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 49 - Sick With the Blues

Perhaps the most poetic song ever written about being sick is St. Louis Jimmy Oden’s 1941 classic Goin’ Down Slow:

I have had my fun if I don't get well no more
I have had my fun if I don't get well no more
My health is failing me and I'm going down slow


Please write my mother, tell her the shape I'm in
Please write my mother, tell her the shape I'm in
Tell her to pray for me, forgive me for all my sins


Tell her don't send no doctor, doctor can't do no good
Tell her don't send no doctor, doctor can't do no good
It's all my fault, didn't do the things I should


On the next train south, look for my clothes home
On the next train south, look for my clothes home
If you don't see my body, all you can do is moan


Mother please don't worry, this is all in my prayer
Mother please don't worry, this is all in my prayer
Just say your son is gone, I'm out in this world somewhere

Oden expressed the sentiment that a doctor couldn’t help. Bukka White did the same thing when he was calling for his lover to help with the High Fever Blues:

I'm taken down with the fever and it won't let me sleep
I'm taken down with the fever and it won't let me sleep
It was about three o'clock before he could let me be


I wish somebody would come and drive my fever away
I wish somebody come and drive my fever away
This fever I'm having sure is in my way


The fever I'm having sure is hard on a man
The fever I'm having sure is hard on a man
They don't allow my lover come and shake my hand


I wonder what’s the matter with the fever, sure is hard on a man
I want to know what’s the matter, how come it’s hard on a man
Doctor said it ain’t the fever, it’s that your lover had another man


Doctor get your fever gauge and put it under my tongue
Doctor get your fever gauge and put it under my tongue
Doctor says all you need, your lover in your arms


I want my lover come and drive my fever away
I want my lover come and drive my fever away
Doctor said she do me more good in a day than he would in all of his days

In Sick Bed Blues from 1937, Peetie Wheatstraw expressed what it’s like to have your baby suffering in bed:

When I left, my little girl was sick and in the bed
I said when I left home, my little girl was sick and in the bed
Now I know she wished that I was there, well now to hold her aching head


She's on her sickbed suffering with aches and pains
She's on her sickbed suffering with aches and pains
Now you know it hurts my heart well now when she calls my name


She rolls and she tumbles now from side to side
She rolls and she tumbles I said from side to side
Then again now you know all that I can do is start and hang my head and cry


Ain't it hard now when you're all alone
I said ain't it hard when you're all alone
I never did mind though, well now when all you’ve got is gone

The future gospel great Thomas Dorsey recorded a couple of variations on a song featuring a duet between a doctor and a patient. One featured Big Bill Broonzy and was released under the name Georgia Tom and Jane Lucas. Terrible Operation Blues:

Alright nurse, bring in the next patient


Get up on this table, pull off that gown
Raise up that right leg, let that left one down
Pull off them stockings, that silk underwear
The doctor's got to cut you, mama, don't know where


You got two or three tumors, shaped like a cube
Two or three leaks in your inner tube
Bring on that ether, bring on that gas
The doctor's got to cut you, mama, yes, yes, yes
The doctor knows to fix it, the doctor knows just what to do


Oh doctor, can I have a just a little water?
Shh, be quiet now, be quiet
Oh doctor, I'm so sick!
That’s alright, the doctor ain't gonna hurt you
Can I have a little water?
After a while
Oh, what you gonna do with that long knife?
Oh, don’t worry about that, that's just the doctor's tool
Oh doctor, what you gonna do with that saw?
Oh, we just take off legs with that, be quiet now
Ooooo


Now see, there you are, the doctor's through!
Oh doctor, what did you take out of me?
Alright, I’ll tell you now


Four monkey wrenches, and a two-horse shed
Pair of old britches and a bale of hay
Your ribs were kinda loose, they moved about
if I hadn't sewed you up, everything woulda fell out
I put in new tubes, tightened the exhaust
I went into your hood and cleaned your spark plugs off
Your body's kinda weak, now don't be hard
From now on be careful with them connection rods
Alright, doctor!
The doctor knows to fix it, the doctor knows just what to do


Oh gee, doctor, but I feel fine
Oh... that’s fine
Hey doctor, I feel like I wanna do a little messaround
That so? Go ahead
Ooooh, say doctor that’s good
Now, that's the way patients do that come to this hospital


Now your body's kinda weak, don't be hard
Go kinda easy with them connection rods
Alright, doctor!
The doctor knows to fix it, the doctor knows just what to do

The other was Operation Blues with Frakie Jaxon doing his female impersonation:

Is Doctor Eazit in?
I’m right in, what’s your trouble?
Oh Doctor I think I’ve got appendicitis
What side?
I need operating right there


I can see right now, you’ve got to take off all of your clothes
Do what? Now doctor, don’t get fresh, I’m a married woman
I can see right now madam, you’ve got to take off all of your clothes
Oh, I understand that, I can see you know what I need
Yes, better than anyone knows
Oh, doctor


