Bessie Smith - St. Louis Blues (1929)

Get the latest Flash player

RobertDominkovic
February 02, 2009

THE EMPRESS OF THE BLUES - Bessie Smith (July 9, 1892 or April 15, 1894 — September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer.

Miss Bessie Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s, she is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era, and along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists.

Lyrics:

I hate to see the ev'nin' sun go down
Hate to see the ev'nin' sun go down,
'cause my baby, he done left this town

Feelin' tomorrow like I feel today
Feel tomorrow like I feel today,
I'll pack my trunk, make my getaway

St. Louis woman with her diamond rings
Pulls that man 'round by her apron strings,
't'want for powder and for store-bought hair

The man I love, would not gone nowhere,
got the St. Louis blues just as blue as I can be
That man got a heart like a rock cast in the sea,
or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me

Been to the gypsy to get my fortune told
To the gypsy, to get my fortune told,
'cause I'm most wild about my jelly roll

Gypsy done told me, "Don't you wear no black"
Yes, she done told me, "Don't you wear no black,
go to St. Louis, you can win him back"

Help me to Cairo, make St. Louis by myself
Gone to Cairo, find my old friend Jeff
Goin' to pin myself close to his side,
if I flag his train, I sure can ride

I love that man like a schoolboy loves his pie
Like a Kentucky Colonel loves his mint and rye1
I'll love my baby till the day I die

You ought to see that stovepipe brown of mine,
like he owns the diamond Joseph line
He'd make across-eyed old man go stone blind

Blacker than midnight, teeth like flags of truce
Blackest man in the whole St. Louis
Blacker the berry, sweeter is the juice

About a crap game, he knows a powerful lot,
but when work time comes, he's on the dot
Goin' to ask him for a cold ten spot,
what it takes to get it, he's certainly got

A black-headed gal make a freight train jump the track
Said a black-headed gal make a freight train jump the track
But a redheaded woman makes a preacher ball the jack

Category: Music

More From: RobertDominkovic

Play All Stop Autoplaying | Play Next

QuickList(0)

Clear | Save

Statistics & Data

Video Responses (0)

This video has no Responses. Be the first to Post a Video Response.

Text Comments (53) Options

laron214 (1 hour ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

so incredible to watch bessie do her thing. if only she could have made more films. but at least we still have her recordings.

lalabadee (5 hours ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

peak music

sinestemusic (2 weeks ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

Absolutely wonderful!... A treasure of the humanity. Bessi Smith, her voice and all in this vid. Thx.

blacksrt8cherokee (1 week ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

is her version and louis armstrongs version of the same song different in any way? other than melody, like are the lyrics different?

JDS257 (3 weeks ago)

Comment removed by author

JDS257 (3 weeks ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

holy SHIT its a song from the 20s! HOLY SHIT the 20s are awesome :DDD

jreiss100 (4 weeks ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

The original....nothing else to say.

BluesSis1 (4 weeks ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

it's soo...so beautiful. The Blues. THE BLUES. the Best.

sirjuandabicho (1 month ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

bellisimo, muchas gracias.

gogomonique07 (1 month ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

in the begging.... it's from the song malcom mclaren "she's not there" from kill bill vol.2 soundtrack, where she goes downstairs to kill bill

Showing 10 of 53 comments

Show More Comments

View All 53 comments

Would you like to comment?

Join YouTube for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.

YouTube	Programs	Help	Policy	Discover
Contact Us	Advertising	Get Help	Privacy Policy	YouTube on Your Phone
YouTube Store	Developers	YouTube Handbook	Terms of Service	YouTube on Your Site
Press Room	Partnerships	Community Help Forums	Copyright Notices	YouTube on Your TV
Business Blog	Content Management	Safety Center	Community Guidelines	YouTube RSS Feeds
YouTube Blog		Creator's Corner		TestTube

Add YouTube to your Google homepage

Current Location: Japan Show locations

Bessie Smith - St. Louis Blues (1929)

More From: RobertDominkovic

QuickList(0)

Related Videos

Statistics & Data

Video Responses (0)

Text Comments (53) Options

Would you like to comment?