The Easy Blues

Written by: 
Jelly Roll Morton
1 Feb 1973

Mister Jelly Roll Baker
Can I please be your slave
When Gabriel blows his horn
I'm going to rise from my grave
Oh yeah, sweet jelly roll
You bake the best jelly roll in town
You're the only man that bakes jelly
And you keep your damper down

They say: Can I place an order for three weeks ahead
I'd rather have your jelly than my home-baked bread
'Cause I'm just crazy about you jelly
I'm so wild about your jelly roll
You're the only man that bakes jelly
And you keep it in your soul

I was locked up for murder in the first degree
Judge's wife sent down and said: Let that boy go free
He's my jelly roll baker
Bakes the best jelly roll in town
He's the only man that bakes jelly
that keeps his damper down

You can take all my women
You can sure keep them all
I got a brand new secret
That you can't catch on to at all
I'm a jelly roll baker
I bake the best jelly roll in town
I'm the only man that bakes jelly
And I keep my damper down

I'm the only man that bakes jelly and I keep my damper down
I'm the only man that bakes jelly and I keep my damper down

sitenotes:
Only live versions have the indented verse.
John performed The Easy Blues for the first time live in a BBC broadcast called John Peel's Night Ride as early as December 1968, so five years before Solid Air...
John probably got to know the song from the Davey Graham album Midnight Man (1966, Decca LK 4780), where it features as the last track under the title Jelly Roll Baker. John's version is rather different, though, Graham's playing being much more brash and rhythmically simpler. Graham credited the song to Lonnie Johnson but uses less of his lyrics.

The history of the song is rather complex. The first version called Jelly Roll Blues was published in 1915 by Jelly Roll Morton (Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, 1890–1941). This is a ragtime piano instrumental and as such hardly recognisable. Morton recorded it in 1924 and 1926.
May 1927 a blues singer called Peg Leg Howell picked up the song and recorded it for Columbia (New Jelly Roll Blues, 'Peg Leg' Howell and His Gang; flipside of the Beaver Slide Rag). He also wrote a lyric that carries some familiar lines:
  I've got a sweet jelly, a lovin' sweet jelly roll
  If you taste my jelly it'll satisfy your weary soul!

But also some other ones:
  Old Aunt Dinah she's long and tall
  Spreads her legs from wall to wall
  Oh, she's got a sweet jelly, got a sweet jelly roll
  Taste your jelly, your mama can't keep you home
  She laid right down, in the grass
  You've never seen a woman shake her jelly so fast

Joshua Barnes Howell (1888-1966) was a farm worker from Georgia that became a musician after loosing his right leg - hence the nick name. Perhaps John was familiar with this record, as he referred to himself as Peg Leg Martyn in the Johnnie Too Bad documentary.

record label
The lyric John used was written and recorded in 1942 by a singer called Lonnie Johnson (Alonzo Johnson, 1899–1970). The song was called He's A Jelly-Roll Baker:

She said mister jelly roll baker,
let me be your slave
when Gabriel blows his trumpet
then I'll rise from my grave
for some of your good jelly roll
yes I love good jelly roll
it is good for the sick
yes and it's good for the old

I was sentenced for murder in the first degree
the judge's wife called up and said let that man go free
he's a jelly roll baker
he's got the best jelly roll in town
he's the only man can bake jelly roll
with his damper down

Once in the hospital shot up full of holes
the nurse left the man dying
and said she's got to get that jelly roll
good ole jelly
she says I love my good jelly roll
she says I'd rather let him lose his life
than to miss my good jelly roll

Lady asked me who learnt me how to bake good jelly roll
I said nobody miss, it's just a gift from my soul
to bake good jelly roll
Mmmmm that good ole jelly roll
She says I love your jelly roll
it soothes me deep down in my soul

She said can I put in an order for two weeks ahead?
I'd rather have your jelly rolls than my home cooked bread
I love your jelly
I love your good jelly roll
it's just like Maxwell House Coffee
it's good deep down in my soul

First release: