An Analysis Of Bessie Smith's Song 'St. Louis Blues'
The Harlem represented a lot especially for African American songwriters, it meant they got to show their real pain, grow because of the new opportunities and get their voices heard. Bessie Smith’s music represented what was happening in her life at the moment. She really put her feelings into her music. She felt much sorrow which she expressed through her soulful Blues. One of her songs titled St. Louis Blues was popular for a reason. It showed her real pain. St. Louis Blues was composed by W. C. Handy. She put the song out in 1925, Columbia Records produced the song along with others.
The song is about hard times with a love and how it has affected her. She sang about how moving to a new place still won’t make a person forget about their
past, that was a common feeling because African Americans were moving city to city in search for their chance at a great life but some miss the people they left behind. A specific lyric in that song stays, “I hate to see de evenin' sun go down,” It expresses the pain that she goes through every day without the love of a significant other. She was in a town filled with pain and sorrow. While some saw it in a different light, “Saint Louis woman wid her diamon' rings,” this lyric shows some of the successes of people people, and some of the lavishes in life. Another lyric from the song St. Louis Blues was “But when work time comes, he's on the dot,” it represents that no matter the life after hours, when it was time to work African American’s took it seriously because they finally got the chance to show what they can do.
The Harlem Renaissance was a chance to end the stereotypes and create something new, songwriters and performers of this time truly did that with a new sound everyone wanted to hear. Through Smith’s songs showed the depths of her despair. Since then countless other singers put their voice on the track, but none of them managed were able to beat the way Smith sang the song.
The song is about hard times with a love and how it has affected her. She sang about how moving to a new place still won’t make a person forget about their
past, that was a common feeling because African Americans were moving city to city in search for their chance at a great life but some miss the people they left behind. A specific lyric in that song stays, “I hate to see de evenin' sun go down,” It expresses the pain that she goes through every day without the love of a significant other. She was in a town filled with pain and sorrow. While some saw it in a different light, “Saint Louis woman wid her diamon' rings,” this lyric shows some of the successes of people people, and some of the lavishes in life. Another lyric from the song St. Louis Blues was “But when work time comes, he's on the dot,” it represents that no matter the life after hours, when it was time to work African American’s took it seriously because they finally got the chance to show what they can do.
The Harlem Renaissance was a chance to end the stereotypes and create something new, songwriters and performers of this time truly did that with a new sound everyone wanted to hear. Through Smith’s songs showed the depths of her despair. Since then countless other singers put their voice on the track, but none of them managed were able to beat the way Smith sang the song.