Charley Patton - Pony Blues

[upgrader99]

Ethnicity aside -lets pretend we are the society that was color blind like many of our ancestors hoped for over 100 years ago, and just enjoy the music.

[boxingin]

@circusandthefog He was White, Indian and Black. But he lived his live as a BlackMan..

[boxingin]

How sad that we're here discussing Ol Charlie's race and not how great he was as a performer...

[boxingin]

I think Charlie's singing sounds alot like an American Indian's Chant...

[lhspaiser]

Thank you for posting this remarkable recording and adding the "translation"

[busessuck1]

I went and bought a Patton cd and it turns out it wasn't restored... the background noise is louder than the song, if i give you an email address would youplease be able to send me this version of it please?

[StarrGennett]

The fourth annual Starr-Gennett Music Festival celebrates "Blues and BBQ" September 11, 2010 at the Whitewater Gorge Park (South 1st Street) in Richmond, IN from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Inducted into the Walk of Fame will be Alberta Hunter, Lonnie Johnson, and the Pace Jubilee Singers. Past inductee Charlie Patton will be honored.

[populistherd]

Patton had his throat slit at a party he was serenading. Probably over a woman. This is said to account for the completely authentic timbre of his voice so many tried to affect and imitate. Ironic how the first Delta Bluesman is of racially ambiguous background. I agree that from what I've read he lived his life as a blackman, but Trying to claim Patton for any race is weak. We're the same colour when we bleed. Patton bleeds the blues. Thats the blues, not the blacks , or the whites.The blues

[ceepatton]

@populistherd

dumb

[boxingin]

@populistherd When did he get his throatr cut? I know that that happened for a fact. But did it happen early on or later on in his career?

[rubyrola1959]

@boxingin most scholars agree that it took place in 1929. Either before his first recording session, or just afterwards, as no one knows exactly when in 1929 his photo was taken. Find the close up pic of him(from the neck up), you'll notice that his collar on the left side is raised, so as to hide the scar. 

[boxingin]

@rubyrola1959 Good observation. Yeah I guess that does explain the muffled sound coming out of him. just like Mick Jagger who lost the tip of tounge while playing Basketball and that's why he sounds the way he does.

[jay1beaux]

Great music from a very influential artist.

[buffalobilly]

This is so classic. Charley Patton; a true american hero

[melrhyne]

Sad...

The jet-black woman is once again taken for granted!

We know this though- the early slave drivers, slave ship captains, and plantation owners, were lusting and raping JET BLACK WOMEN, not mixed or "mulatto" ones, as there were none around( save for some Portuguese aristocracy)!

[brownbear224]

thats a black mans voice i dont care what he looks like having said that some black folks have had color problems

[Fledermausman]

Thank you for posting the lyrics - it adds a lot.

[Bukfan1]

I have the Canned Heat version of this song but it´s the first time I hear the original version.

Thanks for sharing!

[slowmonkey156]

Man, I want to cover this with my band but if I do everyone will get all upset about the "dark skinned" and "jet black" stuff and call me a racist, rather than appreciate the song for its historical importance.

[explosivejohnny]

@slowmonkey156 leave out that verse if you're uncomfortable... if he were alive to perform that song today he'd probably reconsider his lyrics himself.....any black artist today would face the same problem.... the song is amazing and if you take something from it don't let a single verse keep you from doing something you want...write in your own!i think that would be more in the spirit of the delta players who often shared authorship, borrowing and adding to each other's work. don't be academic.

[slowmonkey156]

Good point, explosivejohnny. The spirit of the song is what counts. Keep listening to REAL music, my friend!

[olderbluesfan]

wiki says charley wrote this! In his biography this was stated as being written while he was still a teenager !

Thats 10 yrs before it was recorded(1929)

[ibrahima1964]

charlie was a black man period, why talking about race anyway?haters.......

[rotena25]

@ibrahima1964 Whites are just trying to find a "great white hope" in blues history so they can take some kind of credit for its creation.