Oh doctor, doctor I can’t undress before you
Alright now, don’t be bashful, don’t be bashful, I’m a doctor
I know, but doctor oh doctor, I cant ‘u’nress before you


But you do a lot of funny things, honey
When?
Before the doctor sees
Oh doc, you don’t mean to tell me that
Quiet


I know but look, what’s that you got there doctor? What’s that you got holding in your hand?
Don’t you worry about that, now don’t you worry I’m, the doctor
Yeah, but a woman knows doctor
Please tell me, what’s all of that you’ve got holding in your hand
That’s nothing but my tools honey, can’t you understand?
Oh, I understand now


Now be real quiet madam, lay flat on your back
This way doc? This way?
No, just kinda raise that left leg a little
Oh, now, I can do that
Now be real quiet madam, lay flat on your back
How am I doing now?
Fine


But if you hurt me doctor, I swear I ain’t never coming back
I won’t hurt you
Oh, doctor you’re hurting me...
Oh... oooo.. yes, that is nice, you’re doing so much good
O doctor, kiss me, kiss me
Be quiet


Now how do you feel sweet lady?
Is there anymore that the doctor can do?
Now how do you feel sweet lady?
Is there anymore that the doctor can do?
Put your clothes on now


Oh, I could stay right here forever
and take off a reason from you
Kiss me again doc....

In 1924, Clara Smith sang about needing a doctor to cure her blues in Prescription for the Blues:

All day long I'm worried, all night long I'm blue
I'm so awfully lonesome, I don't know what to do
So I ask you doctor, see if you can find
Something in your practice to pacify my mind
Doctor, doctor write me a prescription for the blues, the weary blues


Let me tell you doctor why I'm in misery
Once I had a love, he went away from me
Been to see the Gypsy, hoodoo doctors too
Shook their heads and told me, nothing they could do
Doctor, doctor write me a prescription for the blues, the mean old blues


Like a little baby, all day long I cry
And if you can't cure me, I'm just as sure to die
Give me something poison, doctor won't you please
Then I'll sign a paper, died with the heart disease
Doctor, doctor write me a prescription for the blues, the plain old blues

Memphis Minnie sang about how tough it is when the doctor tells you not to drink anymore in Doctor, Doctor Blues:

Doctor stopped me from drinking, boys, I can't smoke no more
Doctor stopped me from drinking, boys, I can't smoke no more
And I can't see no peace, seems like nowhere I go


Oh, doctor, doctor, you know I got a lot of faith in you
I'd trust you everywhere
Oh, doctor, doctor, you know I got a lot of faith in you
But it hurt me so bad, when you say if I took another drink, nothing you could do


Oh, doctor, doctor, I ain't drinked in a great long time
Oh, doctor, doctor, I ain't drinked in a great long time
Bring us half a pint
I'm gonna take a drink of this, if the good Lord don't change my mind


Now, look here, doctor, don't you know my mama's done gone blind?
Now, look here, doctor, don't you know my mama's done gone blind?
I know her trouble
I was doing the best I could, but she wouldn't pay the doctor no mind


Oh, doctor, doctor, tell me what's my trouble now
Oh, doctor, doctor, tell me what's my trouble now
If you take another drink, I bet they put you in the ground
Doctor, you all right with me anyhow

Songs:
Going Down Slow - St. Louis Jimmy Oden
High Fever Blues - Bukka White
Sick Bed Blues - Peetie Wheatstraw
Terrible Operation Blues - Georgia Tom and Jane Lucas
Operation Blues - Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon
Prescription for the Blues - Clara Smith
Doctor, Doctor Blues - Memphis Minnie

Show 15 - Blues of the Great War

Show 15 - Blues of the Great War

Last show I looked at songs about bonuses promised to WWI veterans.  I thought this time I’d look at some songs about the war itself.  Because blues weren’t recorded (and its not even entirely clear what form the blues existed in) during the years that the US took part in the Great War, there aren’t that many songs about it.  But several blues artists did look back to recall the war, the army, and the effects on their lives at home and abroad. 

Kingfish Bill Tomlin’s Army Blues tells a story of going to war talks about a soldier in combat in France:

Now it was late last night, late last night

I said late last night, I knocked on your door

You were so lowdown and dirty, you'll reap just what you sow

She cried please Uncle Sam, please Uncle Sam

She cried please Uncle Sammy give him one more chance

Won't you please hurry your steamboat and bring my man from France

I want to sit down, write a letter, mail it to my dear old Uncle Sam

I want to sit down, write me a letter, mail it to my Uncle Sam

Tell him when the war is all over, please take him out of that jam

So it was fourteen days, fourteen days

Mama it was fourteen days off on that deep blue sea

Met old Kaiser and his men and they were playing "Nearer my God to Thee"

So we went down into Belgium, we drilled down on the firing line
We marched down into German, drilled up on the firing line
We did everything in the world to change old Kaiser's mnid

So at last they found Kaiser, he was laying dead at rest

I said At last they found him, Kaiser laying dead at rest

Had the doctors taken over a quarter, but it's out of his chest

Nearly 400,000 African-American soldiers served in the First World War almost all of them drafted.  Nearly 40,000 of those were combat troops that served in France.  Most served as laborers at army bases at home and abroad.

