The Blues as African American History
The songs you are going to listen to will enable you to explore some aspects of the history of African Americans in the 20th century.
The blues developed in the latter decades of the 19th century after emancipation (1863) and the failure of Reconstruction in the South. Many blues songs mirrored the times in which they were written and through them we can learn about the experiences and struggles of the working-class Southerners who created the music, including the legacies of slavery and the cotton economy in the South, the development of Jim Crow, the Great Migration, and the Civil Rights Movement.
The blues developed in the latter decades of the 19th century after emancipation (1863) and the failure of Reconstruction in the South. Many blues songs mirrored the times in which they were written and through them we can learn about the experiences and struggles of the working-class Southerners who created the music, including the legacies of slavery and the cotton economy in the South, the development of Jim Crow, the Great Migration, and the Civil Rights Movement.
Song # 1: "Me and the Devil Blues", by Robert Johnson
The theme immediately shows the difference between the blues and gospels. Here the singer, Robert Johnson, tells of his extraordinary life story. The only thing that is known about Johnson is that he went away from his hometown (Robinsonville) and when he came back, he had become a very talented musician: it was such a transformation that it was (and still is) believed to be the devil’s work. As Robert Johnson died at a very young age (27), killed by a jealous husband – as if the devil had come back to claim his dues – the blues singer’s life became a legend.
It must-a be that old evil spirit
so deep down in the ground
You may bury my body
down by the highway side
spoken: Baby, I don't care where you bury my
body when I'm dead and gone
You may bury my body, ooh
down by the highway side
So my old evil spirit
can catch a Greyhound bus and ride
so deep down in the ground
You may bury my body
down by the highway side
spoken: Baby, I don't care where you bury my
body when I'm dead and gone
You may bury my body, ooh
down by the highway side
So my old evil spirit
can catch a Greyhound bus and ride
Early this mornin'
when you knocked upon my door
Early this mornin', ooh
when you knocked upon my door
And I said, "Hello, Satan,"
I believe it's time to go."
Me and the Devil
was walkin' side by side
Me and the Devil, ooh
was walkin' side by side
And I'm goin' to beat my woman
until I get satisfied
She say you don't see why
that you will dog me 'round
spoken: Now, babe, you know you ain't doin' me
right, don'cha
She say you don't see why, ooh
that you will dog me 'round
when you knocked upon my door
Early this mornin', ooh
when you knocked upon my door
And I said, "Hello, Satan,"
I believe it's time to go."
Me and the Devil
was walkin' side by side
Me and the Devil, ooh
was walkin' side by side
And I'm goin' to beat my woman
until I get satisfied
She say you don't see why
that you will dog me 'round
spoken: Now, babe, you know you ain't doin' me
right, don'cha
She say you don't see why, ooh
that you will dog me 'round
Song # 2: "Strange Fruit", by Billie Holiday
This song describes with a poignantly evocative metaphor (the strange fruit) the lynchings of Black people in the South.
Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant South
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to ripe, for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop!
Song # 3: "Jailhouse Blues", by Lightnin' Hopkins
The Southern prisons also contributed considerably to the blues tradition through work songs and the songs of death row and murder, the warden, the hot sun, and a hundred other privations. The prison road crews and work gangs were where many bluesmen found their songs. Lightnin' Hopkins did serve some time on the chain gang; he carried the scars on his leg the rest of his life.
Click on Lightnin' Hopkins's portrait to listen to the song. (Sorry, there's no YouTube video for that one).
Well I wouldn't mind staying in jail, but I've gotta stay there so long
Well I wouldn't mind staying in jail, but I've gotta stay there so long
You know it seem like all my friends, you know they done shook hands and gone
Thirty days in jail, with my back turned to the wall
Thirty days in jail, with my back turned to the wall
Yes you know some other skinner must be kickin' in my stall
Hey mister jailer please, will you please bring me the key
Hey mister jailer, will you please sir bring me the key
I just want you to open the door, cause this ain't no place for me
Well I wouldn't mind staying in jail, but I've gotta stay there so long
You know it seem like all my friends, you know they done shook hands and gone
Thirty days in jail, with my back turned to the wall
Thirty days in jail, with my back turned to the wall
Yes you know some other skinner must be kickin' in my stall
Hey mister jailer please, will you please bring me the key
Hey mister jailer, will you please sir bring me the key
I just want you to open the door, cause this ain't no place for me
Song # 4: "Vietnam Blues", by J.B. Lenoir
This blues dates from 1965 …African Americans often experienced the worst in wars, as most of them were mere G.I.s, sent to combat, whereas the wealthy and educated (mostly white) knew best how to avoid the most dangerous duty.
Vietnam Vietnam, everybody cryin' about Vietnam
Vietnam Vietnam, everybody cryin' about Vietnam
The law all the days (?) killing me down in Mississippi, nobody seems to give a damn
Oh God if you can hear my prayer now, please help my brothers over in Vietnam
Oh God if you can hear my prayer now, please help my brothers over in Vietnam
The poor boys fightin', killin' and hidin' all in holes,
Maybe killin' their own brother, they do not know
Mister President you always cry about peace, but you must clean up your house before you leave
Oh how you cry about peace, but you must clean up your house before you leave
How can you tell the world how we need peace, and you still mistreat and killin' poor me.
Vietnam Vietnam, everybody cryin' about Vietnam
The law all the days (?) killing me down in Mississippi, nobody seems to give a damn
Oh God if you can hear my prayer now, please help my brothers over in Vietnam
Oh God if you can hear my prayer now, please help my brothers over in Vietnam
The poor boys fightin', killin' and hidin' all in holes,
Maybe killin' their own brother, they do not know
Mister President you always cry about peace, but you must clean up your house before you leave
Oh how you cry about peace, but you must clean up your house before you leave
How can you tell the world how we need peace, and you still mistreat and killin' poor me.
"Vietnam Blues" was not the first song by J.B. Lenoir evoking the African-American young man's experience of war. "Korea Blues" (1951) is about the draft and its most painful consequences. Korea Blues lyrics
On the road...
The next two songs evoke the Great Migration of the African Americans from the rural South to the industrial cities in the North. During the decades of the thirties and the forties, the blues spread northward with the migration of many blacks from the South. During WWII, 6 million rural Americans headed for war work in the cities, and many of the migrants were African-Americans who left the states of the old Confederacy for jobs in the West and North.
Wandering, walking on the road or being on a train are recurrent themes in blues music.
Wandering, walking on the road or being on a train are recurrent themes in blues music.
Song # 5: "The Journey", by John Lee Hooker
John F. Smith, 'Historical Geography' (1888). Library of Congress.
Song # 6: "Walk On", by Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
Chorus: Walk on, walk on,
Walk on, I walk on,
I'm gonna keep on walkin'
Till I find my way back home.
Well, you might gets worried
When your shoes get bend,
You don't know where you goin',
But you do know where you been.
I see so many people happy,
I can't get used to happiness,
Maybe it is true
Happiness is not for me, I guess.
Well, the world is too high,
Highways are too long,
No need of us bein' together
We can't get along.
One more time, now,
I'm gonna keep on walkin'
Till I find my way back home.
Walk a little further,
One more time, now,
I'm gonna keep on walkin'
Till I find my way back home.
Let's walk together, now,
I'm gonna keep on walkin'
Till I find my way back home.
Hey, walk on.
Walk on, I walk on,
I'm gonna keep on walkin'
Till I find my way back home.
Well, you might gets worried
When your shoes get bend,
You don't know where you goin',
But you do know where you been.
I see so many people happy,
I can't get used to happiness,
Maybe it is true
Happiness is not for me, I guess.
Well, the world is too high,
Highways are too long,
No need of us bein' together
We can't get along.
One more time, now,
I'm gonna keep on walkin'
Till I find my way back home.
Walk a little further,
One more time, now,
I'm gonna keep on walkin'
Till I find my way back home.
Let's walk together, now,
I'm gonna keep on walkin'
Till I find my way back home.
Hey, walk on.
The harsh reality of everyday life...
Other themes referring to the common experience of the African-American community are poverty, violence, despair and alcohol, as you will discover in songs 7 and 8.
Song # 7: "I'm Ready", by Muddy Waters
I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
I got an axe handle pistol on a graveyard frame
That shoot tombstone bullets, wearin' balls and chain
I'm drinkin' TNT, I'm smokin' dynamite
I hope some screwball start a fight
'Cause I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
All you pretty little chicks with your pretty little hair
I know you feels like I ain't nowhere
But stop what your doin' baby come overhere
I'll prove to you baby, that I ain't no square
Because I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
I been drinkin' gin like never before
I feel so good, I want you to know
One more drink, I wish you would
It takes a whole lotta lovin' to make me feel good
'Cause I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
I got an axe handle pistol on a graveyard frame
That shoot tombstone bullets, wearin' balls and chain
I'm drinkin' TNT, I'm smokin' dynamite
I hope some screwball start a fight
'Cause I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
All you pretty little chicks with your pretty little hair
I know you feels like I ain't nowhere
But stop what your doin' baby come overhere
I'll prove to you baby, that I ain't no square
Because I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
I been drinkin' gin like never before
I feel so good, I want you to know
One more drink, I wish you would
It takes a whole lotta lovin' to make me feel good
'Cause I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me
Song # 8: "Drunken-Hearted Man", by Robert Johnson
I'm a drunken hearted man, my life seems so misery
I'm a poor drunken hearted man, my life seems so misery
And if I could only change my way of livin', it would mean so much to me
I been dogged and I been driven, ever since I left my mother's home
I been dogged and I been driven, ever since I left my mother's home
And I can't see the reason why, that I can't leave these no-good women's alone
My poor father died and left me, and my mother done the best that she could
My poor father died and left me, and my mother done the best that she could
Every man love that game you call love, but it don't mean no man no good
I'm the poor drunken hearted man, and sin was the cause of it all
I'm a poor drunken hearted man, and sin was the cause of it all
But the day you get weak for no-good women, that's the day that you surely fall
My poor father died and left me, and my mother done the best that she could
Every man love that game you call love, but it don't mean no man no good
I'm the poor drunken hearted man, and sin was the cause of it all
I'm a poor drunken hearted man, and sin was the cause of it all
But the day you get weak for no-good women, that's the day that you surely fall
The Blues is not only about feeling blue...
Of course, blues music is not only about feeling miserable, and a lot of songs deal with love and sex. Some songs are full of humour, as song 9, in which Howlin' Wolf gives good reasons for young women to love a fat man.
Song # 9: "Built for Comfort", by Howlin' Wolf
Some folk built like this, some folk built like that
But the way I'm built, you shouldn't call me fat
Because I'm built for comfort, I ain't built for speed
But I got everything all the good girls need
I don't have no diamond, and I don't have no gold
But I've got a lot of lovin' and I want you to know
That I'm built for comfort, I ain't built for speed
But I got everything all the good girls need
Some folk built like this, some folk built like that
But the way I'm built, you shouldn't call me fat
Because I'm built for comfort, I ain't built for speed
But I got everything all the good girls need
Some folk rip and roar, some folk b'lieve in signs
But if you want me, you got to take your time
Because I'm built for comfort, I ain't built for speed
But I got everything all the good girls need
But I got everything all the good girls need
I, I love you baby
I, I love you baby
But I got everything all of the good girls need
And I don't got no diamonds, don't have no gold
Got a lot of lovin' to satisfy your soul
I'm built for comfort, I ain't built for speed
But I got everything all the good girls need.
But the way I'm built, you shouldn't call me fat
Because I'm built for comfort, I ain't built for speed
But I got everything all the good girls need
I don't have no diamond, and I don't have no gold
But I've got a lot of lovin' and I want you to know
That I'm built for comfort, I ain't built for speed
But I got everything all the good girls need
Some folk built like this, some folk built like that
But the way I'm built, you shouldn't call me fat
Because I'm built for comfort, I ain't built for speed
But I got everything all the good girls need
Some folk rip and roar, some folk b'lieve in signs
But if you want me, you got to take your time
Because I'm built for comfort, I ain't built for speed
But I got everything all the good girls need
But I got everything all the good girls need
I, I love you baby
I, I love you baby
But I got everything all of the good girls need
And I don't got no diamonds, don't have no gold
Got a lot of lovin' to satisfy your soul
I'm built for comfort, I ain't built for speed
But I got everything all the good girls need.
