"Backwater Blues" (Song) - Song Meanings and Facts Though theres no singular definition of the blues that fully encompasses the history and culture of the people from whom the blues are derived, I do think there are some notes to consider. Content may require purchase if you do not have access. Furthermore, Baraka notes that Africanisms (retentions of African culture throughout the African diaspora) were not limited to US Black people but that the culture of the Americas contains and is itself influenced by Africanisms. In "Backwater Blues", the writer retells the incidents surrounding the flooding of Nashville in 1927. What are the introductory chords that illustrate this? The lyrics are in the often-used AAB blues format. *Als Songtexte.com PUR User kannst du entscheiden, welche Inhalte von externen Anbietern wie Youtube, The Cumberland River, which flows through the city, rose 56 feet (17m) above its normal level, still a record as of 2014[update].[4]. Bessie Smith. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, courtesy of the Rock Hall Library and Archive, https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/bessie-smith. hear how the piano embodies the texture of what is being sung, as if the piano witnesses and takes on the storm and flood alongside Bessie Smith. 'Back-Water Blues', composed by Bessie Smith and recorded by her on 17 February 1927, has long been associated in the popular mind and even by some writers with the great flood of the lower Mississippi River and its tributaries that occurred that year. She earned her title by displaying her powerful voice to the public for everyone to hear. Harmonically, what is the piece based on? Bessie Smith, "Backwater blues", 1927The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard. It was covered by Brother John Sellers, Toni Lynn Washington, Meschiya Lake and The Little Big Horns, The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band and other artists. The initial first line resoundstherefore necessitates itself perhaps as a question, a declaration, or even a second guessing of this sung things existence to its audience of many or just their self. Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs. She made almost 200 recordings, including duets with Louis Armstrong and Joe Smith. In terms of chords and melody, Backwater Blues is more complex than the typical song, having above average scores in Chord Complexity, Melodic Complexity, Chord-Melody Tension and Chord Progression Novelty. Bessie Smith's 'Back-Water Blues': the story behind the song Cause my house fell down and I can't live there no more. Bessie Smith is the best-known of the female \"classic blues\" (or \"city blues\") singers from the 1910s and 1920s (others include Ma Rainey, Ethel Waters, Clara Smith, and Mamie Smith). Backwater Blues by Big Bill Broonzy was written by Bessie Smith and was first recorded and released by Bessie Smith in 1927. When it thunders and lightnin' and the wind begin to blow. The melody is conjunct, making it easy to follow the lyrics of the song and the instrumental portions at the same time. Thank you. Study of Smith's touring itinerary, of testimony of fellow entertainers who toured with her, and of contemporary reports indicates that the song was written in response to the flood that struck Nashville, Tennessee on Christmas Day 1926. The vocals to be the focus and the 'response' to be more complex, At times it can sounds almost 'half-spoken'. Has data issue: false Bessie Smith- Back Water Blues. Youtube, uploaded by TravelerIntoTheBlue, 9 Oct 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gXShOJVwaM. The backwater blues caused me. LISTENING part 1 SEIGFRIED CHAP 5. richard wagner germany Her powerful voice stands out so much in this song that the instrumental background may not even be needed as supplementation. Bessie actually wrote "Backwater Blues" for the Cumberland River flood that hit Nashville on Christmas morning 1926. For examples of innovative uses of these devices in poetry, visit Jericho Browns Duplex, Evie Shockleys Fukushima Blues, and Kevin Youngs Langston Hughes.. :)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Title: Backwater BluesLevel: BeginnerCom. My name is Lex and I am a rising senior at the University of Georgia. I do not believe in a fixed way to write blues poems or poetry with blues feeling. Entire black neighborhoods were wiped out. Jazz- Review Questions. El disco e. Sheet music arranged for Piano/Vocal/Guitar in C Major (transposable). (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. "it rained five days and the sky turned dark as night". After discussing blues history, we went over Bessie Smith's "Backwater Blues," then Langston Hughes' "Too Blue," and concluded our study with Jericho Brown's . Notice, however, that although the form remains the same throughout, pianist James P. Johnson's accompaniment style frequently changes during different verses of the song, as he interacts musically with Smith and attempts to depict the meaning of her lyrics through his playing.\r\rBessie Smith (vocal); James P. Johnson (piano)\r\rRecorded in New York, February 17, 1927 Play the music you love without limits for just $9.99 $3.33/month. He attended Rutgers University and Howard University, spent three years in Jericho Brown's first book,Please(New Issues, 2008), won the American Book Award, and his second book,The New Testament(Copper Canyon, 2014), was named one of the best poetry books of the year SterlingAllenBrown devoted his life to the development of an authentic black folk literature. She teaches in the MFA program at San Diego State University. The beat is easy to tap along to, making it easier to focus on her lyrics. print music publishers. Hi! ). Adds to the blues feel as the music is seen to reflect the realities of her situation. Back-Water Blues' was one of the best known works of the Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith, recorded for Columbia Records in 1927 with James P. Johnson