Teach music and songwriting in ways that keep students engaged, excited, and inspired. I mean, first, it sets up a terrible storm when it rained five days and the skies turned dark as night, when it rained five days and the skies turned dark as night. In this blog post I am going to be looking at and analysing a track by famous New Orleans jazz musician, Louis Armstrong. 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. The melody is conjunct, making it easy to follow the lyrics of the song and the instrumental portions at the same time. Includes 1 print + interactive copy with lifetime access in our free apps. Sheet music arranged for Piano/Vocal/Guitar in C Major (transposable). Play the music you love without limits for just $9.99 $3.33/month. Louis Blues featuring Louis Armstrong, Backwater Blues, and Nobody Knows You When Youre Down and Out. As the Swing era was emerging, Bessie Smith was tragically killed in an automobile accident in 1937 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Backwater Blues gefllt bisher niemandem. Bessie Smith tabs, chords, guitar, bass, ukulele chords, power tabs and guitar pro tabs including backwater blues, careless love, nobody knows you when youre down and out, taint nobodys business . Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like backwater blues, libretto, step interval and more. *Als Songtexte.com PUR User kannst du entscheiden, welche Inhalte von externen Anbietern wie Youtube, The rhythm and beat remain constant throughout the song. In "Backwater Blues", the writer retells the incidents surrounding the flooding of Nashville in 1927. Baraka attributes this knowledge to his mentor Sterling A. She teaches in the MFA program at San Diego State University. We could define and reproduce several devices of blues lyric, such as call and response, and blues turnaround, and surely, we can write sad poems. 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. The piece has a homophonic texture due to the supplementation of the instruments to the vocalization of Smith. As a poet who writes in English I know that every time I write a sonnet I pay homage to the high European tradition and to master poets like Shakespeare, Dunn, Keats, Petrarch. print music publishers. This is historically problematical because that flood began two months after Smith . View all Google Scholar citations 7 available keys. The song has long been associated with the great flood of the lower Mississippi River in 1927. The call and response between vocals and piano does what? Thank you. 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. 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. C, F7, C, C7, F7, C. She made almost 200 recordings, including duets with Louis Armstrong and Joe Smith. About a thousand people lost their lives. Song: Back-Water Blues written by Bessie Smith | SecondHandSongs I make it a point to learn the African American poetic tradition. "it rained five days and the sky turned dark as night". Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs. There's thousands of people ain't got no place to go. The lyrics of the song are interpreted with respect to the events of that flood. The beat is easy to tap along to, making it easier to focus on her lyrics. Smith describes how down she is about her life and how she knows there is nothing she can do about it. Her lyrics aid the audience in understanding why she is down. This incident gave birth to an important blues era, now known as the Delta Blues era. The first line sets the scene, the second line repeats the first for emphasis. 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. '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. 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. Feature Flags: { Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like backwater blues, libretto, step interval and more. However, the blues utility in our everyday language signifies to me that the blues are ingrained into US culture. Hi! Chin is the recipient of the PEN/Josephine Miles Award, a Fullbright Fellowship, and the Paterson Prize, among numerous other honors. ). It is a flexible approach to pitch (pentatonic base)-BLUES NOTES, descending melodic lines, raw/ gritty timbres, call and response, swing or laid back/flexible approach to the . West End Blues - Louis Armstrong (Analysis) - bradpottermusic Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com. There aint no place for a poor old girl to go. The consonant chords allow for a smooth harmony to flow continuously during the song. Smith did not cut any corners in her songs- she told everyone how the world really was and how she felt about it. Poet, writer, teacher, and political activist Amiri Baraka was born Everett LeRoi Jones in 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. Death. 