[mmidgers]

@rotena25 what a ridiculous thing to say. the evidence of this comes from people who knew him ie: robert johnson and howlin' wolf. no-ones claiming anything except you

[ceepatton]

@mmidgers

the evidence came from Robert Johnson? what do you mean by this?

[jameswp1946]

Possibly instead of analyzing Charlie Patton, when little is certain of him for certain, including what his colour is and whether he was racist or not, We do not know for certain who his father was or when he was born.

Just enjoy the music, its second to none and a major influence on the development of music.

[still2weirdfoU]

this song wasnt written by Patton it was written by HENRY SLOAN. the REAL fahterhof the blues

[olderbluesfan]

This song WAS written by charley ,when he was 19 !!!!

[still2weirdfoU]

no charlie patton performed, henry sloan wrote it. i have relatives that actually knew him.

[psike5000]

man if you have relatives who knew him then we should talk i'm so curious!!!

[AfrikanGod1]

he is black or white?

[still2weirdfoU]

dark white

[AfrikanGod1]

ok...thankx for the answer

[vergarihno]

@AfrikanGod1

His ethnicity isn't known for sure, but i've read that he's a third native american, one third white and one third black

[AfrikanGod1]

ok....

[brandonvanderford]

how can you be a third anything?

[stankyleg420]

@brandonvanderford incest

[populistherd]

@brandonvanderford you have two mixed parents with only one ethnicity in common. Happened to me, they're not even thirds but thirds none the less.

[skyiscrying53]

@vergarihno well back then you were just black because white or native people did not consider you one of them if you were mixed...LOL, just like today....

[ceepatton]

@vergarihno

don't you mean 1/3 man, 1/3 bear, and 1/3 pig?

[Stoogybill]

@vergarihno His cousin was Memphis Slim, who was black, and his step brother was Sam Chapman, and for a man from the south he sure looks white to me. So this would be the best assumption to be made!

[tinpanalley67]

@Stoogybill Sam Chatmon wasn't his stepbrother. They were members of different families. But they were best friends.

[AndrewHozier]

@vergarihno

Wow - I'd say the night he was conceived was quite a sight :p

[XxnkklllllxX]

@vergarihno

I'm sorry but you can't be 1 third of an ethnicity since when you're born you get half . . .

[populistherd]

@XxnkklllllxX actually if one of you're parents is part White and black and the other prt black and cheerokee that would make uneven thirds but thirds none the less.

[XxnkklllllxX]

@populistherd

then you're half black, a quarter white, and a quarter cheerokee, there is not third in there. You can't have uneven fractions like that, not when you divide everything by half . . .

[populistherd]

@XxnkklllllxX I said they were uneven. Patton probably couldn't read never mind divide. So lets just agree to dissagree....or better yet . you are right. But While I play Patton, Mctell, House,Fuller,and the Johnsons( Tommy and Robert) note for note on ,my acoustic guitar, and I can and do... you can do you're stale equations.

[XxnkklllllxX]

@populistherd

Well, think about the truth about the Blues. The blues celebrates making things your own, so in all honesty, as a blues musician, you're a hack. I have no delusions about my skill as a musician, I play the trumpet, and i know I'll never be a blues or jazz musician, I can't improvise for shit. Go learn some history about the music you're playing, maybe you'll perform it better. Oh and pointing out that I don't play guitar doesn't mean shit to me. If I wanted to learn, I would.

[ptolemny]

@AfrikanGod1, Patton's racial pedigree is the subject of some debate, but according Robert Johnson (Deep Blues, Penguin), Patton had an African father and a mother who was the offspring of a European (white) father and a mother of mixed African and Native American heritage. So, if we wish to quantify Patton's racial makeup, he would have been 5/8 black, 1/4 white, and 1/8 Native American.

[mipp0]

His "But a jet black woman, don't put your hand on me".

Patton was notorious for his racism, despite being a (mixed) black man. A kind of man who would start more fights than he could finish.

