I make it a point to learn the African American poetic tradition. 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. How does the music reflect the lyrical content of the piece? She made almost 200 recordings, including duets with Louis Armstrong and Joe Smith. Bessie Smith (1894-1937) began her professional career as a blues singer in cabarets in 1912. Bessie Smith Chords & Tabs : 24 Total @ Ultimate-Guitar.Com Create beats, songs, and musical snippets with built-in music theory, melody guides, and intelligent chord suggestions. The song has a homophonic texture due to the use of instruments and vocalization in unison. Backwater Blues is written in the key of E Major. This incident gave birth to an important blues era, now known as the Delta Blues era. Another way of reading classic blues lyric structure is as weighted-sonic couplets. Feature Flags: { Thank you. The first two verses are unique and do not have any repetition. The lyrics of the song are interpreted with respect to the events of that flood. Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs. Back Water Blues by Irma Thomas was written by Bessie Smith and was first recorded and released by Bessie Smith in 1927. When it's . And the rain begin to pour. Jazz- Review Questions. The song has long been associated with the great flood of the lower Mississippi River in 1927. 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. Train with real songs. It was written by Bessie Smith, and recorded (under the title ". Please use a recent version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, or Opera instead. 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. She teaches in the MFA program at San Diego State University. 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). 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 . 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! 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 rhythm and beat remain constant throughout the song. Discover an intuitive and deep understanding of how music works. 'Cause my house fell down. Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go. Leadbelly - Backwater Blues - YouTube Designed and built by Hooktheory in California. 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. Teach music and songwriting in ways that keep students engaged, excited, and inspired. [3] However, that flood was at its worst some two months after the song was written. Today, I hear phrases such as the winter blues and Blue Monday and know that they are not considering this history. What is the structure of the lyrics? Cause my house fell down and I can't live there no more. She lets the chords of the instruments dangle off of her words, resulting in a beautiful piece that focuses primarily on the lyrics. Render date: 2023-05-02T09:42:40.381Z 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. Backwater blues done called me to pack my things and go. The song has a homophonic texture due to the use of instruments and vocalization in unison. Songtext von Bessie Smith - Backwater Blues Lyrics Jazz- Review Questions Flashcards | Quizlet Smith (on vocal with James P. Johnson on piano) recorded it as "Back-water Blues" on February 17, 1927, in New York City. "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? The beat does not change because each verse follows the same AAB pattern, which results in the same rhythm continuing on. "useRatesEcommerce": false Bessie Smith recorded Backwater Blues in 1927, and it became an anthem for one of the most devastating national disasters in US history. Backwater Blues by Big Bill Broonzy was written by Bessie Smith and was first recorded and released by Bessie Smith in 1927. Chin is the recipient of the PEN/Josephine Miles Award, a Fullbright Fellowship, and the Paterson Prize, among numerous other honors. Irma Thomas released it on the album Our New Orleans 2005 - A Benefit Album in 2005. The vocals to be the focus and the 'response' to be more complex, At times it can sounds almost 'half-spoken'. 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. 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. Nonetheless, when she recorded it in 1927 "Backwater Blues" became an anthem for the great Mississippi River Flood. Not only did she sing, she was also an actress and comedian. Almost a million people became homeless for a time. There were reports that officials behaved in a discriminatory fashion. Brown, who alongside Langston Hughes was a pioneer of blues poetry in the 1920s. Smith describes how down she is about her life and how she knows there is nothing she can do about it. Her voice is subversive, defiant despite all odds against her. Backwater Blues tells the story of how the speaker is forced out of her home due to flooding waters. Harmonically, what is the piece based on? 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 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) This is historically problematical because that flood began two months after Smith recorded her song. Bessie Smith - Songs, Death & Facts Bessie Smith- Back Water Blues. Youtube, uploaded by TravelerIntoTheBlue, 9 Oct 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gXShOJVwaM. My name is Lex and I am a rising senior at the University of Georgia. Mmm, I can't move no more. Backwater Blues Sheet music for Piano (Solo) | Musescore.com 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. In our workshop, In the Voice and in the Deep, Blues Poetry, participants and I studied blues music, history, aesthetics, and ultimately blues poetry. The piece has a homophonic texture due to the supplementation of the instruments to the vocalization of Smith. The scene is set with the terrific storm by the female speaker, so depressed that she cant even get out of the door. Discuss Bessie Smith's performance of "Back Water Blues" as an example of both. Lyrics powered by www.musixmatch.com. Dinah Washington - Back Water Blues - YouTube Datenschutzbestimmungen. I am majoring in biology and love helping my community! Bessie Smith - Back-Water Blues Lyrics | Genius Lyrics 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. "it rained five days and the sky turned dark as night". The despair is deep, is deeply personal, but it is also metaphorical and speaks to the despair of an entire community. Mchtest du Inhalte von aktivieren? 