Uncensored History of the Blues

Show 34 - Furniture Man Blues

2008-03-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

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The blues is often about losing what you have. In some songs, it's about losing your furniture. The Furniture Man: he shows up in quite a few blues songs. It's about not making a payment on furniture and hearing a knock at your door and knowing the furniture man's there with his wagon to take it all away. Furniture man songs go back to nineteenth century minstrel numbers, but they probably resonated particularly with music fans in the 1920s as installment payment plans became common for all kinds of goods and the average person was making payments after having been extended credit to buy products from somewhere.

In Furniture Man Blues, Victoria Spivey told her furniture man story accompanied by the great Lonnie Johnson playing the role of the furniture man.

Spivey: Who is that?
Johnson: Furniture man
Spivey: Oh. Aw, I ain't got no money today

Spivey: Furniture man, please don't take my furniture away
Johnson: I've got to take it. I ain't going to let it stay
Spivey: I'm a hard-working woman
Johnson: Yes, but you don't seem to get much pay

Spivey: Don't be so mean. Give a poor girl a little time
Johnson: You done had your time, and now it is a crime
Spivey: But I'm a good-lovin' mama
Johnson: But you ain't got a single dime

Spivey: Furniture man, don't move my lovin' foldin' bed
Johnson: I'm going to move it or lose my job instead
Spivey: That's where I get my pleasure
Johnson: Oh no, that's where you rest your head

Spivey: Furniture man, let me have another week to pay
Johnson: I said no, hot mama, I must have some dough today
Spivey: Well, my man will bring some money
Johnson: Well, he better bring it right away

Spivey: Leave my stove 'cause it's getting too doggone cold
Johnson: I got to haul your ashes before they get too old
Spivey: Oh, please remove that clicker
Johnson: Then it will be red hot, I'm told

Part 2:

Spivey: Furniture man, won't you crawl around here after dark?
Johnson: If I crawl around, mama, will you let me park?
Spivey: Yes, and we'll do some business
Johnson: I'm out until four o'clock

Spivey: If you will agree, I know how we can get it fixed
Johnson: Gal, stop tempting me. I will get all o' my days nixed
Spivey: Let's get together
Johnson: I'm onto all of your tricks

Spivey: When I get through, you'll cancel every debt I owe
Johnson: And when I get you, mama, we will do so-and-so
Spivey: Well, then, make me know it
Johnson: Well, come on, honey, baby, let's go

Spivey: Come into my parlor, furniture man, and close the door
Johnson: Baby I can't stand it. You will get me nervous, I'm sure
Spivey: I got something for you
Johnson: Why ain't you said that long before?

Spivey: Furniture man, say you'll give me just another chance?
Johnson: You can have some money, mama, just take it in advance
Spivey: Now you talkin' daddy
Johnson: That's it mama, right over in my pants.

Attempts to avoid the furniture man by people behind on their payments were common enough that the Reverend J.M. Gates recorded two sermons exhorting his followers to pay the furniture man and answer the door when the furniture man came knocking, Pay Your Furniture Man and Don't Hide from Your Furniture Man.

In the nineteenth century, furniture dealers were some of the first retailers to use installment credit payment plans as a way to increase sales. But by 1930, installment payment was the norm for funriture. According to a Department of Commerce survey, installment credit financed 80-90% of furniture sales.

Iin 1927, Georgia musician Lil McLintock recorded Furniture Man, a song that sounds straight off the vaudeville stage:

What insurance has the poor man got, with the furniture man?
If he's got no dough, he's got no show
Right back there the wagon gonna stand
He'll take everything that you possess
From a bed-tick to a frying pan
If there ever was a devil born without horns, it must have been a furniture man
So take your time, Mister Brown, take-a your time
All of this furniture am mine
Well this piano and everything, Mister Cooper had it written down in my name
So take your time, Mister Brown, take your time
...

The Furniture man songs contain some interesting racial elements. There were often actually two furniture men, the white store owner who ultimately collected the payments and a black employee who would show up to collect the missed payments and take the furniture if he had to. To explore this, let's step into the world of white country music. The racial element jumps out at you as soon as you hear the name of the group that recorded the song, Riley the Furniture Man it's the Georgia Crackers from 1927. The song is about the indignity the white singer feels at having a black man remove his furniture. It's interesting to hear the a shared problem addressed in white country music where the singer pays so much attention to race including the offensive language that is absent in the blues songs.

Going to that loan man it ought to be bad
Mr. Riley wagon's been here, got everything I had
Riley been here, got my furniture and gone
Riley come to my house, and these are the words he said:
Told that nigger driver, take down that rosewood(?) bed.

Makes no difference to the white man just white as Christmas snow
If you don't pay Mr. Riley, he'll take your furniture for sure
Riley he was a white man and he lived on 16th Street
Every Saturday evening, Mr. Riley you would meet

Riley been here, got my furniture and gone

Luke Jordan took several old minstrel show themes and turned them into a modern blues for 1927. Cocaine Blues included these furniture man lyrics:

Now the furniture man came to my house it was last Sunday morn
They asked me was my wife at home and I told she has long been gone
He backed his wagon up to my door, took everything I had
He carried it back to the furniture store and I swear I did feel sad

What in the world has anyone got, dealing with the furniture man,
If you've got no dough, to stand up for sure, he certainly will take it back.
He will take everything from an earthly plant, from the skillet to a frying pan.
If there ever was a devil born without any horns, it must have been the furniture man.

The increase in consumer credit may have been what caused the furniture man theme to show up in so many song in the second half of the 1920s. It's an interesting place where we see vaudeville music becoming the blues, songs addressing contemporary and historic issues, reflecting racial issues of the day, and providing light on the everyday problems of individuals trying to make their payments to the furniture man.

Songs:
Furniture Man Blues Parts 1 and 2 - Victoria Spivey and Lonnie Johnson
Furniture Man - Lil McLintock
Riley the Furniture Man - Georgia Crackers
Cocaine Blues - Luke Jordan
Pay Your Furniture Man - Rev. J.M. Gates
Don't Hide from Your Furniture Man - Rev. J.M. Gates

Show 33 - Dog Blues

2008-02-11T17:03:00.000-08:00

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Songs:
Saturday Blues - Ishmon Bracey
Police Dog Blues - Blind Blake
Please Don't Go - Big Joe Williams
Sobbin' Woman Blues - Elizabeth Johnson
Low Down Dirty Dog Blues - Leroy Carr
Low Down Dirty Dog Blues - Son House
Black Dog Blues - Blind Blake

Show 32 - Blues at the Fort Valley Folk Festival

2008-01-12T08:41:00.000-08:00

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These songs are available from the Library of Congress. Check out http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ftvhtml/ftvhome.html.

