Post 369: 'I'M BLUE AND LONESOME (NOBODY CARES FOR ME)'

I am fond of the song I'm Blue and Lonesome (Nobody Cares For Me), which was composed and recorded in 1938 by the singer Georgia White and her pianist partner Richard Jones.

Why do I like it? Because it has an unusual and interesting structure. It uses familiar chords but in a refreshing way And it has a good melody.

It is a tune of 24 bars - an unusual length for a song chorus. The first 16 are 'standard' and give the feeling that they will lead into a similar second sixteen. They even end, typically, with the chords II7 | II7 | V7 | V7. But then, instead of going into a further 16 bars, the tune is rounded off with just 8 bars, of which the last four reprise the first four of the tune. I make no claim for 100 accuracy with my version, but I have done my best. I have put it into the key of C to suit my own playing:

I like the 4-bar memorable theme that occurs in Bars 1- 4, 5-8 and again at 21-24. I like the climb up through the arpeggio of II7 (D7 in my example) that occurs in Bars 13-14.

Georgia White recorded the song in Bb:
CLICK HERE.
Erika Lewis of Tuba Skinny took it down to G to suit her voice:
CLICK HERE.

Post 280: FROM GEORGIA WHITE TO ERIKA LEWIS

Erika Lewis is fond of the recordings made in the 1930s by Georgia White.

There seem to have been several tunes with the title 'Blue and Lonesome'; but the one Tuba Skinny have featured, with Erika Lewis singing, is the song composed in the late 1930s by Georgia White and her pianist Richard M. Jones.

It is a fine song to add to the repertoire of any band with a good singer. And it is somewhat unusual in being a 24-bar tune, so it makes a welcome change from those with a conventional 32-bar a-a-b-a structure.

In fact, I am struggling at the moment to think of any other 24-bar tune performed by traditional jazz bands (apart from 12-bar blues with two themes, and Midnight in Moscow, which is really a 16-bar tune with the second eight repeated). The Chorus of Over in the Gloryland also comprises 24 bars. So does the Chorus of Sing On - and the Chorus of Tailgate Ramble. Also there was a fashion in the first two decades of the Twentieth Century for songs that had VERSES of 24 bars, even though the better-known CHORUS had a conventional 32 bar-structure. Examples are San and I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles.

You can see and hear Tuba Skinny perform I'm Blue and Lonesome on YouTube at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B39L71aPAKk

Or, if you prefer an indoor performance (this is quite something!), with Shaye on piano rather than cornet, go to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aysNlCeW50

Post 243: GEORGIA WHITE, TUBA SKINNY AND 'LATE HOUR BLUES'

Tuba Skinny has introduced into its repertoire yet another of those simple, bouncy 16-bar tunes (essentially 8 + 8). They have catchy themes and are easy to play because they hardly need more than three basic chords.

The song is Late Hour Blues.

Written by the New Orleans-born pianist Richard M. Jones in 1939, it was recorded by Georgia White in 1940 for Decca (the company for which Richard Jones was a record producer at the time). It was Decca's catalogue number 7741B (65756).

Georgia White

Late Hour Blues, described on the Decca label as 'Blues Singing With Orchestra' has Georgia White alternating 16-bar choruses with members of the 'orchestra', which seems to comprise percussion (Walter Martin), a very fluent cornet (Jonah Jones), a clarinet (Fess Williams), and piano (Lil Armstrong, no less). Vocals alternate on the 16-bar theme with instrumental 16-bar solos. It seems to work on a familiar chord pattern:  IV - IV -  I  -  I - V7 - Vdim - V7 - V7 - IV - IV -  I  -  I - V7 - V7 - I - I.

Tuba Skinny take the song briskly in Bb. They make a great job of it. Like Georgia White, Erika sings choruses between instrumental solos. Georgia sings four 16-bar choruses. Erika sings five. The final two are sung without an instrumental break. They appropriately include the 'Oh Me! Oh My!' Chorus for a second time - thereby achieving the five choruses in all.

Enjoy the video made of this song by the great digitalalexa by clicking here.