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  • Being a dubstep kinda person, you'd think this would probably be the last kind of music I'd listen to. But damn, this is some pretty good music! And Bioshock brought here, yes. Hehe.

  • Chris Barber and Ottilie Patterson made a very good version too - check it out :-)

  • i brought me here

  • bjr ! je t'aime Bessie ! kiss Gaby Paris*

  • Came for the Blues, stayed for the memories

  • Dedicated to the blue feelings I feel today!

  • Bioshock. :)

  • I like this version far better than the eric claptons version

  • @TheNekoman123 Nothing against Eric Clapton, but more often then not, the original is usually better.

  • @cwcwful true the exception is the animals version of house of the rising sun

  • @ThexOriginalxGoose well I agree about the music on the radio, that's why I stopped listening to it xD YouTube is much better :3

  • Damn I was born in the wrong time period! :/

  • @TheCrazyRandomNinja no sir! you were born in the perfect time, where beautiful music can be found for free at your fingertips! (although i could go without most of the music on the radio these days...:\)

  • yes, thank you Kat. Ms. Smith was the original city blues woman who was a few centuries ahead of her time. or, maybe we have regressed a few centuries since then. I'm not sure which. When my colleagues return from their temporal explorations, perhaps they'll have some more questions. we don't figure on getting any answers because without mystery, there is no risk, and without risk, we might as well be timid bond traders. The late Ms. Smith, may she rest in peace, was not a timid bond trader.

  • She is sublime. Such truth in her voice.

  • You can hear the pain in her voice. So beautiful

  • I like Eric Clapton's version more than this.

  • @goofypenis Erics version is SO awesome!

  • BIOSHOCK!!

  • Bioshock +1 lol..but yess Bessie is quite the dame! thanks for the post.

  • i love how games really change our lives... thanks to games like bioshock i finally can hear REAL music!

  • I can't pick which I prefer...Sam Cooke's version or this...AAHH THEY'RE BOTH SO GOOD

  • for some reason this song made me think of toy story

  • @MouthOfTheUnknown Me too LOL

  • Her voice is so sincere. I love it!

  • Seriously people who dislike this can't appreciate. I'm 21 years old, hate the Justin Bieber/Kesha garbage that is always playing while i'm at work and i love music from this era because of it. In a way thank you modern music and thank you Bioshock/Bessie Smith for introducing me to this beautiful piece.

  • It's too bad that some of youth of today offend the older generation. Not all youth are so offensively vocal. It seems like that's how stereotypes are started. The most appalling attributes of a group are noticed more, and from there the group is labeled. Even though what is labeled might not be what the majority of the group stands for.

  • ...if only she could she what music has turned into to

  • Bess, Elsker deg!

  • Anthem for a lot of people to cling too at sometime in their lifetime...

  • @sofakingdrunk66 Amen to that. I lived on the streets for a while and this song meant the world to me.

  • Better than Eric Clapton...and i sincerly love Eric Clapton! ;)

  • Is ignorance now the norm, does anybody lift a book to read about this lady or the times she lived in? God help us all the Barbarians are amongst us Go back to x-factor

  • To the people that are complaining that no one has heard of Bioshock....you do realize that the majority of the people who don't know what it is are clearly not as young as you. This music draws from a VERY long line of Bessie Smith followers from all decades. So STFU if you think people are illiterate for not knowing what BioShock is. An to the older generations who love Bessie, I sincerely apologize for the ignorance of todays youth.

  • I am sorta disappointed that Eric Clapton on his "Unplugged" album claimed songwriting credit for this song when he quite obviously should not have. 

  • @ishawnm Are you kidding? That's awful, not to mention dishonest.

  • Didn't know this was in Bioshock, never had the chance to play it. Good for Bioshock - introducing people to old gold like this.

  • Has anybody here any iideaof the history of this period in history and in music I F you are going to make comments at least find out something about that era

  • i used to listen to this song deep underwater, then i took an arrow in the knee

  • BIOSHOCK FTW ! ;D

  • None of you dumbasses know what Bioshock is....Wow

  • @gun1987gunn mabey some people have life's, and dont play alot of games. dumbass.

  • @anzorist have a who what now?

  • BioShock is a video game. FPS-like, and retro-made. That song is one of the ones chosen for the loading :)

  • Who came here because of RADIO COLLEGE?!!! Nobody? Alright then. :)

  • Damn...I'm starting to hate this debate between people who know what Bioshock is and people who don't. Let's shutup and enjoy this amazing music!

  • @thesickdancer Finley a smart comment. 

  • bjr ! j'aime les chants profond de Bessie Smith ! i love You ! Thank You ! Gaby.

  • j'ai toujours aimé les grandes chanteuses de blues ! Gaby de paris !

  • LITTLE KNOWN FACTS: Bessie was bisexual.  She punched a man and when he retaliated by severely stabbing her, she still managed to chase him down. When her career started to fall into a rut, she sold bootleg liquor. In 1937, she was fatally injured in an automobile accident in Mississippi. The only closest hospital was a white one and they would not admit her. By the time a hospital was found that would accept Bessie, her injuries had gotten so worse that she could not be saved.

  • @PigfootAbernathy i've read that is not true about the white-only hospital.

  • @whimsicalocean

    It's very well-documented in Bessie by Chris Albertson.

  • @PigfootAbernathy

    That's not entirely true. Bessie was bisexual and drank bootlegged liquor, or "the bad shit," but never sold it. She was also never taken to a white hospital. That story was false and has always--since its inception and until now--drawn more attention to her death rather than incredible life she lived. Bessie smith was a remarkable woman. I suggest you read Bessie by Chris Albertson. There should be a film or something to bring more attention to this amazing person.

  • Thank you.

  • Eric Clapton and my love for authenticity brought me here. the Bioshock story is quite interesting though

  • What I would give to have been alive in this era.

  • Bioshock 2 brought me here

    NOT,

    I knew this song long way before.

  • @onclickBR No one Cares

  • She was an influence vocally on Mahalia Jackson. Can you imagine the two them singing together? WOW!

  • Personally, I have no idea what 'Bioshock' is, nor do I care to discover.

    I think it's great that peoples end up here listening to this, regardless of the source of their original interest, but I would query why these same folks have this burning need to proclaim "The Simpsons brought me here!!!" and then say nothing of the singer and song.

    Come on guys and gals - can and should do better.

    Best wishes for the future, PP. x

  • I'd love to see any woman sing like this these days without auto tune.

  • @babyitsfinktime There's a range of impossibilities I'd delight in witnessing. I wholeheartedly agree with you on this one.

  • I love music from the 20s. Bessie could belt 'em out with the very best.

  • Thumbs up if you spell "Bioshock" correctly.

  • BIOSHOCK showing amazing music to new ones 

  • people should remind this songs sometimes not that fucking bieber and his foul word songs

  • Heard this song in Denzel Washington's first movie, "Carbon Copy" also with George Segal.

  • yes, i am here because of bioshock but bioshock is not just a game, especially not the music used in the game. because of this game, i know this song and it will always remind me of that great game. isn't it nice? a thing you use to entertain yourself, teaches you culture?

  • Bioshock 2 bought me here because the first time I heard this song was on the Bioshock 2 loading screen. and I think it's a really good song.

  • bjr ! j'aimerais toujours BESSIE ! grande dame des U S A ! Gaby de Paris .

  • I thought this was Bobby Womack's song... didn't know it went back this far.

  • I'm sad that this song wasn't on the Bioshock 2 official soundtrack. It took me a while to find it.

  • I'm here because of rateyourmusic . com

  • i am 11 and the most of the kids are listing to crap with a microphone bud i like the real music

  • i am 15 and i love this song not because of bioshock because of my grandma

  • The honking melody of rock and roll music has a clearly defined ancestry in jazz going back to Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith of 85 years ago. Bessie Smith was ahead of her time.

  • incroyable

    

  • I'm here because of a Simpsons episode.

  • @debsaid which epsiode was it??

  • @debsaid which one i cant find it

  • Never heard of bioshock. I must be over 50

  • i came here through leadbelly.  I enjoy finding this.. and yes it does create that atmosphere that bioshock gives.

  • forget justen beiver, rubeca black, and anyother of them. BRING BESSIE BACK!!!

  • Thumbs up if you're happy Bioshock educated thousands of gamers to Bessie Smiths greatness.

  • Eric Clapton's cover of this song is just as legendary!

  • what the hell is bioshock?

  • @jujabyummy bioshock is a game based in the 20's-30's i think. its not to bad kinda intence at points though

  • @jujabyummy Best game of 2007. But this is from the sequal.  The game was about an underwater city that was supposed to be absent in government, but went to hell. One hell of a good story, I highly recomend it.

  • @jujabyummy an amazing game with an amazing story, amazing setting and an amazing soundtrack

    it's a game where you feel the love that was put into it

    (i didnt feel the same about the second one, but it was still great)

  • @jujabyummy something all men need to know

  • @jujabyummy Bioshock is a story of a distopian society. A deep underwater city named Rapture, by Andrew Ryan, should be created in the 1930`s to have a city where "the scientist is not stopped b y pitty morality". It should be an utopia for the people, but with the free politics and too much genetic research it became a broken society with mad going people. It`s mostly related to the book :" Atlas shrugged" by Ayn Rand. Altough it is a game, it has a beautiful storyline and is worth playing.

  • @jujabyummy Bioshock is a rather clever videogame set deep, deep under the sea, in a sprawling city. Very 1940s Art Deco. :) One of the loading screens features this video, hence why people've flocked. ;)

  • Have you already seen and especially heard version sung by Eva Olmerová??Listen...

  • Thumbs up if Sanford and Son brought you here.

  • There's nothing better than late 20s blues. It's like sucking on a hard candy music, nice and sweet :D

  • does it matter how you got here? as long as you are then thats good enough

  • @benandres this is way better than adele could ever be!! :)

  • lawd lawd lawd

  • Thank you Bioshock.

  • but you have to admit,younger folks would not get any exposure to "real" music if it weren't for those video games......good music at any means necessary...

  • came here from CTFxC seen the vid in suggestions Section

  • Sensational! =)

  • the original Adele!

  • Fuck that was good.

  • As of today, Sept. 2, 2011, there are 11 totally clueless people in this world. How could you not love this song?!?

  • NOBODY has ever recorded this song and done so with such power and eloquence as Bessie.

  • Pure American music!

  • @chemiah No it's not

  • Hat dieser Clapton denn überhaupt keine Ohren?

  • BioShick II brought me here too. That was my fav song when I was charging the map :D

  • omg haven't expected this song was such old

  • just so beautiful; the music. the lyrics, the voice. it just takes you there.

  • Like if Eric Clapton brought you here

  • why are you guys so proud of needing a video game to discover good music?

  • @420Cannabis

    what did you need to discover good music?

    i presume you didn't just listen to every song til you find one you liked...

  • A powerful legend in every aspect of the word. There are not sufficient enough words to express the gratitude we owe to the storytellers of our world whose voices we get to hear. Thank you Bessie.

  • Reading the book, "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett where this song is mentioned. Thanks for posting it.

  • I'm proud that Bessie Smith is from my hometown of Chattanooga Tennessee!

  • idk what bioshock is but welcome to the world of Bessie Smith !!!!!

  • @moondog50002000 It's a video game that takes place in about 1960's and plays this kind of music. In fact Bioshock notorious for using music like Bessie's. I'll say Bioshock did not bring me here, which is odd because I played it before I discovered Bessie, but it is a good game to find good music. Hell I wouldn't never even thought of this music before it.

