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Joe Bonamassa Forum → Old Topics → Tamp em up solid
Have played the new CD enough that now the songs and some of the songs & lyrics are memorized. It's driving me crazy what "Tamp em' Up Solid" means. Since I don't know, I'm guessing. Maybe Joe or somebody can tell us what this title means, related to or came from.
Here's what I guess it might mean. Sounds to me like an expression from the deep south. Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana. ? Maybe relating to some kind of factory or warehousing work ?
Kathy
it kind of sounds like a lullabye (sp?) weird lyrics for a lullabye but Joe's voice is very beautiful and the song is musically calming and beautiful, for me.
well i just searched for these lyrics - not sure of the accuracy, i guess that what Joe's singing i had a little different image in my head (suprised?) 
sounds like a rail road working reference, although I have put in a few fence posts in my time and use a tamping bar to tamp the soil , so the posts don't come down, I imagine you have to pound the railroad ties fairly hard so they don't come out but wouldn't think come down. I am feeling this may have a sort of slave reference? - and thats where my head used to automatically think when i thought of blues- because of the water boy getting kicked or at least a mean old boss? and speaking of mean old boss, whats up with the So Many Roads Lyrics?
I also can think of relationship symbolism when I read these lyrics,
Ry Cooder - Tamp Em Up Solid Song Lyrics
(Traditional)
Tamp 'em up solid, so they won't come down
Tamp 'em up solid, buddy, so they won't come down
Tamp 'em up solid, so they won't come down
Tamp 'em up solid, buddy, so they won't come down
Baby, when you marry your railroad man
Every day'll be pay day, dollar bill in your hand
Baby, in your hand, baby, in your hand
Baby, in your hand, baby, in your hand
Mary and the baby laying in the bed
Thinking about the money that I ain't made
So tamp 'em up solid so they won't come down
Tamp 'em up solid, buddy, so they won't come down
Captain called the water boy and the water boy laughed
Captain kicked the water boy yelling, ";Yes, yes, yes";
So tamp 'em up solid, so they won't come down
Tamp 'em up solid, buddy, so they won't come down
And you can do it, and you can do it, and you can do it
So they won't come down
Nice research- thanks- song will have more meaning now ! kat
A tribute to the gandy dancers of yore. I really love the song selection on You & Me. I think Joe's hit so many great blues subgenres over the years that we have a really fantastic catalog of what the blues has been and what they can be. And that's such a great way of exposing the general music fan to other forms of the blues.
My mom, whose dad was a cement worker back in the 1940s, told me that it's a phrase meaning to pack gravel around something before you lay cement. She said the phrase was also used to describe packing a pipe w/ tobacco, back in the day. When I was looking for info about the song, a couple of websites described it as a "Railroad Folk song," which is a sub-genre that I had not heard of. Like Mandilishi, I feel the slavery reference w/ that one line; and historically, minorities--both slaves & immigrants--made up a large percentage of railroad workers. It's interesting to have an opening to that chapter of the past here in 2006!
In addition, I just love the general sound of that song; Joe's vocals, in particular. "When She Dances" and "Waiting for Me" are two examples of his slower/softer tempo & singing but "Tamp 'em up Solid" is sung a little more tenderly and showcases his voice really well.
Being from the south originally.And having a degree in american history.It is my belief that tune is an old slave work song.From somewhere down on the delta.
"Tamp" simply means to compress or compact.
What would delta states slaves be tamping?
Cotton,perhaps.
Bales of cotton to be exact. They stack higher and travel better when their filled "solid".
References to the railway and captian refer to modes of transfer for the product.Be it freight car or steamboat.
Chuck O, interesting comments, makes sense...
Melissa is very close as it is a railroad song and there IS a slavery inference akin to what is called a chant, shout or field holler, which is a call & response song now taking different forms in today's American music (e.g. backing vocals)...Tamping is making the railroad ties tight so they do not move around in the ballast which is ROCKS, not cement which are piled along the route, the purpose being to hold the ties and drain rainwater...It is a traditional song and Ry Cooder did not write it, he just plays so much obscure music (yes Jane, tha kind of obscure!)...the song refers to tamping up the ties solid as to doing the work well so all the things in life you work for stay good-my take at least!!!
Rock On & Keep the Faith,
Rocket
"The captain was the man in charge of the "gang" which is what rail labor parties are still called to this day and would call for a water break...
"While I'm rolling down the railroad track of "Tamp 'em Up Solid", gandy dancer was guys on the railroad who worked around the Gandy (brand name) tamping machine..todays' tamping machines look like something out of Star Wars:Droidekas withhout a force field...
"Since I am FORCING myself to wait for the US release, I have NOT heard this tune by the way, although of course I have it on Ry Cooder's Paradise & Lunch album. Curious how does Joe play it? One acoustic guitar with no backing music? Acoustic bass (IF I were PRODUCER we's do a take or 2 at least)??
Rock On & Keep the Faith,
Rocket
"
I was thinking it was a reference to pavement myself as I used to work for a paving/sealing company on and off during college. We would "tamp" the pavement in rough spots to get it nice and smooth.
I always thought 'tamp' was a lady you looked for just before the lights came on at the end of the night..........=D
Since I am FORCING myself to wait for the US release, I have NOT heard this tune by the way, although of course I have it on Ry Cooder's Paradise & Lunch album. Curious how does Joe play it? One acoustic guitar with no backing music? Acoustic bass (IF I were PRODUCER we's do a take or 2 at least)??
Rock On & Keep the Faith,
Rocket
Rocket,
He plays the song on acoustic (solo) with some subtle but stunningly beautiful slide added on top (a steel bodied Dobro I believe). It's done in a slower, bluesier and sadder style when compared to Ry Cooders version. Brilliant work.
It means to fortifiy an underground tunnel with support beams... like a railroad tunnel.
Boda
I like this song and it has a way of transporting you back in time.
I actually figured (not having actual intelligence) that he would use a slide and dobro but was curious if he would electrify it.. thanks Mod Tour Man
Rock On & Keep the Faith,
Rocket
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