP3 download. Anyway, a few weeks ago I couldn't get "Wangaratta Wahine" out of my head so I finally bought the double album "Making Whoopee" and have been listening to it almost non-stop ever since . .

I also started Googling to find out the current state of the band members and it was great to see that Mic Conway was still very much active and performing but I was sad to find out about his brother Jim having MS . .

Mic Conway

After getting MW on digital I started listening to lots of other Jug Band and Music Hall music on YouTube - it IS really "a treat"! Many of CMWB's songs are versions of old Jug Band and Music Hall favourites but there is a liberal sprinkling of new material as well and of course the band put their own stamp on everything they did and they will always be CMWB songs to me and bring back memories of halcyon student days . .

Here are some examples that I will add to occasionally.

CMWB:

And also for interest:

After watching CMWB at the RoundHouse I got enthusiastic about learning tap dancing . . unfortunately I never got around to it . . maybe I still will one day . . that is the thing with Jug Band Music and CMWB in particular - the music is SO much fun you just want to participate!

However, listening to the old songs is great but I am a little bit obsessive and like to know all the lyrics to songs exactly - in the case of CMWB I find some of them are so fast I can't catch all the words . . so I started this page to document the lyrics and get corrections from the web or anyone who can help. Also, there are many versions of some of the songs with slight variations in lyrics but I am only interested in getting down the CMWB versions (songs like languages, evolve).

There are other albums besides this double album but I think all the well-known songs are on this set - I will add more albums later if I get time. Going through this whole "blast from the past" exercise has been interesting and I will start putting up the songs in order starting with "Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me" and "Lovesick Blues" first - for sentimental reasons . . but then continue on as time and fancy take me . .

This is a great song and very perceptive! I guess nothing really changes . . :


There are blues you get from women when you see 'em goin' swimmin' and you haven't got a bathin' suit yourself
And there are blues you get much quicker when you drink a lot of liquor and somebody goes and takes it off the shelf
There are blues you get when everythings in hock, when your girlfriend doesn't answer when you knock
And there are blues you get from gettin' in a taxicab and frettin' every time you hear the bumper jump the clock

And there are blues you get from tryin' to keep your uncle [BW?]ill from dyin' and later on he forgets you in his will
There are blues you get from kissin' when you're walkin' with the missus and another baby shouts, "Hi, Bill!"
Blues that make you hop and want to make you shake and shiver, blues that make you want to go and end it in the river
Blues my naughty sweetie gives to me

And there are blues that you get from loneliness and there are blues that you get from pain
And there are blues when you are lonely for your one and only and blues you can never explain
And there are blues that you get from sleepless nights but the meanest blues there be
The blues that I got on my mind, I mean the ones of the meanest kind - the blues my naughty sweetie gives to me

Instrumental
"Yeh!"

There are blues you get from women when you see 'em goin' swimmin' and you haven't got a bathin' suit yourself
And there are blues you get much quicker when you drink a lot of liquor and somebody goes and takes it off the shelf
There are blues you get when everythings in hock, when your girlfriend doesn't answer when you knock
And there are blues you get from gettin' in a taxicab and frettin' every time you hear the bumper jump the clock

And there are blues you get from tryin' to keep your uncle [BW?]ill from dyin' and later on he forgets you in his will
There are blues you get from kissin' when you're walkin' with the missus and another baby shouts, "Hi, Bill!"
Blues that make you hop and want to make you shake and shiver, blues that make you want to go and end it in the river
Blues my naughty sweetie gives to me

And there are blues that you get from loneliness and there are blues that you get from pain
And there are blues when you are lonely for your one and only and blues you can never explain
And there are blues that you get from sleepless nights but the meanest blues there be
The blues that I got on my mind, I mean the ones of the meanest kind - the blues my naughty sweetie gives to me
The blues my naughty sweetie gives to me
The blues my naughty sweetie gives to me

"Yeh!"

Another great song with a lot of sentimental value for me. Many people have done this song which was made famous by Hank Williams. Robert W. Harwood: "Written in 1922 as a song in a play about lovelorn pilots called 'Oooh Ernest!', it was recorded by the yodeling minstrel Emmett Miller in 1928, but did not become a hit until Hank Williams took it to the charts in 1949. The writing credit (at least after the first recording) was shared between Cliff Friend and Irving Mills."

I Went Down to St James Infirmary Blogspot

The first version I heard was when I bought the album "Playin' Favorites" by Don Mclean (now I will have to go and buy the digital version of the album!). The interesting thing about the CMWB version is that it starts off with a funny spoken intro and then CMWB's own take on the lyrics - which Mic says was inspired by the original version:

We'd like to tell you the story, sad but true, of the good Doctor, Doctor WB Agus
Now the good Doctor had found a way to make his fame and fortune!
He'd invented dehydrated swimming pools in the Nullabor Plain! {laughter} - just add water! {laughter}
Now the good Doctor was searching high and low across the sands for the essential ingredient
Water! Water! Water! . . Water! Water! Water! . .
And then, far away in the distance! Was it a bird? Was it plane? Was it an oasis? Was it a mirage?
No! It was drinking well!
And the Doctor raced to the well and dived in! {splash}
And there he drowned . .
Which only goes to show that, all good Doctors should attend the sick . . and not the well!

I'm in love I'm in love with a beautiful girl
That's what's the matter with me
I'm in love I'm in love with a beautiful girl
But she don't care 'bout me

To make her love me I tried, I cried and I cried
But she just refused
And ever since my Mama's gone away, I got them lovesick blues

I got a feelin' called the blues
Since my Mama said goodbye
It seems I don't know what to do-do-do-do-do
All I do is sit and cry, oh Lord

That last long day we spent alone
I'm yearnin' for that girl
She thrilled me, she killed me
With that kind of lovin'
I never will forget when she called me sweet daaddy

It was just a beautiful dream
I hate to think it's all over
I lost my heart it seems
Oh lord

I got so used to her somehow
But I'm nobody's sugar daddy - now it's over
When you're lonesome
You got them lovesick blues
Oh Lord

Instrumental

Yodelay odelay odelay
I got the lovesick blues
Oh Lord