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 . See the E Major Cheat Sheet for popular chords, chord progressions, downloadable midi files and more! She manages to escape her flooding home, only to look back and see that she will never be able to go back to it. Train with real songs. Nonetheless, when she recorded it in 1927 Backwater Blues became an anthem for the great Mississippi River Flood. The lyrics are in the often-used AAB blues format. 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. *Als Songtexte.com PUR User kannst du entscheiden, welche Inhalte von externen Anbietern wie Youtube, 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. :)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Title: Backwater BluesLevel: BeginnerCom. AAB e.g. 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. Her powerful voice stands out so much in this song that the instrumental background may not even be needed as supplementation. Has data issue: false She earned her title by displaying her powerful voice to the public for everyone to hear. 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. Harmonically, what is the piece based on? Bessie Smith- Back Water Blues. Youtube, uploaded by TravelerIntoTheBlue, 9 Oct 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gXShOJVwaM. The flood was a devastating ordeal. Learn to hear chords by ear. Create beats, songs, and musical ideas with built-in music theory and AI from over 30k songs. The song is called "West End Blues" and was recorded by Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five in 1928. Back-Water Blues. Hooktheory requires WebAudio and this browser doesn't support it. This is historically problematical because that flood began two months after Smith . Log dich ein um diese Funktion zu nutzen. 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. print music publishers. The first two lines are of almost equal length. 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. Bessie Smith (Down Hearted Blues, 1923) Jazz Legend. Youtube, uploaded by RagtimeDorianHenry, 3 Jun 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go6TiLIeVZA. 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. To pack my things and go. Total loading time: 0 Almost half a million homes were destroyed. There were reports that officials behaved in a discriminatory fashion. 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 beat is easy to tap along to, making it easier to focus on her lyrics. While many latter-day . 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. 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 . Includes 1 print + interactive copy with lifetime access in our free apps. In order to interrogate said materials, six recordings by different musicians were chosen and meticulously transcribed. Not only did she sing, she was also an actress and comedian. 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. I think in the best identity poems that the self represents something much larger than the self. The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard written by Bessie Smith. Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com. Writer(s): Smith Almost a million people became homeless for a time. 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. Its musical composition entered the public domain on January 1, 2023. [Verse 5] And I went . The melody is conjunct, making it easy to follow the lyrics of the song and the instrumental portions at the same time. The rhythm and beat remain constant throughout the song. 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. The conjunct melody made me want to sing along with her! Backwater Blues by Big Bill Broonzy was written by Bessie Smith and was first recorded and released by Bessie Smith in 1927. What is 12-bar-blues form? 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. 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. Create beats, songs, and musical snippets with built-in music theory, melody guides, and intelligent chord suggestions. Billed annually at $39.99. Mmm, I can't move no more. The flood was a devastating ordeal. 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. Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs. Jazz- Review Questions. Chin is the recipient of the PEN/Josephine Miles Award, a Fullbright Fellowship, and the Paterson Prize, among numerous other honors. According to the Theorytab database, it is the 5th most popular key among Major keys and the 5th most popular among all keys. Hostname: page-component-75b8448494-knlg2 The piece has a homophonic texture due to the supplementation of the instruments to the vocalization of Smith. Baraka attributes this knowledge to his mentor Sterling A. 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. The beginning of Down Hearted Blues actually reminded me of Ragtime music slightly. Chris Fisher-Lochhead. However, the blues utility in our everyday language signifies to me that the blues are ingrained into US culture. Sheet music arranged for Piano/Vocal/Guitar in C Major (transposable). I do not believe in a fixed way to write blues poems or poetry with blues feeling. Nose To Tail - Dragon Ball Z Raging Blast 2, Mushihimesama Futari - Sea of Frozen Crystals. The song has a homophonic texture due to the use of instruments and vocalization in unison. Smith describes how down she is about her life and how she knows there is nothing she can do about it. Since tab form can't express time interval, I hope you will figure Poet, writer, teacher, and political activist Amiri Baraka was born Everett LeRoi Jones in 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. "When it rains five days, and the skies turn dark as night (x2). Adds to the blues feel as the music is seen to reflect the realities of her situation. 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. Third, Mamie Smith became the first Black blues singer to record a blues record in 1920. [2], The song has long been associated with the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. Today, I hear phrases such as the winter blues and Blue Monday and know that they are not considering this history. 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. Death. 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 backwater blues caused me. Entire black neighborhoods were wiped out. SKU: MN0121681 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. Smith (on vocal with James P. Johnson on piano) recorded it as "Back-water Blues" on February 17, 1927, in New York City. 04 January 2007. There's thousands of people ain't got no place to go. A modified 12 bar blues. The best song poems, I believe, can live on the pages as well as in the ear. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 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. Backwater Blues is written in the key of E Major. 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. Smith . Please download this song, preferably the original 1927 recording by Bessie Smith, and listen to her amazing singing. There aint no place for a poor old girl to go. Leadbelly - Backwater BluesTaken from: 16 Greatest Songs (As Pictured)Track no. Pro Credit Pack (3 Pro Credits) Included with first year, Your high-resolution PDF file will be ready to download in Bessie Smith. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, courtesy of the Rock Hall Library and Archive, https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/bessie-smith. The narrator, who presents himself as a victim describes how . This incident gave birth to an important blues era, now known as the Delta Blues era. Of course, I learn so much from the Bessie Smiths blues poems. I love writing blues poems. Smith's voice not only had this quality, it also possessed a rich timbre and tremendous emotive power. 'Cause my house fell down. 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. There were reports that officials behaved in a discriminatory fashion. What are the introductory chords that illustrate this? They relocated the white folks in an expedient manner but corralled the black folks into abysmal camps. Smith did not cut any corners in her songs- she told everyone how the world really was and how she felt about it. Her lyrics aid the audience in understanding why she is down. [1] Its musical composition entered the public domain on January 1, 2023. Theres this rich toughness in her voice that tells us this girl and her people are going to get through this calamity. 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. Her voice is subversive, defiant despite all odds against her. I have her strong voice in my ear at all times. Irma Thomas released it on the album Our New Orleans 2005 - A Benefit Album in 2005. Another way of reading classic blues lyric structure is as weighted-sonic couplets. I cant do justice to this poem, to Backwater Blues, by just reciting it myself.
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