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. Blues on Yellow Marilyn Chin from Rhapsody in Plain Yellow. She earned her title by displaying her powerful voice to the public for everyone to hear. 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. hasContentIssue false. I have sympathy towards Smith during her performance of this song because she conveys how lonesome she is. Back-Water Blues 65th in 1927. 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. Yeah, when it's thunderin' and lightnin'. 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. The flood was a devastating ordeal. 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 . 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. 3.2 Online-Unterricht - Backwater Blues - YouTube Marilyn Chin reads and discusses Bessie Smith's "Backwater Blues Of course, I learn so much from the Bessie Smiths blues poems. Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs. 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. About a thousand people lost their lives. Published online by Cambridge University Press: This is historically problematical because that flood began two months after Smith . To pack my things and go. The first two lines are of almost equal length. Big Bill Broonzy released it on the album Folk Blues in 1954. Back-Water Blues. Third, Mamie Smith became the first Black blues singer to record a blues record in 1920. 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' 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 actually wrote "Backwater Blues" for the Cumberland River flood that hit Nashville on Christmas morning 1926. When it thunders and lightnin' and the wind begins to blow. Includes 1 print + interactive copy with lifetime access in our free apps. Has data issue: false The Cumberland River, which flows through the city, rose 56 feet (17m) above its normal level, still a record as of 2014[update].[4]. 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. Print and download Backwater Blues sheet music by Bessie Smith. I see myself as an activist Chinese American poet, and I want to show the multiple sides of my literary inheritance. This suggests to me that aspects of contemporary US poetry could be in lineage of African diasporic culture. SKU: MN0121681 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. Over her ten year career, she created one hundred and sixty recordings. While many latter-day . Lets look at the blues poem as a form. Her lyrics aid the audience in understanding why she is down. The opening choruses of each performance . 7 available keys. The poem moves to personal depression. *Als Songtexte.com PUR User kannst du entscheiden, welche Inhalte von externen Anbietern wie Youtube, Borrowing from song to write about whats wrong. "Backwater Blues" (Song) - Song Meanings and Facts There is one integral line throughout the stanza. 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. The narrator, who presents himself as a victim describes how . Updated September 9, 2020. See the E Major Cheat Sheet for popular chords, chord progressions, downloadable midi files and more! Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. Second, the first published blues composition is accredited to W.C. Handys Memphis Blues in 1912. The piece uses syncopation to allow variation between the instruments and the vocals. Great cover of blues classic Backwater blues on The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band 2011. album How I Go for this article. I have her strong voice in my ear at all times. Backwater Blues - Piano - YouTube Bessie Smith had a powerful impact on future blues and Rock and Roll singers, like Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and Janis Joplin. View Official Scores licensed from. 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. Smith is believed to be one of the highest paid black performers of her time. Bessie Smith "Backwater Blues" Sheet Music in C Major (transposable There was evidence of lynchings and unspeakable killings and terrible acts against the black community. Death. In the Voice and in the Deep, Blues Poetry - Poetry Foundation Chris Fisher-Lochhead. There were reports that officials behaved in a discriminatory fashion. Alle Informationen dazu findest du in unseren The beginning of Down Hearted Blues actually reminded me of Ragtime music slightly. The beat does . She is the author of three collections of poems, most recently Rhapsody in Plain Yellow (2002). AAB e.g. 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. 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. One more piece. Pro Credit Pack (3 Pro Credits) Included with first year, Your high-resolution PDF file will be ready to download in Smith did not cut any corners in her songs- she told everyone how the world really was and how she felt about it. The flood from The Cumberland River that struck Nashville, Tennessee on Christmas Day 1926, AAB e.g. El disco e. '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. 