If you don't believe me, you don't know much about Charlie Patton friend.

[bostonteabagger71739]

i see what youre saying i knew he was a fighter but i didnt know about his racial views. verses comparing womens skin color are very common in prewar blues. its a cliche you can hear in everyone from son house in "my black mama" to john hurt in "big leg woman" (some crave high yellow, i like black and brown). its like a filler they use sometimes, borrowing from one another and making little variations with it. thats what i love about this music, its all very similar but with infinite variety :)

[dranfu]

Actually, you guys are a little bit off. If he was a racist and "looked down on darker blacks." Then why did he take Howlin Wolfe, a very dark black bluesman, and make him his prodigy. First song Howlin Wolf learned on guitar was Pony Blues...by Mr. Patton. Now think about that.

[mipp0]

There are degrees of racism, and it's not like he didn't associate with blacks. I doubt his skin pigmentation prejudice clouded his judgment so much that he couldn't appreciate the talents of a fellow bluesman.

I'm sorry if you don't like the truth, but read books on his life. His prejudices are well documented. He's quite the character.

[JacobDeutsch]

@mipp0 We shouldn't judge past artists with modern sensibilities. They are what they are.

[TheTallMan35]

@JacobDeutsch So true...that would be like going back into the days of the early locomotive and telling railroad companies to stop polluting the environment.

[JacobDeutsch]

@dranfu Racism/racists, aren't rational.

[doox420]

@mipp0 it was especially true back then but even nowadays black men prefer women with light skin iam black and i am not into dark skin women. its just like the hindus. they think dark skin is less desireable even though they might be dark. its just like northern and southern italians its like a little division there.

[mipp0]

Charley Patton was very proud of his light brown skin (very diverse ethnic make-up) and was known for looking down on darker blacks.

That explains his more "controversial" line...

[bostonteabagger71739]

what line?

[mipp0]

This one.

[srvfan454]

Racism pisses me off

[GibbyGoba]

Woh!.... comments r very deep people! Just 2 say I like the music and I bought my first Blues Album when I was 10... I'm a cracka (thx dander) from Scotland (Blue White).. so what the fuck? I just like the blues....simple!

[kevin10601]

who in their right mind would confuse indentured servitude with slavery? indentured servitude was done with the understanding that in 7 years you would be free.. plus you signed a contract! that didn't happen with slavery!

[TheSkootertrash]

Dipshit. Indentured servitude IS slavery. Most of them ended up owing the company store more than they could ever repay, so instead of being freed in seven years, they ended up "owing" their lives to the company. True facts. Study up on it. Learn the truth. Also look up the fact that the KKK was formed by the democratic party. And that Martin Luther King was a republican. The republican party was formed by abolitionists. All historical facts, no matter how much you deny them.

[gplito]

@TheSkootertrash that was then,now is now...and now is very different from then.Your "facts" are correct, all the confederate politician basically becme democrats but LBJ signed the civil rights act and that all changed quick,so your fact sare meaningless now, just not relevant at this time. It's a very different party now on both sides, they are all corrupt and take bribes from lobbyists. They don't give a fuck about anything except money .

[dander28]

Yea.... Testify... Those crackas dont know shit!!!!!

[playanupe]

to "scootertrash"....evidently your name says it all...because any person that says that they'd rather be a slave than a free man must have a very low level of understanding or simply is a fool

[rockinthecazbah4]

Ah amazing

Father of the blues

Regardless of the quality it's still such a good listen.

[Farmaz]

amazing tune, my personal favourite patton tune. The grandad or great grandad of blues. Henry sloan & charley patton have caused such a change in music if you think about it, if he had never been around there would have been no robert johnson, muddy waters, no rock & roll, no rock music or anything like that

[olderbluesfan]

This guy was such a gift to us all !!!!!!!!!Thanks for posting

[sandmiles1]

Patton was Black and Native American and his race does have alot to do with it. For all forms of American music are derivitive of the Blues. And of course Blues came from poor, oppressed, Black communities in the south. It defiantely didnt come from Conneticut.