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. When it's . The rhythm remains constant throughout the song, allowing the melody to flow peacefully during the piece. Borrowing from song to write about whats wrong. Chris Fisher-Lochhead. Mmm, I cant move no more. "useRatesEcommerce": false The song has a homophonic texture due to the use of instruments and vocalization in unison. Considering these notes about the blues inception, the blues endured and scoredif not directly then through derived musical formsthe majority of the United States early nation-building and cultural formation. Songtext von Bessie Smith - Backwater Blues Lyrics The song is called "West End Blues" and was recorded by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five in 1928. I chose these works for how they built upon classic blues (blues that follows the standard AAB lyrical structure and common themes of love, longing, suffering, and travel) by addressing an ecological concern, as in Backwater Blues, or innovating the classical structure, as in Too Blue, and Duplex., I want to encourage reading and listening to early blues poetry and classic blues as a method toward mastering blues aesthetics. 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. Listening Guide to Backwater Blues by Bessie Smith - YouTube 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. for this article. The Cumberland River, which flows through the city, rose 56 feet (17m) above its normal level, still a record as of 2014[update].[4]. Thematically, write about whatever you feel must be sung. 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. Try listening to Backwater Blues while reading the lyrics; 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. Almost half a million homes were destroyed. The three most important chords, built off the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degrees are all major . Backwater Blues is written in the key of E Major. She is considered by many as one of the most successful African-American females of all time. There were reports that officials behaved in a discriminatory fashion. Bessie Smith - Backwater Blues Flashcards | Quizlet 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. Nonetheless, when she recorded it in 1927 Backwater Blues became an anthem for the great Mississippi River Flood. This is historically problematical because that flood began two months after Smith recorded her song. The first two verses are unique and do not have any repetition. Theres this rich toughness in her voice that tells us this girl and her people are going to get through this calamity. This personal depression by extension is about the depression of an entire people, marginalized in the back waters, stricken with poverty, homelessness, suffering social injustice, discrimination, and now hit with this catastrophic natural disaster. On September 26, 1937, Smith was en route to a show in Memphis, Tennessee with her companion of many years, Richard Morgan, when he sideswiped a truck and lost control of their car. The best song poems, I believe, can live on the pages as well as in the ear. 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. Has data issue: false Bessie Smith had a powerful impact on future blues and Rock and Roll singers, like Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and Janis Joplin. Backwater Blues does not sound as much like the blues as Down Hearted Blues to me, but it is still distinguishable as the blues due to the sad content of the song. Total loading time: 0 Pro Credit Pack (3 Pro Credits) Included with first year, Your high-resolution PDF file will be ready to download in https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bessie-Smith, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gXShOJVwaM, https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/bessie-smith, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go6TiLIeVZA, 1980: Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, 1989: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1989: Received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, 1994: Face was placed upon a US Postage Stamp, 2001: Down Hearted Blues was named one of the Songs of the Century by the National Endowment for the Arts, 2002: Down Hearted Blues was listed on the National Recording Preservation Board by the Library of Congress, 2006: Down Hearted Blues listed in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Designed and built by Hooktheory in California. Published online by Cambridge University Press: The a rhyme glues the three-line stanza together. Mmm, I can't move no more. Hier geht's zu meiner Musik auf Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/artist/1EV1CjZHtzJGK5SZyEyKst?si=ya1BsYRcTpSlZeVFtMKekAMeine Musik auf Deezer:https://deezer. 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). The Mississippi River flood of 1927 was horrific. Through an examination of Smith's touring itinerary, the testimony of fellow entertainers who toured with her, newspaper reports, and other documents, it can be shown that the song was composed about a flood of the Cumberland River that struck Nashville, Tennessee, on Christmas morning, 1926. The third-sixth verses have the traditional AAB blues pattern, which helps emphasize what she is saying during each verse. She believed that her truth needed to be told, so she told it. When it thunders and lightnin' and the wind begin to blow. I have her strong voice in my ear at all times. It also deals with how said flood displaced several victims and led to the loss of hundreds of lives. Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go. 