7 available keys. [2], The song has long been associated with the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like backwater blues, libretto, step interval and more. In our workshop, In the Voice and in the Deep, Blues Poetry, participants and I studied blues music, history, aesthetics, and ultimately blues poetry. Mchtest du Inhalte von aktivieren? Has data issue: false There were reports that officials behaved in a discriminatory fashion. In this blog post I am going to be looking at and analysing a track by famous New Orleans jazz musician, Louis Armstrong. The scene is set with the terrific storm by the female speaker, so depressed that she cant even get out of the door. Backwater Blues is written in the key of E Major. Bessie Smith's Back-Water Blues: the story behind https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261143007001158, Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. The consonant chords allow for a smooth harmony to flow continuously during the song. Please use a recent version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, or Opera instead. 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. The poem moves to personal depression. 04 January 2007. 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). Almost a million people became homeless for a time. . Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs. The beginning of Down Hearted Blues actually reminded me of Ragtime music slightly. The narrator, who presents himself as a victim describes how . 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. 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. The vocals to be the focus and the 'response' to be more complex, At times it can sounds almost 'half-spoken'. AAB e.g. Of course, I learn so much from the Bessie Smiths blues poems. C, F7, C, C7, F7, C. For examples of innovative uses of these devices in poetry, visit Jericho Browns Duplex, Evie Shockleys Fukushima Blues, and Kevin Youngs Langston Hughes.. Content may require purchase if you do not have access. However, the blues utility in our everyday language signifies to me that the blues are ingrained into US culture. print music publishers. The best song poems, I believe, can live on the pages as well as in the ear. 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. 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. I am majoring in biology and love helping my community! Bessie Smith (1894-1937) began her professional career as a blues singer in cabarets in 1912. Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go. Play the music you love without limits for just $9.99 $3.33/month. Hier geht's zu meiner Musik auf Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/artist/1EV1CjZHtzJGK5SZyEyKst?si=ya1BsYRcTpSlZeVFtMKekAMeine Musik auf Deezer:https://deezer. Create beats, songs, and musical ideas with built-in music theory and AI from over 30k songs. The first two verses are unique and do not have any repetition. 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). They relocated the white folks in an expedient manner but corralled the black folks into abysmal camps. 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. Chin is the recipient of the PEN/Josephine Miles Award, a Fullbright Fellowship, and the Paterson Prize, among numerous other honors. The rhythm and beat remain constant throughout the song. Bessie Smith- Back Water Blues. Youtube, uploaded by TravelerIntoTheBlue, 9 Oct 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gXShOJVwaM. 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. The Mississippi River flood of 1927 was horrific. Log dich ein um diese Funktion zu nutzen. 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! Nonetheless, when she recorded it in 1927 "Backwater Blues" became an anthem for the great Mississippi River Flood. 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. Leadbelly - Backwater BluesTaken from: 16 Greatest Songs (As Pictured)Track no. Updated September 9, 2020. 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. Entire black neighborhoods were wiped out. I have her strong voice in my ear at all times. I cant do justice to this poem, to Backwater Blues, by just reciting it myself. The flood was a devastating ordeal. There was evidence of lynchings and unspeakable killings and terrible acts against the black community. SKU: MN0121681 Learn to hear chords by ear. The piece uses syncopation to allow variation between the instruments and the vocals. The third-sixth verses have the traditional AAB blues pattern, which helps emphasize what she is saying during each verse. [1] Its musical composition entered the public domain on January 1, 2023. It was written by Bessie Smith, and recorded (under the title ". 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 Smith, commonly referred to as the Empress of the Blues, was born in 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. View Official Scores licensed from. 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. Bessie Smith recorded Backwater Blues in 1927, and it became an anthem for one of the most devastating national disasters in US history. The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard written by Bessie Smith. She believed that her truth needed to be told, so she told it. Total loading time: 0 And I can't live there no more. The repetition of her lyrics depict just how saddening her situation is- she is in the middle of losing everything. In "Backwater Blues", the writer retells the incidents surrounding the flooding of Nashville in 1927. Published online by Cambridge University Press: Writer (s): Smith Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com. :)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Title: Backwater BluesLevel: BeginnerCom. The Cumberland River, which flows through the city, rose 56 feet (17m) above its normal level, still a record as of 2014[update].[4]. The piece has a homophonic texture due to the supplementation of the instruments to the vocalization of Smith. Backwater Blues is written in the key of E Major. 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. Death. Alle Informationen dazu findest du in unseren Designed and built by Hooktheory in California. The song has a homophonic texture due to the use of instruments and vocalization in unison. The blues poems remind us that the American poetic tradition can be traced to African American oral tradition; that great art, great poems come from deep suffering that is personal, historical, and political and could be read on the page as well as sung out loud. Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com. 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. Hi! The backwater blues caused me. for this article. There were reports that officials behaved in a discriminatory fashion. 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, Clar. Smith's voice not only had this quality, it also possessed a rich timbre and tremendous emotive power. 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. Sheet music arranged for Piano/Vocal/Guitar in C Major (transposable). Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out (Bessie and Me). Kevin Young was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. The beat does . Today, I hear phrases such as the winter blues and Blue Monday and know that they are not considering this history. The call and response between vocals and piano does what? Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs. I do not believe in a fixed way to write blues poems or poetry with blues feeling. The despair is deep, is deeply personal, but it is also metaphorical and speaks to the despair of an entire community. Smith (on vocal with James P. Johnson on piano) recorded it as "Back-water Blues" on February 17, 1927, in New York City. 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. Bessie actually wrote Backwater Blues for the Cumberland River flood that hit Nashville on Christmas morning 1926. Yeah, when it's thunderin' and lightnin'. Lets look at the blues poem as a form. 