Ry Cooder - Tattler

About "Tattler"

"You Can't Stop a Tattler" is a gospel blues song, written by Washington Phillips (1880–1954) and recorded by him for Columbia Records in 1929 (vocals and zither). The song is in two parts, intended to occupy both sides of a 10-inch 78 rpm record. However, it remained unreleased for many years. Part 2 was included on the 1971 album This Old World's in a Hell of a Fix (Biograph BLP 12027). Both parts were included on a 1980 compilation album of songs by Phillips, Denomination Blues (Agram 2006).

The song is unusual in that the verses are separated by a wordless hummed refrain; a similar device to the wordless vocalise which Phillips had used in "I Had a Good Father and Mother".

The song first came to wider notice when Ry Cooder included a version of Part 2, titled "Tattler", on his 1974 album, Paradise and Lunch (note, however, that Cooder does not label it as "Part 2"; he also includes two verses from Part 1, which seems to have been unreleased at the time); and when Linda Ronstadt covered that version on her 1976 album, Hasten Down the Wind. It has since been recorded several times.