May 2017
The winter I turned twenty-two
I was down as down could be,
Then I heard this sultry temptress.
Croon her soulful songs to me
Miss B. became my sweet soulmate,
I loved her from the start.
That sultry singing empress -
I learned all her songs by heart.
I sang the blues and harmonized;
Played her tunes both day and night.
I connected to the passion
that within her burned so bright.
As time went by, I learned to stop
and thank the stars on high,
To love and laugh, and let life flow;
Like my soulmate in the sky.
Bessie Smith - I've Got What It Takes (1929)
https://youtu.be/Lb2Ckwsf1ZA
I was down as down could be,
Then I heard this sultry temptress.
Croon her soulful songs to me
Miss B. became my sweet soulmate,
I loved her from the start.
That sultry singing empress -
I learned all her songs by heart.
I sang the blues and harmonized;
Played her tunes both day and night.
I connected to the passion
that within her burned so bright.
As time went by, I learned to stop
and thank the stars on high,
To love and laugh, and let life flow;
Like my soulmate in the sky.
Bessie Smith - I've Got What It Takes (1929)
https://youtu.be/Lb2Ckwsf1ZA
Jazz and blues vocalist Bessie Smith's powerful, soulful voice won her countless fans and earned her the title "Empress of the Blues." Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 15, 1894, she began to sing at a young age and in 1923 signed a contract with Columbia Records. Soon she was among the highest paid black performers of her time with hits like "Downhearted Blues." By the end of the 1920s, however, her popularity had lessened, though she continued to perform and made new recordings at the start of the Swing Era. Her comeback and life were cut short when she died on September 26, 1937, from injuries sustained in an automobile accident outside of Clarksdale, Mississippi.
