Show 56 - Delivery Man Blues

In the pre-war period, people were dependent on delivery men coming to their doors with the necessities of life: coal to keep warm, ice to keep food fresh, and that food itself was often delivered. There were also plumbers and other repairmen showing up at your home. These men were necessary, but the way a lot of blues singers saw it they were trouble. A man showing up at your house when your woman is home alone couldn’t do any good. Washboard Sam recorded a song about it that became a classic - We Gonna Move:

When I get you mama, we going to move on the outskirts of town
When I get you mama, we going to move on the outskirts of town
Because I don't want nobody always hanging around

Well the reason mama, I don't want you to stay here
I don't need no iceman, I'm going to get me a frigidaire
That's why I'm going to move on the outskirts of town
Because sweet baby, I don't want no iceman hanging around

Well I'm going to heat with gas mama and not with coal
I don't need no coalman stopping and hauling coal
That's why we going to move on the outskirts of town
Because I don't want no coalman always hanging around

Well I'm going to bring my groceries mama myself every day
That’s going to keep that grocery boy, I know, away
That's what I'm going to do when we move on the outskirts of town
Because I don't want no delivery boy always hanging around

Well it may be funny mama, as funny as can be
If we have any babies, I want them all to look like me
That's why I'm going to move on the outskirts of town
Because I don't want nobody always hanging around

Blind Boy Fuller recorded the same song a few months after Washboard Sam. His version was titled I'm Going to Move (To the Edge of Town):

I‘m gonna take my baby and move on to the edge of town
Yes, I‘m gonna take my baby, gonna move on out of your town
‘Cause I don't want nobody always hanging around

Now the reason why, now baby, I don't want you to stay here
I don't need no iceman, I'm going to get me a Frigidaire
That’s what I’m gonna do mama, when I move on out of your town
Yes, I don’t want nobody always hanging around

Then I’m going to heat with gas mama and not with coal
I ain’t gonna have no coalman stopping and hauling coal
That’s why mama, I’m gonna move on out of this town
Cause I don’t want nobody, always hanging around

Well I'm going to bring my groceries baby, myself every day
That’s going to keep that grocery boy, I know, away
That’s why I’m gonna do when I move on out of your town
Cause I don’t want no grocery boy always hanging around

I may be funny mama, funny as daddy can be
If we raise any babies, I want them all to look like me
That’s why I’m gonna do when I move on out of your town
Cause I don’t want nobody, always hanging around

Papa Charlie Jackson took a different perspective with Coal Man Blues in 1927. His song was about the coal man on the road whose woman was at home alone:

I get up early in the morning, sweet mama and I comb and curry my horse
I get up early in the morning, sweet mama and I comb and curry my horse
Because I don't want nobody not to see my pa

Then I go up to the coal pile, get me a thing of ? coal
Then I go up to the coal pile, get me a thing of ? coal
Then I get on my wagon, then I'm a coal‑traveling soul

I ought to tell ‘em how much for coal: thirty‑five cents a bag
I ought to tell ‘em how much for coal: thirty‑five cents a bag
And if you want to know my name, just look around on my sack

I got on my wagon, trying my best to sell my coal
I got on my wagon, trying my best to sell my coal
My baby's back home serving my jellyroll

Now a lot of you women, some of you ought to be put in jail
Now a lot of you women, some of you all ought to be put in jail
Some standing on the corner trying to get themselves in jail

I’ve got coal
I’m selling coal
I’m selling coal
I’m delivering coal

Baby, baby, baby can’t you see your papa’s got coal?

Peg Leg Howell recorded Coal Man Blues about a tragedy involving a coalman on the road:

Woke up this morning 'bout 5 o'clock
Got me some eggs and a nice pork chop, cheap cigar and a magazine
Had to run pretty fast to catch the 5:15

Let me tell you something that I seen
Coal man got run over by the 5:15
Cut off his arms and it crushed his ribs, did the poor man die? No, the poor man lived

Let me tell you something that I know
Coal man got run over by the 5:44
Cut off his arms and it crushed his head, did the poor man die? No, the poor man lived

Hard coal, stovewood, man
Hard coal and the stovewood man
I ain't got but a little bit left, if you don't come get it, gonna burn it myself

Just the wood in the stove and the match in your hand
Get the wood in the stove and the match in your hand
Wood in the stove and the match in your hand
You run to the door and stop to tell the coal man

