St. Louis Blues (song)
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"St. Louis Blues" is a piece of American music composed by William Christopher Handy in the blues style. It remains a fundamental part of jazz musicians' repertoire. It was also one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song; it has been performed by numerous musicians of all styles from Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith to Glenn Miller and the Boston Pops Orchestra. It has been called "the jazzman's Hamlet". Published in September of 1914 by Handy's own company, it later gained such popularity that it inspired the dance step the "Foxtrot".
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Though the name of the song may imply that it is about events in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, it instead refers to a sophisticated woman from that city who has stolen the affection of the singer's lover.
The opening line, "I hate to see that evenin' sun go down" may be one of the more recognizable lyrics in pop music, and set the tone for many subsequent blues songs.
Handy said he had been inspired by a chance meeting with a black woman on the streets of St. Louis, Missouri distraught over her husband's absence, who lamented: "Ma man's got a heart like a rock cast in de sea," a key line of the song.[1] Details of the story vary but agree on the meeting and the phrase.
The form is unusual in that the verses are the familiar standard twelve bar blues in common time with three lines of lyrics, the first two lines repeated, but it also has a 16-bar bridge written in the habanera rhythm, popularly called the "Spanish Tinge". While many other old blues are simple and repetitive in form, the St. Louis Blues has multiple complementary and contrasting strains, similar to classic ragtime compositions.
Handy said in writing "St. Louis Blues" his objective was "to combine ragtime syncopation with a real melody in the spiritual tradition."
| "St. Louis Blues" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Bessie Smith | ||
| Released | 1925 | |
| Format | 78 rpm record | |
| Recorded | January 14, 1925, New York City, NY | |
| Genre | Blues | |
| Length | 3:11 | |
| Label | Columbia Records 14064-D |
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| Writer | W. C. Handy | |
Researcher Guy Marco, in his book Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound in the United States, stated that the first audio recording of "St. Louis Blues" was by Al Bernard in July 1918 on the record company label Aeolian-Vocalion (cat. no. 12148). This is however not true, since Columbia's house band, directed by Charles A. Prince, had recorded a released instrumental version already in December 1915 (Columbia A5772). Bernard's version may have been the first US issue to include the lyrics though. However, by then Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra, a group of black American artists appearing in Britain, had already recorded a version including the lyrics in September 1917 (UK Columbia 699).
Since the 1910s, the number has enjoyed great popularity not only as a song but also as an instrumental.
Many of jazz's most well known artists in history have given renowned performances of the tune. The following is an incomplete list of the hundreds of musicians of renown who recorded "St. Louis Blues", chosen as examples that are early in their careers and in the era of its greatest popularity.
- 1920 Marion Harris
- 1921 Original Dixieland Jass Band
- 1922 W. C. Handy
- 1925 Bessie Smith, backed by Louis Armstrong on cornet and Fred Longshaw on harmonium. One of the most famous versions.
- 1929 Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra with Henry "Red" Allen
- 1930 Rudy Vallee, Cab Calloway, the Mills Brothers, the Boswell Sisters
- 1935 Bob Wills
- 1939 Benny Goodman
- 1940 Earl Hines rendition "Boogie Woogie On The St. Louis Blues". Hines can be heard on the recording saying, "Aw, play it till 1954", the year the original copyright was to expire.
- 1943 Glenn Miller "St. Louis Blues -- March" as played by the U.S. Army Air Force Band, of which Miller was the commander.
- 1949 Art Tatum
- 1954 Louis Armstrong recorded the song numerous times, including a hard-rocking version on his album Louis Armstrong plays W.C. Handy.
- 1950s Moon Mullican sang and played the song on the Grand Ol' Opry. This was a very innovative move and predated the trend to fuse blues and country that typified the coming rock 'n' roll era.
- 1985 Doc Watson recorded the song on the album "Pickin' the Blues" and has played his version for many years.
Other recordings include Louis Prima, Artie Shaw, The Esquire Boys, and "The Merri Men" (a spin-off group from Bill Haley & His Comets). It was also recorded on piano rolls.
It also has been used in the Malcolm McLaren song "About Her" from the soundtrack of the motion picture Kill Bill Vol II. The song covers both "St. Louis Blues" and a Zombies song "She's Not There".
With traditional New Orleans and New Orleans style bands, the tune is one of a handful which includes a set traditional solo. The clarinet solo with a distinctive series of rising partials was first recorded by Larry Shields on the 1921 Original Dixieland Jass Band record; it is not found on any earlier recordings nor published orchestrations of the tune. Shields is often credited with creating this solo, however alternative claims have been made for other early New Orleans clarinetists, including Emile Barnes.
At the time of his death in 1958, Handy was earning royalties upwards of $25,000 annually for the song. The original published sheet music is available online at the United States Library of Congress in a searchable database of African American music from Brown University [2].
A number of short and feature films have been entitled St. Louis Blues; see: St. Louis Blues (film).