Show 64 - Where the Weather Suits My Clothes

I think I'm going back down South where the weather suits my clothes. Variations on that line appear in a lot of blues songs. In the context of the great African-American migration to the North, leaving Chicago or Detroit to return South for the better weather can be a metaphor for a few things. The longing for friends and family and the life you grew up with or the more troubling flip side which suggests its too hard for a black man to make it in the North. Or maybe sometimes it wasn't a metaphor at all and the singer just didn't like the cold. Lee Green seems to get at all these varieties while singing about his final resting place in Death Bell Blues from 1930.

I hate to hear that lonesome death bell toll
I hate to hear that lonesome death bell toll
But it reminds me of my dear mother, I mean that’s dead and gone

I can’t stay here, Lord, I can’t stay nowhere
Lord, I can’t stay here, Babe, I can’t stay nowhere
Lord I’ve been to the Nation, sweet woman I couldn’t stay there

From St. Louis to the river, river to the deep blue sea
From St. Louis to the river, from the river to the deep blue sea
If I don’t get woman that I’m loving, I don’t care what becomes of me

It’s so cold in Chicago, the birds can’t hardly sing
It’s so cold in Chicago, the birds can’t hardly sing
It’s so cold in East St. Louis, that these women can’t make a doggone thing

But my babe, she done quit me and I don’t even care
I mean my babe done quit me and I don’t even care
I believe that lonesome death bell will take me away from here

In the end Lee Smith is so empty without his woman, he longs for death to take him away from the cold Northern cities.

Clara Smith was one of the earlier recorded blues singers. In Down South Blues from 1923, she wants to hop on a train to head down south away from the men who've mistreated her in that cold weather:

I think of the ones down there, down South is my Southern home
I realize my life has been driftwood, like some kind of rolling stone
But I’ve learned my lesson, I mean it, I am through and folks I am not joking when I sing these Down South blues

I'm going to the station and catch the fastest train back home
I'm going to the station and catch the fastest train back home
I'm going back South where the weather suits my clothes

Because my mama told me and my daddy told me too
I say my mama told me and my daddy told me too
Don't go North and let them men make a fool out of you

Because their love's like water, it turns off and on
Because their love's like water, it turns off and on
Time you think you've got them, it’s turned off and gone

I'm going back South, if I wear out ninety‑nine pairs of shoes
I'm going back South, if I wear out ninety‑nine pairs of shoes
Because I'm broken-hearted, got those Down South blues

Ida Cox Southern Woman's Blues is from 1925:

Takes a southern woman to sing this southern song
Takes a southern woman to sing this southern song
Lord, I'm worried now but I won't be worried long

When I was downtown, I wouldn't take no one's advice
When I was downtown, I wouldn't take no one's advice
But I ain't going to let that same bee sting me twice

Because I'm going back down where the weather suits my clothes
Yes, I'm going back down where the weather suits my clothes
Down where there ain't no snow and the chilly wind never blows

I don't want no northern yellow, no northern black nor brown
I don't want no northern yellow, no northern black nor brown
Southern men will stick by you when the northern men can't be found

If you ever been South, you know just what I meanIf you ever been South, you know just what I mean
Southern men are all the same from Kentucky to New Orleans

I'm going back south where I can get my hambone boiled
I'm going back south where I can get my hambone boiled
These northern men are about to let my poor hambone spoil

John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson was a Jackson, Tennessee native and long time Chicago resident. In Down South from 1938, he talked about heading back to warmer weather:

Now I’m going back down South, man, where the weather suits my clothes
Now I done fooled around in Chicago, Lord, I done almost froze
Now that I done fooled around in Chicago, Lord, I done almost froze

Lord, my baby, my baby, she don’t treat me good no more
Now I know the reason she don’t love me, she’s wild about Mr. so and so
Now I know the reason she don’t love me, she’s wild about Mr. so and so

Now I know my baby, I know Ms. Lacy gonna want to see me now
Because my baby she didn’t want me to come way back up here no how
Lord, my baby she didn’t want me to come way back up here no how

Guitar great Scrapper Blackwell was an Indianapolis native, so his Down South Blues clearly isn't autobiographical. He sings about wondering if his baby is waiting for home in dear old sunny Tennessee. He's accompanied here by his famous piano playing partner Leroy Carr:

I'm just sitting here thinking of dear old sunny Tennessee
I'm just sitting here thinking of dear old sunny Tennessee
And wondering if my baby is waiting there for me

I'm going where the Monon crosses the L and N
I'm going where the Monon crosses the L and N
And catch me a freight train and go back home again

I'm going back South where it's warm the whole year round
I'm going back South where it's warm the whole year round
I'll be so glad when my train pulls up in town

In 1936, Victoria Spivey recorded Detroit Moan. More than any other song, it tells the story of someone who just can't make it financially in the cold cold place of Detroit.

