ST. Louis Woman & St. Louis Gal-Great Blues Songs: In 1914, W.C. Handy was the first to publish ablues song which once were played and sung but not documented in conventional song publishing format. It was, and still remains, as an anthem to the heartbreak and sadness of the black experience with the blues and jazz becoming the most distinctive and purely American musical expression and a gift to the world at large.Bessie Smith, the Empress of the Blues, recorded the song as have hundreds of others over the years. The song laments the fact that the St. Louis Woman in the song "Pulls that man around by her apron strings."
In 1923, J. Russell Robinson wrote a similar song called St. Louis Gal. In this blues song, a woman sadly recounts the story of a St. Louis gal who " Stole the heart of my big boy" who goes on to swear that " Down in Missouri, there'll come a time when your life won't be worth a dime." Pretty dramatic and earthy sentiments. Bessie Smith also recorded this song but please listen to Cecile McLorin Salvant, a young and talented American singer who has absorbed the essence of the blues tradition a hundred years after Handy wrote St. Louis Woman.
Listen to both Bessie Smith and Cecile McLorin Salvant to experience the power of a unique American musical contribution that has influencd so many different musical genres.
The Blues-The Musical Gift That Keeps on Giving.
Bessie Smith-St. Louis Woman
https://youtu.be/jNWs0LsimFs
Cecile McLorin Salvant
https://youtu.be/H3dFTyJK0NQ
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