The Blues Line: Blues Lyrics from Leadbelly to Muddy Waters

by Eric Sackheim (Editor), Jonathan Shahn

Transcribed from 78 rpm recordings and preserved here long after many of the records have disappeared, this collection of nearly three hundred songs from more than one hundred singers celebrates the diversity of feeling and form that defines the blues. Ma Rainey, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bessie Smith, Leadbelly, Memphis Minnie, Robert Johnson, and Muddy Waters are represented with their lesser-known contemporaries -- Barefoot Bill, Barbecue Bob, Bumble Bee Slim, and Black Ivory King. This complete anthology also features lyrics by Blind Blake, Victoria Spivey, Blind Willie Johnson, "Funny Paper" Smith, Texas Alexander, Lightning Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb, Ma Yancey, King Solomon Hill, Skip James, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Son House, Willie Brown, Mississippi John Hurt, Bukka White, Furry Lewis, Sleepy John Estes, Rev. Gary Davis, Roosevelt Sykes, Peetie Wheatstraw, Sonny Boy Williamson, Kokomo Arnold, Tampa Red, Howlin'Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Charlie Patton, and more than 100 others. Dozens of illustrations are included.

Genres: Music, Poetry

512 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1975

Reviews

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I keep this book around and pick it up about once a month to read a few song lyrics. Reading lyrics from a page creates an entirely different experience than listening to them sung to music. For instance, I never appreciated just how darn gorgeous, clever, funny and poetic this Ma Rainey song was until I read it in this volume:

My daddy come home this mornin', drunk as he could be
My daddy come home this mornin', drunk as he could be
I knowed by that he's done got bad on me
He used to stay out late, now he don't come home at all
He used to stay out late, now he don't come home at all
(No kidding, either.)
I know there's another mule
been kicking in my stable
If you don't like my ocean, don't fish in my sea
If you don't like my ocean, don't fish in my sea
Stay out of my valley, let my mountain be
I ain't had no loving since God knows when
I ain't had no loving since God knows when
That's the reason I'm through with these no-good, trifling men
You'll never miss the sunshine till the rain begin to fall
You'll never miss the sunshine till the rain begin to fall
You'll never miss your ham till another mule be in your stall

I recommend this book if you want to go deeper in the blues. But I do wish the compiler had given us the dates when the songs were written and recorded.