Detroit's a cold cold place and I ain't got a dime to my name
Detroit's a cold hard place and I ain't got a dime to my name
I would go to the poorhouse but Lord you know I'm ashamed

I been walking Hastings Street, nobody seems to treat me right
I been walking Hastings Street, nobody seems to treat me right
I can make it in the daytime, but Lord these cold cold nights

Well I'm tired of eating chili and I can't eat beans no more
Yes, I'm tired of eating chili and I can't eat beans no more
People it hurts my feelings, Lord, from door to door

I've got to leave Detroit if I have to flag Number 94
I'm gonna leave Detroit if I have to flag Number 94
And if I ever get back home, I ain't never coming to Detroit no more

Memphis Jug Band showed their affinity for the warmth in their hometown in Going Back to Memphis

I'm leaving here, mama, don't you wanna go
I'm leaving here, mama, don't you wanna go
Because I'm sick and tired of all this ice and snow

When I get back to Memphis, you can bet I'll stay
When I get back to Memphis, you can bet I'll stay
And I ain't gonna leave until that judgment day

I love old Memphis, the place where I was born
I love old Memphis, the place where I was born
Wear my box-back suit, and drink my bottle of corn

I wrote my gal a letter, way down in Tennessee
I wrote my gal a letter, way down in Tennessee
Told her I was up here hungry, hurry up and send for me

I'm gonna walk and walk 'til I walk out all my shoesI'm gonna walk and walk 'til I walk out all my shoes
Because I've got what they call them leaving here blues

Blind Blake recorded Georgia Bound in 1929. It's a poetic take on returning to his native state and the agricultural lifestyle replacing the ice and snow:

Packing up my duffel, gonna leave this town
Packing up my duffel, gonna leave this town
And I'm gonna hustle to catch that train southbound 

I got the Georgia blues for the plow and hoe
I got the Georgia blues for the plow and hoe
Walked out my shoes over this ice and snow 

Tune up the fiddle, dust the catgut bow
Tune up the fiddle, dust off the catgut bow
Put on the griddle, and open up the cabin door 

I thought I was going to the Northland to stay
I thought I was going to the Northland to stay
South is on my mind, my blues won't go away 

Potatoes in the ashes, possum on the stove
Potatoes in the ashes, possum on the stove
You can have the hash, but please leave me the clove(?) 

Chicken on the roost, babe, watermelon on the vine
Chicken on the roost, babe, watermelon on the vine
I'll be glad to get back to that Georgia gal of mine

"I’ll be glad to get back to that gal of mine." That seems to be the most common theme in the songs about getting away from the cold North to return home to the South. The economic opportunities and escape from Jim Crow brought many African-American north, but knowing loved ones were still down South must have presented a constant lure to return home where it’s warm.

Songs:

Lee Green - Death Bell Blues
Clara Smith - Down South Blues
Ida Cox - Southern Woman's Blues
Sonny Boy Williamson - Down South
Scrapper Blackwell - Down South Blues
Victoria Spivey - Detroit Moan
Memphis Jug Band - Going Back to Memphis
Blind Blake - Georgia Bound

Show 48 - Disease Blues

Pneumonia -- it’s a disease of the lungs. Even by the first part of the twentieth century, medical developments had improved the prognosis for people with pneumonia, but it was still dangerous in the 1920s (as it is today). In 1929, Blind Lemon Jefferson sang about the aches and pains after catching pneumonia while running down alleys in a cold rain trying to catch his woman cheating. Pneumonia Blues:

I'm aching all over, believe I got the pneumonia this time
I'm aching all over, believe I got the pneumonia this time
And it's all on account of that lowdown gal of mine