Songs:
I'm Gonna Make You Happy - Buster Brown
My Fat Hipted Mama - Charles Ellis
Milk Cow Blues - Gus Gibson and Will Chastain
Tear Tokyo Down - Sam Jackson
Po' Boy Long Ways From Home - Sonny Chestain
Do Right By Me - Buster Ezell -
Fort Valley Blues - Smith Band

Show 31 - Mississippi Road Trip

2007-11-14T19:51:00.000-08:00

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For this show, I thought we'd travel around Mississippi listening to songs that talk about various towns and parts of the state. We'll start in the small Delta town of Avalon in Caroll County a little north of Greenwood. It's the home of Mississippi John Hurt and this is the song that led to his return to playing music in the 1960s when researcher Tom Hoskins looked in Avalon to see if John Hurt was still in the hometown he sang about in 1928:

In New York this morning, just about half past nine
In New York this morning, just about half past nine
Thought of my mama in Avalon, couldn't hardly keep from crying
Avalon my home town, always on my mind
Avalon my home town, always on my mind
Pretty mamas in Avalon want me there all the time

When the train left Avalon throwing kisses and waving at me
When the train left Avalon throwing kisses and waving at me
Says come back daddy, stay right here with me

Avalon's a small town, have no great big range
Avalon's a small town, have no great big range
Pretty mamas in Avalon sure will spend your change

New York's a good town, but it's not for mine
New York's a good town, but it's not for mine
Going back to Avalon, stay there with pretty mama all the time

As he sang in Avalon Blues, John Hurt was clearly a Mississippi guy, but his playing often sounds more typical of an east coast musician from North Carolina or Virginia. But another Mississippi musician was a Mississippi guy all the way through. He sang like he was from Mississippi, played guitar like he was from Mississippi, and sang songs about Mississippi. It's Charley Patton, the greatest chronicler of Mississippi in blues song. In Stone Pony Blues from 1934, he sings about Vicksburg, Greenville, Lula, and Natchez.

I got me a stone pony and I don't ride Shetland no more
I got me a stone pony and I don't ride Shetland no more
You can find my stone pony hooked to my rider's door

Vicksburg's my pony, Greenville is my great mare
Vicksburg's my pony, Greenville is my great mare
You can find my stone pony down in Lula town somewhere

And I got me a stone pony, don't ride Shetland no more
Got a stone pony, don't ride Shetland no more
And I can't feel welcome, rider nowhere I go

Vicksburg's on a high hill and Natchez just below
Vicksburg's on a high hill, Natchez just below
And I can't feel welcome, rider nowhere I go

“Stone Pony” was an expression for anything good. Patton's uses the phrase as a metaphor for young women he has around Mississippi.

Big Bill Broonzy was one of the many who made the trek out of Mississippi to Chicago. But he never forgot the South. In Lowland Blues from 1936 he sings about Jackson, Greenwood, and anywhere in Mississippi being his true home.

When I get down in the lowland, I won't be mistreated no more
I'm going to Jackson, Greenwood is where I belong
I'm going to Jackson, Greenwood is where I belong
Anywhere in Mississippi is my native home

Bukka White sang about his troubled times with the women in Aberdeen, Mississippi.

I was over in Aberdeen on my way to New Orleans
I was over in Aberdeen on my way to New Orleans
Them Aberdeen women told me they will buy my gasoline

There's two little women that I ain't never seen
There's two little women that I ain't never seen
These two little women they're from New Orleans

I'm sitting down in Aberdeen with New Orleans on my mind
I'm sitting down in Aberdeen with New Orleans on my mind
Lord I believe them Aberdeen women going to make me lose my mind

Aberdeen is my home but the men don't want me around
Aberdeen is my home but the men don't want me around
They know I will take these women and take them out of town

Listen you Aberdeen women, you know I ain't got no dime
Listen you women, you know I ain't got no dime
They had the poor boy all hobbled down

New Orleans is over 300 miles away from Aberdeen. But that was nothing to many blues musicians willing to pick up and go for any reason. For Bukka White it was to get away from the Aberdeen women and to get to some new ones down in New Orleans. Like Mississippi John Hurt, Bukka White returned to playing because of that song when a letter came addressed to Bukka White, Blues Singer, Aberdeen, Mississippi. It was from the great guitar player, John Fahey. And it resulted in White playing music across the country and the world.

The legendary Son House recorded a song about Clarksdale that was finally released last year, Clarksdale Moan:

Clarksdale's in the South, and lays heavy on my mind
Clarksdale's in the South, lays heavy on my mind
I can have a good time there, if I ain't got but one lousy dime

Clarksdale, Mississippi always gonna be my home
Clarksdale, Mississippi always gonna be my home
That's the reason you hear me sit right here and moan
...

Nobody knows Clarksdale like I do
Nobody knows Clarksdale like I do
And the reason I know it, I follows it through and through

Every blues fan should visit Clarksdale. It's not surprising that a student of Son House also sang songs about Missisippi. Indeed, the legend of Robert Johnson, can't be separated from his travels from Mississippi town to Mississippi town. He sang about it on Traveling Riverside Blues:

If your man gets personal, want to have your fun
If your man gets personal, want to have your fun
Just come on back to Friar's Point mama and barrelhouse all night long

I've got womens in Vicksburg, clean on into Tennessee
I've got womens in Vicksburg, clean on into Tennessee
But my Friar's point rider now, hops all over me

I ain't going to state no color, but her front teeth crowned with gold
I ain't going to state no color, but her front teeth is crowned with gold
She got a mortgage on my body and a lien on my soul

Lord I'm going to Rosedale, going to take my rider by my side
Lord I'm going to Rosedale, going to take my rider by my side
We can still barrelhouse baby, because it's on the riverside

The amount of blues talent that's emerged from Mississippi is staggering.
Sometimes it seems like every small town in the Delta, and other parts of the state, was home to some musician who made a great record. It's tough to say why and its at least probably because scouts for the record companies were more aware of Mississippi talent than they were of other regions. But the Mississippi Delta, dominated by cotton fields and harsh plantation labor has been called the most Southern place on earth, and it's not a coincidence that so much of this great Southern music came from Mississippi. I'm glad so many musicians recorded songs about its towns.

Songs:

Avalon Blues - Mississippi John Hurt
Stone Pony Blues - Charley Patton
Lowland Blues - Big Bill Broonzy
Aberdeen Mississippi Blues - Bukka White
Clarksdale Moan - Son House
Traveling Riverside Blues - Robert Johnson

Show 30 - Prison Blues

2007-10-09T07:37:00.000-07:00

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Show 30 - Prison Blues

After taking a look at justice and the law, I thought I'd continue with a focus on prisons and songs that describe life in the penitentiary. Furry Lewis sang about the inevitability of ending up in the penitentiary once he ended up in the court of Judge Harsh. Furry Lewis singing about heading to prison despite never having harmed a man. His woman offers money to the judge, but its not enough to keep the penitentiary from becoming his home.

They arrest me for murder, I ain't never harmed a man
Women hollered murder and I ain't raised my hand...
Because I'm arrested baby, please don't grieve and moan
Penitentiary seems just like my home
People all hollering about what in the world they will do
Lots of people had justice and been in penitentiary too
Field recordings from Southern penitentiaries were a frequent pursuit of folklorists recording for the Library of Congress or universities. Alan Lomax recorded some remarkable songs by prisoners about their experiences including a harmonica feature from a man known only as Alex and a haunting vocal from Tangle Eye.

Prison Blues

Well now yall be standing around the courthouse babe
Lord knows when Judge Davis(?) give me my time
Lord yall be standing around the courthouse
When Judge Davis give me my time
When I begin to leave my baby crying
Lord knows Mr. Judge you give him too long
Said now that’s all right baby lord
knows I’ll make it over one old day
Said now that’s all right baby I’ll make
it over one old day
Now some of the days soon, I’ll make it back home
Now fare you well, fare you well babe
Lord knows I’m on my last go-round
Now fare you well, fare you well
Lord knows I’m on my last go-round
Well you know if I can live to be in this town
Babe I won’t be hollering
down in prison no more

Tangle Eye:

Oh Lord
Well I wonder will I ever get back home?
Oh Lord
Well it must have been the devil that pulled me here
more down and out
Oh Lord… if I ever get back home, I’ll never do wrong
If I can just make it home I won’t do wrong no more
Lord I won’t do wrong no more
Lord I left mae will and the baby in the courthouse crying daddy please don’t go
Lord I’ll be back home
Well, Lord I’ll be home one day before long
Away from here
Lord I been here rolling but it stays so long
Lord I’m down and out... must be
Come and see what’s done happened to me
Lord If I’d listened to what my dear old mother said
But she’s dead and gone, Lord she’s dead and gone
But I’m gonna do now

Many commercial blues singers also concerned themselves with the prison experience including Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Prison Cell Blues" from 1928.

Got a red eyed captain : and a squabbling boss
Got a mad dog sergeant
honey and he won't knock off
I asked the government to knock some days off my time
Well the way I'm treated, I'm about to lose my mind
I wrote to the governor, please turn me a loose
Since I didn't get no answer I know it ain't no use
I hate to turn over and find my rider gone

Aside from his loneliness, Jefferson sang about the difficulties with his captain, boss, and sergeant. These were common complaints for the prisoner. Jefferson also refers to writing to the governor. That was common for many prisoners, usually to no avail. However, letters to the governor or a judge accompanied by the support of a local white man, who might need the black prisoner, for his own labor, at times were enough to allow the release of a convict in the Deep South (this includes John and Alan Lomax influencing Governor Oscar K. Allen of Louisiana to grant Leadbelly his second pardon).

Peg Leg Howell recorded several songs about crimes and prison. In "Ball and Chain Blues" recorded in Atlanta in 1929, he sings a song about the hard labor that comes with a sentence. Labor was a constant in Southern prisons and it took various forms. Howell discusses being part of a chain gang working in a mine.

I asked the judge what might be my fine
Get a pick and shovel, dig down in the mine
I told the judge, I ain't been here before
If you give me light sentence, I won't come here no more

Mr judge Mr judge, please don't break so hard
I always been a poor boy, never hurt no John
So the next day they carried the poor boy away
Said the next day I had a ball and chain
Take the stripes off my back, chains from around my legs
This ball and chain about to kill me dead

Howell served time in Georgia prison camps for bootlegging offenses. He knew

what it was like to endure physical labor for the state as a prisoner. Chain
gang work had a reputation for harshness, but equally harsh systems in states
like Mississippi with Parchman Farm and Louisiana with Angola penitentiary had
their prisoners work the fields of a prison plantation. Nearly all observers
remarked on the similarities between these prisons and the systems of plantation
slavery that had ended decades earlier in those same states. Bukka White
recorded two songs about prison including "Parchman Farm Blues," recounting his
experience there.

Judge give me life this morning down on Parchman Farm
I wouldn't hate it so bad but I left my wife and my home
Oh goodbye wife all you have done gone
But I hope some day you will hear my lonesome song

Oh listen men I don't mean no harm
If you want to do good you better stay off of Parchman Farm
We goes to work in the morning just the dawn of day
Just at the setting of the sun, that's when the work is done

I'm down on old Parchman Farm, I sure want to go back home
But I hope some day I will overcome

Parchman Farm's crops created a huge amount of revenue for the state of Mississippi creating an incentive to imprison laborers for the fields. The prison's brutality was the stuff of legend. One of the few ways to be released early, was for one prisoner to kill another that was thought to be trying to escape. The state farms and the chain gangs held many in an era when hard labor was the punishment for those who ended up in prisons, some guilty of violent crimes, others lesser offenses that still violated the Jim Crow system. This include countless blues musicians who recorded dozens of songs that create a fascinating document of prisons in the 20s and 30s.

Further reading: Worse than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice by David M. Oshinksy, Blues Fell this Morning: Meaning in the Blues (Goin' to take a rap chapter) by Paul Oliver.

Songs:
Judge Harsh Blues - Furry Lewis
Prison Blues - Alex
Tangle Eye Blues - Tangle Eye
Prison Cell Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson
Prison Wall Blues - Gus Cannon
Ball and Chain Blues - Peg Leg Howell
Parchman Farm Blues - Bukka White

Show 29 - Dealing with the Law

2007-08-28T06:08:00.000-07:00

One of the most difficult thing about living in a discriminatory society is having the law work against you rather than to protect you. This situation for African-Americans in the Jim Crow era is well documented. Even lawyers of the time referred to an unwritten “negro law” that treated black men without regard to their rights. This was implemented at every level of justice from the police to the courthouse to the prisons and jails. Reminiscent of slavery times, black men and woman would need the protection of white man to avoid ending in trouble with local police. This protection would often be unavailable for someone living a blues lifestyle. A huge number of blues songs were recorded about dealing with the law.

Bo Carter expressed the trouble that can come from a black man having even a little alcohol in the age of prohibition in his 1931 song “The Law Gonna Step on You”:

I done told you to quit hounding liquor and gambling too
Look here baby you going too fast, the law's gonna step on your... yes, yes, yes

Now you can twist you can twist you can step on it's tail, you're gonna need someone to post your bail
Look here baby your going too fast, the law's gonna step on your... yes, yes, yes

Now you may think that they're doing you wrong, but they'll send you to the county farm
Look here baby your going to fast, the law's gonna step on your... yes, yes, yes

Now if you wanna leave from home and muck around with a bottle of corn
Look here baby you're traveling too fast, the law's gonna step on your... yes, yes, yes

Memphis musician Robert Wilkins recorded “Police Sergeant Blues” in 1930. The song equates trouble with his woman to trouble with the law. He describes the inevitability of a sentence once the police come for you.