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. Post 4- Blues Music: Bessie Smith | by Alexis Allen | Medium Jazz- Review Questions Flashcards | Quizlet Leadbelly - Backwater Blues - YouTube Bessie Smith - Back-Water Blues Lyrics | Genius Lyrics The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard written by Bessie Smith. How does the music reflect the lyrical content of the piece? Learn to hear chords by ear. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. Bessie Smith, "Backwater blues", 1927The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard. Backwater Blues by Bessie Smith - Digital Sheet Music, View our Accessibility Statement or contact us with accessibility-related questions, Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out. [3] However, that flood was at its worst some two months after the song was written. Today, I hear phrases such as the winter blues and Blue Monday and know that they are not considering this history. 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. Over her ten year career, she created one hundred and sixty recordings. Content may require purchase if you do not have access. The despair is deep, is deeply personal, but it is also metaphorical and speaks to the despair of an entire community. Great cover of blues classic Backwater blues on The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band 2011. album How I Go Performance: Backwater Blues by Big Bill Broonzy | SecondHandSongs Johnson was instrumental in the development of the piano style that emerged from Harlem in the 1920s known as \"stride.\" \r\rIn the age before sound amplification and microphones, a successful singer needed to be able to project. The flood from The Cumberland River that struck Nashville, Tennessee on Christmas Day 1926, AAB e.g. I see myself as an activist Chinese American poet, and I want to show the multiple sides of my literary inheritance. Backwater blues done caused me to pack up my things and go, / Backwater blues done caused me to pack up my things and go, / 'Cause my house fell down and I can't live there no more. This is a song poem. The scene is set with the terrific storm by the female speaker, so depressed that she cant even get out of the door. Bessie Smith Chords & Tabs : 24 Total @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com Adds to the blues feel as the music is seen to reflect the realities of her situation. Marilyn Chin reads and discusses Bessie Smith's "Backwater Blues Discover an intuitive and deep understanding of how music works. 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. This suggests to me that aspects of contemporary US poetry could be in lineage of African diasporic culture. Brown, who alongside Langston Hughes was a pioneer of blues poetry in the 1920s. Bessie Smith - Songs, Death & Facts I love writing blues poems. The vocalization stands out far more than the sound of the instruments, primarily due to Smiths incredible voice. Kevin Young was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. . 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 lyrics are in the often-used AAB blues format. However, I recommend practicing the classic form (first line repeated in the second line, third line responds to the second, entire poem at least three tercets long) to fully grasp blues aesthetics. Updated September 9, 2020. Bessie Smith, commonly referred to as the Empress of the Blues, was born in 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Bessie actually wrote Backwater Blues for the Cumberland River flood that hit Nashville on Christmas morning 1926. Bessie Smith "Backwater Blues" Sheet Music in C Major (transposable Backwater Blues - Piano - YouTube Entire black neighborhoods were wiped out. Smith's voice not only had this quality, it also possessed a rich timbre and tremendous emotive power. [2], The song has long been associated with the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. In order to interrogate said materials, six recordings by different musicians were chosen and meticulously transcribed. Irma Thomas released it on the album Our New Orleans 2005 - A Benefit Album in 2005. Her powerful voice stands out so much in this song that the instrumental background may not even be needed as supplementation. The conjunct melody made me want to sing along with her! I believe the blues represents a range of human experience that can speak on and to that thing that nearly ended someone but the very fact of them living to sing about it encapsulates the blues. Nose To Tail - Dragon Ball Z Raging Blast 2, Mushihimesama Futari - Sea of Frozen Crystals. The beat does not change because each verse follows the same AAB pattern, which results in the same rhythm continuing on. The third line either comments or reverses the first two lines. Create beats, songs, and musical snippets with built-in music theory, melody guides, and intelligent chord suggestions. Backwater Blues by Bessie Smith Chords, Melody, and Music Theory The flood was a devastating ordeal. 15Label: Route 16Year: 1990This CD is from my own collection. hasContentIssue false. 