Slinking around the corner, running up alleys too
I said slinking around corners, running up alleys too
Watching my woman trying to see what she going to do


Stood out in the street one cold dark stormy night
I stood out in the street one cold dark stormy night
Trying to see if my good gal going to make it home alright


I believe she's found something that probably made her fall
She must have found something that made her fall
I stood out in the cold all night and she didn't come home at all


Wear BVDs in the winter, traveling around in the rain
Wear BVDs in the winter, traveling around in the rain
Last time my baby give me this pneumonia pain


Now when I die, bury me in a Stetson hat
I said when I die, bury me in a Stetson hat
Tell my good gal I'm going but I'm still standing pat

Big Bill Broonzy talked about aches from pneumonia in Pneumonia Blues (I Keep on Aching) in 1936:

I’m feeling sick and bad, my head is hurting too
Go get the doctor so he can tell me just what to do
Because I keep on aching, yes I ache both night and day
Yes, doctor, doctor please drive this old pneumonia away


I have got the pneumonia, I’ve got it in both my sides
My friends treat me so bad, til I just cant keep from crying for me
I keep aching, yes I ache both night and day
Yes, doctor, doctor please drive this old pneumonia away


I have used big fan(?), I used everything my friends say
Now I believe I’ll drink a hot toddy and go to bed
Because I keep aching, yes I ache both night and day
Yes, doctor, doctor please drive this old pneumonia away


My friends told my wife they had did all they could
They said put him in the hospital before he ruins the neighborhood
I keep aching, yes I ache both night and day
Yes, doctor, doctor please drive this old pneumonia away


The doctor said my fever was 103
The nurse said put him in crowded room, that’s where he ought to be
Because he keeps aching, yes I ache both night and day
Yes, doctor, doctor please drive this old pneumonia away

Influenza or the flu killed countless millions around the world in the twentieth century. One of the pandemics broke out in 1918. This was a few years before blues music was being recorded, but given the incredible virulence of what they called Spanish Flu, it’s surprising there aren’t more blues records about it. At east a couple recording artists did mention the flu including gospel great Blind Willie Johnson when he recorded Jesus is Coming Soon:

Well, we done told you, our God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon
We done told you, our God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon


In the year of 19 and 18, God sent a mighty disease
It killed many a-thousand, on land and on the seas
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon.


Great disease was mighty and the people were sick everywhere
It was an epidemic, it floated through the air
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon


The doctors they got troubled and they didn't know what to do
They gathered themselves together, they called it the Spanish influ
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon


Soldiers died on the battlefield, died in the count too
Well the Captain said to the lieutenant, "I don't know what to do"
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon


Well, God is warning the nation, He's a-warning them every way
To turn away from evil and seek the Lord and pray
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon.
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon.


Well, the nobles said to the people, "You better close your public schools"
"Until the events of death has ending, you better close your churches too"
We done told you, God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon
We done told God's done warned you, Jesus coming soon

Read the book of Zacharias, bible plainly says
Said the people in the cities dying, account of they're wicked ways

Ace Johnson was recorded for the Library of Congress by John Lomax at Clemens State Farm, Brazoria, Brazoria County, Texas.  Influenza:

In nineteen hundred and twenty-nine, men and women sure was dying
From the disease, what the doctors called the flu
People was dying everywhere, death went creeping through the air
For the groans of the sick sure was sad


It was God's almighty hand, he was judging this old land
North and South, East and West can be seen
Yes, he killed the rich and poor, and he's going to kill more
If you don't turn away from your sins


It was Memphis, Tennessee, doctors said it soon would be
In a few days, influenza we’ll control
But God showed that He was head, and He put the doctor to bed
And the nurse they broke down with the same


It was God's almighty hand, he was judging this old land
North and South, East and West can be seen
Yes, he killed the rich and poor, and he's going to kill more
If you don't turn away from your sins


Influenza is a disease, that makes you weak all in your knees
Tis a fever everybody sure does dread
Puts a pain in every bone, a few days and you are gone
To a place in the ground called the grave


It was God's almighty hand, he was judging this old land
North and South, East and West can be seen
Yes, he killed the rich and poor, and he's going to kill more
If you don't turn away from your sins

Silicosis, is a lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust. It’s common to tunnel diggers and mine workers. Josh White sang something of a labor protest song called Silicosis is Killing Me:

I said silicosis, you made a mighty bad break of me
Awww, silicosis made a mighty bad break of me
You robbed me of my youth and health
All you brought poor me was mis..


