Beale Street Blues

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"Beale Street Blues" is a 1916 song by American composer and lyricist W.C. Handy. The title refers to Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, the main entertainment district for the city's African American population in the early part of the twentieth century, and a place closely associated with the development of the blues. The song was published by the Pace and Handy music company in 1917, but was first popularized for a mass audience when sung on Broadway by Gilda Gray in the 1919 musical revue Schubert's Gaieties.

Like many of Handy's songs, Beale Street Blues is a hybrid of the blues style with the popular ballad style of the day, the opening lyrics following a line pattern typical of Tin Pan Alley songs and the later stanzas giving way to the traditional three-line pattern characteristic of the blues.

"Beale Street Blues" has been recorded by dozens of noted artists, from early recordings by Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, and Alberta Hunter, to more modern versions by Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, and Tommy Dorsey. The song itself is now in the public domain in the United States, due to expiration of the copyright, though most of the recordings of it are still covered by their own copyrights.

[edit] Lyrics

I've seen the lights of gay Broadway,

Old Market Street down by the Frisco Bay,

I've strolled the Prado, I've gambled on the Bourse;

The seven wonders of the world I've seen,

And many are the places I have been,

Take my advice, folks, and see Beale Street first!

You'll see pretty browns in beautiful gowns,

You'll see tailor-mades and hand-me-downs,

You'll meet honest men, and pick-pockets skilled,

You'll find that business never ceases 'til somebody gets killed!

If Beale Street could talk, if Beale Street could talk,

Married men would have to take their beds and walk,

Except one or two who never drink booze,

And the blind man on the corner singing "Beale Street Blues!"

I'd rather be there than any place I know,

I'd rather be there than any place I know,

It's gonna take a sergeant for to make me go!

I'm goin' to the river, maybe by and by,

Yes, I'm goin' to the river, maybe by and by,

Because the river's wet, and Beale Street's done gone dry

[edit] External links

NEH Blues page, with links to on-line recordings of "Beale Street Blues"