[joaosinatti]

Master of rithm

[kevin10601]

I didn't see the comment Playanupe is referring to but I can guess it was something to the affect Patton wasn't a 100% black and why are black people trying to claim him as theirs.. LOL!

[playanupe]

what does his music have to do with his race? hello what vacuum have you been living in? the white man has never been oppressed anywhere in the united states during any period of time..white people listened to the blues back then too but they listened to it for amusement.blacks in those times of house and patton were actually living the blues on plantations and in segregated ghettos knowing that they had no upward mobility. any white person who sharecropped did so because they had education

[TheSkootertrash]

Bullshit. There was a time when the railroads were being built that African slaves were too expensive, and Irishmen and Chinamen were indepted to the shippers who sold their debts to the railways, who used them as slaves. They were called "indentured servants". If they broke a leg, tough. Get back up and work, or die along the track. They would've loved the chance to settle down on a plantation and pick cotton for a living.

[olderbluesfan]

What a simpleton! What trailer park are you being evicted from???

[olderbluesfan]

Thescootertrash

[TheSkootertrash]

We don't have trailers in South Chicago. Just ACORN slums.

[2nahavemercy]

Skooter is a moron.

[playanupe]

its good to see that they removed that idiot's comments...you say patton is not 100% black....what is 100% black? hello! if you have 1% black blood then you are black...its funny how white people like to claim something once they see value in it...the blues was and still is now black music...it came out of slavery and later jim crow...i am from clarksdale, ms so what do you know about blues besides listening to it?

[playanupe]

in one of his songs...son house says "your hair aint curly and your eyes aint blue...if you dont want me woman what the hell would i want with you?" the same stereotype

[playanupe]

i'm black and from the same area that patton is from..i know some of his relatives here...the stereotype comes from slavery...if you go through 400 years of the master selectively treating the darker skinned slaves much worse than the light skinned ones (the ones he himself fathered) then yes, it will continue to prevail after slavery..it is hard for people who are not black to understand how so many different negatives continue to abound so many years later...400 years is a long time

[Garret00074]

I recorded my own arrangement of this great song, and I had to slur the part where he sings jet black woman don't put your hands on me...because there is something powerful in that line I don't want to touch..it does sound like racism to me...

And as a white person, I don't want to go near that...

But you know, this is a great great song....everything about this song is classic...

[TheIsraDave]

Well apart from skin color and all that, Patton was a marvelous musician, and this is one of his best numbers. I don't think folk blues like this exists anymore, at least not so raw and original.

[neonmeat1]

In response to the comments aobut brown skinned women everyone should check out the Alberta Hunter song 'you can't tell the difference after dark'.

Says it all really, what does it matter, I'm white and I like african women doesn't mean I hate myself because of the colour of my skin, all colours welcome!

[btinsley1]

oh god people...if a brown skin woman was what he liked, that's merely his CHOICE...there were other guys that liked 'em BLUE-black... It is by no means a secret that choices such as this were further backed by a social norm among some blacks then... & EVEN NOW...It's just like saying "no fat chicks" Now stop being self-righteous & just appreciate a look into this curious performer's work of 80 plus years ago.

[gsjssss]

glad to see the lyrics thanks

[johnnybsteelriff]

ChikeJ self-hate is a weird thing....Charley should have had no need for it. His talent was evident. But it ain't confined to African-Americans..lot's of poor white kids got a down on themselves when they gotta lot to offer too....

[willy4u4u]

great montage..

[ChikeJ]

Sad to hear those lines of confusion and black self-hate about the brownskin vs. the jet-black woman... an inescapable part of our history as people of African descent in the West.

[deejaygps]

Really appreciated this comment. Although I'm not an African American, I am very familiar with this stereotype, but it still amazes me to this day just how long it has prevailed (or continues to prevail). Great tune nonetheless!!

[DRosius]

@ChikeJ I don't know about self hate. I think he was just stating his preference... like how i don't like short guys