Bessie Smith (1894-1937) began her professional career as a blues singer in cabarets in 1912. Lets look at the blues poem as a form. Feature Flags: { Bessie Smith - Back-Water Blues Lyrics | Genius Lyrics Bessie Smith - Backwater Blues Flashcards | Quizlet Marilyn Chin reads and discusses Bessie Smith's "Backwater Blues "When it rains five days, and the skies turn dark as night (x2). Pro Credit Pack (3 Pro Credits) Included with first year, Your high-resolution PDF file will be ready to download in Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like backwater blues, libretto, step interval and more. The first two verses are unique and do not have any repetition. 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. Adds to the blues feel as the music is seen to reflect the realities of her situation. In the Voice and in the Deep, Blues Poetry - Poetry Foundation 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. The beat does not change because each verse follows the same AAB pattern, which results in the same rhythm continuing on. 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 . 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. 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. Bessie actually wrote Backwater Blues for the Cumberland River flood that hit Nashville on Christmas morning 1926. 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. Bessie Smith had a powerful impact on future blues and Rock and Roll singers, like Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and Janis Joplin. Teach music and songwriting in ways that keep students engaged, excited, and inspired. Discover an intuitive and deep understanding of how music works. Backwater Blues Chris Fisher-Lochhead The beat is easy to tap along to, making it easier to focus on her lyrics. 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. My name is Lex and I am a rising senior at the University of Georgia. The third-sixth verses have the traditional AAB blues pattern, which helps emphasize what she is saying during each verse. Thematically, write about whatever you feel must be sung. Death. I do not believe in a fixed way to write blues poems or poetry with blues feeling. I love writing blues poems. Baraka attributes this knowledge to his mentor Sterling A. print music publishers. She teaches in the MFA program at San Diego State University. Bessie Smith- Back Water Blues. Youtube, uploaded by TravelerIntoTheBlue, 9 Oct 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gXShOJVwaM. This is historically problematical because that flood began two months after Smith recorded her song. The three most important chords, built off the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degrees are all major . Thank you. Since tab form can't express time interval, I hope you will figure 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. Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs. "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? 3.2 Online-Unterricht - Backwater Blues - YouTube In this blog post I am going to be looking at and analysing a track by famous New Orleans jazz musician, Louis Armstrong. Bessie Smith "Backwater Blues" Sheet Music in C Major (transposable While many latter-day . Dazu brauchen wir deine Einwillung*. 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). Print and download Backwater Blues sheet music by Bessie Smith. Smith . 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. AAB e.g. I think in the best identity poems that the self represents something much larger than the self. It was originally composed by Joe "King" Oliver and is largely performed as an instrumental, although lyrics were . 'Cause my house fell down. I cant do justice to this poem, to Backwater Blues, by just reciting it myself. Nonetheless, when she recorded it in 1927 Backwater Blues became an anthem for the great Mississippi River Flood. Smith continued on to become very successful with hits like St. Following her death, Smiths legacy continued on as she inspired new artists to display who they truly were. Today, I hear phrases such as the winter blues and Blue Monday and know that they are not considering this history. Smith describes how down she is about her life and how she knows there is nothing she can do about it. Great cover of blues classic Backwater blues on The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band 2011. album How I Go Songtext von Bessie Smith - Backwater Blues Lyrics 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.'. 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. El disco e. Bessie Smith, "Backwater blues", 1927 - YouTube Este es un disco muy bueno; una gran voz, la Reina del Blues Dinah Washington, y unos temas espectaculares, las canciones de la gran Bessie Smith. The lyrics are in the often-used AAB blues format. Although Smith is very pleasing to the ears, she seems to be slightly monotone in this piece. There were reports that officials behaved in a discriminatory fashion. She manages to escape her flooding home, only to look back and see that she will never be able to go back to it. [Verse 5] And I went . There were reports that officials behaved in a discriminatory fashion. Mmm, I can't move no more. I make it a point to learn the African American poetic tradition. La Bouche) [2023 Mix] [Extended Mix] Songtext. But the second strophe, the second stanza, we turn inward, and its about personal disaster: I woke up this morning cant even get out of my door, I woke up this morning cant even get out of my door. 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. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like backwater blues, libretto, step interval and more. The a rhyme glues the three-line stanza together. LISTENING part 1 SEIGFRIED CHAP 5. richard wagner germany Back-Water Blues. 