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.
I would love to be Bessie's man, even if she beat me for not being right. I'd take it from Bessie. I deserved it. Sorry Bessie, please sing me to sleep. I'm your man Bessie. Bessie.
Bessie Smith was a rough, crude, violent woman. She was also the greatest of the classic blues singers of the 1920s. No more songs after this one, thank you, fuck you and goodnight. x
One of the best-recognized songs of its period....and sung as only Bessie Smith could do it. In 1956, W. C. Handy sent me 3 autographed photos, which are among my prized possession.
sends a shiver down my spine everytime i hear it, what a wonderful opportunity to hear Bessie, so raw and so spiritual despite the context of the song.
Awesome! So amazed to run across this clip of Bessie Smith, Queen of the Blues with such an incredible voice! I think this was the only film recording of her.
this is dope thanks for the upload!! I watched this movie & fell in love. It was such a great movie & featured the greats: Nat King Cole, Bessie Smith, Mahalia Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald among many more....love the 'St. Louis Blues"
This is one of the best versions of St.Louis Blues, and the scenes from Cabin in the Sky (?) are great. Thanks for this post. I'm glad to be able to have access to old classics like this, because these songs are basically my favourites. :))
St. Louis Blues (1929) is a two-reel short film starring Bessie Smith. The early sound film features Smith in an African-American speakeasy of the prohibition era singing the W. C. Handy standard, "St. Louis Blues". Directed by Dudley Murphy, it is the only known film of Bessie Smith, and the soundtrack is her only recording not controlled by Columbia Records.
The Broadway musical & movie "Cabin In The Sky" was in the early 1940s. It also had a Black cast.
@Azizip17 Thanks, A17. It's nice when someone takes the time to clear things up; I appreciate it. :)) Sorry it took so long to reply, but I only thought to look at my mail today. Hope your New Year holiday was a good one!
This really is the soul of blues-it breaks my heart to think what they endured.Human beings singin their souls out (literally) to make us White folks understand them and their sufferin
so happy to hoave found this video...i saw it once on tv when i was a teen...
ym mother ...williette means ...was called...the song bird of the south...and she was said to have a voice much like that of the empress her self...bessy smith...what a voice...she sang all the way down to jerusalem...and i do mean down in jerusalem...from her female parts...its the only way to get that kind of sound...
Amen! \today even Whites still take our music and ''try'' to imitate it ( our dance as well) Ex: Hiphop
and steal the credit for it, they just don't have it like this and never did or will. This music was created out of the problems we as black people were experiencing, the same as our ancestors sung in the cotton fields. Just keeping it real! They had to come to Harlem to study us and copy us, take the credit, this is how it was and unfortunately still is. EX: Eminem the best rapper! Right!
Agreed mate. In this style of music (blues, jazz etc), the Negroes of the 20's-50's will forever be the greatest.
These "rapstars", whether black or white nowadays, they all suck. They really do. There's no heart in it anymore. Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith and so many of these guys poured their lives into their craft. Pay homage to the greats.
whos the best rapper then? is there a current rapper who was once a slave? yea they all claim to be a "slave to the industry" but other than talking about money, cars, clothes, hoes, which is fine with me, Em actually talks about his BLUES and his struggles growing up. Modern day slavery could be drugs, abuse or even neglect from parents or anyone else... waiting for a reply...
Everlast is singing the blues and ain't rapping no more cuz he had a heart attack doing the last album. Em is trying hard, but it seems once he got over his childhood rage and angst, he sorta petered out. Now don't take us wrong, we got some of his albums... But when he "cleaned out his closet" he seems to have run out of truly relevant material. An artist needs to keep growing, pushing his boundaries, imho...or it can get stale. Peace out, Jb and no offence meant.