I am going to tell the judge, I know that I done wrong
You go and get some lawyers to come and go my bond
I know the judge is going to give me thirty long days

Charley Patton liked to sing about events and characters in his native Mississippi. He recorded two songs about local sheriffs. The first, “Tom Rushen Blues” from 1929 described Patton's arrest by Merigold, Mississippi sheriff Tom Rushing. The second 1934's “High Sheriff Blues” told a similar story about an arrest in Belzoni and Patton's treatment at the hands of Humphreys County sheriff John Purvis and his deputy R. Carlos Webb:

Get in trouble at Belzoni, there ain't no use screamin' and cryin'
Get in trouble in Belzoni, there ain't no use-a screamin' and cryin'
Mr. Webb will take you, back to Belzoni jailhouse flyin'

Let me tell you folks, how he treated me
Let me tell you folks, how he treated me
And he put me in a cell, it was dark as it could be

There I laid one evening, Mr. Purvis was standing 'round
There I laid one evening, Mr. Purvis was standing 'round
Mr. Purvis told Mr. Webb to let poor Charley down

It takes booze and booze, Lord, to carry me through
Takes booze and booze, Lord, to carry me through
But it did seem like years in a jailhouse where there is no booze
I got up one morning, feeling oh
I got up one morning feeling mighty bad
And it must not a-been them Belzoni jail I had
(spoken: Blues I had, boys)
I was in trouble, ain't no use screaming
When I was in prison, it ain't no use screaming and crying
Mr. Purvis the onliest man could ease that pain of mine

In his song "Shelby County Workhouse Blues," Hambone Willie Newbern sang about the difficulties in court and the inability for a man like Newbern to make his case:

Well the lawyers talk so fast, didn't have time to say not nary word
Well the lawyer pleaded, and the judge he done wrote it down
Says I'll give you ten days buddy, out in little old Shelby town

Newbern represents the typical experience for a black man in court in the 20s or 30s, however there were a few lawyers that provided exceptions to the rule. Sleepy John Estes recorded a song about one lawyer who acted as a true advocate for his client.

But you know I like Mr Clark, yes he really is my friend
He say if I just stay out of the grave, he see that I won't go to the pen

Now Mr Clark is a lawyer, his younger brother is too
When the battles get hard, he tell him just what to do
I like Mr Clark, yes he is my friend
He say if I just stay out of the grave, he see that I won't go to the pen

Now he lawyers for the rich, he lawyers for the poor
He don't try to rob nobody; just bring along to the store
Now once I got in trouble, you know I was going to take a ride
He didn't let it reach the courthouse, he kept it on the outside
you know I like Mr Clark, yes he really is my friend
He say if I just stay out of the graveyard, Poor John I see you won't go to the pen

Now Mr Clark is a good lawyer, he good as I ever seen
He the first man that proved, that water run upstream

Blind Blake recorded a song about being thrown in jail and he wished someone would have told him "What a Low Down Place the Jailhouse Is." In the song, Blake was thrown in jail by a judge. Even worse than getting sent to jail for a few weeks was being sentenced to the state prison, Leroy Carr's “Prison Bound Blues” describes the feeling of knowing your headed to the penitentiary and losing the life you enjoyed.

Early one morning the blues came falling down
Early one morning the blues came falling down
All locked up in jail, I'm prison bound

All last night, I sat in my cell alone
All last night, I sat in my cell alone
Thinking of my baby and my happy home

Baby you will never see my smiling face again
Baby you will never see my smiling face again
But always remember your daddy has been your friend

Sometimes I wonder why don't your write to me
Sometimes I wonder why don't your write to me
If I've been a bad fellow, I did not intend to be

When I had my trial baby, you could not be found
When I had my trial baby, you could not be found
It's too late now mistreating mama, I'm prison bound.

The number of blues songs about police, lawyers, judges, jails, and prisons testifies to the difficulty of dealing with the law for those living a blues lifestyle. Though the stories of lynching and and murder are told frequently, its fortunate that we have these songs to help document the smaller problems with the law that African-Americans could have on a nearly daily basis in the Jim Crow South. These could include being thrown in jail without a second thought from a police officer and being sentenced without little more consideration from a judge. That's particularly true for those living an itinerant lifestyle like many bluesmen did.

Songs:
The Law is Gonna Step on You - Bo Carter
High Sheriff Blues - Charley Patton
Police Sergeant Blues - Robert Wilkins
Shelby County Workhouse Blues - Hambone Willie Newbern
Lawyer Clark Blues - Sleepy John Estes
What a Low Down Place the Jailhouse Is - Blind Blake
Prison Bound Blues - Leroy Carr

Show 28 - Weird Lyrics

2007-07-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

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Show 28 - Weird Lyrics

I thought I'd take a look at a few songs that I don't really understand but that I find very intriguing. Some of these are songs that seem to be from the minstrel tradition and they use lyrics with meanings that are lost to time or at least lost on me. Or maybe the songs were just always weird, even at the time they were made. That might be the case with a song from Jim Jackson. It seems to be a religious parody and might have come from the minstrel stage. Recorded in Memphis in 1928 for Victor Records, “I Heard the Voice of a Porkchop.” The same song was recorded later in the same year by Bogus Ben Covington (who is probably the same man that recorded under the name Ben Curry) accompanied by his banjo and harmonica. It's not clear if Covington learned the song from Jackson or if they picked it up from the same minstrel origin. Clearly, the song is about hunger but the lyrics are undeniably strange and seem to be about eating road kill crossed with a vision.

Jackson's lyrics:

I walked and I walked and I walked and I walked
I stopped to rest my feet
I sat down under an old oak tree and there went fast asleep
I dreamt about sitting in a swim cafe hungry as a bear
My stomach sent a telegram to my throat:
There's a wreck on the road somewhere
I heard the voice of a porkchop say: Come on to me and rest
Well you talk about your stewing me: I ain't know what the best
You talk about your chicken, ham, and eggs and turkey stuffed in dress
But I heard the voice of a pork chop say come on to me and rest

Luke Jordan's “Pick Poor Robin Clean” features music and lyrics, particularly the lyrics with what we now consider racist language reveal the probable minstrel show origin of the song:

Get off my money and don't get funny
'Cause I'm a nigger, don't cut no figure
Gambling for Sadie, she is my lady
I'm a hustling coon that's just what I am

But it's the chorus that features the lyrics that confuse me:

You better pick poor robin clean
Pick poor robin clean
I picked his head, I picked his feet
Would have picked his body, but it wasn't fit to eat
You'd better pick poor robin clean
Pick poor robin clean
But I'll be satisfied having your family

It seems picking the robin is a metaphor, but I'm not sure for what. The song was also recorded by the female duo Geeshie Wiley and Elvie Thomas and it almost seems to take on a different meaning being sing by a woman.

