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"Ramblin' Woman" © 1974 Lee Ruth |
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Ken Shepherd |
| & The Baghdaddies | |
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Ken Shepherd -
Vocal & Guitar The Baghdaddies |
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 MP3
Sample of Lee's Original |
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| Song Lyrics: |
Lee's Lyrics:
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| Ramblin' woman, with
your ramblin' mind... and your ramblin' body and your lovin' free and fine. I'm a ramblin' man too....tell you what I want to do. I'm gonna ramble on down the line a little way with you. First time I saw you was the first I knew Makin' love with you in paradise... Ramblin' woman, when you go your way... if it ain't
my way, Ramblin' woman I love you so. With a ramblin' woman,
it's |
Ramblin' woman, with your ramblin'
mind And your ramblin' body, oh And your lovin' free and fine I'm a ramblin' man too, and what I'd love to do Is to ramble on down the line a little way with you First time I saw you, was the first I knew (bridge) Ramblin' woman, when you go your way (bridge) (repeat verse 1) |
| Artist on the Song: |
Lee on the Song:
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Ramblin' comments: |
Written in the latter part of 1974, perhaps finished in early 1975, "Ramblin' Woman" was intended to put a positive spin on a broken heart. Seems to have succeeded in doing so. Also was intended as a gender-switching alternative to a plethora of well-known "ramblin' boy/ramblin' man" songs. As has happened with many songs that I once sang on a regular basis, this one eventually became a rarity in my song-bag, in part because I never found the right key to play and sing it in, but I never let it slip completely out of my repertoire. Starting to sing it again, and hearing Ken's creative reconstruction of it has reminded me that I still like "Ramblin' Woman." |
| Artist on Lee Ruth: |
Lee on the Artist:
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| From the earlier days. '62-'63. Lee Ruth, tall, thin pompadoured red-headed, white t-shirt/levied, folk rocker hanger outer in the MU student union stairwell where the resonant reverb of the sounds we made with our guitars and voices against the man-made marbled stair steps and the flat concreted walls of the several storied winding staircase gave an incredibly warm and sweet, bigger-than-life return, a sound not then available through any known electronic wizardry. We missed a lot of studies. Even then I'd been singing and writing for as long as I can remember, but guitar was (still is) new for me and Lee knew a lot--ever willing to show and share. We just found ourselves where the music was. Since that time, and including the interruptions travel and life bring, we've managed to continue making music for these better than 40 years--from street scenes to coffee houses and club jams and into the early morning moonlit woods sessions till dew would collect on our guitars. In fact, I think I can hear him now down the hall. Lee's music inspires. |
I first laid eyes and ears on Ken in the fall of 1963 at a "hootenanny" (an informal public gathering of people for the purpose of playing and singing folk songs together and/or for each other), in a meeting room in the University of Missouri Student Union. His guitar playing was relatively undeveloped at the time (a condition he has long since remedied), but his tenor voice was strong and rich, loaded with emotion and vibrato. Initially I thought he sounded a bit like Glenn Yarborough, lead singer of a commercial folk group called The Limeliters, but I came to recognize the singular uniqueness of Ken's voice and singing style. Pleased to have Ken as a forty-year friend. Most people on this project selected their song from cassettes or CDs I provided them of home-recordings of anywhere from 5 to 25 songs. Ken signed on to the project before I had any recordings to provide him with, so I sat down with him one evening late last winter and I played him songs and song-fragments, remembered and half-remembered, for maybe an hour and a half, at the end of which he said, "I'd like to do `Ramblin' Woman.'" Good choice, Ken. |
| Producer's Notes: |
Recording Credits:
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Our first session recording of "Ramblin' Woman" was done late after a few other sessions with Ken and his guitar in front of one KSM-44 microphone. That recording was pretty sweet, but it is not the version you will hear on the disc. We dedicated a whole evening's session to recording it again. Ken played the guiter part straight through so we could track it separately, and then he laid down three stellar vocal tracks to pick from. The Baghdadddies just happened to be hanging around the studio at the time, so their services were pressed into action to form that background of male voices. The result is a wonderfully different version of "Ramblin' Woman." It was clear that all involved could picture a ramblin' woman they had known at some moment of their life. |
Recorded at Pete Szkolka's Studio Record Date: 6/25/03 Mixed:1/15/04 Mixed by Pete Szkolka and Steve Donofrio |
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