0:00:13 > 0:00:17When someone says "I've got the blues,"
0:00:17 > 0:00:19everyone knows what that means.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22"I'm feeling down" or "I'm depressed."
0:00:22 > 0:00:26Well, when it comes to singing the blues, it doesn't always mean that.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29This programme's about good-time blues.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32It's about good-time blues entertainment,
0:00:32 > 0:00:36whether it's a kind of showbiz or just having fun in the juke joint.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40It's about blues singers who made their living moving around,
0:00:40 > 0:00:44playing for workers, cotton pickers, sawmill camp workers,
0:00:44 > 0:00:47factory labourers, pimps and butchers,
0:00:47 > 0:00:49washerwomen and ladies' maids.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53Our first singer started out as a chorus dancer,
0:00:53 > 0:00:57singing on travelling minstrel shows which used to move all over the South
0:00:57 > 0:01:01bringing showbiz to even the most isolated rural patch.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03Laura Dukes - Little Bit.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08# You'll get a line, I'll get a pole
0:01:08 > 0:01:11# Honey, oh babe
0:01:11 > 0:01:15# You'll get a line, I'll get a pole Babe
0:01:17 > 0:01:19# You'll get a line, I'll get a pole
0:01:19 > 0:01:22# We'll go down that crawdad hole
0:01:22 > 0:01:26# Honey, baby mine
0:01:27 > 0:01:33# I'll sit on the bank and my feet got cold, honey, oh babe
0:01:33 > 0:01:39# Sit on the bank till my feet got cold, babe
0:01:39 > 0:01:42# I'll sit on the bank till my feet got cold
0:01:42 > 0:01:45# Looking down that crawdad hole
0:01:45 > 0:01:50# Honey, baby mine
0:01:50 > 0:01:56# Now, what you gon' do when the creek runs dry, honey, oh babe
0:01:56 > 0:02:01# What you gon' do when the creek runs dry, babe?
0:02:01 > 0:02:04# What you gon' do when the creek runs dry
0:02:04 > 0:02:07# Sit on the bank Watch the crawdads die
0:02:07 > 0:02:13# Honey, baby mine
0:02:34 > 0:02:40# Here come a man with a pack on his back, honey, oh babe
0:02:40 > 0:02:45# Here come a man with a pack on his back, babe
0:02:45 > 0:02:49# Here come a man with a pack on his back
0:02:49 > 0:02:52# All them crawdads in that sack
0:02:52 > 0:02:56# Honey, baby mine
0:02:57 > 0:03:04# Oh, the man fell down Broke his pack, honey, oh babe
0:03:04 > 0:03:08# The man fell down and broke his pack, babe
0:03:09 > 0:03:15# The man fell down, broke his pack All them crawdads back in pack
0:03:15 > 0:03:22# Honey, baby mine. #
0:03:22 > 0:03:25That song, Crawdad, is an old country song.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28It's one that white singers used to sing as much as black
0:03:28 > 0:03:29in the '20s and '30s.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33Even rock-and-rollers like Jerry Lee Lewis sing it sometimes.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37The country entertainments like the travelling minstrel shows
0:03:37 > 0:03:40sometimes set up tents with folding stages.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44Other times, they'd perform on the back of a truck at a street corner.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Sam Chapman used to work the minstrel shows like that.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51He'd quit his farm work during the slack season and go on tour,
0:03:51 > 0:03:55maybe up through Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee and back again.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59He'd crack jokes, tell stories, and then maybe he'd sing a love song.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02# Well, you told me, woman
0:04:04 > 0:04:06# Once upon a time
0:04:07 > 0:04:10# If I'd be your'n
0:04:10 > 0:04:12# You'd sure be mine
0:04:12 > 0:04:15# But that's all right
0:04:18 > 0:04:20# I know you love another man
0:04:20 > 0:04:24# But that's all right
0:04:26 > 0:04:29# Every now and then I 'gin to wonder
0:04:29 > 0:04:35# Who will love you tonight?
0:04:38 > 0:04:41# Well, I come to your house late last night
0:04:43 > 0:04:45# Knocked up on your door
0:04:46 > 0:04:49# I heard a strange voice saying "Get away from there
0:04:49 > 0:04:51# "You can't get in here no more!"
0:04:51 > 0:04:54# But that's all right
0:04:56 > 0:05:02# I know you got another man but that's all right
0:05:03 > 0:05:08# Every now and then I 'gin to wonder
0:05:08 > 0:05:13# Who will love you tonight?
0:05:16 > 0:05:21# Well, there's one thing certain woman
0:05:21 > 0:05:23# Without a doubt
0:05:24 > 0:05:29# If I can't come in That bastard better not come out
0:05:29 > 0:05:34# And that's all right
0:05:34 > 0:05:40# I know you got another man but that's all right
0:05:41 > 0:05:46# Every now and then I 'gin to wonder
0:05:46 > 0:05:50# Who will love you tonight?