Sell it to the rich and I sell it to the poor
Sell it to the rich and I sell it to the poor
Sell it to the rich and I sell it to the poor
I sell it to the nice brown standing in the door

Furnish your wood, furnish your coal
Furnish your wood and I furnish your coal
Furnish your wood and I furnish your coal
Make you love me, doggone your soul

I've got your water, got your gas
Got your water and got your gas
Got your water and I've got your gas
You treat me mama, then that’s your last

Let me tell you, mama, what's the matter now
Let me tell you, mama, what's the matter now
Let me tell you, mama, what's the matter now
You don't want me, take me anyhow

Sweet mama, sweet mama, what's on your mind?
Mama, sweet mama, what's on your mind?
Mama, sweet mama, what's on your mind?
Says, "You can't quit me, no need of trying”

I'm going up the country, don't you want to go?
Going up the country, don't you want to go?
Going up the country, don't you want to go?
Leaving here, ain't coming back no more

Me and my rider and two or three more
Me and my rider and two or three more
Me and my rider and two or three more
We're going up the country don't you want to go?

Went down the road, feeling bad
Went down the road, mama, feeling bad
Went down the road, mama, feeling bad
I feel so worried as I ever had

Me and my
Me and my mama and two or three more
Me and my brown, two or three more
Going up the country don't you want to go?

Going away and it won't be long
Going away and it won't be long
Going away and it won't be long
Don't believe I'm leaving, count the days I'm gone

Sonny Boy Williamson sang about wanting to be a coalman or an iceman who can visit women in their homes. Coal and Iceman Blues:

Lord, I would love to be your iceman, but I would like to be your coalman too
I said, I would love to be your iceman, but then, and I would wanna be your coalman too
Now, you wouldn't be telling your coalman, you know what your iceman do

I'm going to give you my phone number, so you can call Sonny Boy up everyday
I'm going to give you my phone number, so you can call Sonny Boy up everyday
Now you need any ice or coal, you must let Sonny Boy know right away

Now, I believe you need some ice, baby, your ice has done gotten old
I believe you need some ice, baby, your ice has done gotten old
Now I won't disturb none of your people, baby, I'll ease it in through your back door

Now tell me what the matter with your basement? I don't believe you use Sonny Boy's coal no more
Oh, tell me what the matter with your basement? I don't believe you use Sonny Boy's coal no more
Well, I always been nice to you, I would bring it in through your back door

Sonny Boy was offering ice and coal to get into that woman’s house as often as he could. In a similar vein, Bo Carter offered absolutely any service that you could possible need. It’s one of Bo Carter’s classic example of that sexual innuendo that can barely be considered innuendo, All-Around Man from 1936:

Now I ain't no butcher, no butcher's son
I can do your cutting 'til the butcher man comes
'Cause I'm a all-around man, oh I'm an all-around man
I'm mean I’m an all-around man, I can do most anything that comes to hand

Now I ain't no plumber, no plumber's son
I can do your screwing ‘til the plumber man comes
'Cause I'm an all-around man, oh I'm an all-around man
I mean I'm an all-around man, I can do most anything that comes to hand

Now I ain't no miller, no miller's son
I can do your grinding ‘til the miller man comes
'Cause I'm an all-around man, oh I'm an all-around man
I mean I’m an all-around man, I can do most anything that comes to hand

Now I ain't no milkman, no milkman's son
I can pull your titties 'til the milkman comes
'Cause I'm an all-around man, oh I'm an all-around man
I mean I'm an all-around man, I can do most anything that comes to hand

Now I ain't no spring man, no spring man's son,
I can bounce your springs 'til the spring man comes
'Cause I'm an all-around man, oh I'm an all-around man
I mean I'm an all-around man, I can do most anything that comes to hand

Now I ain't no auger man, no auger man's son
I can blow your hole 'til the auger man comes
'Cause I'm an all-around man, oh I'm an all-around man
I mean I'm an all-around man, I can do most anything that comes to hand

Bluesmen both feared delivery and service men coming to their house and wanted to be those men. Having your woman cheat on you is the ultimate blues situation and these are some great songs about being on . You can try and avoid the ice man with new technology like the frigidaire, but in the world of the blues a man with the woman home alone means trouble and it seem to be unavoidable.