  • Bioshock and games like that are introducing a whole generation of people to great underappreciated music, Who cares how it happens. We're all better people for being exposed to this and many other great artists from another time,

  • I don't care if it took a video game to bring you here.. if you enjoy the song that's good enough in my book. Hopefully the song can spark an interest in blues/jazz history.

  • Thumbs up if you're here not because of bisoshock, just because you love Bessie Smith

  • @Bonbeck100 It really doesn't matter if a person came here because of the game, the good thing is that they found her and liked her. Now everytime they come here they will do it because of her and not a game. They have to start somewhere.

  • @Bonbeck100 what if we're here because of both?

  • @Bonbeck100 It is BioShock not bisoshock

  • Comment removed

  • lol'ing at people looking down their nose at games. For those of you oblivious to society, some games introduce songs like this to people that would otherwise never hear them. That's more than most of you sitting on your computers whining about it can say. I understand though that having a person or radio bring you this song is a far better way to hear about it.

    Oh wait, it's the same. Idiots.

  • Bioshock 2 scream at me:

    BEEEESSIE SMITH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    What a voice... What a interpretation (Clapton on pocket...rsrs)!!!!

  • Just read her lifestory real quick. She died from a car accident and would have lived, but they werent allowed to bring her to a white people hospital that was close by and had to go elsewhere. Sad... :(

  • Bioshock brought me here too!

  • This is my favorite version of Jimmy Cox's composition, and one of my favorite Bessie Smith records. It's almost like she wrote it herself; indeed some of the verses are her improvisations. Her reading leaves John Lennon's and Eric Clapton's versions in the dust, hands down. Not that those guys could ever match the Road Warrior anyway, but still...

  • I don't know what Bioshock is. Derek and the Dominoes brought me here.

  • @1994paratodostodo Hey man!!! Bioshock 2 is a revolutionary game!!!

  • years later and I'm finally starting to appreciate music like this.

  • to all the gamers out there:Cheers!I'm stoned on my bedroom chair.

  • Fred Sokolow brought me here.

  • Neither Bioshock or those other games brought my ass here..Bessie did.

  • Fallout series brings good old jazz around too!

  • EMPRESS OF THE BLUES! This song still applies today!!!

    Rest Peacefully

    BESSIE SMITH (1894-1937)

  • this was on bioshock? lol

  • @monoxidevm Bioshock 2

  • wow

  • lol I sit and listen to this on the bioshock loading screen

  • never heard of bio shlock and dont care what it is but please dig these blues this wiil be remembered when bio s has become dust...

  • A Whisper in my mind said, "Bessie Smith"...Yeah, here to study the ClasSics(0:

  • Comment removed

  • sure don't make them like they used to

  • bioshock is rubbish man

  • bioshock 2 is awesome and so is this music

    

  • Never played this game,Just love the olde tune and music. Too old to play games, too old to dream games, just livin life!!!

  • Great voice sad, the way she died. Could have saved if everything wasn't so goddamed racist back then.

  • @finmagik yeah trouble is its still racist now though not to the extent back then but its still pretty bad in some places sad shouldn't be that way

  • I played Bioshock and it did not bring me here, but I still ended up here. I guess I just got lucky. Legendary voice...Miss Bessie Smith

  • OMG i want this song!!!! please. :D

  • by far the best version of this song.

  • Oh Bioshock 2 brought me here, but Bessie Smith kept me here. People need to realise that some 'games', such as bioshock and L.A Noire, should be held in as high regard as some films. It's art. Sorry to change the subject, this song really is lovely.

  • @AstinTheDawg Same, though I originally listened to some Fallout 3/New Vega songs :)

  • @wintardable Try Ink Spots, they're real good.

