fbpx

backwater blues texture

    backwater blues texture

    The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard written by Bessie Smith. Not only did she sing, she was also an actress and comedian. According to the Theorytab database, it is the 5th most popular key among Major keys and the 5th most popular among all keys. The beat is easy to tap along to, making it easier to focus on her lyrics. 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. Play the music you love without limits for just $9.99 $3.33/month. [2], The song has long been associated with the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. 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. *Als Songtexte.com PUR User kannst du entscheiden, welche Inhalte von externen Anbietern wie Youtube, 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. "When it rains five days, and the skies turn dark as night (x2). 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. 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. 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. Although Smith is very pleasing to the ears, she seems to be slightly monotone in this piece. I have sympathy towards Smith during her performance of this song because she conveys how lonesome she is. The consonant chords allow for a smooth harmony to flow continuously during the song. 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. 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 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. Bessie Smith, commonly referred to as the Empress of the Blues, was born in 1894 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The third line either comments or reverses the first two lines. 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 . 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.'. View Official Scores licensed from. hasContentIssue false. The first two lines are of almost equal length. There were reports that officials behaved in a discriminatory fashion. The Cumberland River, which flows through the city, rose 56 feet (17m) above its normal level, still a record as of 2014[update].[4]. Smith (on vocal with James P. Johnson on piano) recorded it as "Back-water Blues" on February 17, 1927, in New York City. Lets look at the blues poem as a form. :)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Title: Backwater BluesLevel: BeginnerCom. When it thunders and lightnin' and the wind begin to blow. The rhythm and beat remain constant throughout the song. As musicologist Dr. David Evans has noted, Back-Water Blues was recorded in February 1927, before the great disaster of April. C, F7, C, C7, F7, C. LISTENING part 1 SEIGFRIED CHAP 5. richard wagner germany 15Label: Route 16Year: 1990This CD is from my own collection. Thematically, write about whatever you feel must be sung. 7 available keys. Bessie Smith. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, courtesy of the Rock Hall Library and Archive, https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/bessie-smith. . Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs. The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard written by Bessie Smith. 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). Entire black neighborhoods were wiped out. Back-Water Blues. Almost a million people became homeless for a time. 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. 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. Backwater Blues tells the story of how the speaker is forced out of her home due to flooding waters. 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 . ). 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. About a thousand people lost their lives. 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. Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go. 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. Designed and built by Hooktheory in California. What is the structure of the lyrics? The song has a homophonic texture due to the use of instruments and vocalization in unison. Almost half a million homes were destroyed. Smith . The a rhyme glues the three-line stanza together. The repetition of her lyrics depict just how saddening her situation is- she is in the middle of losing everything. 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). 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. 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. Marilyn Chin (1955- ) was born in Hong Kong, grew up in Oregon, and received her MFA from the University of Iowa. 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. Instagram oder Facebook auf Songtexte.com geladen werden. Feature Flags: { She manages to escape her flooding home, only to look back and see that she will never be able to go back to it. Has data issue: false 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. "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? Leadbelly - Backwater BluesTaken from: 16 Greatest Songs (As Pictured)Track no. 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. 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 recorded Backwater Blues in 1927, and it became an anthem for one of the most devastating national disasters in US history. Second, the first published blues composition is accredited to W.C. Handys Memphis Blues in 1912. 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. [3] However, that flood was at its worst some two months after the song was written. There were reports that officials behaved in a discriminatory fashion. The narrator, who presents himself as a victim describes how . Mchtest du Inhalte von aktivieren? Discuss Bessie Smith's performance of "Back Water Blues" as an example of both. 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). They relocated the white folks in an expedient manner but corralled the black folks into abysmal camps. The piece has a homophonic texture due to the supplementation of the instruments to the vocalization of Smith. Over her ten year career, she created one hundred and sixty recordings. Total loading time: 0 The three most important chords, built off the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degrees are all major . Kevin Young was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. Of course, we Americans have historical amnesia. 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. The song is called "West End Blues" and was recorded by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five in 1928. Alle Informationen dazu findest du in unseren '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. While many latter-day . Smith continued on to become very successful with hits like St. 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. 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. It was written by Bessie Smith, and recorded (under the title ". The beat does not change because each verse follows the same AAB pattern, which results in the same rhythm continuing on. However, the blues utility in our everyday language signifies to me that the blues are ingrained into US culture. 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's voice not only had this quality, it also possessed a rich timbre and tremendous emotive power. 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) Adds to the blues feel as the music is seen to reflect the realities of her situation. Bessie actually wrote "Backwater Blues" for the Cumberland River flood that hit Nashville on Christmas morning 1926. I think in the best identity poems that the self represents something much larger than the self. Sheet music arranged for Piano/Vocal/Guitar in C Major (transposable). Yeah, when it's thunderin' and lightnin'. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like backwater blues, libretto, step interval and more. Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com. What are the introductory chords that illustrate this? The first two verses are unique and do not have any repetition. 