Level: 2/3
Tuning: Standard

"Baby Let Me Lay It On You" has a long line of history. I first heard Rev. Gary Davis play this risque blues when I studied with him. He played it in the key of G. I then discovered that Rev. Davis's ex-student Blind Boy Fuller had recorded the tune, also in the key of G in 1938. His recording was so popular that he recorded "Baby Let Me Lay It On You Number 2." But the song goes back further! In 1932 Walter Coleman record the song. In 1935 the State Street Boys, a group that included Big Bill Broonzy and Jazz Gillum recorded "Don't Tear My Clothes" which has the same melody and structure. The next few years saw several more versions, including "Don't Tear My Clothes" by Washboard Sam in June 1936, "Baby Don't You Tear My Clothes" by the Harlem Hamfats in May 1937, and "Let Your Linen Hang Low" by Rosetta Howard with the Harlem Hamfats in October 1937.

And if that wasn't enough in the folk revival of the late 1950s Gino Foreman, a student of Rev. Gary Davis, taught a version to Eric Von Schmidt, a Boston blues-guitarist and singer-songwriter. He then taught it to a young up and coming folk singer named Bob Dylan, who made it famous on his Columbia Records debut.

In this lesson we'll learn Blind Boy Fuller's version note for note.