Well just to be fair, white musicians(some of the least racist americans at the time) who did use henderson's arrangements showed much respect to him and gave him his credit. It is unfair to make such generalizations
I'm visiting a few of my friends in that part of the world. They're not exactly in StL itself, but yeah (doesn't give away their location). A few south west? I'll look. 112 days to go!
i first heard this song on a documentary about the history of blues music and when i heard bessie smith sing this i fell in love with it instantly. truely a beautiful song from a beautiful woman.
Sorry, but if she wanted to cuss, then she would have probably got arrested or hunted down by Klansmen. Two, she probably couldn't afford any "bling" , BECAUSE she was poor and marginalized. Life was not better back then.
@kives1985 ... good one making simple generalisations about whether 'life was better'... poverty and marginalisation is crap, but that doesn't mean everything was worse. One of the things that WAS better was that people weren't obsessed with swearing and expensive jewellery. Prosperity seems to have come with a certain superficiality, and prosperity itself is no excuse for it. The point is that we can keep our prosperity and forego all the sad materialism and 21st C crap that comes with it..
Foregoing materialism and prosperity is one thing, but shit, some of those old blues singers used to be dirty as all fuck. Blues singers weren't considered "classy" back in the day. Just look at the lyrics to "You've got to give me some." That was a dirty song, and Bessie Smith sang it. So yeah, I think she'd be down with Betty Davis, Millie Jackson, Lil' Kim.
this film is available in its entirety along with those of Louis Armstrong , Billie Holiday and Scatman Crothers(both 19yrs old), Duke Ellington,Fredi Washington, Cab Calloway, on a DVD called Hollywood Rhythm: The Paramount Musical Shorts The Best of Jazz and Blues!
Glenn Miller recorded this during WWII as "The St. Louis Blues March," which is a perfect arrangement for school band. There are lots of versions of this song.
What in the world happened to the original of this video??? It has been truncated and I have searched and searched and they are all cut? Is this for some stupid PC reason?? This full video is fantastic! Where is it????
They cut her lousy boyfriend how was great and they cut the end??? what is up!!! The blues is life, how dare they sensor Bessie Smith!
people if you like this kind music check out my site look at favs and look at all these great bands old and new ive discovered a lot of these and some ive known by heart so if your in the bandwagon to kill this shitty music that our generation made than check this page out
I think that the problem lies with the sound technology -- Bessie's voice is swamped by the crowd's greater volume. If her voice was amplified over the crowd, then this would sound great.
Not one of my favorites
REALITYBOMB1 1 day ago
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.
willpn100 4 months ago
ahhhh, the good old days when the bartender could smoke behind the bar!
rmurbach1961 5 months ago
The chorus drowns her out but still a classic ...
cherrrianna 5 months ago
that bass drum is amazing
benandres 5 months ago
Is this from a movie?and when yes, what is name of the movie?please,help me.
loverplease 6 months ago
@loverplease The movie is St. Louis Blues
MrSplder 5 months ago
intensiv
1510Ronald 6 months ago
Bessie was the Blues.
JM13121 8 months ago 2
I would love to be Bessie's man, even if she beat me for not being right. I'd take it from Bessie. I deserved it. Sorry Bessie, please sing me to sleep. I'm your man Bessie. Bessie.
drawlbag 8 months ago
i love it! i've listened to bessie smith for years,but i've never seen this.Thanks for sharing!
msabby718 9 months ago
Bessie Smith was a rough, crude, violent woman. She was also the greatest of the classic blues singers of the 1920s. No more songs after this one, thank you, fuck you and goodnight. x
drawlbag 9 months ago
@drawlbag good night and fuck you too......
Vladislaussy 8 months ago
hope there is no fucking bieber music because if there was.......sure bieber will be crying on he staircase
Vladislaussy 9 months ago
no one still beats d classics.....
Vladislaussy 9 months ago
It is Historical!
rm6168 9 months ago 2
Good god, I love this song so much.
