Open Rehearsal: The Court Theatre Blog
July 23, 2009
Gender and the Blues Queens
Hi! I’m Anastasia, the dramaturgy intern for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” I’ve been delving into research on Ma Rainey and the recording industry in the 20’s, but also looking at some blues history and criticism. Poring through “Write me a Few of Your Lines,” a book on the blues, I came across an essay by Angela Davis arguing for the radical liberal nature of the 1920’s blues queens (and chiefly Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith). Though the content of these singer’s lyrics, smacking with overt sexuality and domestic abuse, can be read as antifeminist and even misogynist, she argues that they portray a radical new kind of femininity that was not afraid to break with traditional structures that had little relevance to post-emancipation black society.
“Well I’d rather my man would hit me than jump right up and quit me
Tain’t nobody’s bizness if I do, do, do, do
I swear I won’t call no copper if I’m beat up by my papa
Tain’t nobody’s bizness if I do, if I do”
- Bessie Smith, “Tain’t Nobody’s Bizness if I Do”
While these lyrics seem at first glance to condone domestic violence, Davis argues that they in fact contain an underhanded irony about the woman’s treatment, similar to the indirect methods of expression used by blacks under slavery. And as Donna Haraway says, “Blasphemy has always seemed to require taking things very seriously.” This perturbation these lyrics create is a very humorous, serious break with what is already existent.
More straightforward expressions of defiance and liberation from patriarchy are also widespread in blues lyrics. I was certainly surprised to read the lyrics of Ma Rainey’s “Prove it on Me Blues,” which is explicitly about lesbianism as a preferred alternative to relationships with men:
“They said I do it, ain’t nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me
Went out last night with a crowd of my friends
They must’ve been women, ‘cause I don’t like no men
It’s true I wear a collar and a tie
Make the wind blow all the while
‘Cause they say I do it, ain’t nobody caught me
They sure got to prove it on me….”
Emancipation forced black men to find work, often necessitating their traveling and leaving their wives or lovers at home. Even if they could find work near home, they were often simply lured away by the possibilities of travel now that they had finally won their freedom. The historical circumstances left women abandoned by their husbands and lovers, transforming domestic roles and gender relations. So while white ideology of the time period pronounced women’s subordination and closed lips on discussions of sexuality, black women were often in situations that had little to do with established gender roles or romanticized notions of relationships. Rather than submitting, their lyrics point to women fighting back, and passionately:
“If I see him I’m gon’ beat him, gon’ kick and bite him, too
Gonna take my weddin’ butcher, gonna cut him two in two.”
It’s incredible to see how these women were creating a space of autonomy for themselves and re-evaluating gender long before these barriers were broken down in mainstream or academic culture. And with such fire!
I ain’t no high yella, I’m a deep killer brown
I ain’t gonna marry, ain’t gon’ settle down
I’m gon’ drink good moonshine and run these browns down
See that long lonesome road, Lord, you know it’s gonna end
And I’m a good woman and I can get plenty men.
1 Response to Gender and the Blues Queens
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Hi Anastasia,
It’s great that you found Angela Davis’ article! Did you know that she wrote an entire book on the subject? You’ll find it at Regenstein Library, here’s the citation:
Davis, Angela Y. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1998) ML3521.D355 1998.
One of the big strengths of the book is the appendix of blues lyrics from Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith’s recordings at the back. Angela Davis told me that she transcribed many of those recordings herself to put that appendix together.
When you look at their lyrics, and at other blues, a picture comes together of the loneliness of the folks who came north, especially the single people who left family to come to Chicago and find work during the Great Migration. Even the titles are evocative: “I wish my mother was on that train” (Blind Joe and Emma Taggart, Vocalion 1063), “Where the chilly winds don’t blow” (“Papa Charlie” Jackson, Paramount 12335)
I hope you’re enjoying your internship with Drew!
Best wishes,
Deborah Gillaspie
Curator, Chicago Jazz Archive Collections
University of Chicago Library
By Deborah Gillaspie on September 9, 2009 at 12:18 pm