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. Create beats, songs, and musical snippets with built-in music theory, melody guides, and intelligent chord suggestions. In our workshop, In the Voice and in the Deep, Blues Poetry, participants and I studied blues music, history, aesthetics, and ultimately blues poetry. Smith (on vocal with James P. Johnson on piano) recorded it as "Back-water Blues" on February 17, 1927, in New York City. She made almost 200 recordings, including duets with Louis Armstrong and Joe Smith. And the rain begin to pour. 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. Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com. Backwater Blues - Piano - YouTube *Als Songtexte.com PUR User kannst du entscheiden, welche Inhalte von externen Anbietern wie Youtube, The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard written by Bessie Smith. Mmm, I cant move no more. 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 song is called "West End Blues" and was recorded by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five in 1928. Backwater Blues Bessie Smith Chords and Lyrics for Guitar According to the Theorytab database, it is the 5th most popular key among Major keys and the 5th most popular among all keys. Backwater Blues by Big Bill Broonzy was written by Bessie Smith and was first recorded and released by Bessie Smith in 1927. 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. Mchtest du Inhalte von aktivieren? } 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 is written in the key of E Major. 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. 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). Cover versions of Back Water Blues by Irma Thomas | SecondHandSongs The lyrics of the song are interpreted with respect to the events of that flood. Irma Thomas released it on the album Our New Orleans 2005 - A Benefit Album in 2005. There's thousands of people ain't got no place to go. Hooktheory requires WebAudio and this browser doesn't support it. Backwater Blues gefllt bisher niemandem. The best song poems, I believe, can live on the pages as well as in the ear. The flood was a devastating ordeal. 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. Please use a recent version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, or Opera instead. What is the structure of the lyrics? 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. 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. The vocals to be the focus and the 'response' to be more complex, At times it can sounds almost 'half-spoken'. 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. Discuss Bessie Smith's performance of "Back Water Blues" as an example of both. The first two lines are of almost equal length. homophonic texture. Bob Dylan - Backwater blues Lyrics | Genius Lyrics Poet, writer, teacher, and political activist Amiri Baraka was born Everett LeRoi Jones in 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. In "Backwater Blues", the writer retells the incidents surrounding the flooding of Nashville in 1927. She is the author of three collections of poems, most recently Rhapsody in Plain Yellow (2002). Smith is believed to be one of the highest paid black performers of her time. Bessie Smith - Songs, Death & Facts The flood from The Cumberland River that struck Nashville, Tennessee on Christmas Day 1926, AAB e.g. Almost half a million homes were destroyed. 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. hasContentIssue false. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out (Bessie and Me). Backwater Blues by Bessie Smith Chords, Melody, and Music Theory Download and Print scores from huge community collection ( 1,426,528 and growing) Advanced tools to level up your playing skills. Almost a million people became homeless for a time. Writer(s): Smith Bessie actually wrote "Backwater Blues" for the Cumberland River flood that hit Nashville on Christmas morning 1926. 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. Create beats, songs, and musical ideas with built-in music theory and AI from over 30k songs. It was written by Bessie Smith, and recorded (under the title ". Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs. 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. Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go. 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 rhythm remains constant throughout the song, allowing the melody to flow peacefully during the piece. Backwater Blues is written in the key of E Major. The song has long been associated with the great flood of the lower Mississippi River in 1927. Harmonically, what is the piece based on? 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. "Backwater Blues" (Song) - Song Meanings and Facts 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. [3] However, that flood was at its worst some two months after the song was written. Bessie Smith Chords & Tabs : 24 Total @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com 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 . Backwater Blues - The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band - YouTube 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. Bessie Smith, "Backwater blues", 1927The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard. In order to interrogate said materials, six recordings by different musicians were chosen and meticulously transcribed. 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. The third line either comments or reverses the first two lines. 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. What are the introductory chords that illustrate this? Borrowing from song to write about whats wrong. Second, the first published blues composition is accredited to W.C. Handys Memphis Blues in 1912. 