Mamie Smith & Her Jazz Hounds "Crazy Blues" LYRICS (Perry Bradford song) Okeh 4169 (1920) HISTORIC

Описание: "Crazy Blues" is performed by Mamie Smith & Her Jazz Hounds.

The song was written by Perry Bradford (a black composer).

This was recorded on August 10, 1920, and issued weeks later on Okeh 4169.

Its success was remarkable, sparking a demand for blues recordings--well, blues sung by females.
There was no demand for male vocalists singing blues--that would come later.

The musicians here might be Ernest Elliot, Dope Andrews, Addington Major, Leroy Parker, Willie “The Lion” Smith, and Mamie Smith. It's difficult to know for certain who was at this session (nobody knew at the time that this was historic, so careful notes were not taken).

This is the best-selling tune that opened a gate for African-American musicians in recording studios.

Before the release of this, relatively few black artists made recordings.

Yes, Bert Williams enjoyed success, and Jim Europe made records--some others, too.

But with the success of "Crazy Blues," every record company made special efforts to recruit black singers and musicians (especially to record "blues" numbers).

The early 1920s gave birth to a craze: the female blues singer. Yes, female. If you were a black male singer, you stood almost no chance for a recording contract. In another ten years, that would change (female blues singers would be in less demand by the 1930s though Bessie Smith could always make money in a recording studio).

The list of female blues singers of the early 1920s is long (Clara Smith, Edith Wilson, Mamie Smith, Rosa Henderson)--they paved the way for the best of all (I mean Bessie Smith).

I can't sleep at night.
I can't eat a bite
'Cause the man I love
He don't treat me right.
He makes me feel so blue.
I don't know what to do.

Sometime I sit and sigh
And then begin to cry
'Cause my best friend
Said his last goodbye.

There's a change in the ocean,
Change in the deep blue sea, my baby.

I'll tell you, folks,
There ain't no change in me.

My love for that man
will always be!

Now I got the crazy blues
Since my baby went away.
I ain't got no time to lose.
I must find him today.
Now the doctor's gonna
do all that he can,
But what you're gonna need
is an undertaker man.

Now I can read his letters--
I sure can't read his mind.
I thought he's lovin' me.
He's leavin' all the time.
Now I see my poor love was blind.

I went to the railroad [to]
Hang my head on the track.
Thought about my daddy--
I gladly snatched it back!
Now my babe's gone
And gave me the sack.

Now I've got the crazy blues
Since my baby went away.
I ain't had no time to lose.
I must find him today.

I'm gonna do like a Chinaman,
Go and get some hop--
Get myself a gun, and shoot myself a cop.
I ain't had nothin' but bad news
Now I've got the crazy blues.

Those blues.





Mamie Smith & Her Jazz Hounds "Crazy Blues" LYRICS (Perry Bradford song) Okeh 4169 (1920) HISTORIC