MillaHead 9 months ago 2
One of the best-recognized songs of its period....and sung as only Bessie Smith could do it. In 1956, W. C. Handy sent me 3 autographed photos, which are among my prized possession.
gmmix 10 months ago
Stunning
PearlGirl1943 11 months ago
The picture is so clear. I guess this is one of the first music videos !! Thank you for posting she sounds beautiful and is quite an actress!!!
b4jad 1 year ago
My mother chosed this for her funeral, altough we´re Swedes. Loved my mom and love the blues :) Thx for uploading this classic song.
Monkeyspankerelite 1 year ago
My mother chosed this for her funeral, altough we´re Swedes. Loved my mom and love the blues :)
Monkeyspankerelite 1 year ago
sends a shiver down my spine everytime i hear it, what a wonderful opportunity to hear Bessie, so raw and so spiritual despite the context of the song.
rearly62 1 year ago
i have a lot of Bessie on slate but this is the first time ive seen her
thanks so much for putting this on
tmcuk1 1 year ago
Ooh that lady could belt 'em out.
DeadJerker 1 year ago
You can get the audio-mp3 of this vid at grabyourmp3 doht cohm.
DarceeVerdirosi19006 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
. . .OMG -- wow!! Amen, Sister . . .
Saw part of this years ago . . . absolutely stunning!
Some nifty computer work would do wonders toward erasing much of the damage that neglect has done to this priceless moment in all our world history
BeMyBigHero 1 year ago
goosebumps
maartstudent 1 year ago 2
I've seen a documentary of Bessie Smith and this movie short of Bessie Smith singing this song was in the documentary. She was my favorite.
jobill3433 1 year ago
I teach a guitar class about the blues. this song is as fine an example as there is of "what is the blue". This. Is. The. Blues.
slownoman 1 year ago
DAMNATION!!!!!! - So beautiful This is where Soul was born
ChuChu353 1 year ago
Awesome! So amazed to run across this clip of Bessie Smith, Queen of the Blues with such an incredible voice! I think this was the only film recording of her.
kingschile 1 year ago
Now THIS wasn't lip synched.
zperra 1 year ago 2
@zperra That's right. Just honest, pure singing...and still way much better than the 99.99% of the so-called popular "artist" of today.
Mxyzptlk562 1 year ago 2
This is so wonderful, thanks so much for uploading and sharing such a classic clip!
rokedetbamidbar 1 year ago 2
Great video. Bessie Smith was a performer for the ages.
Zazoo in Oklahoma
browningpgc 1 year ago
I rather listen to miley cyrus (just kidding). Such power in her voice
rotyoung 1 year ago
SOB,she is soooooooo good. Notice I used the present tense. The Lord took her way too soon.
waterpower1 1 year ago
This gives me goosebumps...it´s so goooood...
Mokch64 1 year ago 2
wow is right
zerobob321 1 year ago
What a perfect rendition of a brilliant song!
callista66 1 year ago
Wow.....................
MsTWEEKIE 1 year ago
AWESOME !!!
gotstrongdotcom 1 year ago
this is dope thanks for the upload!! I watched this movie & fell in love. It was such a great movie & featured the greats: Nat King Cole, Bessie Smith, Mahalia Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald among many more....love the 'St. Louis Blues"
MUARFA 1 year ago
Bessie Smith was Chattanooga, Tennessee's most famous daughter...
Amysman32 1 year ago
Not sure why you chose to send ME this, but thanks! Great singing, wonderful archive film.
Will look at more.
Best Wishes
Christine
christineannemarsden 1 year ago
had to turn down my speakers cause they were going to explode... ahaha, other then that, this is great!! I wish i could have been there to see it.
gladiatoranc 1 year ago
many thanks
funkstagazza 1 year ago
The first ever music video?
sarniatownreggae 1 year ago
Shivers running up and down my spine... Amaazzing.
dubonn3t 2 years ago
WOW
marshmellow765 2 years ago
thanks so much for uploading this. videos/songs/people like this should never be forgotten in a dusty closet.
asyntheticsound 2 years ago 44
beautiful! I feel so moved.
