Edited by Azizi Powell
This post showcases a film clip of Sweet Emma Barrett singing "I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None Of My Jellyroll". The lyrics for that song are also included in this post as is information about Sweet Emma Barrett.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic reasons.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Emma Barret for her musical legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post, and thanks to the publisher of this song on YouTube.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT EMMA BARRETT
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Emma_Barrett
"Sweet Emma" Barrett (March 25, 1897, New Orleans, Louisiana – January 28, 1983) was an American self-taught jazz pianist and singer who worked with the Original Tuxedo Orchestra between 1923 and 1936,[1] first under Papa Celestin, then William Ridgely. Also active with Armand Piron, John Robichaux, and Sidney Desvigne, Sweet Emma Barrett was at her most powerful in the early 1960s and became an iconic figure with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band...
She was nicknamed Bell Gal because she wore a red skull cap and garters with Christmas bells that jingled in time with her music. She was featured on the cover of Glamour magazine and written up in publications on both sides of the Atlantic. When the Preservation Hall Jazz Band began to "hit the road", she took it on international tours. Barrett toured in the United States as well, including a stint at Disneyland in 1963...
Despite the popular exposure she received at concerts and overseas appearances, Barrett continued to feel most comfortable in her native New Orleans, especially the French Quarter."...
****
SHOWCASE EXAMPLE: Sweet Emma "I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None Of My Jellyroll"
John Heneghan Uploaded on Oct 11, 2008
Sweet Emma Barrett
-snip-
Selected comments from this video's viewer comment thread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhtG5YrQ-lY
swanson6666, 2008
"Thank you for this wonderful video of
Sweet Emma Barrett. I was in New Orleans
in 1977 and saw her at Preservation Hall.
This lady was in a wheel chair by that time
and someone rolled her up to the piano and
she was outstanding. I'll always cherish
that memory. Thank you for keeping her
memory alive. God bless her."
**
davegiraffe, 2009
"Brilliant bit of archive footage. Thanks a lot for putting this up."
**
Nick Telfer, 2009
"Wow, nostalgia kicks in. I was introduced to Emma in Preservation Hall in 1978. She was only playing with one hand on account of having had a stoke. I wish I could play that good with two hands. She said "He's got a beard, I don't like men with beards!", Next time I met her she said "You know, I was only joking about that beard".
I don't think the rich and powerful in the city appreciate what a treasure they had in musicians like Sweet Emma"
**
Goutfoot, 2009
"How could the people of New Orleans just let this music die?"
**
infrogmation, 2009
in reply to Goutfoot
"We haven't. Unfortunately very few places care to hire bands that play the traditional music. Too many places, when they have live music at all, just hire who they can get cheap that plays loud."
Peter Meili, 2010
in reply to Goutfoot
"@Mangina9000 You know history: Storyville was closed 1918 and the musicians HAD to leave New Orleans if they wanted to earn money with thier music."
**
Angeli Alvares, 2010
"sweet Emma proves that true entertainment is not about looks and being young and sexy. It's about talent and heart and soul and towing along with it , is enlightenment ,which only comes to those with a sense of humor. i don't think I'll ever tire of hearing Emma sing this Jellyroll song!"
****
LYRICS:
(as sung by Sweet Emma Barrett)
I ain't gonna give nobody none of my jellyroll.
I wouldn't give you a piece a cake
Not to save your soul.
Now my mama told me that day, before she went away
If I be a good little girl
Ah she'd put my hair in curls.
Now it ain’t no use for you to keep on hangin ‘round.
I know you want it.
I’ve got to turn you down.
Ah, my jelly roll is sweet
And it can’t be beat.
I know you want it. You can’t have it.
I ain’t ah gonna give you none.
No, I ain't gonna give nobody none of my jellyroll.
I wouldn't give you a piece a cake
Not to save your soul/
My mama told me that day, before she went away
If I be a good little girl
Ah she'd put my hair in curls.
Now it ain’t no use for you to keep on hangin ‘round.
I know you want it.
I’ve got to turn you down.
Now you’re jellyroll might be fine
But it ain’t as good as mine.
I know you want it. You can’t have it/
I ain’t gonna give you none.
[film clip ends abruptly]
-snip-
What jellyroll means:
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AJelly_roll_(slang)
"Jelly Roll is black slang from the nineteenth century for the vulva, with various related meanings, i.e. sexual intercourse, a loving woman, a man obsessed with finding same"...
-snip-
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_Roll_Morton
"Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (October 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941),[1] known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer who started his career in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Widely recognized as a pivotal figure in early jazz, Morton is perhaps most notable as jazz's first arranger, proving that a genre rooted in improvisation could retain its essential spirit and characteristics when notated.[2] His composition "Jelly Roll Blues" was the first published jazz composition, in 1915....
At the age of fourteen, Morton began working as a piano player in a brothel (or, as it was referred to then, a sporting house). While working there, he was living with his religious, church-going great-grandmother; he had her convinced that he worked as a night watchman in a barrel factory.
In that atmosphere, he often sang smutty lyrics; he took the nickname "Jelly Roll",[6] which was black slang for female genitalia.[7]"
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment