Bessie Smith "St. Louis Blues"

Jan
8
Submitted by webmaster on Fri, 01/08/2010 - 09:02

Bessie Smith - St. Louis Blues (1929)

Posted by RobertDominkovic
February 02, 2009 "THE EMPRESS OF THE BLUES - Bessie Smith (July 9, 1892 or April 15, 1894 — September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer. Miss Bessie Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s, she is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era, and along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists." 

Video Description:
In this clip from the 1929 movie of the same name, the character played by iconic Blues singer Bessie Smith is shown in her bedroom drowning her sorrows in drink. She is then shown leaning against a bar in an African American nightclub and singing "St Louis Blues". A number of the nightclub patrons who are sitting at their tables sing the song along with Bessie Smith.

4 comments

webmaster
Fri, 8 January, 2010 - 09:38

Here's an uptempo version of W.C. Handy's."St Louis Blues" as peformed by Linda Hopkins:

Posted by peglegsam August 04, 2007

webmaster
Fri, 8 January, 2010 - 09:34

Here are selected viewer comments from
http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=8Who6fTHJ34&fromurl=/watch%3Fv%3D8Who6fTHJ34

rphillips111 (9 months ago) For me, Miss Bessie Smith, Empress of the Blues, is the greatest Blues Singer of them all.

Even with the bad recording machinery of the day, her magnificent voice shines through.
I have never seen a film of her singing before. Thanks for posting this "video".

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vendoboy (9 months ago) Gosh . . . now I know how St Louis Blues is supposed to sound. This film of Bessie Smith, what a treasure.
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ect893 (8 months ago) The clip is from a 1929 short film also called "St. Louis Blues". This is the only known live footage of Bessie Smith.

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purplepenguin91 (4 months ago) this is absolutely amazing.
you can feel her pain, so  clear cut even through the old school technology.

 

definite contributor to jazzy sounds :]
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starrchild851 (4 months ago) Now that's The Blues!!!!

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jessuschrist27 (3 months ago) Well, I can understand the misconception that Blues are just about feeling sad from the first scene of this video. However, a beautiful song that combines the choral characteristics of a spiritual as well as the call and response going on. Very well orchestrated tune.
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lilchuy01 (2 months ago) it is incredible how many people have been inspired by the woman!!!! everyone from billie holiday to janis joplin. her voice is the blues. her voice has a mixture of strength and power but a sadness that could never be shaken out of her.
i wish there was a movie made about her there needs to be
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jreiss100 (2 months ago) The original....nothing else to say.

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sinestemusic (1 month ago) Absolutely wonderful!... A treasure of the humanity. Bessi Smith, her voice and all in this vid. Thx.

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laron214 (1 month ago) so incredible to watch bessie do her thing. if only she could have made more films. but at least we still have her recordings.

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13steps2nola (1 month ago) i wanna hear her sing. why does everyone else have to drown her out

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lilchuy01 (4 weeks ago) bessie smith really is the most important female recording artist in the history of music. her rich and powerful voice and her style set the standard for blues artists of her time. she has inspired so many; billie holiday,dinah washington,aretha franklin,and janis
joplin. and any music genre today can sometimes definitely be rooted back to the standard blues style bessie created. if there was no bessie smith i really don't know what i would do
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likemelikeyou (3 weeks ago) so what does 'ball the jack' mean?

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DiamondRedd1 (2 weeks ago) it's a popular dance from the 1920's

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sideshowtink (1 day ago) Bessie's blues tear at my heart. amazing xo
webmaster
Fri, 8 January, 2010 - 09:11
“St. Louis Blues (1929) is a two-reel short film starring Bessie Smith. The early sound film features Smith in an African-American speakeasy of the prohibition era singing the W. C. Handy standard, "St. Louis Blues". Directed by Dudley Murphy, it is the only known film of Bessie Smith, and the soundtrack is her only recording not controlled by Columbia Records.”
webmaster
Fri, 8 January, 2010 - 09:08

St. Louis Blues

by William Christopher Handy (W.C. Handy)

I hate to see the ev'nin' sun go down
Hate to see the ev'nin' sun go down,
'cause my baby, he done left this town

Feelin' tomorrow like I feel today
Feel tomorrow like I feel today,
I'll pack my trunk, make my getaway

St. Louis woman with her diamond rings
Pulls that man 'round by her apron strings,
't'want for powder and for store-bought hair

The man I love, would not gone nowhere,
got the St. Louis blues just as blue as I can be
That man got a heart like a rock cast in the sea,
or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me

Been to the gypsy to get my fortune told
To the gypsy, to get my fortune told,
'cause I'm most wild about my jelly roll

Gypsy done told me, "Don't you wear no black"
Yes, she done told me, "Don't you wear no black,
go to St. Louis, you can win him back"

Help me to Cairo, make St. Louis by myself
Gone to Cairo, find my old friend Jeff
Goin' to pin myself close to his side,
if I flag his train, I sure can ride

I love that man like a schoolboy loves his pie
Like a Kentucky Colonel loves his mint and rye1
I'll love my baby till the day I die

You ought to see that stovepipe brown of mine,
like he owns the diamond Joseph line
He'd make across-eyed old man go stone blind

Blacker than midnight, teeth like flags of truce
Blackest man in the whole St. Louis
Blacker the berry, sweeter is the juice

About a crap game, he knows a powerful lot,
but when work time comes, he's on the dot
Goin' to ask him for a cold ten spot,
what it takes to get it, he's certainly got

A black-headed gal make a freight train jump the track
Said a black-headed gal make a freight train jump the track
But a redheaded woman makes a preacher ball the jack

-snip-

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_Blues_(song) for information about this song.

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