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Change My Name (Scott Ainslie)

from Terraplane by Scott Ainslie

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about

This funny little ragtime blues frightened me. As a novelty blues, it threatened to be the only piece from the record to get airplay! Thankfully, other tunes from this collection caught up and surpassed it. But, it has a lot of fun making fun of white boys adopting blues monikers as if they were old black guys. My name is something my mother gave me. It's on my license and passport. It's on my work.

lyrics

Change My Name (Scott Ainslie)

Well, the whole town’s in an uproar, all up and down the street;
I owe everybody, but nobody owes me!
I’m gonna start with the very next person I meet:
Next time you see me there ain’t no tellin’ who I’ll be.

I got to change my name. I got to change my name.
I got to change my name, that’s what it’s all about.

Now, ‘Guitar Wizard’ rhymes with gizzards, which I can’t abide,
And I can’t be ‘Reverend’ and I sure ain’t ‘Blind’
Lightnin’ doesn’t suit me ’cause I move too slow
And if you ever called me ‘Tampa’ I wouldn’t know where to go,
And if I’m gonna change my name: it sure won’t be ‘Kokomo’.

I got a letter from my mother askin’ me was “she to blame”
And my father want’s to know, “Son, what’s wrong with your name?”
I got to change my name. I got to change my name.
I got to change my name, Man, that’s what it’s all about.

Well I tried ‘Funny Papa’, that didn’t sound too bad,
I thought ‘Big Scott Ainslie’, but I’d have to wear shoulder pads.
I thought I’d take the name of a famous president,
But I had trouble finding one I did not resent,

And if you’re gonna change your name, brother,
that’s what it’s all about.

Well, the record man said, “It’s a cryin’ shame.
“I like your music, son, but-uh, what about this name?
“You see that spinnin’ ’round on the phonograph
“Now a DJ couldn’t read that so save his own (ass)…”

So, I’m leavin’ this town. I need a change of scene.
I’m gonna marry the first girl ‘can tell me what-uh, ‘MOJO’ means
I got to change my name. I got to change my name.
I got to change my name; that’s what it’s all about.

credits

from Terraplane, track released September 22, 1997
Scott Ainslie, guitar and voice.
Gabriel Ainslie, rim shot!

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Scott Ainslie Brattleboro, Vermont

A long history with older black blues and gospel players in the mid-South marks Ainslie's work deeply. He transcribed all of Robert Johnson's recorded songs for "Robert Johnson/At The Crossroads" (Hal Leonard, 1992) and has a teaching DVD on Johnson's music. A fine songwriter with a social conscience and a belief in the power of music to move and inspire, Ainslie's voice is a great force for good! ... more

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