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. To pack my things and go. 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 piece uses syncopation to allow variation between the instruments and the vocals. They relocated the white folks in an expedient manner but corralled the black folks into abysmal camps. Leadbelly - Backwater Blues - YouTube Render date: 2023-05-02T09:42:40.381Z The song has a homophonic texture due to the use of instruments and vocalization in unison. This is historically problematical because that flood began two months after Smith . Bessie Smith. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, courtesy of the Rock Hall Library and Archive, https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/bessie-smith. What is 12-bar-blues form? Down Hearted Blues, her first recording, sold nearly 800,000 copies, firmly establishing her as a new singer in the blues genre. About a thousand people lost their lives. Of course, we Americans have historical amnesia. Hi! This suggests to me that aspects of contemporary US poetry could be in lineage of African diasporic culture. SKU: MN0121681 I have sympathy towards Smith during her performance of this song because she conveys how lonesome she is. 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. Yeah, when it's thunderin' and lightnin'. 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. ). Smith performed for nearly a decade until Columbia Records signed her in 1923. How does the music reflect the lyrical content of the piece? Dinah Washington - Back Water Blues - YouTube Back-Water Blues Bessie Smith (Columbia, 1927) Theres this rich toughness in her voice that tells us this girl and her people are going to get through this calamity. What are the introductory chords that illustrate this? Alle Informationen dazu findest du in unseren . Her lyrics aid the audience in understanding why she is down. 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! Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go. One subscription across all of your devices. Sheet music arranged for Piano/Vocal/Guitar in C Major (transposable). 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. Over her ten year career, she created one hundred and sixty recordings. According to the Theorytab database, it is the 5th most popular key among Major keys and the 5th most popular among all keys. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. Performance: Backwater Blues by Big Bill Broonzy | SecondHandSongs :)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Title: Backwater BluesLevel: BeginnerCom. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Bessie Smith's 'Back-Water Blues': the story behind the song See the E Major Cheat Sheet for popular chords, chord progressions, downloadable midi files and more! She is considered by many as one of the most successful African-American females of all time. Marilyn Chin (1955- ) was born in Hong Kong, grew up in Oregon, and received her MFA from the University of Iowa. There is one integral line throughout the stanza. Instagram oder Facebook auf Songtexte.com geladen werden. However, the blues utility in our everyday language signifies to me that the blues are ingrained into US culture. The first line sets the scene, the second line repeats the first for emphasis. 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 . The vocalization stands out far more than the sound of the instruments, primarily due to Smiths incredible voice. I am majoring in biology and love helping my community! View all Google Scholar citations The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard written by Bessie Smith. What characterizes a blues performance? Learn to hear chords by ear. for this article. This is historically problematical because that flood began two months after Smith recorded her song. Lets look at this poem closely. 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 conjunct melody made me want to sing along with her! 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. Jazz- Review Questions Flashcards | Quizlet A modified 12 bar blues. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Smith (on vocal with James P. Johnson on piano) recorded it as "Back-water Blues" on February 17, 1927, in New York City. Post 4- Blues Music: Bessie Smith | by Alexis Allen | Medium 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. It also deals with how said flood displaced several victims and led to the loss of hundreds of lives. Each verse in the song follows an AAB pattern from beginning to end. Updated September 9, 2020. Backwater Blues Sheet music for Piano (Solo) | Musescore.com Hostname: page-component-75b8448494-knlg2 The piece has a homophonic texture due to the supplementation of the instruments to the vocalization of Smith. Chin is the recipient of the PEN/Josephine Miles Award, a Fullbright Fellowship, and the Paterson Prize, among numerous other honors. [1] Its musical composition entered the public domain on January 1, 2023. Nonetheless, when she recorded it in 1927 "Backwater Blues" became an anthem for the great Mississippi River Flood. The call and response between vocals and piano does what? The beat does . 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. Song: Back-Water Blues written by Bessie Smith | SecondHandSongs 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. music review for midterm Flashcards | Quizlet The Cumberland River, which flows through the city, rose 56 feet (17m) above its normal level, still a record as of 2014[update].[4]. Third, Mamie Smith became the first Black blues singer to record a blues record in 1920. Smith's voice not only had this quality, it also possessed a rich timbre and tremendous emotive power.