PeetMoloko 2 years ago
I kinda wish I was there.
Donnatella624 2 years ago 3
Jesus Christ that is so fasinating. Not just the music, but the video, the time, the people, the everything really lol
RastafariPoet 2 years ago 2
I really like this song, but I think I prefer the 1920 version by Marion Harris to be honest.
johenasia 2 years ago
sing it mamma! sing it! +_+
psilonautika 2 years ago 12
mamma mia!! this is beautiful!
68shamoa 2 years ago
What can I say-pure genious!
michaelwalsh9176 2 years ago 4
What can I say-Brilliant!
michaelwalsh9176 2 years ago 2
Thanks for posting this. Stunning.
EvilEddtheRed 2 years ago 3
This is one of the best versions of St.Louis Blues, and the scenes from Cabin in the Sky (?) are great. Thanks for this post. I'm glad to be able to have access to old classics like this, because these songs are basically my favourites. :))
Gwid01 2 years ago 5
:I looked this up on Wikipedia::
St. Louis Blues (1929) is a two-reel short film starring Bessie Smith. The early sound film features Smith in an African-American speakeasy of the prohibition era singing the W. C. Handy standard, "St. Louis Blues". Directed by Dudley Murphy, it is the only known film of Bessie Smith, and the soundtrack is her only recording not controlled by Columbia Records.
The Broadway musical & movie "Cabin In The Sky" was in the early 1940s. It also had a Black cast.
Azizip17 2 years ago
@Azizip17 Thanks, A17. It's nice when someone takes the time to clear things up; I appreciate it. :)) Sorry it took so long to reply, but I only thought to look at my mail today. Hope your New Year holiday was a good one!
Gwid01 2 years ago
Oh, my god, this is hair-raisingly powerful!
StukInTexAss 2 years ago 4
Because of the videos like this one - I'm YouTube addict! Thnx, thnx, thnx!
zporobija 2 years ago 2
and it's a woman with all her pain...
fipsbrause69 2 years ago
according to my research, this is the oldest music video ever made.
obeythepeople 2 years ago 4
This really is the soul of blues-it breaks my heart to think what they endured.Human beings singin their souls out (literally) to make us White folks understand them and their sufferin
kennetti76 2 years ago
as close to perfection as possible
pepsibookcat 2 years ago
<3 love is all i have for her music.
LyleYoung 2 years ago
so happy to hoave found this video...i saw it once on tv when i was a teen...
ym mother ...williette means ...was called...the song bird of the south...and she was said to have a voice much like that of the empress her self...bessy smith...what a voice...she sang all the way down to jerusalem...and i do mean down in jerusalem...from her female parts...its the only way to get that kind of sound...
SOYH 2 years ago 4
Glenn Miller got famous from Fletcher Henderson's music, which he bought from an unemployed Fletcher during the 30's depression.
If Fletcher had been white, he would have been rich & famous.
instead Miller got rich & famous in an america racked by racism.
jagib2 2 years ago
Amen! \today even Whites still take our music and ''try'' to imitate it ( our dance as well) Ex: Hiphop
and steal the credit for it, they just don't have it like this and never did or will. This music was created out of the problems we as black people were experiencing, the same as our ancestors sung in the cotton fields. Just keeping it real! They had to come to Harlem to study us and copy us, take the credit, this is how it was and unfortunately still is. EX: Eminem the best rapper! Right!
cammicty 2 years ago
Agreed mate. In this style of music (blues, jazz etc), the Negroes of the 20's-50's will forever be the greatest.
These "rapstars", whether black or white nowadays, they all suck. They really do. There's no heart in it anymore. Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith and so many of these guys poured their lives into their craft. Pay homage to the greats.