Songs:
We Gonna Move - Washboard Sam
I'm Gonna Move (to the Edge of Town) - Blind Boy Fuller
Coal Man Blues - Papa Charlie Jackson
Coal Man Blues - Peg Leg Howell
Coal and Ice Man Blues - Sonny Boy Williamson
All Around Man - Bo Carter

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 45 - Dope Head Blues

Drugs and music seem inextricably linked. It certainly shows up in some of the early recorded blues. The word dope came around during the 19th century opium craze. But by 1927, when Victoria Spivey recorded Dope Head Blues (with Lonnie Johnson on guitar and Porter Grainger on piano) the term could apply to all kinds of drugs. Dope Head Blues is about the difficulties of drug addiction and a drug-induced delusional fantasy about being rich, important and healthy:

Just give me one more sniff of, another sniff of that dope
Just give me one more sniff of, another sniff of that dope
I'll catch a cow like a cowboy, and throw a bull without a rope


Doggone, I've got more money than Henry Ford or John D. ever had
Doggone, got more money than Henry Ford or John D. ever had
I bit a dog last Monday and forty doggone dogs went mad


Feel like a fighting rooster, feel better than I ever felt
Feel like a fighting rooster, feel better than I ever felt
Got double pneumonia and still I think I got the best health


Say, Sam
Go get my airplane and drive it up to my door
Aw, Sam, go get my airplane and drive it to my door
I think I'll fly to London, these monkey men makes mama sore


The president sent for me, the Prince of Wales is on my trail
The president sent for me, the Prince of Wales is on my trail
They worry me so much, I'll take another sniff and put them both in jail

Willie the Weeper was already an old song when Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon recorded it in 1927. Jaxon's version of the song would influence Cab Calloway's hit Minnie the Moocher a few years later. Willie the Weeper goes back to the Vaudeville era and tells the story of a drug-using chimney sweep that, like the protagonist of Victoria Spivey's song, engages in fantasy when he gets high:

Have you heard the story, folks, of Willie the Weeper?
Willie's occupation was a chimney sweeper
He had a dreaming habit, he had it kind of bad,
Listen, let me tell you about the dream he had


Dreamed he bought a hound from a man that lived in Turkey
He told the gals who's dancing all to make it kind of jerky
Danced until she wore the carpets off the floor
And said, you haven't done nothing, just do it once more


At the North Pole, someone shouted "Willie!"
Turned around and saw a sight that knocked him silly
Right before him in the zero breeze
A nudie chimp(?) was dancing in his BVDs


He walked around, and his feet started freezing
Someone said, "Kid, you better listen to reason"
Says, "I want my coffee, want it good and strong
I want to have biscuits eighteen inches long"


Now tell me, what would you do
If you could have all of your dreams come true?
Why there's something tells me that you'd lock your door
Like Willie the Weeper, and cry for more


Now take my little ship, dream's about over
Called the best from up on the shore
Hump on a camel, hump on a flea
Put them two humps together, you got nothing on me


Now tell me, what would you do
If you could have all of your dreams come true
There's something tells me that you'd lock your door,
Like Willie the Weeper, and cry for -- please go away and let me sleep
Don't disturb my slumber deep
Something tells me that you'd lock your door
Like Willie the Weeper, and cry for more, more, more, more, more

Marijuana became popular as a recreational drug in the second decade of the 20th century. It was criminalized by Congress in 1937. Drugs are probably more associated with jazz than blues, and the Harlem Hamfats bridged those two musical worlds perfectly. The Hamfats were also frequent accompanists to Frankie Jaxon later in his career. Weed Smoker's Dream is another fantasy about being rich recorded in 1936.

Sitting on a million, sitting on it every day
Can’t make no money giving your stuff away
Why don’t you do now, like the millionaires do
Put your stuff on the market and make a million too


Fay's a betting woman, she bets on every hand
She’s a tricking mother for you every where she land
Why don’t you do now like the millionaires do
Put your stuff on the market and make a million too


May's a good looking frail, she lives down by the jail
On her back though she got hot stuff for sale
Why don’t you do now like the millionaires do
Put your stuff on the market and make a million too

In 1938, Jazz Gillum recorded a song complaining about his woman using too much. Reefer Head Woman:

I can't see why my baby sleeps so sound
Well, I can't see why my baby sleeps so sound
She must have smoked that reefer and it's bound to carry her down


When I left her this morning, I left her sleeping sound
When I left her this morning, I left her sleeping sound
The only way she could kiss me is to run like a full bloodhound


