{"id":3076,"date":"2017-09-16T07:00:39","date_gmt":"2017-09-16T11:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?p=3076"},"modified":"2017-09-19T19:30:40","modified_gmt":"2017-09-19T23:30:40","slug":"my-mind-is-trying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/my-mind-is-trying\/","title":{"rendered":"My Mind Is Trying to Leave (Percy Mayfield)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"My Mind Is Trying to Leave Me\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FXcVEKDGkFQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Percy Mayfield is one of my favorite singers of all time, and favorite songwriters. Most people put that the other way around, but much as I love his songs, I love his singing even more, and not just on his own songs &#8212;\u00a0 his version of &#8220;Black Coffee&#8221; is<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3077 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Percy-Mayfield-293x300.jpg?resize=253%2C259\" alt=\"\" width=\"253\" height=\"259\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Percy-Mayfield.jpg?resize=293%2C300&amp;ssl=1 293w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Percy-Mayfield.jpg?w=370&amp;ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 253px) 100vw, 253px\" \/> still my favorite take on that standard. So it&#8217;s odd that the only song I do of his was learned off an Albert Collins record &#8212; but that&#8217;s how it goes. (Or maybe it&#8217;s that after hearing him sing something, I steered clear of it.) Not only that, I wrote my own third verse, because for some reason I didn&#8217;t feel comfortable singing the original one and needed a substitute. And not only <em>that<\/em>&#8230; my verse was probably inspired by Paul Simon&#8217;s &#8220;Duncan&#8221; &#8212; which is a hell of an admission, but we&#8217;re all friends here, right?<\/p>\n<p>So anyway, Percy Mayfield&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>He was called &#8220;The Poet Laureate of the Blues,&#8221; and is probably best known for the songs he wrote while Ray Charles had him on payroll: &#8220;Hit the Road, Jack,&#8221; &#8220;Danger Zone,&#8221; &#8220;But On the Other Hand, Baby,&#8221; and a bunch of others. Good as those are, though, his masterpieces were on his own records. First, &#8220;Please Send Me Someone to Love,&#8221; his biggest hit, which has one of the greatest opening verses ever written:<\/p>\n<p><em>Heaven, please send to all mankind<br \/>\nUnderstanding, and peace of mind.<br \/>\nAnd, if it&#8217;s not asking too much,<br \/>\nPlease send me someone to love.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>How great is that? &#8220;If it&#8217;s not asking too much&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Then he could turn around and write:<\/p>\n<p><em>If you would be so kind, to help me find my mind,<br \/>\nI want to thank you in advance.<br \/>\nKnow this before you start: my soul&#8217;s been torn apart.<br \/>\nI lost my mind in a wild romance.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>So okay, on second thought maybe I love his songwriting as much as his singing. That one&#8217;s called &#8220;Lost Mind,&#8221; and then there&#8217;s &#8220;The River&#8217;s Invitation,&#8221; and &#8220;Life is Suicide&#8221; &#8212; not always the most cheerful themes, but he had a tough life and wrote what he knew. After <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-3079\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Percy-Mayfield-DVD-163x300.jpg?resize=163%2C300\" alt=\"\" width=\"163\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Percy-Mayfield-DVD.jpg?resize=163%2C300&amp;ssl=1 163w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Percy-Mayfield-DVD.jpg?w=200&amp;ssl=1 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 163px) 100vw, 163px\" \/> a brief run of R&amp;B hits in the early 1950s, he was in a car accident that almost killed him and left his face brutally disfigured. He kept writing, and recorded a half-dozen albums in the 1960s and 1970s, including a couple on Ray Charles&#8217;s Tangerine label, and toward the end of his life there was a nice documentary about him, filmed mostly at a relaxed party with friends, singing the old songs with Mark Naftalin playing sensitive piano&#8230; which, tragically, seems to be out of print, and someone oughta fix that.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, I don&#8217;t know why this is the only Percy Mayfield song I do &#8212; and the only Albert Collins song, for that matter. It just worked out that way, and I recorded it on my LP, and here it is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Percy Mayfield is one of my favorite singers of all time, and favorite songwriters. Most people put that the other way around, but much as I love his songs, I love his singing even more, and not just on his own songs &#8212;\u00a0 his version of &#8220;Black Coffee&#8221; is still my favorite take on that &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/my-mind-is-trying\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">My Mind Is Trying to Leave (Percy Mayfield)<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>My Mind Is Trying to Leave (Percy Mayfield) - Old Friends: A Songobiography<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/my-mind-is-trying\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My Mind Is Trying to Leave (Percy Mayfield) - Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Percy