War and the draft inevitably created the classic blues situation of a man separated from his woman.  Clara Smith talked about the government stealing all the men in her life to serve in the war effort in Uncle Sam Blues:

Let me tell you postman, what Sammy has done to me
Let me tell you postman, what Uncle Sam, he has done to me
He took my husband, my good man, come back and got my used‑to‑be


Uncle Sam is so bad, he walks so doggone cute
Uncle Sam is so bad, he walks so doggone cute
He took my daddy out of his boss bag, put him in a khaki suit


Going to sit down and write a letter to my Uncle Sam
Going to sit down and write a letter to my Uncle Sam
Tell him that war is over, please send me back my man


Uncle Sam has told me that things are bought around
Uncle Sam has told me that things are bought around
He took all the booze away and my good brown from town

Clara Smith from 1924 singing about losing her man to Uncle Sam.  Ma Rainey took on a similar theme saying she’s follow her man off to war if she could in a song called Army Camp Harmony Blues:

My man is leaving, crying won't make him stay
Lord, my man is leaving, crying won't make him stay
If crying do any good, I'd cry my poor self away


If I had wings, I'd fly all over the land
If I had wings, I'd fly all over the land
When I looked down, I'd find my old‑time man

Texas musician Coley Jones had an interesting take on the combat experience in the Great War with a very interesting song he recorded in 1929 called An Army Mule in No Man’s Land. The song is actually a version of a song written during the war and performed by Billy Beard of the Al. G. Fields Minstrels, a popular white minstrel group.  I don’t know if Coley Jones served in the war or if he intentionally personalized the song to reflect his experience or that of the general black soldier.  But his story making sure his life is valued above that of a mule must have reflected the thoughts of many in an army infused with institutional racism:

Deacon Jones left his congregation about two years ago
Going to help his country fight
Says he didn't mind going out in no man's land, he knowed that Uncle Sam was right


They put him on that mule that pulled that cannon round
Captain told him "right there you must ride"
He looked at the captain, said "That mule's gonna ride its place, but let me tell you what I've got on my mind:


When I get out in no man's land, they'll soon found out I'm no fool
I don't mind fighting for my Uncle Sam, not in partnership with nobody's mule
Now suppose that mule would balk on the firing line, that's where I'd leave him about a thousand miles behind


When I get out in no man's land, I can't be bothered with nobody's mule (not even my pappy's)"


Now I joined the Salvation Army about seven years ago, just to wear a uniform so bright
All at once I was called up to go and fight
Not thinking that everything would be right


Now the captain said, the healthy men must go right straight to the front
Because they was going to be just fine
There was me and that mule, we did deep down have a bad cold
Right there we got the first choice of the firing line


When I got out in no Man's Land, they soon found out I wasn't no fool
I didn't mind fighting for my Uncle Sam most anytime, but not in partnership with a mule
Now suppose that captain hollered "Boy, more then attack, how in the world would that mule help any man fight


When I got out in no Man's Land, they soon found out I wasn't no fool
I hope you heard me

Mules were commonly used in addition to horses by world war one troops. 

Blind Lemon Jefferson also addressed the blues situation of a man being sent to war in the first verse of Wartime Blues from 1926:

What you going to do, when they send your man to war
What you going to do, when they send your man to war
What you going to do, when they send your man to war
I'm going to drink muddy water, go sleep in a hollow log


Ain't got nobody, I'm all here by myself
Got nobody, I'm all here by myself
Got nobody, I'm all here by myself
Well these women don't care, but the men don't need me here


Well I'm going to the river, going to walk it up and down
Going to the river, walk it up and down
Going to the river, walk it up and down
If I don't find Corrina, I'm going to jump overboard and drown


If I could shine my light, like a headlight on some train
If I could shine, like a headlight on some train
If I could shine, like a headlight on some train
I would shine my light in Corinna's brain


Well they tell me that southbound train had a wreck last night
Lord that southbound train had a wreck last night
Lord that southbound train had a wreck last night
That little section fireman ain't treating your railroad right


Well the girl I love is the one I crave to see
Woman I love is the one I crave to see
Woman I love is the one I crave to see
Well she's living in Memphis and the fool won't write to me


Now tell me woman what have I said and done
Hey mama what have I said and done
Hey mama what have I said and done
You treat me like my trouble have just begun

Songs:
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