She said she was going to leave, going to some no good town
She said she was going to leave, going to some no good town
She was a rough-cutting woman, she didn't like to break them down


If you got a good woman, mens, please don't take her around
If you got a good woman, mens, please don't take her around
She will get full of reefers and raise sand all over this town

Reefer-Head Woman featured Big Bill Broonzy and Washboard Sam. Those guys played another drug-related song recorded for Bluebird this time under then name Wasboard Sam and His Washboard Band. The song's about giving up pimping for the better money available selling dope. Bucket's Got a Hole in It:

Oh my bucket's got a hole in it, Oh my bucket got a hole in it, Oh my bucket got a hole in it
Can't buy no beer
When you walking down Thirty-First Street, you had better look around
The vice squad is on the beat and you'll be jailhouse bound

I was standing on the corner, everything was going slow
Can't make no money, tricks ain't walking no more

Going to start a little racket, going to start it out right
Going to sell moonshine in the day and sell the dope at night
Then if I can't make no money, going to catch the Santa Fe
Going to drink good liquor and let all women be

Piano player Curtis Jones was a prolific recording artist in both the pre-war period and later. In 1938 he recorded Reefer Hound Blues:

I'm high up on my reefer, I'm nothing but a reefer hound
I'm high up on my reefer, I'm nothing but a reefer hound
My gage has just hit bottom(?), I believe I'll lay my body down


My whole body is king, I feel like I'm a millionaire
My whole body is king, I feel like I'm a millionaire
If I'm broke, I still got money, If I'm hungry, I don't even care


Lord, I really like my gage, that weed you call the reefer tea
I really like my gage, that weed you call the reefer tea
It's done sent my whole body and it sure feels good to me


This weed I've been smoking, it's done sent my very soul
This weed I've been smoking, it's done sent my very soul
And nobody could imagine, unless it's another cat who blows


I'm so high, I swear I'm as high as I could
I am so high, I'm as high as I can be
I'm so doggone high, the sun and sky even look low to me

In 1941, New pianist Champion Jack Dupree recorded the first version of a song that had been around New Orleans for a few years and would become something of a drug anthem and an incredibly influential song on countless New Orleans musicians. Junker Blues:

They call, they call me a junker
Cause I'm loaded all the time
I don't use no reefer, I'll be knocked out with that angel wine


Six months, Six months ain't no sentence
And one year ain't no time
They got boys in penitentiary doing from nine to ninety-nine


I was standing, I was standing on the corner
With my reefers in my hand
Upstairs the sergeant took my reefers out of my hand


My brother, my brother used a needle
and my sister sniffed cocaine
I don't use no junk, I'm the nicest boy you ever seen

My mother, my mother she told me
and my father told me too
That that junk is a bad habit, why don't you leave it too?


My sister she even told me
And my grandma told me too
That using junk partner was going to be the death of you

The 1941 storyteller is in denial while his family and the police sergeant try and get him off the junk. That's unlike some of the later versions of the song (many recorded as Junko Partner) where the drug use is openly embraced.

Whether legal or illegal, drugs were a part of the lives of blues musicians and they sang about it. Almost all of the songs recognize the difficulties of a lifestyle that includes drug use. Delusions, harm to your health, time in jail they all show up. And like most blues, it includes trouble caused by women.


Songs:
Dope Head Blues - Victoria Spivey
Willie the Weeper - Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon
Weed Smoker's Dream - Harlem Hamfats
Reefer Head Woman - Jazz Gillum
Bucket's Got a Hole in It - Washboard Sam and his Washboard Band
Reefer Hound Blues - Curtis Jones
Junker Blues - Champion Jack Dupree

Show 42 - Minstrel Songs in the Blues Era

Minstrel shows and music played a huge part in shaping American popular culture. Though most people immediately think of white performers in blackface, black minstrelsy performed by African-American entertainers was popular and influential. In the first few decades of the twentieth century black performers from the minstrel stage like Ernest Hogan and Bert Williams were huge stars. These men actually did put burnt cork on their face to darken their skin and perform in blackface. Classic blues stars like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey shared these stages and developed their reputation with touring minstrel shows. We usually think of country blues (singers like Blind Lemon Jefferson or Charley Patton) as a departure from this kind of entertainment. But the influence of minstrelsy on country blues performers is clearly present. So I thought we'd take a look at some country blues performers looking back to the popular black music of their youth and some race records from the twenties and thirties of older minstrel songs.

