Today’s post was written by Paul.
Tipper and Paul
When I shared “Black Board of My Heart,” I was really pleased to see that many viewers liked the song and that several remembered it from when Hank Thompson released it. When I first thought of doing Old Timey Tuesday, that was the type of songs that I wanted to share.
“Please Come Back, Little Pal” is quite a bit older. According to Secondhandsongs.org, it was first released by Roy Hall & his Blueridge Entertainers in 1939. Although it is much older, I heard both songs around the same time—when I was around 5 years old, and Pap used to sing and pick around the house to pass the time/entertain us. Pap only knew one verse and the chorus, so he began with the chorus, sang the verse, then repeated the chorus. Tipper and I both loved to hear Pap sing it, even though it made us a little sad. It made Tipper more sad than it made me because she somehow thought Pap was singing to/about me, and that it meant that I was going to run away! 🙂 I didn’t know it at the time, but she told me that when we were both grown. She said that because the word “Pal” was so close to “Paul” and because I was the littlest one around, she thought it was about me. She may have also thought that running away was something that I might fly mad and do, perhaps to avoid a much-deserved whipping. 🙂
While I never thought the song was about me, I too thought it was about a child. I thought the speaker was singing to his little boy who had run away. Somehow, it just felt that way, maybe because Pap was singing it to us. What Tipper and I didn’t know is that in music/lingo from a certain era, men sometimes referred to their girlfriends as “pal.” It may seem strange today, since we generally think of a pal as just a buddy or friend, usually a male friend at that. However, it may be that we need to remember that in the early 20th Century, the relationship between a male-female couple was probably much more platonic up until the point of marriage than it is today or was during the second half of the 20th Century.
Once I heard the second verse of the song, it became more clear that the speaker is singing to his lady friend, and I later heard other songs from that era, like Jimmie Davis’ “Down at the End of Memory Lane,” in which the speaker referred to his girlfriend as pal.
If I remember correctly, Pap said he heard Roy Acuff sing this song. Though Roy Hall wrote it, I found that Roy Acuff released his own recording of it in 1940. It looks like he re-released it in 1963. It seems like most singers and groups sang the song faster than Pap sang it. I used the tempo that Pap used back then. I also prefer the lyrics that Pap sang. You can find several other versions on YouTube and at secondhandsongs.org for comparison.
Though I shot about a half dozen different takes of the song, I never really satisfied myself nor got the sound that Pap had. I may have been trying too hard because this song is probably in my top 3 favorite songs that Pap sang to us when we were kids. After all those takes, I remembered something that I heard Roy Acuff say when he was in the studio recording his part on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Circle album.
Acuff said that after 3 takes of any song, you were going downhill, not getting better. When I played back all the different takes, it proved him to be right. The two takes in this video are takes 1 and 2, in that order. They’re both full of mistakes, but they’re better than the takes that followed. Acuff said that with each take, you lose some of the feeling. I think he’s right, or at least, I think that’s probably true in my case.
I saw in a documentary about Elvis that he required his band to cut 27 takes of some fast song. It was something like “I’m All Shook Up.” It wasn’t that song, but it was something like it. The documentary said that Elvis studiously listened to every take and finally selected take number 23 for the release. His band was exhausted at that point, and the producer probably was too. A quick search online revealed that he also required 29 takes of “Love Me Tender” and selected take number 27 for the release. Apparently, on Spotify, it’s also possible to listen to takes 28 and 29. I guess Elvis had a certain thing that he was listening for, and he wasn’t going to stop until he got it. Unlike me and Acuff, he may have been able to maintain or recapture the feeling of a song each and every time. I bet it was more difficult with an emotional song like “Love Me Tender.”
All of that has nothing to do with “Please Come Back Little Pal,” but I think it does have something to do with old timey music. Whether it was achieved through spontaneity or through grinding repetition, the special qualities found in classic music are largely gone from today’s music, where those things are replaced by technology.
Thanks for watching, and please let me know in the comments if you’ve ever heard this song before.
Paul
Original singles released on Spotify.