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. I love writing blues poems. One more piece. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. I have sympathy towards Smith during her performance of this song because she conveys how lonesome she is. What is the structure of the lyrics? "useRatesEcommerce": false The three most important chords, built off the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degrees are all major . (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Cause my house fell down and I can't live there no more. 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. Please download this song, preferably the original 1927 recording by Bessie Smith, and listen to her amazing singing. 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. Her powerful voice stands out so much in this song that the instrumental background may not even be needed as supplementation. 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. The vocalization stands out far more than the sound of the instruments, primarily due to Smiths incredible voice. Lets look at this poem closely. The beat is easy to tap along to, making it easier to focus on her lyrics. 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. The flood was a devastating ordeal. This incident gave birth to an important blues era, now known as the Delta Blues era. Backwater Blues by Big Bill Broonzy was written by Bessie Smith and was first recorded and released by Bessie Smith in 1927. Teach music and songwriting in ways that keep students engaged, excited, and inspired. Brown, who alongside Langston Hughes was a pioneer of blues poetry in the 1920s. This is historically problematical because that flood began two months after Smith recorded her song. The words vary from one performer to another; this opening verse is representative: When it rains five days, and the skies turn dark as night (2) The flood from The Cumberland River that struck Nashville, Tennessee on Christmas Day 1926, AAB e.g. 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. Smith describes how down she is about her life and how she knows there is nothing she can do about it. Poet, writer, teacher, and political activist Amiri Baraka was born Everett LeRoi Jones in 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. Since tab form can't express time interval, I hope you will figure There's thousands of people ain't got no place to go. El disco e. Render date: 2023-05-02T09:42:40.381Z When it thunders and lightnin' and the wind begins to blow. 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. Discuss Bessie Smith's performance of "Back Water Blues" as an example of both. And the rain begin to pour. She made almost 200 recordings, including duets with Louis Armstrong and Joe Smith. } She lets the chords of the instruments dangle off of her words, resulting in a beautiful piece that focuses primarily on the lyrics. [3] However, that flood was at its worst some two months after the song was written. Bessie Smith, "Backwater blues", 1927The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard. As musicologist Dr. David Evans has noted, Back-Water Blues was recorded in February 1927, before the great disaster of April. When it's . The song is called "West End Blues" and was recorded by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five in 1928. 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. Following her death, Smiths legacy continued on as she inspired new artists to display who they truly were. Almost half a million homes were destroyed. 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. After discussing blues history, we went over Bessie Smiths Backwater Blues, then Langston Hughes Too Blue, and concluded our study with Jericho Browns Duplex (specifically A poem is a gesture toward home). She manages to escape her flooding home, only to look back and see that she will never be able to go back to it. I make it a point to learn the African American poetic tradition. The beat does not change because each verse follows the same AAB pattern, which results in the same rhythm continuing on. The lyrics of the song are interpreted with respect to the events of that flood. See the E Major Cheat Sheet for popular chords, chord progressions, downloadable midi files and more! '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. Feature Flags: { When it thunders and lightnin' and the wind begin to blow. A modified 12 bar blues. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like backwater blues, libretto, step interval and more. 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. 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. "When it rains five days, and the skies turn dark as night (x2). She is considered by many as one of the most successful African-American females of all time. What are the introductory chords that illustrate this? 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. She earned her title by displaying her powerful voice to the public for everyone to hear. Smith . Backwater Blues tells the story of how the speaker is forced out of her home due to flooding waters. While many latter-day . The opening choruses of each performance . 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. Discover an intuitive and deep understanding of how music works. She is the author of three collections of poems, most recently Rhapsody in Plain Yellow (2002). Dazu brauchen wir deine Einwillung*. There is one integral line throughout the stanza. 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 . 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. The first two lines are of almost equal length. Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go. 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. [Verse 5] And I went . It was originally composed by Joe "King" Oliver and is largely performed as an instrumental, although lyrics were . View all Google Scholar citations Smith did not cut any corners in her songs- she told everyone how the world really was and how she felt about it. Backwater Blues gefllt bisher niemandem. Jazz- Review Questions. La Bouche) [2023 Mix] [Extended Mix] Songtext. 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. The song has long been associated with the great flood of the lower Mississippi River in 1927. I think in the best identity poems that the self represents something much larger than the self. 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. Back Water Blues by Irma Thomas was written by Bessie Smith and was first recorded and released by Bessie Smith in 1927. Borrowing from song to write about whats wrong. What characterizes a blues performance? Mmm, I cant move no more. This is historically problematical because that flood began two months after Smith . About a thousand people lost their lives. Back-Water Blues 65th in 1927. 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. Pro Credit Pack (3 Pro Credits) Included with first year, Your high-resolution PDF file will be ready to download in Big Bill Broonzy released it on the album Folk Blues in 1954. The first line sets the scene, the second line repeats the first for emphasis. Irma Thomas released it on the album Our New Orleans 2005 - A Benefit Album in 2005. 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 . 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. 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. Smith (on vocal with James P. Johnson on piano) recorded it as "Back-water Blues" on February 17, 1927, in New York City. The song has a homophonic texture due to the use of instruments and vocalization in unison. Second, the first published blues composition is accredited to W.C. Handys Memphis Blues in 1912. The rhythm remains constant throughout the song, allowing the melody to flow peacefully during the piece. The third line either comments or reverses the first two lines. Her lyrics aid the audience in understanding why she is down.

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