{"id":4129,"date":"2018-11-24T02:00:01","date_gmt":"2018-11-24T07:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?p=4129"},"modified":"2018-11-24T00:54:16","modified_gmt":"2018-11-24T05:54:16","slug":"boy-was-kissing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Boy Was Kissing the Girl (Gary Davis)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Boy Was Kissing the Girl\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wiiJaBDW5KI?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>I first heard this on a unique instrumental album, <em>The Guitar and Banjo of Reverend Gary Davis<\/em>, which was also my source for &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/cincinnati-flow-rag\/\">Cincinnati Flow Rag<\/a>&#8221; and various other guitar <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2455 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Guitar-and-Banjo-of-Rev-Gary-Davis-1.jpg?resize=245%2C245&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"245\" height=\"245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Guitar-and-Banjo-of-Rev-Gary-Davis-1.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Guitar-and-Banjo-of-Rev-Gary-Davis-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Guitar-and-Banjo-of-Rev-Gary-Davis-1.jpg?w=360&amp;ssl=1 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 245px) 100vw, 245px\" \/>showpieces. As explained in earlier posts, I shied away from most of Davis&#8217;s material because I was not interested in performing gospel songs, and for quite a while this was my favorite of his LPs &#8212; an opinion I later revised because he was such a spectacular singer, but by then I had practically memorized the first side of this album.<\/p>\n<p>Davis recorded this piece on other albums as &#8220;Twelve Sticks&#8221; &#8212; he announces it that way on his <em>Newport Folk Festival<\/em> LP &#8212; but it was listed on\u00a0<em>The Guitar &amp; Banjo<\/em> as &#8220;The Boy Was Kissing the Girl (And Playing the Guitar at the Same Time)&#8221; and obviously after learning it with that title I couldn&#8217;t settle for &#8220;Twelve Sticks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I started playing a half-assed version of this when I was still far from adept at Davis&#8217;s style, and I never really went back and got it right, but when I followed my wife Sandrine to Pittsburgh for a winter, I was fortunate enough to become a regular guest of Ernie Hawkins, the man who really knows how to play Davis&#8217;s pieces. One of the first things I asked Ernie was how Davis played the lick I was faking as a three-finger roll, since the Reverend only picked with his thumb and index finger. Ernie was kind enough to show me, and this was my practice piece to get it sort of right.<\/p>\n<p>Ernie also showed me the chordal descent Davis uses on this and &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/samson-and-delilah\/\">Samson and Delilah<\/a>,&#8221; which is a perfect example of the Reverend&#8217;s astonishing economy of motion: the chords are G7-C-G-D7-G, using four different chord shapes, but if you watch his hands they barely seem to shift. The\u00a0 G that goes down to the D7 is particularly cute, and that sequence shows up regularly in this piece:<br \/>\n<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-4131\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/G-chord.jpg?resize=115%2C142&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"115\" height=\"142\" \/><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-4132\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/d7-chord.jpg?resize=115%2C142&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"115\" height=\"142\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For both chords the bass string is held down with your left thumb. As for the other shapes, the C and final G chords are played with the standard thumb-wrap F shape, and the opening <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-4133 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/G7.jpg?resize=115%2C142&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"115\" height=\"142\" \/>G7 uses the classic Davis C7 shape, also favored by Dave Van Ronk and Jim Kweskin (and me), with the thumb wrapping two bass strings. (Now that I think of it, that D7 chord should also have the thumb wrapping two strings to get the root note in the bass.)<\/p>\n<p>As for kissing the girl, Davis had a bass riff he would play using only his left hand, and sometimes requested a female volunteer from the audience to help him demonstrate how he could, in fact, kiss and play at the same time. I have not attempted to duplicate this feat.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-4134 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Harlem.jpg?resize=474%2C267&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Harlem.jpg?w=475&amp;ssl=1 475w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Harlem.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I first heard this on a unique instrumental album, The Guitar and Banjo of Reverend Gary Davis, which was also my source for &#8220;Cincinnati Flow Rag&#8221; and various other guitar showpieces. As explained in earlier posts, I shied away from most of Davis&#8217;s material because I was not interested in performing gospel songs, and for &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Boy Was Kissing the Girl (Gary Davis)<\/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_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Boy Was Kissing the Girl (Gary Davis) - Elijah Wald: Songobiography<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A ragtime guitar showpiece from Reverend Gary Davis, with tips on the Reverend&#039;s unique chord movements and astonishing economy of motion.\" \/>\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\/boy-was-kissing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Boy Was Kissing the Girl (Gary Davis) - Elijah Wald: Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A ragtime guitar showpiece from Reverend Gary Davis, with tips on the Reverend&#039;s unique chord movements and astonishing economy of motion.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-11-24T07:00:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Davis-and-little-girl.jpg?fit=236%2C202&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"236\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"202\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\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\\\/boy-was-kissing\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/boy-was-kissing\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"headline\":\"The Boy Was Kissing the Girl (Gary Davis)\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-24T07:00:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/boy-was-kissing\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":493,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/boy-was-kissing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/Guitar-and-Banjo-of-Rev-Gary-Davis-1-300x300.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/boy-was-kissing\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/boy-was-kissing\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Boy Was Kissing the Girl (Gary Davis) - Elijah Wald: Songobiography\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/boy-was-kissing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/boy-was-kissing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/Guitar-and-Banjo-of-Rev-Gary-Davis-1-300x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-24T07:00:01+00:00\",\"description\":\"A ragtime guitar showpiece from Reverend Gary Davis, with tips on the Reverend's unique chord movements and astonishing economy of motion.