Show 51 - Levee Camp Blues

Levee construction began in the 19th century in the U.S. on the Mississippi River and rivers like the Red and the Brazos. Work has pretty much continued on them since. In the 1920s and especially the 30s, government contractors brought laborers into camps to build the levees higher and higher. These camps were wild places where the only law was the boss. Murder and other crimes were common. It was yet another situation where black laborers were brutally exploited. Still, there was no shortage of men looing for jobs on the levees. Pay was better than sharecropping. At least when a worker got paid. They often didn’t.

Texas singer Gene Campbell told the story when he recorded Levee Camp Man in 1930:

These contractors, they are getting so slack
These contractors, they are getting so slack
They’ll pay you half of your money and hold the other half back

There ain’t but two men that get paid off
There ain’t but two men that get paid off
That’s the commissary clerk and the walking boss

I see somebody coming down to the water trough
I see somebody coming down to the water trough
I know it ain’t the contractor, it’s that doggone walking boss

A levee camp mule and a levee camp man
A levee camp mule and a levee camp man
They work side by side, and it sure is man for man

A levee camp man ain’t got but two legs you know
A levee camp man ain’t got but two legs you know
But he puts in the same hours that a mule do on four

I wouldn’t drive no four-mule team
I wouldn’t drive no four-mule team
For no doggone contractor I’ve ever seen

Men on the levee hollering “Whoa Haw Gee”
Men on the levee hollering “Whoa Haw Gee”
And the women on the levee camp hollering “Who wants me?”

Whoa, Haw, and Gee are direction calls for the mule teams. The women hollering who wants me presumably would have been prostitutes. Women at levee camps did include prostitutes as well as the wives and girlfriends of the men. In 1927, Lucille Bogan, recording as Bessie Jackson, sang about how difficult it was to be a levee camp girl in Levee Blues:

Down on the levee, Camp Number Nine
Down the levee, Camp Number Nine
You can pass my house, honey you can hear me cry

I never had no blues, until I come by here
I never had no blues, until I come by here
I'm going to leave this camp, you can’t start in here

My sister got the, brother got them too
We all got the levee camp blues
I ain't found no doctor, ain't no doctor in this whole round world
I ain't found no doctor, ain't no doctor in this whole round world
Just to cure the blues, the blues of a levee camp girl

In 1941, Son House recorded Levee Camp Blues for the Library of Congress telling a story about a woman after the good pay of a man working on the levee:

Every evening she would be standing at the landing crying
Oh she would be standing at the landing crying
Why don’t that big boat hurry and bring home that man of mine

Way down the river you get to hear that big boat whistle blow
Oh, you could hear the big boat when she blow
Well when that doney got that check, I said, she couldn’t use me no more

I’m going away, I’m going to stay a great long time
I’m going, I’m going to stay a great long time
You know I ain’t coming back, honey, until you change your mind

Oh, don’t a man feel bad when the good old sun goes down
Whoo, I said when the good old sun goes down
I said he don’t have a soul, boy, his soul is in the ground

Alan Lomax recorded work songs including an example of the type of music sung by levee workers. Levee Camp Holler:

Whoo, I woke up this morning and I was feeling bad
Whoa, babe, I was feeling bad
I was thinking about the good time that I once have had

Whoa Lord, boy she brought my breakfast this morning and she didn’t know my name, she didn’t know my name
She said give it to the long line skinner with the brass knob hand
She said give it to the long line skinner with the brass knob hand

Oh, boys, iIf you want to go down to Mr. Charlie and don’t get hurt,
Go down Monday morning when the boy’s at work, you’ll be alright, you’ll be alright
Mmm, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord
Boys, I got a woman up here right away looking for me
Boys, she’s looking for me, she’s looking for me
Lord, I’m going home before long, hmmm
Bye bye, bye bye baby, I’ll be home before long

Texas Alexander recorded a similiar type of work song in 1927 for Okeh records, Levee Camp Moan accompanied by Lonnie Johnson on guitar.  It’s a levee camp moan set to some amazing music:

Mmmmmm
Lord, they accused me of murder, but I haven’t harmed a man
Accused me of murder, I haven’t harmed a man
They have accused me of murder, and I haven’t harmed a man

They have accused me of forgery and I can’t write my name
Lord, They have accused me of forgery and I can’t write my name

Went all around that whole corral
I couldn’t find a mule with his shoulder well
I couldn’t find a mule with his shoulder well

Worked all morn and I worked all day
I couldn’t find a mule with his shoulder well

Mmmmmm, mmmmmm mmmmmm
Lord, that morning bell
Lord, she went up the country, yeah, but she’s on my mind
Well she went up the country, but she’s on my mind

If she don’t come on the big boat, she better not last
If she don’t come on the big boat, bog boat, she better not last
Lord, If she don’t come on the Big Boat, I mean she better not last

Leadbelly also examined the abuse of levee camp mules in his 1935 Library of Congress Recording, I am All Out and Down about life on the levee camp and a woman wanting a man's pay:

Honey, I'm all out and down
Honey, I'm broke baby, and I ain't got a dime
Every good man gets in hard luck some time
Don't it baby, don't it baby, don't it baby, don't it baby

Ah the mules and the horses taking corn and hay
The women in the levee, shouting 'cause it's morn' pay day
Sweet day, sweet day, sweet day

Honey, I’m a long ways from you
Honey, I'm going to tell my woman like the Dago told the Jew
You don't want me, honey I don't want you
Tell me baby, tell me baby, tell  me baby, tell me baby

Well the sun is going down and the mules is getting hungry and the men are getting hungry too
And just thinking about it’s close to payday
And the man had a brown skin woman
And he he wished pay day would move off a little further
So he wouldn't give his baby nothing til payday comes
She was shouting because she knows it’s morn pf payday
And here’s what the woman said:

Ah the mules and the horses taking for the corn and hay
The women in the levee, shouting 'cause it's morn pay day
Crying Day, crying day, sweet day, sweet day, sweet day, sweet day, oh day

Honey, what you want me to do?
Honey, I'm going to tell my woman like the Dago told the Jew
You don't want me, honey I don't want you
Tell me baby, tell me baby, tell me baby, oh baby, oh baby

The brownskin woman keeps you worried all the time
Brownskin woman makes a good-eyed man go blind
Won’t you baby, won’t you baby, won’t you baby, won’t you baby, won’t you baby?

Honey, I’m a long ways from home
Honey, I’m the poor boy a long way from home
Can't get nobody one the ?
Can I baby, can I baby, can I baby, can I baby?

Honey, I’m all out and down
Honey, a yellow woman makes a preacher lay his bible down
A jet black woman makes a jackrabbit hug a hound
Won’t you baby, won’t you baby? Ah baby, ah baby

Don’t it baby, don’t it baby, don’t it baby, don’t it baby

Well, do you hear me blow my horn?
Honey, keep it in the market gunning side by side
Can’t get to ? nothing will let you ride
Won’t it baby, won’t it baby, won’t it baby, won’t it baby?

Honey, I’m bound to sing this song, honey

Ma Rainey saw the levee camps as something keeping a man and a woman apart. She recorded Levee Camp Moan in 1925:

My man has left and he’s gone away
Back to the levee where he used to stay
I kiss and hug him and his kiss is good
I feel so lonesome and awful blue
That’s the reason you hear me moan the levee camp moan, I can’t help myself

Each night and moment I yearn for romance
Back to the levee where my man be
That’s the reason I moan the levee camp moan

I’ve been to ? I’ve been to Houston
It’s all because I love him baby
That’s the reason you hear me moan the levee camp moan

Mmmmm, mmmmm,
It’s all because of...
That’s the reason you hear me moan the levee camp moan

In 1941, Washboard Sam sang about a more modern levee camp with most of the same problems. Levee Camp Blues:

Says I worked in a levee camp just about a month ago
Says I worked in a levee camp just about a month ago
Says I wind so many wagons, it made my poor hands sore