Alabama musician Ed Bell recorded a great song featuring a word that seems to have left the vernacular but that shows up in quite a few blues songs of the era. The word is mamlish. The song is “Mamlish Blues,” recorded for Paramount in 1927.

These are my mamlish blues, gonna tell you just what they mean
Used to be my sugar but you ain't sweet no mamlish more
Because you mistreated me and you throwed me from your door
Mama my pack's ready, keep it for my mamlish self
Mama I done got tired of sleeping by myself
Well my Mama didn't like me, my papa give me mamlish ways
That's the very reason I'm a wandering child today
Talking about your sure love but you just ought to see mamlish mine
She ain't so good looking but she do just fine
She the man on the corner, see she going to steal that mamlish man
And a blind man seen her and a dumb man call her name
And the dumb man asked her who your regular man can be
And the blind man told her you sure look good to me

The word also shows up in another 1927 Paramount recording, “Nappy Head Blues” by Bobby Grant, one of only two songs recorded by Grant:

Your head is nappy : your feet so mamlish long
And you move like a turkey: coming through the mamlish corn

Additional songs featuring the word: Kokomo Arnold's “Milkcow Blues” and Sluefoot Joe's “Tooten' Out Blues.” Some theorize that Sluefoot Joe is the same man as Ed Bell. Those songs reveal little more about the meaning of the word. But it seems to function as an intensifier the same way some would use “Goddamm.” Any additional connotations the word probably had is certainly lost on me.

Words and expressions come and go. Songs are one place they are captured and for language from specific regions and ethnic groups, sometimes songs are the only place they're recorded. The language of pre-war blues is rich with words and expressions that have vanished and ones that are still used. And most importantly, the songs are mamlish good.

Songs:
I Heard the Voice of a Porkchop - Jim Jackson
I Heard the Voice of a Porkchop - Bogus Ben Covington
Pick Poor Robin Clean - Luke Jordan
Pick Poor Robin Clean - Geeshie Wiley and Elvie Thomas
Mamlish Blues - Ed Bell
Nappy Head Blues - Bobby Grant

Show 27 - Policy Blues

2007-06-08T17:50:00.000-07:00

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Show 27 - Policy Blues

Policy is the lottery-- an illegal numbers game that was hugely popular at the end of the nineteenth and in the first few decades of the twentieth century. You'd pick three numbers and hope they hit. The name comes from the practice of allowing bettors to make an “insurance policy” bet on tomorrow's numbers to offset potential losses, a gambler could make a policy bet that his ticket would come up blank insuring he would get something back on a losing ticket. Eventually the entire game came to be called policy and this “insurance” came to be useful code for buying and selling tickets when the game was illegal.

North Mississippi/Memphis area bluesman Jim Jackson, tells us how the game is played in his 1928 son, “Policy Blues”. In “Playing Policy Blues” by Blind Blake, you hear him sing: “I played on Clearinghouse, couldn't make the grade.” Clearinghouse was a version of policy that attempted to ensure legitimacy by taking the last three numbers from the daily Federal Reserve Clearing House Report. The numbers were printed in the newspaper, ensuring that the policy company wasn't cheating the players. Kokomo Arnold sang about some of the problems inherent in dealing with the less honest policy game operators in Policy Wheel Blues. Bo Carter sang “Policy Blues,” he was one of the few bluesmen who came out a winner as he sings about waiting for the money he won.

One popular method of selecting numbers to play in a policy game was using the interpretation of dreams. Players consulted policy dream books to provide them with the lucky numbers their dreams suggested. These books were often published by the policy agents themselves. Bumble Bee Slim was one blues musician who wrote about a policy dream as one way to potentially beat the racket that was policy. Check out Kat Yronwode's excellent page on policy dream books including analysis of Blind Blake's lyrics.

Policy games are gone with the lottery business now controlled by the states. But these blues songs captured the essence of an important part of America's gambling culture that lasted for decades. These bluesmen and women reported what it was like to play policy and almost always lose at policy. But I guess that's what makes it the blues.

Songs:
Policy Blues - Jim Jackson
Playing Policy Blues - Blind Blake
Policy Wheel Blues - Kokomo Arnold
Policy Blues - Bo Carter
Policy Dream Blues - Bumble Bee Slim
Elzadie's Policy Blues - Elzadie Robinson

Show 26 - John Henry

2007-05-12T14:14:00.000-07:00

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Show 26 - John Henry

John Henry - Jimmy Owens
John Henry - Reese Crenshaw
John Henry - Big John Davis
John Henry - Arthur Bell
John Henry - Leadbelly
Death Of John Henry (Steel Driving Man) - Uncle Dave Macon
John Henry - Henry Thomas

Show 25 - Yellow, Brown, or Black

2007-03-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

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Prejudice against people with darker skin is widely documented in many cultures and stereotypes about yellow, brown, and black are still common. When the songs in this show were recorded, skin-lightening cream products ads were always seen alongside the blues record advertisements in black newspapers like the Chicago Defender. The assumption was that light skinned was automatically more attractive. Blues singers often subverted this assumption but at times reinforced it. The popular music comedy team from the 1920s, Butterbeans and Susie, sing in Brown Skin Gal about how a brown skinned girl can be trusted and is the best even though she might not have the money, status, or look as good as a yellow.

Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell have a similar take in Good Woman Blues. In It’s Heated, Frankie “Half-Pint” Jaxon gives his ideas about sexual stereotypes with the darkest woman coming out on top: “Now a yellow gal is like a frigid zone, brownskin's about the same. You want some good loving get yourself an old Crow Jane.” The term Crow Jane shows up in dozens of blues songs referring to dark women.

Texas Alexander subscribed to the lighter is better school in Yellow Girl Blues: “Black woman evil, brownskin evil too. Going to get me a yellow woman and see what she will do.”

Some male blues singers expressed the attitude that the high status of light-skinned women made them more difficult to deal with as romantic partners. That ideas was thar light-skinned women may be more beautiful, have more money, and a generally higher status, but they won’t treat a man well. Bo Weavil Jackson sang in Some Scream High Yellow: “Some Scream High Yellow, I scream black or brown. High yellow may mistreat you, but black won't turn you down.”

Harry Gay and Stephen Tarter from Scott County, Virginia recorded just two songs. Brownie Blues dealt with skin color. Tarter sang that women on both ends of the color spectrum should be avoided:
“Want no Jet black woman burn no bread for me
Jet black is evil and she sure might poison me
Jet Black is evil and so is yellow too
I’m so glad I’m brown skinned, don’t know what to do”

Bessie Smith seemed to use her skin color as an excuse to be wild in her 1926 recording Young Woman’s Blues: “I ain't no high yellow, I'm a deep killer brown. I ain't going to marry, ain't going to settle down.”