Mayfield is one of my favorite singers of all time, and favorite songwriters. Most people put that the other way around, but much as I love his songs, I love his singing even more, and not just on his own songs &#8212;\u00a0 his version of &#8220;Black Coffee&#8221; is still my favorite take on that &hellip; Continue reading My Mind Is Trying to Leave (Percy Mayfield) &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/my-mind-is-trying\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-16T11:00:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-09-19T23:30:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Percy-Mayfield-293x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/my-mind-is-trying\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/my-mind-is-trying\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"headline\":\"My Mind Is Trying to Leave (Percy Mayfield)\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-16T11:00:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-19T23:30:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/my-mind-is-trying\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":515,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/my-mind-is-trying\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/Percy-Mayfield-293x300.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/my-mind-is-trying\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/my-mind-is-trying\\\/\",\"name\":\"My Mind Is Trying to Leave (Percy Mayfield) - 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I always liked the odd juxtaposition of the pretty, gentle lullaby\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Cisco songs of the open road-1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Cisco-songs-of-the-open-road-1-291x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":117,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/the-killer\/","url_meta":{"origin":3076,"position":1},"title":"The Killer (Cisco Houston\/ Katie Lee)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"February 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This gaudy gunfighter ballad is from the singing of Cisco Houston. When I decided I would grow up to be a rambling musician, my heroes were Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston, and if I'd had to pick one of them, it would probably have been Cisco. Part of the appeal\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"cisco houston","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/cisco-houston.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":950,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/mister-noah\/","url_meta":{"origin":3076,"position":2},"title":"Mister Noah (Dave Van Ronk\/Frank Shay)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"April 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This is another amusing tidbit from Dave Van Ronk: Folksinger, and is probably the first song I learned off that record, because if you hear it once or twice, you know it, like it or not. I don't know where Dave learned it,* but a similar four-verse version was printed\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"My Pious Friends","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/My-Pious-Friends.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5211,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/cigarettes-and-coffee\/","url_meta":{"origin":3076,"position":3},"title":"Cigarettes and Coffee Blues (Lefty Frizzell)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"June 8, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I have Bill Morrissey to thank for turning me into a Merle Haggard nut, and making me realize how close country\u00a0 music -- especially the strain popularized as \"honky tonk\" -- is to blues. Of course, to a large extent it came out of blues; Jimmie Rodgers was primarily a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Leftys-Greatest-Hits.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2241,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/somebody-else-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":3076,"position":4},"title":"Somebody Else, Not Me (Bert Williams)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"December 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Bert Williams, the most popular black entertainer of the early 20th century, recorded this in 1919 as a sequel to his huge hit, \"Nobody.\" It was credited to Williams and James F. Hanley, with lyrics by Ballard MacDonald, and I learned it from Dave Van Ronk, who added the third\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Somebody-Else-sheet-music-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":124,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/zebra-dun\/","url_meta":{"origin":3076,"position":5},"title":"Zebra Dun (Jack Thorpe)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"February 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This is another cowboy song from Cisco Houston, which I've kept singing pretty regularly as a kind of apologia pro vita mia. Growing up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as the child of two professors...","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/thorpsongs.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3076"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3142,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3076\/revisions\/3142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}