I’ve never heard it but it made me cry 🙂
Such a sweet song. I thought both takes were awesome. I had never heard this song before today. I always love hearing Granny say “Now that’s old Timey” at the beginning of your songs.
Lovely song and interesting background story too. Thanks for sharing it and you sang it well.
Never heard this sad but beautiful song before. I can see where it may have raised concerns in Tipper about her little brother running away.
Paul, nothing to do with today. I read your old post about Reno and Smiley and the song ”I’m Using My Bible For A Roadmap.” Don Reno was born in Spartanburg, SC but raised on a farm in Haywood County, NC. I think in the early years Mac Magaha was the fiddle player in their band, Ronnie was still young. Mac was raised in the Honea Path/Ware Shoals area of SC and was a childhood friend of my father in law. This would have made them almost next door neighbors if I had been living back then, especially Mac. My father in law would often sing this song along with “Life Is Like A Mountain Railroad” at our church.
Randy,
Red Smiley was my father’s first cousin!
Hi, Randy.
I tried to reply to you earlier and it didn’t show up for some reason. It may now show up twice. 🙂 That’s really cool about Mac living so close and being friends with your father in-law. All of the Tennessee Cut Ups were superb musicians, not just Don and Red. Most people only know Mac from his appearances on the Porter Waggoner Show, but I don’t think that was a true representation of his musicianship. I think one has to listen to the R&S records to appreciate how great Mac was. Ronnie was amazing also. I may ask Tipper about interviewing him for Celebrating Appalachia. I think her viewers would enjoy it. I know I would!
Paul, My father in law had a small band and was often asked to play for benefits or similar things. His one rule was only if no alcohol would be there. When he retired, he and a couple of the band members and their wifes went to Nashville. While there, they went to one of Mac’s sidewalk shows. Mac saw him and ask him to come up on stage and play a few songs with him. That was a one of the highlights of my father in law’s life. The thing that brought the most joy to him and his band members was going to area nursing homes having a devotion and singing the old songs and hymns for the ones there. They did not receive any money for doing this.
Randy,
Thank you for sharing that info! Pap and Ray sang at a lot of senior citizen homes and nursing homes over the years. I always enjoyed doing that because the audience was so appreciative, and they seemed to be uplifted by hearing the old hymns. Katie and Corie (the Pressley Girls) also used to play those places until Covid stopped it. My buddy and tenor singer, Jamie Shook, has a band in Marietta, and that’s the main place they play. As with your dad, they don’t accept any money. It’s very rewarding to do that. I’m a huge Mac Wiseman fan, and it’s really cool that your father-in-law got to make some music with him!
I remember Hank Thompson and his Brazos band. At times Merle Travis played lead guitar. Am pretty sure Hank was on the the record “Blackboard of my Heart”. The intro was Travis style for sure. I was just a kid but remember when it was a hit.
Paul, I have never heard this song before; I listened to both versions’ and they both sound just fine to me. It’s a beautiful song. Thank you, Paul, for writing today’s post for Sunday 5-25-2025. Keep up the great work. Oh! by the way, I heard on a recent video of (Survival Skills and Others with Mike Reed) he was giving a special shout out to Tipper, The Blind Pig and the Acorn, The Pressley Girls, and you Paul. That was a special moment when he made mention of y’all in his video. May the Lord keep you all safe and well always.
Thanks, Patricia!
I’ll see if I can find that and check it out. 🙂
You intrigue me about the “feeling” for a song. I know it is a real thing but what makes it? In gospel singing the bible phrase is “singing with grace in your hearts” (if memory correctly serves). I have felt – and heard – that grace but have little insight as to why and how it comes or goes. I just think part of it is that the song; words, music or both, are just “right” for the time, the place and the people present. Maybe you could tell us un-musical folks, is that a gift or not? I know to that there is music and there are words that fit a mood.. But it seems to me like reading the mood of a crowd would be a tall order. I’ve also experienced as a member of the audience how singers try to force a mood and it doesn’t work.
Hi, Ron.