0:05:50 > 0:05:53# Oh, yes I do, baby
0:05:58 > 0:06:02# That's what I'm talking about, gal
0:06:27 > 0:06:31# Well, he did something in my house
0:06:31 > 0:06:34# Never happened before
0:06:34 > 0:06:39# He broke down my bed and loved my woman on my floor
0:06:39 > 0:06:43# But that's all right
0:06:43 > 0:06:48# I know you got another man but that's all right
0:06:50 > 0:06:54# Every now and then I 'gin to wonder
0:06:54 > 0:06:59# Who gon' love you tonight?
0:07:01 > 0:07:04# Well, I knocked on the front
0:07:04 > 0:07:08# I ran round to the back
0:07:08 > 0:07:10# He passed by me running
0:07:10 > 0:07:13# Faster than a Dodge Cadillac
0:07:13 > 0:07:16# But that's all right
0:07:16 > 0:07:23# I know you had another man but that's all right
0:07:23 > 0:07:27# Every now and then I 'gin to wonder
0:07:27 > 0:07:33# Who gon' love you tonight? #
0:07:36 > 0:07:39Chapman came from Mississippi.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41Born in the same state at about the same time
0:07:41 > 0:07:45at the turn of the century was Big Joe Williams.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49Illiterate, he started hoboing when he was just a kid.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52He played and lived off his music from an incredibly early age.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56Now he's living in a caravan in his birthplace of Crawford, Mississippi,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00where he can remember how he used to play up on a stage
0:08:00 > 0:08:02set up in the fields and where the farm hands
0:08:02 > 0:08:05and the local whites would come and hear him sing.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13# I'd rather be sloppy drunk, woman
0:08:13 > 0:08:17# Than any way I know
0:08:20 > 0:08:24# Yeah, I'd rather be sloppy drunk
0:08:24 > 0:08:27# Than any way I know
0:08:30 > 0:08:36# And to hear my woman say that she don't want me hanging round no more
0:08:39 > 0:08:42# Well, I'm going to get sober, baby
0:08:42 > 0:08:46# Ain't gonna drink no more
0:08:48 > 0:08:52# Yeah, I'm gonna get sober, woman
0:08:52 > 0:08:56# Ain't gonna drink no more
0:08:59 > 0:09:03# Turn my woman round and round Yeah, with me so and so
0:09:07 > 0:09:13# Hey, baby, bring me one more heavy pint
0:09:17 > 0:09:22# Hey, Momma Bring me one more heavy pint
0:09:25 > 0:09:28# I'm gonna get drunk, baby Lord knows
0:09:28 > 0:09:31# Sure gonna wreck your joint
0:09:34 > 0:09:37# Gonna get drunk, baby, Lord
0:09:37 > 0:09:39# Then I ain't gonna drink no more,
0:09:39 > 0:09:41# Ain't gonna drink no more
0:09:45 > 0:09:49# Well, I'm gonna get drunk, baby Lord, now
0:09:49 > 0:09:51# Ain't gonna drink no more
0:09:54 > 0:09:59# Tell my woman I'm getting drunk with me so and so
0:10:02 > 0:10:05# Say what you say. #
0:10:05 > 0:10:09Big Joe was the paid entertainer of many a plantation dance in the south.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11He also worked in the industrial north,
0:10:11 > 0:10:16sometimes playing for dimes on streetcars or in the streets.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Like many Mississippi musicians, he can use a slide,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22giving his blues a tough, whining sound.
0:10:22 > 0:10:27It's a technique that's become commonplace in rock music today,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30but singers like Big Joe are the originals.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35Even more original is his nine-string guitar, which he modified himself.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38It helps give the dense, heavy sound
0:10:38 > 0:10:42and the percussive quality he learned when he first started playing music
0:10:42 > 0:10:45by beating on a water bucket as he sang.
0:10:45 > 0:10:51# Well, in the morning, Highway 49
0:10:56 > 0:11:02# Yeah, I'm gonna get up in the morning, get to Highway 49
0:11:10 > 0:11:16# I've been looking for my woman but Lord she can't be found
0:11:22 > 0:11:27# Lord, I believe, I believe
0:11:28 > 0:11:31# Well, I believe I'll dust my bed now
0:11:34 > 0:11:41# I believe, well I believe I'll dust my bed
0:11:43 > 0:11:50# Going out on Highway 49 Lord, I be rocking to my head
0:11:53 > 0:11:59# I believes I caught her walking Yeah, on my mind
0:12:02 > 0:12:10# Yeah, I believes I caught her walking, yeah, on my mind
0:12:16 > 0:12:22# My sweet woman Somewhere on Highway 49. #
0:12:51 > 0:12:56Highway 49 runs roughly from New Orleans up through Mississippi
0:12:56 > 0:12:59to Memphis, Tennessee.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01That was just part of the territory
0:13:01 > 0:13:04Big Joe worked as an itinerant musician.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08Many blues are rooted in the specific places singers came from
0:13:08 > 0:13:09or where they worked.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13Whether it's a highway or a big city or just a little town.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16A singer who often used to play with Big Joe
0:13:16 > 0:13:19is piano player Little Brother Montgomery.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21This song, Vicksburg Blues,
0:13:21 > 0:13:24is a piece he's been singing since the 1920s.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Vicksburg, incidentally, is on the Mississippi River
0:13:27 > 0:13:30and Little Brother used to play around there.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34This is the kind of music you could hear in the juke joints,
0:13:34 > 0:13:36the barrel houses and the honky-tonks.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40The sort of places where people went along on a Saturday night to drink,
0:13:40 > 0:13:44gamble and fight - generally have a good time.
