See That My Grave Is Kept Clean - Arranged & Adapted by Marc Nerenberg - 19 Jan 2024

The last time I played this very old Blind Lemon Jefferson song was 5 years ago, on the occasion of my 70th birthday. I suppose I was feeling very conscious of my mortality as I reached that particular milestone. With my 75th on the horizon just a couple of months from now, and feeling even more conscious of how "the rest of my life" keeps getting a little bit shorter every day, this song popped back into my head this week as something to play.
So I've worked out a new arrangement of it, somewhat slower, more deliberate, and more laid-back than I'd been playing it in the past. I did not go back and look at what I'd done before, and tried to recreate that. Instead, I just started again from scratch (and foggy memory) and put this version together yesterday. It turns out, I'm also playing it in a different key, different tuning, different right hand techniques, and using somewhat different lyrics with the stanzas in a different order than the way I used to play and sing this.
This was recorded using a mix of old-time thumb-lead two-finger picking and clawhammer style playing, on a 1910 Fairbanks banjo strung with period appropriate artificial gut strings, tuned eAEAC# - also period appropriately lower than modern banjo tuning. It was recorded on 19 January 2024, in Montreal West, Québec.

[@marclattoni1959]

Great arrangement and wonderful performance. Play on Marc. Keep playing on.

[@marcnerenberg1]

Thanks a whole bunch Marc!!!

[@chuckjj5493]

Great Song.Vey well done.

[@marcnerenberg1]

Thanks very much, Chuck!

[@territhal3478]

I've been fascinated by this song for many years. This is a haunting arrangement.

[@marcnerenberg1]

Thanks very much indeed! I just bought your book yesterday!

[@territhal3478]

Hope you like it. @@marcnerenberg1

[@raystargazer]

Excellent!

[@marcnerenberg1]

Thank you!

[@TheGrowlery]

That was a hell or a rendition!

[@marcnerenberg1]

Thank you so very much!

[@joannehack7588]

Love it. Can I brag about my banjo? It’s a 1909 Fairbanks “Imperial Electric”. Not too many folks would be impressed, but I thought you might be.

[@marcnerenberg1]

Yup! I’m impressed! This is a 1910 Vega/Fairbanks “Electric” which I bought about 50 or so years ago from the guy who restored it. He thought it was “probably from the 1920’s”. It was hard to figure out those dates back then. Now all that info is easy to find online. The serial number can be dated with precision.