Let's start with one of the deepest Mississippi country bluesmen. Son House recorded Am I Right or Wrong during his Library of Congress recording session in 1942. It's based on a song called There are Others Who Don't Think That Way by Shepard Edmonds, popular around the turn of the century when Edmonds was with the minstrel company called Isham's Octoroons. Here's what Son House did with it:
Am I right or wrong?

You may not think because I'm black
I'm gonna beg you to take me back
No baby, was I right or wrong

I'm going in the spring
I got a mess from shaking that thing
Now babe, was I right or wrong?

Up the heck, right down the pine
I lost my britches right behind
Now baby, was I right or wrong?

You may not think because you're brown
I'm gonna let you dog me around
Oh honey, was that right or wrong?

You may not think because you're yellow
I'm gonna give you my last poor dollar
No babe, was I right or wrong?

Look here honey what you want me to do
Done all I could to get along with you
Now honey, was I right or wrong?

You need not think because I'm black
I'm gonna beg you to take me back
No honey, was that right or wrong?

Now I'm going in the spring
I got a mess form shaking that thing
Now honey, was that right or wrong?

In 1909, The Florida Blossoms minstrel company was touring the South playing theaters or setting up shows under a big big tent. During that time, the group's singers were performing a song that had grown popular on the black minstrel circuit called I'm So Glad I'm Brown Skinned, Chocolate to the Bone. In 1928, Barbecue Bob recorded I'm so Glad I'm Brownskin for Columbia records.

So glad I'm brownskin, so glad I'm brownskin, chocolate to the bone
So glad I'm brownskin, chocolate to the bone
And I've got what it takes to make a monkey-man leave his home

Black man is evil, yellow is so lowdown
Black man is evil, yellow man is so lowdown
I walk into these houses just to see these black men frown

I'm just like Miss Lilliam, I'm just like Miss Lilliam, I mean Miss Lynn you see
I'm just like Miss Lilliam, I mean Miss Lynn you see
She said a brownskin man is just all right with me

So glad I'm brownskin, chocolate to the bone
So glad I'm brownskin, chocolate to the bone
And I've got what it takes to make a monkey-man leave his home

Yellow man won't quit, black man just won't hay
Yellow man won't quit, black man just won't hay
But a pigmeat mama crazy about brownskin baby ways

I got a yellow mama, I got a yellow mama, she always got a pleasant smile
I got a yellow mama, always got a pleasant smile
But that brownskin gal with those coal black dreamy eyes


So glad I'm brownskin, so glad I'm brownskin, I'm chocolate to the bone
So glad I'm brownskin, chocolate to the bone
And I've got what it takes to make a monkey-man leave his home

Hmmm, Hmmmm, Lord, Lord, Lord
And I've got what it takes to make a monkey-man leave his home

William Moore was a barber in Virginia and a bluesman. In 1928, he recorded the song Ragtime Millionaire that was written by Irving Jones, one of the most successful songwriters of his era. In 1902 and 1903 that song was a hit, being sung by black minstrel singers across the country. It's the kind of fantasy about being rich that was once popular and still appealed to Moore almost twenty-five years later.

I'm a rag, I'm a rag, I'm a rag, I'm a ragtime millionaire
All you little people take your hat off to me
Because I'm a ragtime millionaire

Mr. Henry's gonna send me a Ford, he must
Everybody else is gonna take my dust
Gonna put a little sign on: "In God We Trust"
I don't mean to have no fuss
All you little people take your hat off to me
Because I'm a ragtime millionaire

I'm a rag, I'm a rag, I'm a rag,
I'm a ragtime millionaire
All you little people take your hat off to me
Because I'm a ragtime millionaire

Some of the boys say that I'm gonna be late
No, if you please, I got a twenty-eight
Some boys say they gonna catch me at last
But all I got to do is just to step on the gas
All you little people take your hat off to me
Because I'm a ragtime millionaire

I'm a rag, I'm a rag, I'm a rag, I'm a ragtime millionaire
All you little people take your hat off to me
Because I'm a ragtime millionaire

Gonna take my sweetie to a ball tonight
Make those boys treat her right
Keep her out about half midnight
I don't mean to have no fight

All you little people take your hat off to me
Because I'm a ragtime millionaire

I'm a rag, I'm a rag, I'm a rag
I'm a ragtime millionaire
All you little people take your hat off to me
Because I'm a ragtime millionaire