An individual’s place on the continuum of African-American skin color has always affected status in society and the perception of their attractiveness. Terms like High Yellow or Crow Jane may fade away or change meaning, but prejudices based on skin tone never seem to go away. These blues songs give us a glimpse about some attitudes about skin color during the pre-war period. Bluesmen expressed their preference for yellow, black, or brown in song. Sometimes “Jet Black is Evil” other times “The Blacker the Berry the sweeter the Juice”, but it seems there’s no escape from stereotypes based on skin.

Check out Wallace Thurman’s 1929 novel The Blacker the Berry for a contemporary fictional take on the “colorism” issues presented by these blues songs.

Show 25 - Yellow, Brown, or Black

Songs:
Brown Skin Gal - Butterbeans and Susie
Good Woman Blues - Leroy Carr
It's Heated - Frankie 'Half-Pint' Jaxon
Yellow Girl Blues - Texas Alexander
Some Scream High Yellow - Bo Weavil Jackson
Brownie Blues - Harry Gay and Stephen Tarter
Young Woman's Blues - Bessie Smith

Show 24 - Hard Times Blues

2007-01-30T19:18:00.000-08:00

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Show 24 - Hard Times Blues

Songs:
Hard Times Killing Floor - Skip James
We Sure Got Hard Times - Barbecue Bob
Hard Time Blues - Scrapper Blackwell
It's Hard Time - Joe Stone
Hard Times Blues - Charlie Spand
Hard Time Blues - Darby & Tarlton
Hard Time Blues - Josh White

Show 23 - Black Snake Moan

2006-11-29T09:14:00.000-08:00

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Show 23 - Black Snake Moan

Songs:
Black Snake Moan - Blind Lemon Jefferson
Black Snake Blues - Victoria Spivey
Jet Black Snake - Jewell Nelson
New Black Snake Moan - Leadbelly
It's So Cold in China - Mississippi Moaner
Roosevelt Sykes - Jet Black Snake
Black Snake - John Henry Howard
Black Snake Dream Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson

Show 22 - Henry Townsend Appreciation

2006-09-29T06:26:00.000-07:00

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Show 22 - Henry Townsend Appreciation

An appreciation of bluesman Henry Townsend who died Sunday, September 24, 2006 at age 96.

Story from St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Songs:
Doctor, Oh Doctor - Henry Townsend
Long Ago Blues - Henry Townsend
Henry's Worry Blues - Henry Townsend
Poor Man Blues - Henry Townsend
A Ramblin' Mind - Henry Townsend
Jack of Diamonds Georgia Rub - Henry Townsend

Show 21 - What the Chinaman Told the Jew

2006-09-08T06:09:00.000-07:00

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Show 21 - What the Chinaman Told the Jew

I decided to put an episode together with these songs that mention ethnic groups and nationalities after my ears repeatedly perking up when I heard lyrics about "what the Chinaman told the Jew" in these and some later blues songs. The Willie Blackwell song comes from a different place that includes a strange mix of patriotism, violence, and proud fatherhood. It has disturbing lyrics about a man preparing bringing home a Japanese skull during World War II for a newborn son. There's a good discussion of the song from Jim O'Neal at his Bluesoterica site. Though its the only one that features that kind of viciousness towards different people, I thought it was thought provoking regarding how others are thought of at different times.

Songs:
14th Street Blues - Blind Joe Taggart
Bullfrog Blues - William Harris
Barbecue Blues - Barbecue Bob
Memphis Boy Blues - Memphis Jug Band
Junior's, A Jap Girl's Christmas for Her Santa Claus - Willie '61' Blackwell

Show 20 - Death Tributes

2006-08-14T06:08:00.000-07:00

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Show 20 - Death Tributes

Songs:
Death of Leroy Carr - Bumble Bee Slim and Scrapper Blackwell
Death of Blind Boy Fuller - Brownie McGhee
Oh Death - Charley Patton and Bertha Lee
Death of Walter Barnes - Leonard 'Baby Doo' Caston
Death of Holmes' Mule - Charlie Turner and Winston Holmes
Death of Sonny Boy Williamson - Peck Curtis and Houston Stackhouse

Show 19- Bootlegger's Blues

2006-06-30T22:14:00.000-07:00

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Show 19- Bootlegger's Blues

Bootleg Rum Dum Blues - Blind Blake
Bootleggers' Blues - Mississippi Sheiks
Jones Law Blues - James "Stump" Johnson
Sloppy Drunk Blues - Leroy Carr
Good Whiskey Blues - Peetie Wheatstraw
Bootleggin' Ain't No Good No More - Blind Teddy Darby
Alley Bound Blues - Curtis Jones

Show 18 - Joe Louis is the Man

2006-06-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

Show 18 - Joe Louis is the Man

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Many songs were written about Joe Louis over his career from 1934 into the fifties. The songs reflect Louis’ status as a kind of a folk hero to black America and eventually to all of America. Louis was born Joe Louis Barrow to a family of sharecroppers in Alabama. He moved as a child with his family to Detroit. Louis was a popular fighter well before he became the champ. His 4th round knockout of former champ Max Baer made him famous. But the fight that made him a hero to millions of African-Americans was in 1935 against the giant Primo Carnera. Louis fought the Italian as the world was becoming aware that Mussolini’s Italy was about to invade Haile Selassie’s Ethiopia. As one of the few African nations remaining uncolonized, Ethiopia was a point of pride for the black world. Joe Louis came to represent Ethiopian strength in America. People throughout the U.S. rejoiced when Louis handled Carnera easily knocking him out in the sixth round. That same year, Memphis Minnie recorded two songs about the Brown Bomber and pianist Joe Pullum recorded “Joe Louis is the Man.”

Joe Louis had become a hero in the ring with his frequent victories. But in 1936 he suffered a devastating loss to German Max Schmeling. Despite the loss, the next year, Louis managed to become heavyweight champion by defeating Cinderella Man Jim Braddock. Even with the belt, the loss to Schmeling weighed on Louis and he never felt like the true champion. In 1938, Louis got his rematch against Schmeling. In the years since the first fight the exploits of Adolph Hitler had become common headlines and once again Louis was thrust into the role of representing American values and strength against an enemy. This time, Louis became the hope of not just African-Americans but virtually the whole country. Louis destroyed Schmeling. A new hero, Joe Louis became one of the country’s biggest celebrities.

Joe Louis enhanced his status as American hero when he joined the army to serve during World War II (which some referred to as Louis-Schmeling III). He appeared constantly in newspapers, magazines, and elsewhere. The importance of a black man achieving this iconic status at that time in America cannot be overstated.

