PLIVERLOOP, MISSISSIPPI
APRIL 11, 1955
A telephone Conversation
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"Hello, is this Johnnie Lee's Aunt MooMoo?"
"Yes, it is. But please call me Miss Staleny."
"I apologize for addressing by the name
your nephew gave me Miss Staleny,
but I am Mrs. Yerblu, Johnnie Lee's
teacher at Menlow Junior High School."
"I know who you are, Mrs. Yerblu.
Johnnie Lee's mother told me about you.
What did Jonnnie Lee do this time?"
"In the middle of a math lesson,
he jumped up on a desk and shouted
I'M ON THIS LONESOME DESERT
I'VE GOT CACTUS ON BOTH SIDES
I'M LONELY
I WANNA DIE."
"No, I don't. I just think
he likes to shock people
but in the middle of a math class—
that is not a good time
to do so."
"As his semi-official guardian,
I have become shock-proof
to his behavior but I humbly apologize
to his math teacher."
"No apology is necessary, Mrs. Staleny
because I too have developed
a shock-proof response to Johnnie Lee
but it was his response to me
that has me curious."
"And your curiosity
now has me curious."
"Well, when I said
Johnnie Lee, get off that desk
and shut your mouth.
He said, I am NOT Johnnie Lee!
My name is O.B. Jessie?
Do you know who 'O.B. Jessie' is?"
"Yes, I do, thanks to Johnnie Lee's father."
"Your sister, Julia, told me
Johnnie Lee's father moved
to California after her son
was born."
"Yes, he did, Ms. Yerblu,
but he occasionally sends gifts
to the child he abandoned."
"That sounds very thoughtful
for an absent Dad to do."
"Yes, it is.
Most of his recent gifts
are music: 45 RPMS–singles–
of very obscure origin."
"Sounds mysterious."
"In February of last year..."
"That would be 1954."
"You must be an excellent
Math teacher, Mrs. Yerblu.
Well, this particular 45RPM
was by Obie Jessie and it
contained a note written
by Arthur Lee–Johnnie's Dad—
This is fresh off the press."
"What did he mean by that?"
had just been released
and Johnnie Lee
has always been
fascinated by rats."
"Really."
"Yes, really.
But the other side
of the single
was Young Jessie
singing about
being lonely
in the desert."
"Well, thank you, Miss Staleny
for the enlightenment about O. B. Jessie.
I have to go and I certainly have taken up
enough of your time. Goodbye."
"Your welcome, Miss Yerblu.
Thank you for the phone call."
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PLIVERLOOP, MISSISSIPPI
MAY 18, 1955
Another telephone Conversation
"Hello, Miss Staleny, this is Mrs. Yerblu.
We talked last month."
"Yes, I remember the wonderful
conversation we had."
"I have to share a funny story with you."
"I'm all ears."
"My sister-in-law manages the cafeteria
at the Apley Elementary school and
a boy named Paul Max duplicated
what Johnnie Lee did."
"You mean jump on a desk
and sing?"
"Close. It was a table in the cafeteria
but he sang the exact same lyrics
as Johnnie Lee. When she called his name
and told him to stop, his response was
almost exactly what Johnnie said."
"Almost?"
"The only difference is Paul said
his 'name' didn't have initials."
"I don't follow."
"He said, My name is NOT Paul Max.
It is Obie Jessie, my first name
is spellt O-b-i-e. But there is more."
"My ears are getting very anxious."
"My sister-in-law is married to
my husband's brother: she is also
Mrs. Yerblu. Paul promised her something."
"What was that?"
"He said When we get rich and famous,
we are going to write a song about you
and your sister-in-law. We are going to
call it YerBlues."
"I'll believe that when it happens."
"That's exactly what she said to Paul."
"Just for the record, Mrs. Yerblu,
Paul is the only visiting friend
of Johnnie's who doesn't inspire me
to count the silverware
after he leaves this house."
"That's always good to know."
"He's been here at least five times
in the past month and it was him—
not Johnnie—who told me that
the first two lines of their
table-top song were written
by Mr. Jessie."
"Thank you for sharing
that information, Miss Staleny."
"You are very welcome, Ms. YerBlu."
"Now it's time to say goodnight."
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LONDON, ENGLAND
AUGUST, 1968
The real life counterparts of the two boys
in this story did exactly what Paul Max
promised: they recorded YER BLUES
at Abbey Road Studio.
Ringo Starr referred to the song
as Grunge Blues but it may
have sounded completely different
if it had not been for Obie Jessie's
LONESOME DESERT.
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Please note: In 1954, Mr. Jessie
recorded under the name
YOUNG JESSIE
Acoustically, the two songs
have little in common
except for the refrain.
Thematically, both songs
are about extreme loneliness
and death.
The page title does not mean to diminish
the influence of Elvis Presley
on the Beatles but in addition
to the four lads from Liverpool,
more than five million
rock and rollers were
influenced by Elvis.
However, John and Paul
and George and Ringo
were rarities:
they were privileged enough
to also be directly influenced by
Obie "Young" Jessie.
Happy Googling to anyone
who has read this page.
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FOOTNOTES
To hear Lonesome Desert and Yer Blues,
go to this page.
I would like to say that this page was inspired
by the question What if the Beatles grew up in Mississippi
but that is not the case: listening to an album
by Young Jessie was the inspiration.
The hyperlinked page names two other songs
featuring Young Jessie that were covered by
the Beatles: both of those were Lieber-Stoller
compositions but Obediah Donnell Jessie
wrote Lonesome Desert.
My next Beatles page
—exclusively about Paul Max—
is here.
But the Beatles page
most similar
to this page (i.e., pure dialog)
is there.
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