The Poetry of the Blues by Charters Samuel; Charters Ann;

Author:Charters, Samuel; Charters, Ann;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2019-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

1. PINK ANDERSON and son

2. FURRY LEWIS

3. J. D. SHORT

4. SLEEPY JOHN ESTES

5. HENRY TOWNSEND

6. MEMPHIS WILLIE B.

7. GUS CANNON

8. BABY TATE

A man meets a woman on the road and he has a chance to warn her that he’ll be coming to see her that night,

I’m coming in your back yard, I’m coming one more time tonight.

I’m coming in your back yard, I’m coming one more time tonight.

Keep your dogs on a chain, mama, don’t let your bulldog bite.

Mississippi Bracey laughs when his woman tries to warn him about her husband,

You got a bad husband now, baby, that will be alright.

You got a bad husband now, baby, that will be alright.

I will dodge your husband like a rabbit dodge a dog at night.

Willie McTell even suggests that the uneasiness of jealousy still persists when he and the woman have finally fallen asleep in each other’s arms.

Don’t get mad with me if I talk in my sleep,

Don’t get mad with me if I talk in my sleep,

’Cause I might say something, good girl, to cause you to weep.

If you talk in your sleep, woman, don’t you mention my name,

If you talk in your sleep, woman, don’t you mention my name,

’Cause if you do you might drive my heart insane.

In his “Mean Jumper Blues” Blind Lemon Johnson sketches out, in a beautifully controlled blues, the angry determination of a man to see a woman he still loves, the lengthy story compressed into five verses that move, with a careful inner logic, from his angry frustration to his nearly tragic meeting with the woman’s new lover.

I feel like jumping through the keyhole in your door.

I feel like jumping through the keyhole in your door.

If you jump this time, baby, you won’t jump no more.

He is telling her that if she’ll “jump” to him she won’t want to go on to another man.

I feel like falling from a tree top to the ground.

I feel like falling from a tree top to the ground.

My rider’s got a mean joker, and he don’t ’low me ’round.

“Rider” and its longer term “Easy Rider” is meant as a reference to their sexual relationship.

I go there early in the morning, and I goes there late at night.

I go there early in the morning, and I goes there late at night.

Don’t care how late I goes there he have never turned out the light.

I believe he’s looking for me; he’s up all hours at night.

I believe he’s looking for me; he’s up all hours at night.

She used to be my rider, and he ain’t treating her right.

He is complaining about the way the new man is acting toward the woman, but in the final verse he seems to be afraid to do anything for her.

I met this joker one morning, and he was out on the edge of town.

I met this joker one morning, and he was out on the edge of town.

I had to talk and plead to keep him from blowing me down.

One of the most poetic of the images describing infidelity is the “fo’ day creep,” and it is often used by city singers.

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