Despite deteriorating abilities in the ring, Louis’ career continued into the fifties, largely because of tremendous financial difficulties. He owed millions to the IRS. His last professional fight was his 1951 loss to Rocky Marciano. After his death in 1981, the champ received a hero’s burial in Arlington National Cemetery. What Louis did along with other athletes like his friends Jesse Owens and later Jackie Robinson changed the attitudes of millions. His reception presented a stark contrast to that of the last black champion, Jack Johnson. This was reflected in the blues songs as well as songs by Sonny Count Basie, Cab Calloway and others. Louis’ life and career through the Second World War made him perhaps the most important athlete in American history and a natural hero in the world of the blues.

Songs:
Joe Louis is the Man - Joe Pullum
Joe Louis Strut - Memphis Minnie
He's In the Ring (Doing That Same Old Thing) - Memphis Minnie
Joe Louis Special - Jack Kelly
Joe Louis Blues - Carl Martin

Show 17 - Northbound Blues

2006-05-12T06:32:00.000-07:00

Show 17 - Northbound Blues

Beginning around the period of the First World War, millions of black Southerners moved North to cities like Chicago, Detroit, and New York. Known as the Great Migration, this movement changed the course of American history. People left the South to escape the oppressive racist system in the South, but most importantly because of the job opportunities and promise of economic security in Northern cities.

Blind Blake sang about getting a job at Mr. Ford’s place in Detroit Bound Blues. Jobs in the automotive industry were an important factor pulling African-Americans to Detroit. And cars and trains provided transportation to the North. Many from Alabama headed to Detroit via railroad as many from Mississippi and Tennessee headed to Chicago. From Gerogia and the Carolinas, they went to DC or New York. The route of the migration patterns was often identical to that of the large railroad lines.

Tennessee native Bessie Smith sang about missing her man who had caught the train to Chicago in her song Chicago Bound Blues. In this song, she references the Chicago Defender newspaper. The Defender actively encouraged African-Americans in the South to come to Northern cities and was very successful.

Though the traffic of the Great Migration was largely one way, at times economic opportunity dictated a return down south (in recent years moving back down has become even more common). In 1948, Roosevelt Sykes sang of a time when cotton prices made working in the Southern fields more profitable than the Northern factories.

From around 1914 – 1950, the Great Migration changed the demographics of the country and altered the way Americans lives. In several waves, millions of black Southerners arrived in Northern cities. The transition from the acoustic Delta blues of the 20s and 30s to electric Chicago blues is one of the easily observable manifestations of the Great Migration. The life of Muddy Waters is often given as an example. But the migration changed more than music, it changed race relations, economics, and living conditions for millions. And as often was the case, blues musicians were some of the best observers of their own lives and the changes in the world around them.

Songs:
Detroit Bound Blues - Blind Blake
Chicago Bound Blues - Bessie Smith
Cotton Belt Blues - Lizzie Miles
Cotton Patch Blues - Tommy McLennan
Southern Blues - Roosevelt Sykes

Show 16 - New Music for 75 Years Ago

2006-04-14T07:25:00.000-07:00

Show 16 - New Music for 75 Years Ago

Songs from The Stuff That Dreams are Made Of:
Clarksdale Moan - Son House
If I Call You Mama - Luke Jordan
Mississippi County Farm Blues - Son House
I'm Going Back Home - Memphis Minnie and Joe McCoy
Married Man's Blues - Wade Ward

Show 15 - Blues of the Great War

2006-04-01T11:16:00.000-08:00

Show 15 - Blues of the Great War

Army Blues - Kingfish Bill Tomlin
Uncle Sam Blues - Clara Smith
Army Camp Harmony Blues - Ma Rainey
Army Mule in No Man's Land - Coley Jones
Wartime Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson

Show 14 - Bonus Blues

2006-03-19T18:39:00.000-08:00

Bonus Blues

The earliest recorded blues were made in the wake of the First World War. It’s tough to know how many blues musicians served, but the war was clearly a formative experience for many. Every veteran of the Great War was promised a pension that include $1 for every day served on the homefront and $1.25 for every day served overseas. The fight to actually receive this money would turn into one of the most important events of the Great Depression and inspire several blues songs.

Since 1929, Congress had reviewed the bonus situation several times and in 1932 a bill to allow immediate payment passed the House but not the Senate. In 1932, a Veterans Bonus Army, known as the Bonus Expeditionary force, (in an echo of the American Expeditionary Force that served in Europe) had marched on D.C. to demand payment. Black and white soldiers came from all over the country and formed integrated camps in Southeast D.C. along the Anacostia River. The veterans’ camp presented a stark contrast to the strictly segregated units the soldiers had served in during the war as well as to the still segregated streets of Washington D.C.

After the defeat of the Bonus Bill, President Hoover ordered the camp of the Bonus Army disbanded. General Douglas MacArthur led the effort to burn down the camp and force the veterans army out of D.C. The images of the standing army attacking veterans from its own ranks were printed in newspapers across the country, cementing national anger with the Hoover administration and creating great sympathy for the veterans.

After being cleared out in 1932, the veterans continued their campaign to receive the bonus money including additional marches on Washington that had vast public support The Government continued to resist immediate payment, citing concern about the effects of the huge expenditure on the economy. The veterans were finally successful in 1936. A bill to allow bonds to be cashed whenever the veteran chose passed over President Roosevelt’s veto.

Joe Pullum may have been the first blues singer to reference the bonus in his 1934 song “Black Gal What Makes Your Head So Hard?” At that time the bonus money was available only in the form of bonds that could not be cashed out until 1945. Many veterans were able to capitalize on the bonuses through loans, but that entailed paying interest. That’s what Joe Pullum referred to when he sang about having his bonus money. Joe Pullum eventually recorded several more songs that reference the bonus including “Bonus Blues” in 1936.

Most of the blues songs that address the bonus talk about how the money will be spent when they finally get it. These include the Carl Martin, Peetie Wheatstraw, and other songs. The political issues are referenced indirectly as they often are in blues songs. As both pop music and a method of folk expression in the 1930s, the blues always provide interesting takes on issues that will affect individual lives.

I decided to make a show on this theme because I think the Bonus Army is a fascinating story and I liked the Red Nelson Wilborn and Cripple Clarence Lofton song. When I started to do research, I discovered a book by Guido Van Rijn. Roosevelt's Blues: African American Blues and Gospel Songs on FDR has a chapter on exactly this subject and it made it quite easy to put the show together.

Songs:
Black Gal What Makes You Head So Hard - Joe Pullum
I'm Gonna Have My Fun - Carl Martin
Bonus Blues - Joe Pullum
When I Get My Bonus (Things Will Be Coming My Way) - Peetie Wheatstraw
When The Soldiers Get Their Bonus - Cripple Clarence Lofton and Red Nelson
When I Get My Money - Bumble Bee Slim

Show 13 - Dealing with the Devil

2006-02-17T06:18:00.000-08:00

Show 13 - Dealing with the Devil - download

The legend of selling a soul to the devil in exchange for musical prowess has been associated with many genres of music for centuries. But it’s stuck more firmly to the blues than to any other music. However, the truth is that when blues singers talked about the devil they were more likely referring to a mistreating woman or boss than to the Price of Darkness Skip James recorded “Devil Got My Woman” in 1931. He had an amazing voice where he certainly sounds haunted by something from hell. But he was more troubled by his woman than anything supernatural.