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/boy-was-kissing\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/boy-was-kissing\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/boy-was-kissing\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/Guitar-and-Banjo-of-Rev-Gary-Davis-1.jpg?fit=360%2C360&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/Guitar-and-Banjo-of-Rev-Gary-Davis-1.jpg?fit=360%2C360&ssl=1\",\"width\":360,\"height\":360},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/boy-was-kissing\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Boy Was Kissing the Girl (Gary Davis)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\",\"description\":\"Revisiting the songs that have made a home in my head\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\",\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\",\"width\":70,\"height\":85,\"caption\":\"Elijah Wald\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i1.wp.com\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Boy Was Kissing the Girl (Gary Davis) - Elijah Wald: Songobiography","description":"A ragtime guitar showpiece from Reverend Gary Davis, with tips on the Reverend's unique chord movements and astonishing economy of motion.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Boy Was Kissing the Girl (Gary Davis) - Elijah Wald: Songobiography","og_description":"A ragtime guitar showpiece from Reverend Gary Davis, with tips on the Reverend's unique chord movements and astonishing economy of motion.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/","og_site_name":"Old Friends: A Songobiography","article_published_time":"2018-11-24T07:00:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":236,"height":202,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Davis-and-little-girl.jpg?fit=236%2C202&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elijah Wald","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ElijahWald","twitter_site":"@ElijahWald","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elijah Wald","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/"},"author":{"name":"Elijah Wald","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"headline":"The Boy Was Kissing the Girl (Gary Davis)","datePublished":"2018-11-24T07:00:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/"},"wordCount":493,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Guitar-and-Banjo-of-Rev-Gary-Davis-1-300x300.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/","name":"The Boy Was Kissing the Girl (Gary Davis) - Elijah Wald: Songobiography","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Guitar-and-Banjo-of-Rev-Gary-Davis-1-300x300.jpg","datePublished":"2018-11-24T07:00:01+00:00","description":"A ragtime guitar showpiece from Reverend Gary Davis, with tips on the Reverend's unique chord movements and astonishing economy of motion.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Guitar-and-Banjo-of-Rev-Gary-Davis-1.jpg?fit=360%2C360&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Guitar-and-Banjo-of-Rev-Gary-Davis-1.jpg?fit=360%2C360&ssl=1","width":360,"height":360},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/boy-was-kissing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Boy Was Kissing the Girl (Gary Davis)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/","name":"Old Friends: A Songobiography","description":"Revisiting the songs that have made a home in my head","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/#\/schema\/person\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9","name":"Elijah Wald","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1","width":70,"height":85,"caption":"Elijah Wald"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/elijahbut.jpg?fit=70%2C85&ssl=1"}}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2408,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/cincinnati-flow-rag\/","url_meta":{"origin":4129,"position":0},"title":"Cincinnati Flow Rag (Rev. Gary Davis)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"January 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I always loved Gary Davis's guitar playing, but was into blues and ragtime a long time before I got into gospel music -- so for many years my favorite of his albums was The Guitar & Banjo of Reverend Gary Davis.\u00a0 As far as I know, this is the only\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\/2017\/01\/Guitar-and-Banjo-of-Rev-Gary-Davis-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6104,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/gary-davis-march\/","url_meta":{"origin":4129,"position":1},"title":"United States March (Reverend Gary Davis)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"May 30, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"This is Gary Davis's take on a couple of marches, which were, like everything he played, transformed in his hands. The second section is a loose paraphrase of John Philip Sousa's \"Washington Post March\"; I don't recognize the first section; if someone else does, please let me know and I'll\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\/2017\/01\/Guitar-and-Banjo-of-Rev-Gary-Davis-e1485619938217.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1151,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/candyman\/","url_meta":{"origin":4129,"position":2},"title":"Candyman (Rev. Gary Davis\/Dave Van Ronk)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"May 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"A classic from Rev. Gary Davis, and then Dave Van Ronk, Jack Elliott, and the rest of us... with commentary on guitar technique and lyrical confusion","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Dave van ronk8","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Dave-van-ronk8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5846,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/sit-down-on-the-banks\/","url_meta":{"origin":4129,"position":3},"title":"Goin&#8217; to Sit Down on the Banks of the River (Rev. Gary Davis)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"July 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This is another classic from the Reverend Gary Davis, with some interpolations of lyrics from Shirley Caesar and the Caravans. I'm not a Christian, but I love both recordings, and would love to see more attention paid to Davis's connections with other Carolina gospel singers. He was, of course, one\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\/2026\/07\/R-2200687-1561035842-7024-e1752163624665.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5336,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/you-got-to-move\/","url_meta":{"origin":4129,"position":4},"title":"You Got to Move (Rev. Gary Davis)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"September 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Reverend Gary Davis has always been at the top of my list of guitar heroes and influences, along with Mississippi John Hurt, Dave Van Ronk, Joseph Spence, and Jean-Bosco Mwenda. I've gone through a couple of periods of immersion in his playing, but don't tend to perform my favorite arrangements,\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\/08\/Gary-Davis-LP1-e1725053629451.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1143,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/spike-drivers-blues\/","url_meta":{"origin":4129,"position":5},"title":"Spike Driver&#8217;s Blues (John Hurt\/Dave Van Ronk)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"May 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The first song Dave Van Ronk taught me was John Hurt's powerfully understated meditation on the John Henry legend.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"dave van ronk7","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/dave-van-ronk7.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4129","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=4129"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4145,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4129\/revisions\/4145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}