0:13:48 > 0:13:54# Now when I went down Mulberry
0:13:54 > 0:13:58# Paused and I turned up clean
0:14:04 > 0:14:09# Now when I went down Mulberry
0:14:09 > 0:14:14# A boat and I turned up clean
0:14:20 > 0:14:26# I was looking for my baby
0:14:26 > 0:14:30# But she had moved away
0:14:37 > 0:14:43# Some said she moved right on one night
0:14:43 > 0:14:47# And some said she moved out on fine
0:14:53 > 0:14:59# Some said she moved right on one night
0:14:59 > 0:15:04# And some said she moved out on fine
0:15:10 > 0:15:16# Now wherever she is
0:15:16 > 0:15:20# She's resting on my mind
0:16:44 > 0:16:50# Now wherever she is
0:16:50 > 0:16:53# She's resting on my mind
0:16:59 > 0:17:06# Now just as soon as the train, mama
0:17:06 > 0:17:09# Wake up in the yard
0:17:15 > 0:17:21# Now, just as soon as the train Mama
0:17:21 > 0:17:24# Honey, make up in the yard
0:17:30 > 0:17:35# Now I'm Vicksburg boat-bound
0:17:35 > 0:17:40# But the boat, they don't have me. #
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Minstrel stage, plantation dance or honky-tonk -
0:17:53 > 0:17:58blues singers have been entertainers for over 60 years.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02But not every blues singer has been a professional entertainer.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06For every one that is, there's another who's an amateur.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09This last piece of film is of a man who works by day
0:18:09 > 0:18:11in a chemical factory.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15He has his own club in St Louis where people come to drink.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19It's not much different from any other neighbourhood bar,
0:18:19 > 0:18:21but James DeShay leads a band
0:18:21 > 0:18:26and two nights a week, they perform as much for their own pleasure
0:18:26 > 0:18:28as to attract more customers.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33The songs they sing are just solid electric amplified blues.
0:18:33 > 0:18:38Incredibly, this song is something James DeShay remembers from a record
0:18:38 > 0:18:41by the great Mississippian Charley Patton,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44which came out in 1929.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47In fact, bits of the song come from more than one record which came out
0:18:47 > 0:18:52in 1929, but then that's the way the entertainer makes the song his own.
0:18:54 > 0:19:01# Get my pony Saddle up my black mare
0:19:07 > 0:19:13# Get my pony Saddle up my black mare
0:19:18 > 0:19:26# I've got to find my woman Find her in the world somewhere
0:19:30 > 0:19:38# I've got a brand new pony Baby, already trained
0:19:42 > 0:19:49# I've got a brand new pony Baby, already trained
0:19:55 > 0:20:02# I'm going to get in my saddle Tighten up on my reins
0:20:07 > 0:20:14# Something to tell you When I get the chance
0:20:19 > 0:20:25# Something to tell you When I get the chance
0:20:29 > 0:20:37# Well, I don't want to marry Baby, let me be your man
0:20:40 > 0:20:47# Hey, come on, got a girl and she won't let me ride
0:20:52 > 0:20:59# Hey, come on, got a girl and she won't let me ride
0:21:03 > 0:21:10# Well, she keeps walking round Wobble from side to side
0:21:13 > 0:21:21# Hey, hey, I don't know, babe But I do believe I will
0:21:25 > 0:21:32# Hey, hey, I don't know, babe But I believe I will
0:21:36 > 0:21:44# Hey, hey I'll be on my own but I'd rather be with you
0:21:50 > 0:21:58# I've got a brand new pony Baby, already trained
0:22:01 > 0:22:09# I've got a brand new pony Baby, already trained
0:22:12 > 0:22:20# Well, I'll sit in my saddle Tighten up on my reins
0:22:22 > 0:22:30# Hey, a brown-skin woman # Look like something good to eat
0:22:35 > 0:22:42# A brown-skin woman Look like something good to eat
0:22:46 > 0:22:53# If it don't happen early Baby, you are right with me. #
0:23:14 > 0:23:16Thank you. Thank you.