AGGRAVATIN' PAPA
(Roy Turk, John Robinson / Addie Britt)

Bessie Smith - 1923
Also recorded by : Pearl Bailey; Jacques Gauthe; The Georgians;
Marion Harris; Sue Keller; Ladds' Black Aces; 
The Original Memphis Five; Bessie Smith.


I know a drivin' man,
They call him Driver Sam,
He lives in Birmingham,
Way down in Alabam.

Now, the other night
He had a fight with a gal named Mandy Brown,
She kept on saying he was aggravatin',
And she shouted out to him:

Aggravatin' Papa, don't you try to two-time me!
I said, don't two-time me!
Aggravatin' Papa, treat me kind or let me be,
I mean, just let me be!
It's been awhile, I'll get you told,
Stop messin' round, sweet jellyroll.
If you stay out with a high-brown baby,
I'll smack you down, and I don't mean maybe!

Aggravatin' Papa, I'll do anything you say,
Anything you say,
But when you go struttin', do your strut around my way!
So, papa, just treat me pretty, be nice and kind!
The way you treated me will make me lose my mind!
Aggravatin' Papa, don't you try to two-time me!

Just treat me pretty, be nice and sweet!
I got a darn forty-four that don't repeat,
Aggravatin' Papa, don't you try to two-time me! 



(Courtesy of Heptune Jazz and Blues Lyrics -
Transcribed from "Bessie Smith: 1923; The Chronological Classics 761")