This transcript of the radio show is an approximation of what I said in the show. The real spoken parts may differ slightly.
And today I'll take you to the first half of the forties, cause the blues had a new subject to sing about - the war - in all its aspects. From bravery and patriottism to the women who see their men being taken from their homes, the rationing of food and gasoline, and the return of the men after the war, they all come by.
But I wanna start with two where the bluesmen just tell about the international political situation rather than their own misfortune. And the first one is the '41 Blues of Doctor Clayton, and he foresees that America's involvement in Europe's war. Ain't gonna be no peace in Europe until we cut off Hitler's head.
01 - Doctor Clayton - '41 Blues
02 - Florida Kid - Hitler Blues
Hitler is an evil man - the warning of the Florida Kid recorded in November of 1940 for the Bluebird label - still way before America's involvement.
The next one is recorded in October of 1941 - still before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor - but both Eva Taylor and Clarence Williams sing that they volunteer for the army. Heard there were wars, don't know the course, but Uncle Sammy Here I Am. Here is - also on the Bluebird label - the band of Clarence Williams.
03 - Clarence Williams - Uncle Sammy, Here I Am
04 - Cootie Williams - Gotta Do Some War Work
(jingle)
05 - Louis Jordan - G.I. Jive
06 - Sonny Boy Williamson I - Win The War Blues
Four in a row - after Clarence Williams, you got Hot Lips Page with Gotta Do Some War Work, fron 1944 on the Hit label, then the Louis Jordan version of G.I. Jive, and that was was a cover of the hit of Johnny Mercer. Both versions hit number one on the pop charts and the Harlem hit Parade, the Rhythm & Blues hitlist and the song deals about soldier life in the war.
Then finally the Win The War Blues of Sonny Boy Williamson, from early 1942 on the Bluebird label ready to go and fight, fly a plane and drop a bomb on the Japanese and make his woman proud.
But in real - that wouldn't work out that way.
In the army, Jim Crow ruled as in the Deep South. Segregation was complete, and Black soldiers were generally denied from combat work, they got support tasks instead, such as cook, grave digging and transport. Many had the idea that they were denied the chance to stand for America, to defend the country and to win the war. General George S. Patton was convinced Blacks could not think fast enough to fight - and that was the general idea among the army officers. Other reasons to keep African Americans in lower ranks, was to avoid them to have command over white soldiers - which was seen as socially unacceptable.
There have been a few notable exceptions - best known are the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American airmen in a segregated unit. The 99th fighter sqadron and the 332nd fighter group were the only ones to really serve - they never dropped a bomb but they served as escorts, protecting bombers against enemy fire over German territory, shooting down several German jet fighters. But in general, the good functioning of the sqadron was frustrated by every means, from incompetent command to outright discrimination both on-base and in civilian support - a local laundry even denied washing the uniforms, but they did wash the clothes of captured German soldiers.
There was just one man who could publicly speak up without getting in trouble. That was bluesman Josh White, who got the rare opportunity to discuss segregation with President Roosevelt. Before, he'd recorded an album - a box set of 78s - with protest blues against discrimination. From this album titled Southern Exposure, an album of Jim Crow Blues on the Keynote label, here is his complaint against racism in the armed forces. Listen to Josh White's Uncle Sam Says.
07 - Josh White - Uncle Sam Says
08 - Bea Booze - Uncle Sam Come And Get Him
Uncle Sam come and get him - he's too darn much for me, he's mean as the devil, and he will win your war before 1943, with a razor and a plain old 44. You'll get a few female wartime blues that were about how the women missing their men who have been drafted in the army, but Bea Booze is seeing the advantages of being freed from her mean and abusive husband for a while. She recorded this goodie in March of '42 for Decca.
Next from 1944 a classic blues in my favorite version, recorded in December of 1944 in New York. It's a composition of Leonard Feather, an Englishman who very well understood the idiom of the blues, and it's got a wonderful instrumental backup of Barney Bigard and his combo. Etta Jones sings the Evil Gal Blues, and the connection with the war, is in the end of the song, where she tells that she'd become that evil woman after she lost her man to Uncle Sam.