Oh, T3hTr00Sk... I can't wait nonetheless haha
Wilkins777 2 years ago 5
the negroes? mhm and you say pay homage, wow
2superfan2 2 years ago 4
whos the best rapper then? is there a current rapper who was once a slave? yea they all claim to be a "slave to the industry" but other than talking about money, cars, clothes, hoes, which is fine with me, Em actually talks about his BLUES and his struggles growing up. Modern day slavery could be drugs, abuse or even neglect from parents or anyone else... waiting for a reply...
Jbpuffnbuff 2 years ago
Everlast is singing the blues and ain't rapping no more cuz he had a heart attack doing the last album. Em is trying hard, but it seems once he got over his childhood rage and angst, he sorta petered out. Now don't take us wrong, we got some of his albums... But when he "cleaned out his closet" he seems to have run out of truly relevant material. An artist needs to keep growing, pushing his boundaries, imho...or it can get stale. Peace out, Jb and no offence meant.
Gwid01 2 years ago
@cammicty
edr341 1 year ago
Well just to be fair, white musicians(some of the least racist americans at the time) who did use henderson's arrangements showed much respect to him and gave him his credit. It is unfair to make such generalizations
BRazor78 2 years ago 3
damn -- 1) cool video ... 2) she good
arfacat 2 years ago
I can't wait to visit the wonderful city of St Louis in December. I'm stoked!
Wilkins777 2 years ago 2
Whats the occasion? Haha...
T3hTr00Ski 2 years ago
I'm visiting a few of my friends in that part of the world. They're not exactly in StL itself, but yeah (doesn't give away their location). A few south west? I'll look. 112 days to go!
Wilkins777 2 years ago
It's not so great, but have fun!
T3hTr00Ski 2 years ago
fantasticaaaa!!!!
enzaoffive 2 years ago
amasing...
pause it at 3:18...
pokoj118 2 years ago
huh?
thcu 2 years ago
so much emotion in that look
pokoj118 2 years ago
oh....very true
thcu 2 years ago
i first heard this song on a documentary about the history of blues music and when i heard bessie smith sing this i fell in love with it instantly. truely a beautiful song from a beautiful woman.
agent2300844 2 years ago 4
It's almost scary watching so old musicvideos. But i like it!
50sAllTheWay 2 years ago 2
What a song; for parted lovers everywhere.
mountie280 2 years ago 3
this is THE FIRST MUSIC VIDEo ever created
filipe687 2 years ago
There are blues singers then there is Bessie; not the same ballpark, league and game. Just the best of the best. No argument. Simply the best!
waterpower1 2 years ago 3
nice song, she's amazing.
vip3r15 2 years ago 3
amazing, so soulful
Horsenibbler 2 years ago
WOW
cdnlady7 2 years ago
No cussing, No bling, just pure Class
Classic
cuzinkevin 2 years ago 43
you said it
GulfCoasta09 2 years ago
amen to that
TheAntiPirate 2 years ago
I've always liked old class music like jazz. It's got the true rhythem.
wherezmyfreakinpie 2 years ago 2
this is more blues than jazz
Tradaxta 2 years ago 2
Its more than 'more than blues than jazz'. It is the prototypical 12 chord blues progression.
TexasTechStudent 2 years ago
@cuzinkevin
UGH. What the fuck?
Sorry, but if she wanted to cuss, then she would have probably got arrested or hunted down by Klansmen. Two, she probably couldn't afford any "bling" , BECAUSE she was poor and marginalized. Life was not better back then.
This song is beautiful though.
kives1985 1 year ago
@kives1985 ... good one making simple generalisations about whether 'life was better'... poverty and marginalisation is crap, but that doesn't mean everything was worse. One of the things that WAS better was that people weren't obsessed with swearing and expensive jewellery. Prosperity seems to have come with a certain superficiality, and prosperity itself is no excuse for it. The point is that we can keep our prosperity and forego all the sad materialism and 21st C crap that comes with it..
tjoepie 1 year ago
@tjoepie
Foregoing materialism and prosperity is one thing, but shit, some of those old blues singers used to be dirty as all fuck. Blues singers weren't considered "classy" back in the day. Just look at the lyrics to "You've got to give me some." That was a dirty song, and Bessie Smith sang it. So yeah, I think she'd be down with Betty Davis, Millie Jackson, Lil' Kim.
kives1985 1 year ago
@cuzinkevin bessie smith cussed and i'm pretty sure she owned her fair share of bling
awritingdesk 11 months ago
Wow, the Woman Herself! This has to be the Holy Grail of jazz videos.