We slept just like dogs, eat beans both night and day
We slept just like dogs, eat beans both night and day
But I never did know just when we were due our pay

They had two shifts on day and the same two shifts at night
They had two shifts on day and the same two shifts at night
But if a man winds wagons, he can't treat his baby right

Yeah boy, wind it now, wind it

Electric lights going out, telephone is bogging down
Electric lights going out, telephone is bogging down
I'm going to keep on winding because I'm the best old winder in town

Songs:

Levee Camp Man - Gene Campbell
Levee Blues - Lucille Bogan
Levee Camp Blues - Son House
Levee Camp Holler
Levee Camp Moan - Texas Alexander
I'm All Out and Down - Lead Belly
Levee Camp Moan - Ma Rainey
Levee Camp Blues - Washboard Sam

Show 40 - Boll Weevil Blues

The boll weevil--its a beetle that's less than a quarter of an inch long, but capable of destroying entire crops of cotton. In the 1920s, the boll weevil infested virtually every cotton growing area in the United States. To singers in these areas, the boll weevil became simultaneously a disaster that could destroy someone's livelihood and something that could be identified with. A seemingly powerless creature capable of completely subverting the goals of the agricultural ruling class. Its no surprise that one of the Mississippi delta's great storytellers wrote and recorded a song about the boll weevil. Charley Patton recorded Mississippi Bo Weavil at his first recording session in 1929 but there are reports of him playing the song a early as 1908 when the boll weevil might first have shown up at Dockery plantation where he lived.

It's a little boll weevil moving in the .... lord
You can plant your cotton and you won't get half a bale, lord
Boll weevil boll weevil, where's your little home?
"Louisiana and Texas is where I'm bred and born, lord"

Well I saw the boll weevil, Lord a‑circle Lord in the air, lord
The next time I seen him, Lord he had his family there, lord
Boll weevil left Texas, Lord he bid me fare you well, lord
Where you going now?

"I'm going down to Mississippi, going to give Louisiana hell"
Boll weevil told the farmer that I ain't going to treat you fair
Took all the blossoms and leave you an empty square
Next time I seen you, you have your family there, lordy

Boll weevil and his wife went and sit down on the hill
Boll weevil told his wife let's take this forty in
Boll weevil told his wife, I believe I may go north, lord

Aw, I won't tell nobody

Let's leave Louisiana and go to Arkansas
Well I saw the boll weevil, Lord a‑circle Lord in the air, lord
Next time I seen him, lord he had his family there, lord
Boll weevil told the farmer that I ain't going to treat you fair

...
Boll weevil boll weevil where your little home?
"Most anywhere they raise cotton and corn, lord"
Boll weevil boll weevil call that treating me fair, lord
Next time I seen you, you had your family there

Paramount Records originally released Mississippi Boweavil Blues under the artist name "The Masked Marvel." The song tells the story of the Boll Weevil coming from Texas and spreading throughout the South. Ma Rainey also sang about the boll weevil being everywhere you go in her 1923 recording Bo-Weavil Blues:

Hey boll weevil, don't sing the blues no more
Hey hey boll weevil, don't sing the blues no more
Boll weevils here, boll weevils everywhere you go

I'm a lone boll weevil, been out a great long time
I'm a lone boll weevil, been out a good long time
I'm going to tell you people, the evil boll weevil loves some vine

I don't want no man to put no sugar in my tea
I don't want no man to put no sugar in my tea
That bug is so evil, I'm afraid it might poison me

I went downtown and bought me a hat
I brought it back home, I put it on the shelf
Looked at my bed, I'm getting tired of sleeping by myself

Harmonica player Jaybird Coleman also recorded a boll weevil song. Its one of the many that explicitly compares the boll weevil to a man out to give the farmer a hard time. Boll Weevil Blues:

Boll weevil boll weevil you think you treat me wrong
Eat up all of my cotton, you done started on my corn

...
If you don't let me have it, down the road I'm going

Boll weevil's got mustache, boll weevil's got hands
Sometimes he's walking in the tall canes, just like a natural man

Boll Weevil told the farmer
... your cotton, plant it in your yard

Blind Willie McTell recorded a great take on the Boll Weevil theme:

Boll Weevil, Boll Weevil where you get your great long bill?
"I got it from Texas, I got it from the western hills."
"I got it from Texas, I got it from the western hills."