09 - Etta Jones - Evil Gal Blues
10 - Buddy Johnson feat. Ella Johnson - When my man comes home
One of the most beautiful blues of heartbreak - Uncle Sam Got My Man, and the woman is deeply depressed for the absence of her husband. Ella Johnson always touches me with her vulnerable voice - she really can express the blues.
She recorded this with the band of her brother Buddy Johson on July 30 of 1942 - one day before the recording ban of the American Federation of Musicians started, the long strike of the union against the recording industry. In the middle of the war, the union started its own war against the recording industry, a war that they won on the short term, but like a real war, with great losses for the musicians and the music industry. I've dedicated several shows on this subject, and the music business would never be the same after the war ended.
But this show is about world war 2, and here's another blues on the hardships for women because of the men going to war. Listen to Hot Lips Page with this 1944 recording for the Savoy label. Here is the Uncle Sam's Blues.
11 - Hot Lips Page - Uncle Sam Blues
12 - Louis Jordan - Ration Blues
Compared to the loss of lives of men in the war, these are minor inconveniences - the rationing of food, booze and gasoline. Still Louis Jordan sings about it, in a recording from 1943. As I told you, starting in August of '42 the American Federation of Musicians had organized a recording strike, and a year later Decca and some small comanies had given in to the demands of the union. But there was a war going on and shellac was rationed - so the recording industry had more troubles than just the union.
More rationing inconvenience with the next one - the War Rationing Papa of Bea Booze, and this was from 1942, also on Decca, with Sammy Price on the piano.
13 - Bea Booze - War Rationin' Papa
14 - Nat King Cole - D-Day
Victory is looming in this recording of Nat King Cole about the invasion of Normandy - the troops will return soon, but in the meanwhile he also encourages people to buy war bonds - loans to the government to finance the war - and with the bond program, Uncle Sam got the enormous amount of 185 billion together sold to 85 million Americans, that means that every bond holder had invested little more than 2,000 dollars in the war on average.
And at some time, the men returned home finding a changed America. And one of the things that were unexpected, was that the women had taken over the war industry while their men were overseas. In the next blues, Jimmy Witherspoon calls the women working at the shipyards back home for cooking and the laundry, and give the men their privileges of work back. Here are Jay McShann and Jimmy Witherspoon with the Shipyard Women blues.
15 - Jay McShann - Shipyard Woman Blues
16 - James 'Beale Street' Clark - Get Ready To Meet Your Man
And that was James Beale Street Clark singing the story of the man who did not go to war, because of his disability, having fun with the lonely women - but now their husbands return from the army, he gotta go. This was titled Get Ready To Meet Your Man and it was recorded for Columbia in the end of '45, but until long after, covers of this song were made titled Hand Me My Walking Cane or Look On Yonder Wall.
And that was the end of another show, where I highligted the blues that were made about the war. The war years had uprooted families, changed the nation's spirit and put a final end to the Great Depression. Instead, the years to come were of unprecedented optimism and economic growth.
As for the music industry also a new era started - and as usual, African American music led the changes. The big bands gone out of fashion and small combos playing a new, jumping rhythm started the typical postwar Rhythm & Blues, growing out to the birth of Rock 'n Roll a decade later. I'm sure I will dedicate more shows to that transition, in the near or farther future.
Of course you can let me know if you like that, and if you liked this show, feedback is greatly appreciated and the e-mail address is rockingdutchman@rocketmail.com. And all of today's story is to be found on the website of this program, and you can find this searching the web for the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman. Once in, this is show 249, or look for the title of this show, I called it Uncle Sam Got My Man, after that beautiful song of Ella and Buddy Johnson.
For now I'm done and I hope to see you next week, here on the Legends of the Rocking Dutchman!