Now silicosis, you're a dirty robber and a thief
Awww silicosis, dirty robber and a thief
Robbed me of my right to live and all you brought poor me was grief


I was there digging that tunnel for six bits a day
I was there digging that tunnel for six bits a day
Didn't know I was digging my own grave, silicosis eating my lungs away


I says mama, mama, mama, cool my fevered head
I says mama, mama, come and cool my fevered head
I’m going to meet my Jesus, God knows I'll soon be dead


Six bits I got for digging, digging that tunnel hole
Six bits I got for digging, digging that tunnel hole
Takes me away from my baby, it sure done wrecked my soul


Now tell all my buddies, tell all my friends you see
Now tell all my buddies, tell all my friends you see
I'm going way up yonder, please don't grieve for me

Blind Blake used the parasitic hookworm as a metaphor for that man you don’t want hanging around:

Hookworm in your body and your food don't do you no good
Hookworm in your body, your food don't do you no good
Same way with a rounder come in a nice neighborhood


Dirty old hookworm got into my room, causes me to walk, groan and moan
Man like a hookworm got a hold to my baby
He got to point it fast people and I don't mean maybe


Never can tell what a hookworm man will do
You never can tell what a hookworm man will do
Take your baby and make her stop loving you


I'm going to leave my baby and let her have her way
I'm going to leave my baby and let her have her way
She’ll want me back some day when he throws her down


Mmmmm, mmmm, mmmm, mmmm
Her man like a hookworm taking a hold to my babe

Bumble Bee Slim used or a cold or tonsilitis to address a fear of pain and death in I Done Caught My Death of Cold:

Doctor, please give me something just to ease these awful pains
Doctor, please give me something just to ease these awful pains
I done caught my death of cold and it’s settling on my brain


I can’t hardly breathe, I got a wheezing in my chest
I can’t hardly breathe, I got a wheezing in my chest
Well, I’m having tonsilitis, doctor you should know the rest


Give me Oil of ninety-nine, three-sixty , anything
I done caught my death of cold
Lord have mercy


Ay doctor, is there any cure for me?
Ay doctor, is there any cure for me?
Well I’m in so much misery, I’m in so much misery


I done caught my death of cold, now my friends cannot be found
I done caught my death of cold, well my friends cannot be found
Well I been wading deep water and I been sleeping on the ground

It’s great to see how these different musicians use diseases. Blind Lemon Jefferson sees the aches and pains of pneumonia as yest another consequence of being with a no-good woman. Big Bill sees the aches and pains as a blues situation themselves and Bumble Bee Slim does something similar singing about his tonsilitis. Blind Blake uses the hookworm as a metaphor for a man showing up where’s he’s not wanted. The common thread is the abandonment of friends, family, or lovers with the disease. The fear of sickness and death was all to real, but the fear of the blues that comes from being truly alone never leaves.


Songs:
Pneumonia Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson
Pneumonia Blues (I Keep on Achin') - Big Bill
Jesus is Coming - Blind Willie Johnson
Influenza - Ace Johnson
Silicosis is Killing Me - Josh White
Hookworm Blues - Blind Blake
I Done Caught My Death of Cold - Bumble Bee Slim

Show 39 - President Blues

Songs:
Can You Blame the Colored Man - Gus Cannon
Blue Bird Blues Part 2 - Sonny Boy Williamson
He's In the Jailhouse Now - Blind Blake
Sylvester and His Mule Blues - Memphis Minnie
President Blues - Jack Kelly
Dear Mr. President/President Roosevelt - Lead Belly

Show 33 - Dog Blues

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 29 - Dealing with the Law

Show 29 - Dealing with the Law

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 27 - Policy Blues

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 19- Bootlegger's Blues

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 17 - Northbound Blues

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 12 - Living in a Violent World

Show 12 - Living in a Violent World -


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 2 - Poker Blues

Show 2 – Poker Blues
Poker Woman Blues - Blind Blake
Bad Luck Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson
Darktown Gambling - Robert and Charlie Hicks
Bed Spring Poker - Mississippi Sheiks
Billy Lyons and Stack O’Lee - Furry Lewis