Lyrics for Otis Redding's Freedom paean SHOUT BAMALAMA can be hard to find. Many internet transcriptions are plainly wrong or nonsensical. Here then is my hopefully improved version based on the great 1961 Confederate/Orbit recording. Shout Bamalama has been covered by Mickey Murray, Eddie Hinton, Wet Willie, and the Detroit Cobras among others. In Atlanta long ago I got to hear Joel Murphy tear it up with the Shadows at Blind Willie's.
Hey... Bamalama! One time, Bamalama... Okay hold it, hold it right there, hold it, hold it. A-one, a-two, a-one two three four
Deep down in Alabama (shall be free)
I'm shouting Bamalama (shall be free)
Way down in Louisiana (shall be free)
Well, well, well
Nobody's gonna set him down.
Lord have mercy on my soul
How many chickens have I stole
One last night and the night before,
I'm going back and try to get ten, eleven more
I'm steady getting 'em ain't I (shall be free)
I love my chicken baby (shall be free)
Shouting Bamalama (shall be free)
Well well well
Nobody's gonna set him down.
Nine-feet and ten-feet were going 'cross the field
Nine-feet stepped on ten-feet's heel
Ten-feet turned around and nine-feet grinned
His teeth fell out and his tongue stayed in
He's scared to say something (shall be free)
He's got chicken baby (shall be free)
Shouting Bamalama (shall be free)
Well well well
Nobody's gonna set him down.
Leo the monkey told the lion one day
A bad little fella coming down your way
They way he talk about your family is a crime and shame [crying shame]
He say your mother is working on a chain gang
She busting bricks now (shall be free)
She steady working hard (shall be free)
Shouting Bamalama (shall be free)
Well, well, well
Nobody's gonna set him down.
The preacher and the deacon were praying one day
Along come a bear coming down their way
The preacher told the deacon to say a prayer
He said, "Lord, a prayer won't kill this bear"
I got to make it baby (shall be free)
Shout Bamalama (shall be free)
I got to run for it (shall be free)
Well, well, well
Nobody's gonna set him down.
He's down in Alabama (shall be free) ....
In print Jonathan Gould trashed Shout Bamalama as "the low point of Otis Redding's recording career," sadly "compromised by his stubborn dependence on the impersonation of Little Richard." Idiot critics in Melville's day similarly faulted Melville's grand allegory of Freedom for the impersonation of Thomas Carlyle. But Moby-Dick made it to Julliard anyhow, thanks to Stanley Crouch:
Moby-Dick is largely an improvisation in which you hear Herman Melville following his ear through the book.... an extraordinary exhibition of absolute fearlessness.
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