Every tooth in my head is solid gold
Make those boys look icy cold
I brush my teeth with diamond dust
And I don't care if the bank would bust

All you little people take your hat off to me
Because I'm a ragtime millionaire

I'm a rag, I'm a rag, I'm a rag,
I'm a ragtime millionaire
All you little people take your hat off to me
Because I'm a ragtime millionaire

I'm a rag, I'm a rag, I'm a rag,
I'm a ragtime millionaire
All you little people take your hat off to me
Because I'm a ragtime millionaire

Banjo player Gus Cannon was one of the great jug band leaders in the twenties and thirties. He frequently looked back to minstrel songs for inspiration and like William Moore he recorded a wealth fantasy number that was a popular Irving Jones composition 25 years earlier. In 1927, he recorded My Money Never Runs Out. It took verses from Jones' song, My Money Never Gives Out as well as a song called I Don't Care If I Never Wake Up"written by Paul Knox. Gus Cannon's My Money Never Runs Out:

There's a certain yellow joker lives around this town
Just as lazy as lazy can be
Was long to shake, Says he hangs around
I love my hot belly

Early one morning come right away
Not a word was said
Boy I go back to bed, Man I give up my hand
I don't care if I never wake up

Man, I don't care if I never wake up
Til these boards get through with me
I'm coming back here with my big smoke
I'm gonna make them climb a tree

Nothing like living like a money king
Drink from a silver cup
She poured the pass straight out of my glass
I don't care if I never wake up.

Now if my money boy was stacked high
I believe it would go to touch the sky
I'd buy the people with a dime a dozen
Man I don't care if the banks do burst

Cause my money don't never run out
Rich folks, you're making me doubt
Now every good evening, we gonna post and shout

Said I'm living good all the time
I don't drink no cheap wine
When it's always thirst, good money don't never run out

My money don't never run out
Rich fools you're making me shout

It's notable that Gus Cannon took out all uses of the word coon from the original composition. Around the turn of the century, what are referred to as "coon songs" were an integral part of both black and white mistrelsy. Professional stage singers (even white ones) of a certain type were called coon shouters. The most famous song was black composer and singer Ernest Hogan's All Coons Look Alike to Me. It was a hit that remained popular for decades. The term coon is undeniably offensive to the modern listener amd it already was by the twenties when Gus Cannon removed the word from his song. Not all blues singers making race records did that though. Luke Jordan was one singer who went back and forth. He recorded an old song from the ragtime era called Traveling Coon in 1927. Note him going back and forth between calling the central character a coon and a man.

Folks let me tell you about a Traveling Coon
His home was down in Tennessee
He made his living stealing chickens
And everthing he sees

Policeman got straight behind this coon
And certainly made him take the road
There never was a passenger train run so fast
That Shine didn't get on board

He was a traveling man, he was a traveling man
The was the travelinest man, finest was in the land
He was a traveling man, finest was in the land
He was a traveling man, it's known for miles around
He never give up, no he wouldn't give up
Til the police shot him down

They sent the traveling coon to the spring one day
To fetch a pail of water
I think the distance from the house to the spring
Sixteen miles and a quarter
The coon went there and he got the water all right
Came back stubbed his toe and fell down
He ran back home, he got another pail
He caught the water, before it hit the ground

He was a traveling man...

By 1941, when Washboard Sam and his Washboard band (Simeon Henry, William Mitchell, and Big Bill Broonzy) told the story of that same Traveling Man, and references to coon are gone:

He's a traveling man, He's a traveling man
He's a traveling man, He's a traveling man
He's a most-traveling man, ever been in this land

And when the law got after him, he sure got on the road
And when the law got after him, he sure got on the road
And if a train passed, he sure would get on board

He's a traveling man, he was seen for miles around
He's a traveling man, he was seen for miles around
He never got caught, til the police shot him down

Police shot him with a rifle and the bullet went through his head
Police shot him with a rifle and the bullet went through his head
Peoples come from miles around just to see if he was dead

They sent down South for his mother, she was grieving down in jail
They sent down South for his mother, she was grieving down in jail
When she opened up that coffin, don't you know that fool had disappeared

Let's finish with one from Memphis singer Furry Lewis who was a veteran of later day minstrel shows. It's a version of a song that Bily Cheatham was singing around the turn of the century when Furry would have been 7 or 8 years old. Cheatham called it I'm Gonna Start Me a Graveyard of my Own, In 1928, Furry Lewis called it Furry's Blues. It's a fantasy about killing all the people that have wronged him:

I believe I'll buy me a graveyard of my own
Believe I'll buy me a graveyard of my own
I'm going to kill everybody that has done me wrong

If you want to go to Nashville, man's ain't got no fare
If you want to go to Nashville, man's ain't got no fare
Cut your good girl's throat and the judge will send you there

I'm going to get my pistol forty rounds of ball
Get my pistol forty rounds of ball
I'm going to shoot my woman just to see her fall

I'd rather hear the screws on my coffin sound
I'd rather hear the screws on my coffin sound
Than to hear my good girl say I'm jumping down

Get my pencil and paper, I'm going to sit right down
Get my pencil and paper, I'm going to sit right down
I'm going to write me a letter back to Youngstown

This ain't my home, I ain't got no right to stay
This ain't my home, I ain't got no right to stay
This ain't my home, must be my stopping place

When I left my home, you would not let me be
When I left my home, you would not let me be
Wouldn't rest contented til I come to Tennessee

It's tough to know how similar Furry's Blues is to the older Billy Cheatham song because so few black performers from the minstrel days were recorded. But taking at least themes and ideas from black minstrel music was an undeniable part of blues recordings from the 1920s and 30s. Some of the blatantly racist lyrics from the black face minstrelsy of the ragtime era made it through to the era of race records and blues recordings. Though there are relatively few recordings of black performers from the earlier era, the music they made was popular and revisited decades later by performers that we've heard who clearly recalled the pop music of their youth fondly.



Songs:
Am I Right or Wrong - Son House
I'm So Glad I'm Brownskin - Barbecue Bob
Ragtime Millionaire - William Moore
My Money Never Runs Out - Gus Cannon
Traveling Coon - Luke Jordan
Traveling Man - Washboard Sam
Furry's Blues - Furry Lewis

Further Reading: Ragged But Right by Lynn Abbott & Doug Seroff

Show 38 - WPA Blues

With all the recent talk in the U.S. about the government bailouts during the financial crisis it seemed like a good time to turn back to the biggest U.S. government actions in history during the New Deal. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was the largest of the New Deal agencies and there were quite a few blues songs recorded about it. The WPA employed millions affected by the Great Depression in an effort to get people off relief and onto work on useful projects. This included huge numbers of African-Americans whose options for employment were limited.
Casey Bill Weldon recorded WPA Blues in 1936. It gets at the complex attitudes toward the WPA. Jobs are provided, but there are negative aspects too including the completion of some unwanted projects. The singer lives in a home about to be torn down by the slum clearance crews of the WPA.

Everybody's working in this town and it's worrying me night and day
Everybody's working in this town and it's worrying me night and day
If that mean working too, have to work for the WPA

Well well the landlord come this morning and he knocked on my door
He asked me if I was going to pay my rent no more
He said you have to move if you can't pay
And then he turned and he walked slowly away

So I have to try find me some other place to stay
That housewrecking crew's coming from the WPA

Well well went to the relief station and I didn't have a cent
If that's the only way you stand you don't have to pay no rent
So when I got back home, they was tacking a notice on the door
This house is condemned and you can't live there no more

So a notion struck me, I better be on my way
They're going to tear my house down, that crew from the WPA

Well well I went out next morning I put a lock on my door
I thought I would move but I have no place to go
The real estate people they all done got so
They don't rent to no relief clients no more

So I know, have to walk the streets night and day
Because that wrecking crew's coming from that WPA

Well well a notion struck me, I'll try to stay a day or two
But I soon found out that that wouldn't do
Early next morning while I was laying in my bed
I heard a mighty rumbling and the bricks come tumbling down on my head

So I had to start ducking and dodging and be on my way
They was tearing my house down on me, that crew from that WPA

There are countless songs about men and women leaving each other when they no longer depend on a partner for money. Billie McKenzie recorded one about losing her man when he got a job working for the WPA, That Man on the WPA.

