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Matilda Stomp (New Chemirocha Blues)

by Noise Floor Delirium

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about

"Matilda Stomp (New Chemirocha Blues" takes much of its inspiration from the history behind a field recording called "Chemirocha III," sung by a group of young girls from the Kipsigis tribe in Kenya's Great Rift Valley and documented by ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey in 1950. The animated video below (directed by Drew Christie, narrated by T Bone Burnett) "recounts the improbable story" of how the "Father of Country Music," Jimmie Rodgers, became associated with a half-man, half-antelope deity known as "Chemirocha."

Drawn & Recorded: Chemirocha (directed by Drew Christie, narrated by T Bone Burnett)
vimeo.com/351950604

This video offers a concise and fascinating version of the story, but it leaves out some ironic twists regarding the song's origins, which become part of the narrative in Noise Floor Delirium's "Matilda Stomp (New Chemirocha Blues)." You can read more about the history of "Chemirocha" in articles by NPR's Ryan Kailath and The New Yorker's Amanda Petrusich.

lyrics

MATILDA STOMP (NEW CHEMIROCHA BLUES)

Words & Music by Chris Gleason
Mule-in-a-Swamp Music (ASCAP)
© 2021

Halt! Waltz!
Halt! Waltz!
Halt! Waltz!
Halt!
Whup!
Waltz!

Great Rift Valley
Wind-up gramophone
Six-string chepkong
Yellow-wood tree
Great Rift Valley
Sing to me, Chemirocha
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.

Praise the lord and cover your eyes
One will be taken
and slaughtered inside
Down to the hospital
Blood for the military
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me.

Halt! Matilda
Waltz! Matilda
Halt! Matilda
Whup!
Waltz!
Halt! Matilda
Waltz! Matilda
Halt! Matilda
Whup!
Waltz!

Why do they ask us to cover our eyes?
What are they hiding?
What do they eat?
Slow, nice music
Sing with me, Chemirocha
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.

We danced and danced ‘til our pants fell off
Under the shade of a yellow-wood tree,
Danced until our pants fell off
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me.

Halt! Matilda.
Waltz! Matilda.
Halt! Matilda.
Whup!
Waltz!
Halt! Matilda.
Waltz! Matilda.
Halt! Matilda.
Whup!
Waltz!

Halt! Blue Yodeler.
Waltz! Chemirocha.
Halt! Blue Yodeler
Whup!
Waltz!
Blue Yodeler. Halt!
Chemirocha. Waltz!
Blue Yodeler. Whup! Halt! Waltz!

credits

released October 29, 2021
Words & Music by Chris Gleason
Mule-in-a-Swamp Music (ASCAP)
© 2021

Music, lyrics, instruments, and vocals by Chris Gleason.

Engineered and Mixed by Chris Gleason
at Noise Floor Delirium, Roslindale, MA.

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all rights reserved

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about

Noise Floor Delirium Boston, Massachusetts

Noise Floor Delirium is the home recording studio of singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Christopher Gleason (Los Goutos, Sado-Domestics). It is also the name given to the group of musicians who helped to create the 2017 album STILL AROUND.

A new album, LIFE STREET ENDS, was released in October 2022.
... more

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