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. Backwater Blues - The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band - YouTube 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. According to the Theorytab database, it is the 5th most popular key among Major keys and the 5th most popular among all keys. 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. Through an examination of Smith's touring itinerary, the testimony of fellow entertainers who toured . Bessie Smith, "Backwater blues", 1927The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard. Backwater Blues gefllt bisher niemandem. Log dich ein um diese Funktion zu nutzen. Back-Water Blues Bessie Smith (Columbia, 1927) The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard written by Bessie Smith. I do not believe in a fixed way to write blues poems or poetry with blues feeling. 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). West End Blues - Louis Armstrong (Analysis) - bradpottermusic Its musical composition entered the public domain on January 1, 2023. It also deals with how said flood displaced several victims and led to the loss of hundreds of lives. Download and Print scores from huge community collection ( 1,426,528 and growing) Advanced tools to level up your playing skills. The song "Backwater Blues" is a blues and jazz standard written by Bessie Smith. C, F7, C, C7, F7, C. 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. Cover versions of Back Water Blues by Irma Thomas | SecondHandSongs Leadbelly - Backwater BluesTaken from: 16 Greatest Songs (As Pictured)Track no. Bessie Smith (Down Hearted Blues, 1923) Jazz Legend. Youtube, uploaded by RagtimeDorianHenry, 3 Jun 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go6TiLIeVZA. For examples of innovative uses of these devices in poetry, visit Jericho Browns Duplex, Evie Shockleys Fukushima Blues, and Kevin Youngs Langston Hughes.. Bessie Smith. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, courtesy of the Rock Hall Library and Archive, https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/bessie-smith. 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 backwater blues caused me. 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 . Performance: Backwater Blues by Big Bill Broonzy | SecondHandSongs 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. Smith's voice not only had this quality, it also possessed a rich timbre and tremendous emotive power. 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. Since tab form can't express time interval, I hope you will figure Backwater Blues Chris Fisher-Lochhead 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 by Bessie Smith Chords, Melody, and Music Theory Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like backwater blues, libretto, step interval and more. She believed that her truth needed to be told, so she told it. 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. Hier geht's zu meiner Musik auf Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/artist/1EV1CjZHtzJGK5SZyEyKst?si=ya1BsYRcTpSlZeVFtMKekAMeine Musik auf Deezer:https://deezer. Please download this song, preferably the original 1927 recording by Bessie Smith, and listen to her amazing singing. Nose To Tail - Dragon Ball Z Raging Blast 2, Mushihimesama Futari - Sea of Frozen Crystals. Nonetheless, when she recorded it in 1927 Backwater Blues became an anthem for the great Mississippi River Flood. The a rhyme glues the three-line stanza together. 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. 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. La Bouche) [2023 Mix] [Extended Mix] Songtext. Writer (s): Smith 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. 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. Although Smith is very pleasing to the ears, she seems to be slightly monotone in this piece. 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. The melody is conjunct, making it easy to follow the lyrics of the song and the instrumental portions at the same time. The vocalization stands out far more than the sound of the instruments, primarily due to Smiths incredible voice. 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. She manages to escape her flooding home, only to look back and see that she will never be able to go back to it. 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. The conjunct melody made me want to sing along with her! 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. What are the introductory chords that illustrate this? In this blog post I am going to be looking at and analysing a track by famous New Orleans jazz musician, Louis Armstrong. 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. Hooktheory requires WebAudio and this browser doesn't support it. Almost half a million homes were destroyed. However, the blues utility in our everyday language signifies to me that the blues are ingrained into US culture. This is historically problematical because that flood began two months after Smith recorded her song. Mmm, I cant move no more. 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. :)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Title: Backwater BluesLevel: BeginnerCom. 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. Writer(s): Smith The third line either comments or reverses the first two lines. The lyrics are in the often-used AAB blues format. Smith performed for nearly a decade until Columbia Records signed her in 1923. homophonic texture. Of course, we Americans have historical amnesia. 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. 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.
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