I'll tell you girls what my man done to me one day
I'll tell you girls what my man done to me one day
He was so nice and kind, til he started for that WPA

Before then I gave him my money, even bought his shoes and clothes
I said I gave him my money, even bought his shoes and clothes
Got a job on the WPA and put poor me outdoors

Be a good friend to me girls, please try and see it my way
Be a good friend to me girls, please try and see it my way
If you want a good man, don't get one on that WPA

I did everything I could to keep that man from going down
I did everything I could, girls, to keep that man from going down
I even pawned my clothes and kicked mud all around this town

But I knew he was jiving when he laid down across my bed
Now I knew he was jiving when he laid down across my bed
Smoking his good doing reefers and talking all out his head

Casey Bill Weldon who recorded a followup to his hit WPA Blues in 1937. It's a story about a gambler who's luck turns and he's forced to find a job on the WPA, Casey Bill's New WPA.

Said my baby told me this morning, just about the break of day
My baby told me this morning, just about the break of day
Said: "You oughta get up this morning, get you a job on that WPA"

I says, "I am a gambler, and I gamble night and day,"
I says, "I am a gambler, I gamble night and day,"
Says, "I don't need no job on that WPA."

She said, "I'm leaving you now, daddy, yeah, that's all I got to say,"
She said, "I'm leaving you now, daddy, yeah, that's all I got to say,"
She said, "I'm gonna get me a man, that's working on that WPA."

And all the women hollering, and they hollering night and day
All the women hollering, and they hollering night and day
"I'm gonna quit my pimp, get me a man on that WPA."

"So hard luck has overtaken me, had to throw my dice and cards away,"
"Hard luck has overtaken me, had to throw my dice and cards away,"
Yeah, I've gotta try to get me a job on that WPA."

Casey Bill Weldon singing about having to work for the WPA because he can't win money gambling. Also, a funny line about women quitting their pimps in favor on WPA men.
Like Casey Bill Weldon, Peetie Wheatstraw recorded multiple songs about the WPA. New Working on the Project is the second in his trilogy of WPA songs. Recorded in 1937, around the time the Roosevelt administration was making cuts in some New Deal programs and laying off workers. It's about a man working on the WPA scared to get his 304 discharge form telling him he's lost his job:

Working on the project, what a scared man, you know
Working on the project, what a scared man, you know
Because every time I look around, somebody's getting their 304

Working on the project with a big furniture bill to pay
Working on the project with a big furniture bill to pay
But time I got my 304, the furniture man come and taken my furniture away

Working on the project, the rent man is knocking on my door
Working on the project, the rent man is knocking on my door
I am sorry Mr. Rent Man, I just got my 304

Working on the project, my partner got his 304 too
Working on the project, my partner got his 304 too
So you better look out because tomorrow it may be you

Working on the project, a 304 may make you cry
Working on the project, a 304 will make you cry
There's one thing sure, you can tell the project goodbye

Despite its successes, the songs show there were many complaints about WPA policy. More popular was the Civilian Conservation Corps. Washboard Sam compares it to the WPA in his 1938 song CCC Blues:

I'm going down, I'm going down, to the CCC
I'm going down, I'm going down, to the CCC
I know that the WPA won't do a thing for me

I told her my name and the place I stay
She said she'd give me a piece of paper, come back some other day
I'm going down, I'm going down, to the CCC
I know that the WPA won't do a thing for me

I told her I had no people and the shape I was in
She said she would help me, but she didn't say when
I'm going down, I'm going down, going down to the CCC
I know that the WPA won't do a thing for me

I told her I needed a job and no relief
On my rent day, she sent me a can of beef
I'm going down, I'm going down, to the CCC
I know that the WPA won't do a thing for me

She said she'd give me a job, everything was nice and warm
Taking care of the dead in a funeral home
I'm going down, I'm going down, to the CCC
I know that the WPA won't do a thing for me

Big Bill Broonzy recorded a couple of WPA songs including a celebratory number in 1938 called WPA Rag that starts off as a kind of old fahioned field holler and turns into a jazz number.

Oh... I feel like hollering, but the town is too small
Yeah... But the town is too small

Let's play that rag

I want all you women and I mean all you stags
I want all you women and I mean all you stags
Just to spend your money, while you play this WPA Rag
Oh yeah, Oh yeah, Oh yeah, Oh yeah

The WPA provided as many as 3 million jobs at times. When workers were getting laid off, it was reflected in blues songs and when more workers were being hired it was reflected in blues songs. The songs are amazing documents of how the government programs affected people.

Songs:
WPA Blues - Casey Bill Weldon
That Man on the WPA - Billie McKenzie
Casey Bill's New WPA - Casey Bill Weldon
New Working on the Project - Peetie Wheatstraw
CCC Blues - Washboard Sam
WPA Rag - Big Bill Broonzy