Washboard Sam recorded another song associating his woman with the devil in 1941, “She Belongs to the Devil.”

Most non-religious types of music (and many activities) were dubbed the work of the devil church folk, the blues may earned the lasting sobriquet the Devil’s Music because some blues musicians embraced the image. One major blues star of the 1930s took it so far as to use it as a successful marketing tool. He called himself the High Sheriff from Hell or the Devil’s Son-In-Law and became one of the most popular and imitated musicians of his time. Peetie Wheatstraw probably gained many fans looking for a form of slight rebellion, because he presented a somewhat subversive alternative to the activities deemed acceptable by the church without being truly threatening.

Peetie Wheatstraw worked hard to establish that link to the devil and it would have been understood as all in fun by his audience. It’s a different story with Tommy Johnson who is also closely linked with the devil. In his case, the story that he sold his soul to the devil came years after his life had ended. His brother LeDell, a minister, told the classic tale of Tommy going to the crossroads to meet the devil and coming away with the ability to play any song he wanted. Though references to the devil are absent from Tommy Johnson’s music, this story has become an important part of the mythology of the blues. It must be remembered that it came from a man devoted to the church who considered a life outside of the church, a devil’s life. Big Road Blues was one of his popular songs that many of his followers would play later.

The lyrics in Lonnie Johnson’s “Devil’s Got the Blues” may get at the place of the devil in the blues more accurately than anyone else. Lonnie Johnson sings “the blues is like the devil it comes on you like a spell, it will leave your heart full of trouble and your poor mind full of hell.” The blues and the devil are both represent what’s wrong in the world, so it’s not surprising that the two would intersect quite often. The devil is most often used to represent the trouble, rather than a promise to sacrifice a soul as often referenced in the Robert Johnson legend (that also applied to Tommy Johnson and others). But Robert Johnson was just another man in this same tradition who was heavily influenced by some of the musicians I’ve played. He should be remembered for his music and the tradition he came, not as an exception that got his music through supernatural means.

See the David Evans biography of Tommy Johnson for Ledell Johnson’s tale of how Tommy went to the crossroads. Elijah Wald’s Escaping the Delta concludes with a discussion about the devil legend. Wald is dismissive of associations of the supernatural with the blues.

Devil Got My Woman - Skip James
She Belongs to the Devil - Washboard Sam
Devil's Son-In-Law - Peetie Wheatstraw
Peetie Wheatstraw Stomp - Peetie Wheatstraw
Big Road Blues - Tommy Johnson
Dealing with the Devil - Brownie McGhee
Devil's Got the Blues - Lonnie Johnson

Show 12 - Living in a Violent World

2006-02-02T06:14:00.000-08:00

Show 12 - Living in a Violent World - download

Blues musicians of the 1920s and 30s existed in a violent world where fights were common and it was often common to carry a weapon and to keep an eye open for the quickest way to get out of the building from the stage. Some blues musicians still exist in this kind of world, and it’s common to other genres. Will Shade recorded “She Stabbed me with an Ice Pick” in 1928. It’s interesting how he sings about the attack on him as a way to reflect on how people feel about him. Though he didn’t see the attack coming, it’s a traumatic but logical occurrence in his world.

Bertha Henderson kills a woman who attacks her and it force her on the run. Her need to defend herself makes her life even more difficult as she has to hide from the authorities. To generalize, this can be seen as the blues position on violence. Forced into action by a violent world and suppressed by the powers that be, there’s little chance for escape from violence and oppression.

Lonnie Johnson’s take on violence in Mexico contains some amazing imagery along with his usual stellar guitar playing.

Carrying a gun was an essential part of life for many musicians dealing with rough crowds and tough situations. Skip James’ “22-20 Blues” was an attempt to capitalize on Roosevelt Sykes’ hit “44 Blues” by recording piano gun pieces.

The connection between violence and music is a frequent topic of debate. I see them as two separate parts of a shared culture. The source of both of the blues and violence is some of the same conditions in society. The same holds true for many types of music and art forms. Adam Gussow (the white harmonica-playing half of the great duo Satan and Adam) wrote about this in his book Seems Like Murder Here: Southern Violence and the Blues Tradition. He looks more at literature and biography than songs (with the exception of in-depth analysis of one particular line of Mamie Smith’s “Crazy Blues”). But he convincingly argues that violence is an irremovable part of blues culture.

Songs:

She Stabbed Me With an Ice Pick - Will Shade
Terrible Murder Blues - Blind Blake and Bertha Henderson
Got the Blues for Murder Only - Lonnie Johnson
22-20 Blues - Skip James
44 Blues - Roosevelt Sykes
Ice Pick Mama - Walter Washington

Show 11 - Church Blues

2006-01-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

Show 11 - Church Blues - download

My first show for the Delta Blues Museum.

The blues and religion have a complex relationship. Though blues has often been castigated at the Devil’s Music, many blues musicians have always played religious songs. Charley Patton and Blind Lemon Jefferson were frequent performers of religious music. To this day, many blues singers will end a show with a gospel number. Others sing gospel, but make sure to keep religious music separate from what’s going on it the club.

But being frequently criticized by church folks must have provoked the need to respond in some blues singers. The songs featured on this show, give the blues singers a chance to respond. The musicians I featured come from all over the country and play in different styles, so the need to respond was not a localized phenomenon.

There’s some interesting discussion of attitude towards philandering preachers in the Fisk University/Library of Congress study of Coahoma County from 1942. The book was finally released last year as Lost Delta Found: Rediscovering The Fisk University-Library Of Congress Coahoma County Study, 1941-1942. Another interesting read on blues and religion is Jon Michael Spencer’s Blues and Evil. This very academic text is at times unclear (and I think he misreads other blues scholarship), but the argument is definitely thought provoking. He argues that blues have an essentially religious nature that’s not evil at all.

Songs:

Church Bell Blues - Luke Jordan
Preachin' the Blues, Parts 1 & 2 - Son House
Preacher Blues - Henry Brown
He Calls That Religion - Mississippi Sheiks
Denomination Blues, Parts 1 & 2 - Washington Phillips

Show 10 - Virginia Blues Road Trip

2005-12-12T19:23:00.000-08:00

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Show 10 - Virginia Blues Road Trip - download
Old Country Rock - William Moore
Newport News Blues - Memphis Jug Band
Richmond Blues - Bull City Red
Richmond Blues - Julius Daniels
Bear Creek Blues - Carter Family