Careless Love
[W.C. Handy said that Careless Love is one of the earliest blues songs. "Careless Love” has verses sixteen measures in length with the first line repeated three times and the "punch" or rhyming line as the fourth and final line of the stanza. Handy pointed out that it was the shortening of this form- two repeated lines instead of three- that became the standard twelve bar blues form.
Careless Love can be traced back to 1880 through Vance Randolph who collected the following fragment from an elderly gentleman, Mr J.E. Webster Groves, Missouri on April 8, 1948. He learned it about 1880.
R. Matteson 2014]
CARELESS LOVE
Love, oh love, oh careless love
Love, oh love, oh love divine,
You broke the heart of many poor boy
You'll never break this heart of mine.
Take me back to Caroline
Take me back to Caroline
Take me back to Caroline
To that gal I left behind.
On these railroad banks I stand,
On these railroad banks I stand,
On these railroad banks I stand,
A-shooting another man.
Captain, captain, tell me true,
Captain, captain, tell me true,
Captain, captain, tell me true,
Does my Willie sail with you?
No, oh no, he's not with me,
No, oh no, he's not with me,
No, oh no, he's not with me,
Got drowned in the deep blue sea.
Love, oh love, oh careless love
Love, oh love, that isn't true,
Love, oh love, oh careless love
To love someone that don't love you.