Boll Weevil, he told the farmer, said "don't you buy no more pills,"
"You aint gonna make enough money to pay your drugstore bills."
"You aint gonna make enough money to even pay your drugstore bills"

Boll Weevil, he told the farmer, "don't you plow no more."
"Ain't gonnna make enough flour in your back door."
"Ain't gonnna make enough flour to even put in your back door."

Boll Weevil, he told the farmer, "don't buy no Ford machine"
"You aint gonna make enough money to even buy gasoline."
"Aint gonna make enough money to even buy gasoline.

Boll Weevil said to the farmer, "don't buy no fields"
"You aint gonna make enough money to even buy your meal."
"Won't make enough money to even buy your meal."

Boll Weevil, Boll Weevil where you say you got your great long bill?
"I got it from Texas, out in the western hills."
"Way out in the panhandle, out in the Western hills."

Boll Weevil ballads were recorded by dozens of artists in the 20s and 30s. The black singer's identification with the boll weevil is clear, some singers even took Boll Weevil for their name. The best know recorded for Vocalion under the name Sam Butler. His real name was probably James Jackson, but he's known best from the name on his Paramount recording, Bo Weavil Jackson. Devil and My Brown Blues is his take on the boll weevil.

Charlie Dad Nelson recorded another song about the interaction between farmer and boll weevil, Cotton Field Blues:

Boll weevil, boll weevil, where did you come from?
Boll weevil, boll weevil, where did you come from?
From Beaumont Texas, I'm just over here on the farm

Farmer said to the boll weevil, don't you know you doing me wrong?
Farmer said to the boll weevil, don't you know you doing me wrong?
Eat up all my cotton and eat up all my corn

Says I'm going to town to buy a little gasoline
Says I'm going to town to buy a little gasoline
He's the worst boll weevil I believe I ever seen

With Let Me Be Your Boll Weevil, Lee Brown took a different take on the boll weevil, finding the sexual metaphor in its burrowing inside of the cotton boll.

Dozens of field recordings were made of boll weevil songs. Check out the Document Records collection, Boll Weevil Here, Boll Weevil Everywhere. Finious "Flat Foot" Rockmore recorded one of the more memorable versions.

Songs about the Boll Weevil were recorded in every cotton state. The devastation caused by the little bug had a tremendous impact on the lives of those connected to agriculture. The weevil seemed indestructible and did its work in secret, hatching in the boll to consume from within. You can see why it might appeal to those oppressed by the agricultural system in the American South. The boll weevil continued to frequently destroy crops in North America until the US Department of Agriculture started the Boll Weevil Eradication Program in 1978. Now, the weevil may not be the force it once was, but the songs testify to its ability to wreak havoc with the agricultural ruling class.


Songs:
Mississippi Boweavil Blues - Charley Patton
Bo-Weavil Blues - Ma Rainey
Boll Weevil - Jaybird Coleman
Boll Weevil - Blind Willie McTell
Devil And My Brown Blues - Boweavil Jackson
Cotton Field Blues - Charlie "Dad" Nelson
Let Me Be Your Bo Weavil- Lee Brown
Boll Weevil - Finious "Flat Foot" Rockmore

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

Show 3 - Lesbian Blues

Male guitar players get most of the attention in blues discussion. I thought I’d devote a little time to the women. Particularly to the women who like other women. There's a treasury of blues songs by and about lesbians. Lucille Bogan recording under the name Bessie Jackson, accompanied by pianist Walter Roland from 1935 recorded one of the best. She's talking about bull dykes or bull daggers with B.D. Woman’s Blues:

Comin' a time, B.D. women they ain't going to need no men
Comin' a time, B.D. women they ain't going to need no men
Cause they way treat us is a lowdown dirty sin

B.D. women, you sure can't understand
B.D. women, you sure can't understand
They got a head like a sweet angel and they walk just like a natural
man

B.D. women, they all done learned their plan
B.D. women, they all done learned their plan
They can lay their jive just like a natural man

B.D. women, B.D. women, you know they sure is rough
B.D. women, B.D. women, you know they sure is rough
They all drink up plenty whiskey and they sure will strut their stuff

B.D. women, you know they work and make their dough
B.D. women, you know they work and make their dough
And when they get ready to spend it, they know they have to go

Ma Rainey was the first superstar of the classic blues women. She was a married woman, of course married to Pa Rainey, but in the 1920s, her love of women was no secret. She was arrested in 1925 after a police raid at a party where several women including Ma were found together naked and having sex. In Prove It on Me while backed up by a sort of a jazz jug band that featured Thomas Dorsey she sings about the elusiveness of her sexuality and her feelings toward men and women.

Went out last night had a great big fight, everything seemed to go all wrong
I looked up, to my surprise, the gal I was with was gone
Where she went I don't know, I mean to follow everywhere she goes
Folks said I'm crooked, I didn't know where she took it, I want the whole world to know
They say I do it, ain't nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me
Went out last night with a crowd of my friends
They must have been women 'cause I don't like no men

It's true I wear a collar and a tie
Make the wind blow all the while
But they say I do it, ain't nobody caught me
They sure got to prove it on me

They say I do it, ain't nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me

I went out last night with a crowd of my friends
It must have been women 'cause I don't like no men.
Wear my clothes just like a fan
Talk to the gals just like any old man
'Cause they say I do it, ain't nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me

Ma Rainey’s most famous disciple was Bessie Smith, whose sexuality was equally tough to nail down. She openly slept with at least one female singer in her band and allegedly had a sexual relationship with a gay male piano player and songwriter named Porter Grainger in addition to a variety of men. Foolish Man Blues doesn’t reveal anything more about her sexuality but it does have some interesting takes on gender:

Men sure is deceitful and they's gettin' worser every day
Men sure is deceitful and they's gettin' worser every day
Act like a bunch of women, they's just-a gab, gab, gabbin' away
There's two things got me puzzled, there's two things I can't stand
There's two things got me puzzled, there's two things I can't stand
A mannish actin' woman and a skippin' twistin' woman actin' man

Gladys Bentley was an openly gay singer who was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance. She dressed in a very masculine fashion, often in tuxedos. She once sent out announcements reporting that she’d married a white woman in New Jersey. By the 1950s, a more conservative social climate led her to recant her openness, and she claimed to have fixed her sexuality with a series of medical treatments. She married a man.
Singer Billy Mitchell was able to straddle the line between blues and vaudeville in a way similar to Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. He recorded a fun number Two Old Maids in a Folding Bed

Two old maids in a folding bed
One turned over to the other and said
I need some loving, that's just what I need

Two old maids in a folding bed
One turned over to the other and said
Kiss Me, Why not kiss me?

Two old maids in a folding bed
One turned over to the other and said
Oh you know you're driving me crazy
What can I do? What can I do for

Two old maids in a folding bed
One turned over to the other and said
Yes, yes, we have no bananas
We have no bananas for

Two old maids in a folding bed
One turned over to the other and said
Keep your sunny side up, just keep your sunny side up

...

Lesbians were common on the classic blues scene of the 1920s and 1930s with some of the singers I finished tonight and others like Alberta Hunter. They lived in an environment where their sexuality could at times be flaunted, at other times it had to be hidden. The songs reflect this. Their stage shows did even moreso. Whatever they were representing, most of these performers never stopped entertaining and good music.

Songs:
B.D. Woman’s Blues - Lucille Bogan
Prove It On Me - Ma Rainey
Foolish Man Blues - Bessie Smith
Bed Spring Poker - Gladys Bentley
Two Old Maids - Billy Mitchell