When I was talking about the feeling of a song, it really had nothing to do with audiences, but I get and agree with your observation about performing for and to an audience. I was merely talking about how my imagination interacts with the lyrics of a song. When a song has really good, meaningful lyrics, I imagine myself as the speaker in the song and put myself in his shoes, just like an actor puts him/herself into a role and imagines that whatever is happening is happening to him/her personally. I’ve heard some actors complain about directors who required them to do a bunch of takes of a scene, especially when they felt like they had already captured the performance to the best of their ability. I imagine, that just like with a song, the more an actor does a scene, the easier it is to loose the feeling/emotion of the scene. I know that successful singers sing the same songs many, many times when they perform, but because those performances are usually separated by hours, days, or weeks, it’s easier to recapture those feelings (vs doing a song over and over with no time or other songs in between the performance). I hope that makes sense.
Hi, Randy.
When I was talking about the feeling of the song, I wasn’t thinking about anything relating to audiences; however, I agree with what you said about performing to/for an audience. I was talking about how my imagination interacts with the lyrics of a song, even when I’m singing to no one but myself. When I sing a song that has meaningful lyrics, I try to imagine myself as being in the shoes of the song’s speaker, as if whatever happened in the song happened to me, much like an actor taking on a role in a movie. For me, if I sing a song several times in a row (with no time in between the takes), it gets much harder for me to maintain that imaginative connection. I kind of lose the emotion of the song. I hope that makes sense.
Never heard this before but the story you told about Tipper reminded me of a 45 that my neighbor used to play. I have never been to find it but basically the story is that the singer’s mother used to hum to her child. The mom apparently dies because the phase in the song was something like “then one night she wasn’t there”. Every time my neighbor played the song, I had to run home to my mom to make sure she was there!
I am not sure I ever heard this song. I think of how Tipper worried about Paul leaving. I heard a song a way back maybe even before I was married at 20 years old, but for sure before we had children that has stayed with me all of my life. It may have been a Roy Acuff song, it was about a young boy /child being made to go to bed early and maybe without supper to be punished for something he had done. The child was saying don’t make me go to bed and I will be good, the child died during the night. I made a promise after hearing this song that no matter what they had done, I would never make my children go to bed early or hungry (without supper) for punishment. I kept that promise and still won’t listen to this song again because of it bothering me so bad. Now that I think about it, it could have been Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt.
I say this in a joking way, but it is the truth, I could not be a police officer. When I had to go to arrest someone for hurting or abusing a child, one of us wouldn’t walk out of the room.
It was, as far as I know, Roy Acuff who first sang the song and it was “Don’t Make Me Go To Bed and I’ll Be Good”. I don’t think it was very popular because nobody could listen to it. I used to cuff my hands over my ears when it came on the radio. Why anybody would write and/or sing a song like that is a mystery to me. I never liked Acuff after I heard that and never listened to him again.
Murder ballads generally have no effect on me but that song sure did. I don’t think it was the effect the writer wanted!
PS: The frequency that songs got played on the radio then wasn’t from “listeners’ request” as the DJ might say, it was money being paid him by the Nashville producers trying to push it. It may still be the case today.
Hi, Randy.
I know the very song that you’re talking about; in fact, Pap sang that song for me and Tipper often when we were little. I am planning to do it for an upcoming Old Timey Tuesday. I will do a warning/heads-up at the beginning about how sad and tragic the song is.
What a nice version! I had an LP of Bill Clifton that was the first version I heard. It was a much faster bluegrass tempo. I like yours!
Dear Paul,
I had never heard this song before, but it’s really beautiful! I don’t know what the mistakes could have been………both versions sounded perfect to me, but then, I’m not a musician! Your commentaries are always so well written and interesting. I would love to hear you and Granny sing harmony on this song! Thank you for starting Sunday morning off in such a joyful way!
Love & Blessings,
Jackie
Never heard that before till you sang it I know have 3 of your cds I got them gifted to me . And I will definitely say that you folks have a real God given gift.
So picking and singing for Jesus brother it makes a difference in how people feel when they hear you.
Mike
Amen. The Lord works through this family to touch others for Himself.