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. Since tab form can't express time interval, I hope you will figure Third, Mamie Smith became the first Black blues singer to record a blues record in 1920. for this article. Backwater Blues is written in the key of E Major. Thank you. homophonic texture. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. This suggests to me that aspects of contemporary US poetry could be in lineage of African diasporic culture. 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. The despair is deep, is deeply personal, but it is also metaphorical and speaks to the despair of an entire community. The piece uses syncopation to allow variation between the instruments and the vocals. Hi! 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. 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. Death. Create beats, songs, and musical ideas with built-in music theory and AI from over 30k songs. Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go. And I can't live there no more. Each verse in the song follows an AAB pattern from beginning to end. The best song poems, I believe, can live on the pages as well as in the ear. Hostname: page-component-75b8448494-knlg2 Smith did not cut any corners in her songs- she told everyone how the world really was and how she felt about it. 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. Bessie Smith had a powerful impact on future blues and Rock and Roll singers, like Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and Janis Joplin. To pack my things and go. I cant do justice to this poem, to Backwater Blues, by just reciting it myself. It was originally composed by Joe "King" Oliver and is largely performed as an instrumental, although lyrics were . A modified 12 bar blues. 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. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out (Bessie and Me). Through an examination of Smith's touring itinerary, the testimony of fellow entertainers who toured . 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. There's thousands of people ain't got no place to go. Following her death, Smiths legacy continued on as she inspired new artists to display who they truly were. 04 January 2007. 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. 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 . Today, I hear phrases such as the winter blues and Blue Monday and know that they are not considering this history. Borrowing from song to write about whats wrong. I see myself as an activist Chinese American poet, and I want to show the multiple sides of my literary inheritance. The lyrics of the song are interpreted with respect to the events of that flood. Content may require purchase if you do not have access. We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. 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. Backwater Blues is written in the key of E Major. Smith performed for nearly a decade until Columbia Records signed her in 1923. "useRatesEcommerce": false Baraka attributes this knowledge to his mentor Sterling A. What characterizes a blues performance? Log dich ein um diese Funktion zu nutzen. Backwater Blues gefllt bisher niemandem. The first line sets the scene, the second line repeats the first for emphasis. 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. She teaches in the MFA program at San Diego State University. Chin is the recipient of the PEN/Josephine Miles Award, a Fullbright Fellowship, and the Paterson Prize, among numerous other honors. Bessie Smith- Back Water Blues. Youtube, uploaded by TravelerIntoTheBlue, 9 Oct 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gXShOJVwaM. [1] Its musical composition entered the public domain on January 1, 2023. 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). Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like backwater blues, libretto, step interval and more. The rhythm and beat remain constant throughout the song. According to the Theorytab database, it is the 5th most popular key among Major keys and the 5th most popular among all keys. Back-Water Blues 65th in 1927. The vocalization stands out far more than the sound of the instruments, primarily due to Smiths incredible voice. I have her strong voice in my ear at all times. Smith is believed to be one of the highest paid black performers of her time. 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. Bessie actually wrote Backwater Blues for the Cumberland River flood that hit Nashville on Christmas morning 1926. The flood was a devastating ordeal. Render date: 2023-05-02T09:42:40.381Z She made almost 200 recordings, including duets with Louis Armstrong and Joe Smith. Learn to hear chords by ear. 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. Smith describes how down she is about her life and how she knows there is nothing she can do about it. } The flood from The Cumberland River that struck Nashville, Tennessee on Christmas Day 1926, AAB e.g. 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. See the E Major Cheat Sheet for popular chords, chord progressions, downloadable midi files and more! Its musical composition entered the public domain on January 1, 2023. 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. And the rain begin to pour. The song has long been associated with the great flood of the lower Mississippi River in 1927. One more piece. This incident gave birth to an important blues era, now known as the Delta Blues era. She believed that her truth needed to be told, so she told it. Irma Thomas released it on the album Our New Orleans 2005 - A Benefit Album in 2005. The Mississippi River flood of 1927 was horrific. Please use a recent version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, or Opera instead. The vocals to be the focus and the 'response' to be more complex, At times it can sounds almost 'half-spoken'. One subscription across all of your devices. The poem moves to personal depression. Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs. 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. Billed annually at $39.99. Bessie Smith (Down Hearted Blues, 1923) Jazz Legend. Youtube, uploaded by RagtimeDorianHenry, 3 Jun 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go6TiLIeVZA. Of course, I learn so much from the Bessie Smiths blues poems. I make it a point to learn the African American poetic tradition. Bessie Smith (1894-1937) began her professional career as a blues singer in cabarets in 1912. The rhythm remains constant throughout the song, allowing the melody to flow peacefully during the piece. print music publishers. 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. In our workshop, In the Voice and in the Deep, Blues Poetry, participants and I studied blues music, history, aesthetics, and ultimately blues poetry. Hooktheory requires WebAudio and this browser doesn't support it. Published online by Cambridge University Press: Updated September 9, 2020. 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. Big Bill Broonzy released it on the album Folk Blues in 1954. 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. 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. Includes 1 print + interactive copy with lifetime access in our free apps. Train with real songs. Bessie Smith, "Backwater blues", 1927The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard. "it rained five days and the sky turned dark as night". Down Hearted Blues, her first recording, sold nearly 800,000 copies, firmly establishing her as a new singer in the blues genre. Blues on Yellow Marilyn Chin from Rhapsody in Plain Yellow. 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. Nonetheless, when she recorded it in 1927 Backwater Blues became an anthem for the great Mississippi River Flood.

    Vons Mango Habanero Chicken Nutrition, Hungarian Baptism Records Translation, Sonday System Student Notebook Pdf, Articles B

    Abrir chat
    😀 ¿Podemos Ayudarte?
    Hola! 👋