SirCyrano 2 years ago 4
what has happened to music and society?
xterrorizinboys88 2 years ago 4
Oh god this makes me feel so sad
LeftForBlues 2 years ago
this film is available in its entirety along with those of Louis Armstrong , Billie Holiday and Scatman Crothers(both 19yrs old), Duke Ellington,Fredi Washington, Cab Calloway, on a DVD called Hollywood Rhythm: The Paramount Musical Shorts The Best of Jazz and Blues!
scorpiogirl39 2 years ago
Wow, bluesy :)
We get to play this for our School Band. But we play it really fast.
So much faster tan this.
I feel bad now.
heliopolis07 2 years ago
Glenn Miller recorded this during WWII as "The St. Louis Blues March," which is a perfect arrangement for school band. There are lots of versions of this song.
JCMarra 2 years ago
wow shes got soul
Horsenibbler 2 years ago
Wonderful! Love Bessie : )
vonkavonka 2 years ago 2
Como me encanta su voz, es perfecta, su interpretación y ejecución se combinan para formar algo mágico, para formar música.
Muslock 2 years ago
Bessie Smith - St. Louis Blues is on the dailymotion website and is the complete 9 minute video. It is much better than these "shorts" on youtube.
CeritoLivesInDC 2 years ago
What in the world happened to the original of this video??? It has been truncated and I have searched and searched and they are all cut? Is this for some stupid PC reason?? This full video is fantastic! Where is it????
They cut her lousy boyfriend how was great and they cut the end??? what is up!!! The blues is life, how dare they sensor Bessie Smith!
bessieSmith 2 years ago 2
This has been flagged as spam show
people if you like this kind music check out my site look at favs and look at all these great bands old and new ive discovered a lot of these and some ive known by heart so if your in the bandwagon to kill this shitty music that our generation made than check this page out
BringBackTheGood 2 years ago
beautiful.
matthewcooke42 2 years ago
i love bessie smith!
ohh the classics
arielagu33 3 years ago
GREAT SONG!! me too i hate the sun!!
Flojuve 3 years ago
i've been blessed today, to see this on video.wow.
Karmakanuck 3 years ago
my cousin bessie smith know she could sang
imhappywithmyself 3 years ago
1929...... Wow!
This is amazing
KatanyaSimone 3 years ago
i LOVE THIS
yamba 3 years ago
I love that woman, as I love Billie and Ella...They are my eternal mentors
candidemusic 3 years ago
historic!
lalelani 3 years ago
Thanks so much for the film!
Truly a piece of history.
willb48 3 years ago
thanks this my great great great grandmama
kylie950 3 years ago 3
you are so lucky!
yamba 3 years ago
not possible, she had no children.
rbrmsk99 3 years ago
Amazing! What a great song! Thank you for posting!
alanizkm 3 years ago 4
OMG this is soo good!!
Kikopuz 4 years ago 3
I love her voice, but the crowd's vocals get in the way of the song. She's just fine; I wish she was doing this song by herself, that's all.
cdadave83814 4 years ago
I think that the problem lies with the sound technology -- Bessie's voice is swamped by the crowd's greater volume. If her voice was amplified over the crowd, then this would sound great.
trevillianc 3 years ago 2
that's interesting, because i feel like the crowd in the back just shows what a badass she was and how she could carry her booming voice.
eemoore80 3 years ago
my goodness!!!
shes is DIVINE!
palomadoss 4 years ago 3