on piano. Bessie actually wrote Backwater Blues for the Cumberland River flood that hit Nashville on Christmas morning 1926. I have her strong voice in my ear at all times. Bessie Smith recorded Backwater Blues in 1927, and it became an anthem for one of the most devastating national disasters in US history. [3] However, that flood was at its worst some two months after the song was written. Poet, writer, teacher, and political activist Amiri Baraka was born Everett LeRoi Jones in 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. I love writing blues poems. Yeah, when it's thunderin' and lightnin'. Post 4- Blues Music: Bessie Smith | by Alexis Allen | Medium Feature Flags: { The best song poems, I believe, can live on the pages as well as in the ear. Backwater Blues - Piano - YouTube Bob Dylan - Backwater blues Lyrics | Genius Lyrics "useRatesEcommerce": false She uses her voice in this particular form to symbolize that she has given up and that she knows she will never find true love. The flood was a devastating ordeal. [2], The song has long been associated with the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. The call and response between vocals and piano does what? This incident gave birth to an important blues era, now known as the Delta Blues era. Bessie Smith - Back-Water Blues Lyrics | Genius Lyrics The song is called "West End Blues" and was recorded by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five in 1928. She began recording regularly in the 1920s, distinguishing herself as the most successful African American artist of her time with her recording Down Hearted Blues in 1923. Lets look at the blues poem as a form. In this recording of \"Backwater Blues,\" we can hear these techniques at work, and they stand in contrast to the very structured twelve-bar blues form of the song. The a rhyme glues the three-line stanza together. Train with real songs. Hier geht's zu meiner Musik auf Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/artist/1EV1CjZHtzJGK5SZyEyKst?si=ya1BsYRcTpSlZeVFtMKekAMeine Musik auf Deezer:https://deezer. Discuss Bessie Smith's performance of "Back Water Blues" as an example of both. Billed annually at $39.99. The opening choruses of each performance . Over her ten year career, she created one hundred and sixty recordings. The third line either comments or reverses the first two lines. Photo credit: Carl Van Vechten, Celebrating Contemporary Books & Writers at the Library, From the Catbird Seat: The official Poetry and Literature podcast, Receive notifications about events, activities, and online resources, Marilyn Chin reads and discusses Bessie Smith's "Backwater Blues", Rhapsody in plain yellow, by Marilyn Chin, Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature. This is historically problematical because that flood began two months after Smith . The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard written by Bessie Smith. The narrator, who presents himself as a victim describes how . Though, after repeated listening and reading of blues standards like Backwater Blues, call and response became more than an AAB tercet on page/to my ear. There's trouble taking place in the lowland that night, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Bessie Smith's 'Back-Water Blues': the story behind the song", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Backwater_Blues&oldid=1150358087, This page was last edited on 17 April 2023, at 18:17. Smith (on vocal with James P. Johnson on piano) recorded it as "Back-water Blues" on February 17, 1927, in New York City. Marilyn Chin (1955- ) was born in Hong Kong, grew up in Oregon, and received her MFA from the University of Iowa. We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Once more, listen for the turnaround (the melody at the final two bars of each 12-bar progression or last line of each stanza) and hear it transform the melody of one progression/stanza into the next. Brown, who alongside Langston Hughes was a pioneer of blues poetry in the 1920s. The flood from The Cumberland River that struck Nashville, Tennessee on Christmas Day 1926, AAB e.g. Following her death, Smith received numerous awards and honors for her achievements, including: Bessie Smith- American Singer. Encyclopedia Britannica, written by The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Feb 2019, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bessie-Smith. Learn to hear chords by ear. Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs. Bessie Smith - Songs, Death & Facts The elements of voice, musical instrument, and audience formed a living tercet in which the blues singer and musician resound one another to deliver that final line blues statement. The consonant chords allow for a smooth harmony to flow continuously during the song. One subscription across all of your devices. Blues on Yellow Marilyn Chin from Rhapsody in Plain Yellow. The poem moves to personal depression. In this blog post I am going to be looking at and analysing a track by famous New Orleans jazz musician, Louis Armstrong. This is historically problematical because that flood began two months after Smith recorded her song. Writer (s): Smith Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com. Perhaps the build-up of rain made her anticipate the flood; it was released just as the flood came, and as a result, it became a big hit., Charter Member Directory (Password Protected). The first two lines are of almost equal length. He studied under Seamus Heaney and Lucie Brock-Broido at Harvard University and, while a student there, became a member of the Dark Room African diasporic culture and the aesthetics of the blues. Chris Fisher-Lochhead. The blues poems was more here on American soil, and so I study the blues poems closely and write blues poems to pay homage to all those African American blues masters. Most of us dont remember the great Mississippi River Flood of 1927, but when I read this poem a few years ago during a gathering on the behalf of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the same issues resoundedneighborhoods destroyed, slow government response, the African American neighborhoods were hit the hardest. About a thousand people lost their lives. Known as the\"Empress of the Blues,\" Bessie Smith's first recording, \"Down-Hearted Blues,\" from 1923, was very successful, and helped her to become the leading African-American performer of the time. for this article. AAB e.g. Hooktheory requires WebAudio and this browser doesn't support it. "When it rains five days, and the skies turn dark as night (x2). Become a Musicnotes Pro - Premium member today and receive 24 titles per year plus take 15% off all digital sheet music purchases and get PDFs included with every song! Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like backwater blues, libretto, step interval and more. Bessie Smith (1894-1937) began her professional career as a blues singer in cabarets in 1912. It was written by Bessie Smith, and recorded (under the title ". She is considered by many as one of the most successful African-American females of all time. Third, Mamie Smith became the first Black blues singer to record a blues record in 1920. However, the blues utility in our everyday language signifies to me that the blues are ingrained into US culture. They relocated the white folks in an expedient manner but corralled the black folks into abysmal camps. When it rained five days and the sky turned dark as night, Zur deutschen bersetzung von Backwater Blues, Die 10 schnsten Songs fr ein gemtliches Picknick, Die 10 beliebtesten ESC-Songs aller Zeiten, "Sing meinen Song" 2023: Alle Infos, Teilnehmer, Songs & Folgen, "Let's Dance 2023": Alle Tnze aus Show 9 + Songtexte, I'd Rather Be Dead and Buried in My Grave, Udo Lindenberg & Apache 207 - Komet Songtext, Ikke Hftgold, Schrze & DJ Robin - Bumsbar Songtext, Purple Disco Machine & Kungs - Substitution Songtext, Hypaton, David Guetta & La Bouche - Be My Lover (feat. Log dich ein um diese Funktion zu nutzen. The scene is set with the terrific storm by the female speaker, so depressed that she cant even get out of the door. Nonetheless, when she recorded it in 1927 Backwater Blues became an anthem for the great Mississippi River Flood. Backwater Blues is written in the key of E Major. Almost half a million homes were destroyed. Bemoaning the fate of losing a home to flood waters after five days and nights of rain, Smith laments: 'Thousands of people ain't got no place to go.'. The beat does . Mmm, I can't move no more. Includes 1 print + interactive copy with lifetime access in our free apps. Render date: 2023-05-02T09:42:40.381Z The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard written by Bessie Smith. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out (Bessie and Me). We were grounded by Amiri Barakas claim in Blues People, in which he conveyed that in the context of Black American culture, music explains history as history explains music. "When it rains five days, and the skies turn dark as night (x2) There's trouble taking place in the lowland that night." Harmonically, what is the piece based on? It was originally composed by Joe "King" Oliver and is largely performed as an instrumental, although lyrics were . She performed in various minstrel and black vaudeville shows, and as her reputation and fame grew, she performed with many of the other leading early jazz musicians of her time: Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, and James P. Johnson, just to name a few. Instagram oder Facebook auf Songtexte.com geladen werden. Baraka attributes this knowledge to his mentor Sterling A. This piece draws its material from the song "Backwater Blues" by Bessie Smith and from the historically articulated performance practice that has accrued to it. Designed and built by Hooktheory in California. In order to interrogate said materials, six recordings by different musicians were chosen and meticulously transcribed. The piece has a homophonic texture due to the supplementation of the instruments to the vocalization of Smith. 04 January 2007. Of course, I learn so much from the Bessie Smiths blues poems. Its musical composition entered the public domain on January 1, 2023. C, F7, C, C7, F7, C. Smith performed for nearly a decade until Columbia Records signed her in 1923. A modified 12 bar blues. Kevin Young was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. As an attempt to escape poverty as a teenager, she joined the Moss Stokes Company with her brother and Gertrude Ma Rainey, the Mother of the Blues. Ma Rainey served as the most influential person during Smiths pre-professional career. Download and Print scores from huge community collection ( 1,426,528 and growing) Advanced tools to level up your playing skills. Of course, we Americans have historical amnesia. Theres this rich toughness in her voice that tells us this girl and her people are going to get through this calamity. Total loading time: 0 I have sympathy towards Smith during her performance of this song because she conveys how lonesome she is. Bessie Smith Chords & Tabs : 24 Total @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com As musicologist Dr. David Evans has noted, Back-Water Blues was recorded in February 1927, before the great disaster of April. The third-sixth verses have the traditional AAB blues pattern, which helps emphasize what she is saying during each verse. Backwater Blues is written in the key of E Major. The three most important chords, built off the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degrees are all major chords (E Major, A Major, and B Major). Dazu brauchen wir deine Einwillung*. Bessie Smith, "Backwater blues", 1927 - YouTube Her ability to use \"blue notes\" and other vocal embellishments, along with a loose melodic phrasing, became hallmarks of jazz and blues inflection that other musicians (singers and instrumentalists) emulated.
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backwater blues texture