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. According to the Theorytab database, it is the 5th most popular key among Major keys and the 5th most popular among all keys. Jazz- Review Questions. Discuss Bessie Smith's performance of "Back Water Blues" as an example of both. Another way of reading classic blues lyric structure is as weighted-sonic couplets. The conjunct melody made me want to sing along with her! The Mississippi River flood of 1927 was horrific. 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. Bessie Smith - Songs, Death & Facts 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. There was evidence of lynchings and unspeakable killings and terrible acts against the black community. The beat is easy to tap along to, making it easier to focus on her lyrics. West End Blues - Louis Armstrong (Analysis) - bradpottermusic 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. Back-Water Blues 65th in 1927. 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. AAB e.g. Smith performed for nearly a decade until Columbia Records signed her in 1923. The song has long been associated with the great flood of the lower Mississippi River in 1927. Hostname: page-component-75b8448494-knlg2 How does the music reflect the lyrical content of the piece? Log dich ein um diese Funktion zu nutzen. This suggests to me that aspects of contemporary US poetry could be in lineage of African diasporic culture. ). Back-Water Blues. Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go. Leadbelly - Backwater BluesTaken from: 16 Greatest Songs (As Pictured)Track no. And I can't live there no more. When it rains five days and the skies turn dark as night, when it rains five days and the skies turn dark as night, then trouble's takin' place in the lowlands at night. Harmonically, what is the piece based on? She is the author of three collections of poems, most recently Rhapsody in Plain Yellow (2002). Listening Guide to Backwater Blues by Bessie Smith - YouTube Each verse in the song follows an AAB pattern from beginning to end. Datenschutzbestimmungen. 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. Cover versions of Back Water Blues by Irma Thomas | SecondHandSongs The poem moves to personal depression. 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 . Irma Thomas released it on the album Our New Orleans 2005 - A Benefit Album in 2005. Its musical composition entered the public domain on January 1, 2023. 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. She made almost 200 recordings, including duets with Louis Armstrong and Joe Smith. Lets look at the blues poem as a form. Bessie Smith (Down Hearted Blues, 1923) Jazz Legend. Youtube, uploaded by RagtimeDorianHenry, 3 Jun 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go6TiLIeVZA. She is considered by many as one of the most successful African-American females of all time. Render date: 2023-05-02T09:42:40.381Z It was originally composed by Joe "King" Oliver and is largely performed as an instrumental, although lyrics were . Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs. This is historically problematical because that flood began two months after 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. :)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Title: Backwater BluesLevel: BeginnerCom. 3.2 Online-Unterricht - Backwater Blues - YouTube When it thunders and lightnin' and the wind begins to blow. Bessie Smith "Backwater Blues" Sheet Music in C Major (transposable Nonetheless, when she recorded it in 1927 Backwater Blues became an anthem for the great Mississippi River Flood. Bessie actually wrote Backwater Blues for the Cumberland River flood that hit Nashville on Christmas morning 1926. C, F7, C, C7, F7, C. Smith's voice not only had this quality, it also possessed a rich timbre and tremendous emotive power. 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. [1] Its musical composition entered the public domain on January 1, 2023. I have sympathy towards Smith during her performance of this song because she conveys how lonesome she is. 15Label: Route 16Year: 1990This CD is from my own collection. The song is called "West End Blues" and was recorded by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five in 1928. The three most important chords, built off the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degrees are all major . Brown, who alongside Langston Hughes was a pioneer of blues poetry in the 1920s. Post 4- Blues Music: Bessie Smith | by Alexis Allen | Medium Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com. The rhythm remains constant throughout the song, allowing the melody to flow peacefully during the piece. Backwater Blues tells the story of how the speaker is forced out of her home due to flooding waters. The melody is conjunct, making it easy to follow the lyrics of the song and the instrumental portions at the same time. Smith, Bessie. Carl Van Vechten Estate/Library of Congress, Washington D.C., photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1936, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bessie-Smith. Bessie Smith's 'Back-Water Blues': the story behind the song Smith (on vocal with James P. Johnson on piano) recorded it as "Back-water Blues" on February 17, 1927, in New York City. There's thousands of people ain't got no place to go. Smith is believed to be one of the highest paid black performers of her time. I think in the best identity poems that the self represents something much larger than the self. When it's . I cant do justice to this poem, to Backwater Blues, by just reciting it myself. Although Smith is very pleasing to the ears, she seems to be slightly monotone in this piece. Bessie Smith had a powerful impact on future blues and Rock and Roll singers, like Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and Janis Joplin. Mmm, I can't move no more. The flood was a devastating ordeal. The piano's bass part keeps the rhythm of the piece steady but when doing the 'response', the right hand can complicate this and create interest. The beat does . Following her death, Smiths legacy continued on as she inspired new artists to display who they truly were. I love writing blues poems. 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. 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 rhythm and beat remain constant throughout the song. "Backwater Blues" (Song) - Song Meanings and Facts The opening choruses of each performance . 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. 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. Smith describes how down she is about her life and how she knows there is nothing she can do about it.