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. While many latter-day . I think in the best identity poems that the self represents something much larger than the self. Bessie Smith, "Backwater blues", 1927 - YouTube Bob Dylan - Backwater blues Lyrics | Genius Lyrics 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. She earned her title by displaying her powerful voice to the public for everyone to hear. Instagram oder Facebook auf Songtexte.com geladen werden. Another way of reading classic blues lyric structure is as weighted-sonic couplets. Discuss Bessie Smith's performance of "Back Water Blues" as an example of both. 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. One subscription across all of your devices. The rhythm and beat remain constant throughout the song. We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. 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. According to the Theorytab database, it is the 5th most popular key among Major keys and the 5th most popular among all keys. In our workshop, In the Voice and in the Deep, Blues Poetry, participants and I studied blues music, history, aesthetics, and ultimately blues poetry. Dazu brauchen wir deine Einwillung*. See the E Major Cheat Sheet for popular chords, chord progressions, downloadable midi files and more! For examples of innovative uses of these devices in poetry, visit Jericho Browns Duplex, Evie Shockleys Fukushima Blues, and Kevin Youngs Langston Hughes.. Nonetheless, when she recorded it in 1927 "Backwater Blues" became an anthem for the great Mississippi River Flood. The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard written by Bessie Smith. "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? Smith is believed to be one of the highest paid black performers of her time. Alle Informationen dazu findest du in unseren I have sympathy towards Smith during her performance of this song because she conveys how lonesome she is. View Official Scores licensed from. I am majoring in biology and love helping my community! 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 - The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band - YouTube It was originally composed by Joe "King" Oliver and is largely performed as an instrumental, although lyrics were . Since tab form can't express time interval, I hope you will figure Please download this song, preferably the original 1927 recording by Bessie Smith, and listen to her amazing singing. Jazz- Review Questions. She manages to escape her flooding home, only to look back and see that she will never be able to go back to it. 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.'. "When it rains five days, and the skies turn dark as night (x2). [Verse 5] And I went . The vocals to be the focus and the 'response' to be more complex, At times it can sounds almost 'half-spoken'. Backwater Blues - Wikipedia Bessie Smith. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, courtesy of the Rock Hall Library and Archive, https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/bessie-smith. Back-Water Blues. 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. What is the structure of the lyrics? Bemoaning the fate of losing a home to flood waters after five days and nights of rain, Smith laments: Thousands of people aint got no place to go. While many latter-day listeners have equated this song with the disastrous 1927 flood of the Mississippi River, Smith actually recorded this before that particular flood had occurred. I do not believe in a fixed way to write blues poems or poetry with blues feeling. The backwater blues caused me. What are the introductory chords that illustrate this? Her voice is subversive, defiant despite all odds against her. My name is Lex and I am a rising senior at the University of Georgia. Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go. First, research supports the claim that blues music originated during the postUS Civil War era (186165) and is derived from spirituals and work and field songs of Black sharecroppers of the rural south, particularly the Mississippi Delta. Bessie actually wrote "Backwater Blues" for the Cumberland River flood that hit Nashville on Christmas morning 1926. AAB e.g. And the rain begin to pour. Through an examination of Smith's touring itinerary, the testimony of fellow entertainers who toured . 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. Terrible images came across the television screen and recently with global warming and continuous flooding and natural disasters this poem survives the test of time and can speak to a variety of incidents and international dislocated peoples. Each verse in the song follows an AAB pattern from beginning to end. Backwater Blues tells the story of how the speaker is forced out of her home due to flooding waters. 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. Smith (on vocal with James P. Johnson on piano) recorded it as "Back-water Blues" on February 17, 1927, in New York City. The poem moves to personal depression. The blues artists who wrote and sang in this era there are famous names in this era such as Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Howling Wolf, and of course, Bessie Smith, who is one of my favorites. 04 January 2007. There were reports that officials behaved in a discriminatory fashion.