  • @AstinTheDawg

    Thats awesome, i just finished Bioshock 2 and i remember hearing Eric Clapton do it back on his unplugged album. Yay for Bessie and yay for Bioshock!!!

  • @AstinTheDawg Yeah man!!! I agree!!

  • @AstinTheDawg school brought me here

  • @AstinTheDawg dont forget fallout3

  • @AstinTheDawg Yes... the *best* video games are on par with movies with good design/SFX... but lousy acting, a weak script, and a wonky sense of pacing, and a lot of repetitive action scenes.

    Here is a question... how much money would you pay to watch a video game being played from start to finish *by someone else*? Is that something you would even want to do? If they are as good as films, then that should be an easy question to answer. :) 

  • @getkristan True, video games have a wonky sense of pacing and repetitive action scenes...if they were movies, that is. Thing is, they're not. You can't compare art forms like that. Would you criticize the Mona Lisa for its pacing? People wouldn't pay to watch someone else play a video game, but neither would they pay to watch Citizen Kain muted, or go see Van Gogh's The Starry Night while blind-folded. Interactivity is a major facet of video games, remove that and you neuter the medium.

  • @orisar Good points (although the guy up there *is* comparing art forms).. some games can be very very cool, but as an artistic statement I think they fall short of great (or even just good) films. Yes modern games have nail-biting interactivity... but y'know what? So did Donkey Kong.. it was just more pixel-y. "Meh art" + "great game" does not equal "great art".

    Video games are targeted at appealing to teen guys. That pretty much says it all right there.

    Thats all IMHO, of course.

  • @getkristan Seems like he was saying "games are art" not "games are like movies" but I could be wrong. While games tend to be aimed at teen guys the audience doesn't negate their artistic merit. Alien appeals to different people than Casablanca, but they're both brilliant. I agree that many games fall short as art, but the same can be said of *any* medium. For every "Black Swan" how many "Thor"s are there? And before we get yelled at, love the song. Found it on my own, not because of Bioshock.

  • @orisar Yeah. We don't want to take up too much space on the Interwebs, I heard it's running out of room. I don't think we really disagree anyways. And yes it a classic song.. I'm doing research for a performance and not here on account of any video games either. It is cool that so many people are discovering older music through games too, that alone is a *big* plus for games IMO. (And Thor wasn't half bad!)

  • @AstinTheDawg THANK YOU. I agree! Bioshock 2's whole scenery (as well as the original) was so detailed and beautiful...I really wish Rapture was real and successful.

  • @AstinTheDawg same here, that was my favorite level in bioshock2. Loved the idea of a gehto in Rapture, now I love this music, gotta get some of her stuff. Back when music had meaning in the words.

  • @AstinTheDawg no way, video games should never be taken as seriously as film and they never will be.

  • @AstinTheDawg id say thats the case for LA noire. genius game, if more people took the time to learn theyd really appreciate video games as a real artistic medium. plus games like that introduces so many young ppl to older, bettter music

  • @AstinTheDawg I must agree with you, much people say shooters don't have a story, but bioshock and fallout DO have a story, a very nice story, everything around it is amazing, the old feeling, the music, everything, and this song remembers me of that

  • Waou... Bessie Smith était l'idole absolue de Janis Joplin, celle qui l'a poussée au chant. Je comprend maintenant que c'est en l'imitant pendant toute son enfance qu'elle a obtenue sa voix si légendaire.... les deux voix se ressemblent vraiment...

    Love Janis (L) .... now Bessie too :)

  • Why do people get mad when music is being used in games or movies. Does it make you feel good knowing that only you know about an artist? Shit, if I was an artist, I'd be honored that almost 90 years later people still know my music. No matter how they find it.

  • fuck you and your stupid Bioshock, i just came to drink my scotch and listen to some jazz

  • @xarabas What the big fucking deal?  It's just a video game. A great game, and this is a great song. Enjoy your scotch. cheers.