Kokomo Arnold - "Red Beans And Rice" (with information about New Orleans, Louisiana Red Beans & Rice Traditions)

Traveler Into The Blue, Aug 25, 2021

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This pancocojams post showcases a sound file of the Blues song "Red Beans And Rice" by Kokomo Arnold. 

Information about Kokomo Arnold is included in this post along with the lyrics of that song.

The Addendum to this post provides information about "red beans & rice", and how it became part of New Orleans, Louisiana traditions. 

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Kokomo Arnold for his musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube. Thanks also to Gigi Erba from Italy for recommending that this song and certain other Blues song be showcased on pancocojams.   

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MORE INFORMATION ABOUT KOKOMO ARNOLD
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokomo_Arnold
"James "Kokomo" Arnold (February 15, 1896 or 1901 – November 8, 1968) was an American blues musician. A left-handed slide guitarist, his intense style of playing and rapid-fire vocal delivery set him apart from his contemporaries. He got his nickname in 1934 after releasing "Old Original Kokomo Blues" for Decca Records, a cover version of Scrapper Blackwell's blues song about the city of Kokomo, Indiana.[1][2]

[...]

Career

Arnold began playing in the early 1920s as a sideline, when he was working as a farmhand in Buffalo, New York, and as a steelworker in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1929 he moved to Chicago and ran a bootlegging business, an activity he continued until the end of Prohibition. In 1930 he moved south briefly and made his first recordings, "Rainy Night Blues" and "Paddlin' Madeline Blues", under the name Gitfiddle Jim, for the Victor label in Memphis.[6] He soon moved back to Chicago, where he was forced to make a living as a musician after Prohibition ended in 1933. Kansas Joe McCoy heard him and introduced him to Mayo Williams, a producer for Decca Records.[5]

From his first recording for Decca, on September 10, 1934,[6] until his last, on May 12, 1938, Arnold made 88 sides, seven of which have been lost.

Arnold, Peetie Wheatstraw and Bumble Bee Slim were well-known musicians in Chicago blues circles at that time.[7] Wheatstraw and Arnold, in particular, were also major influences on their contemporary, the Delta blues artist Robert Johnson. Johnson turned "Old Original Kokomo Blues" into "Sweet Home Chicago" and "Milk Cow Blues" into "Milkcow's Calf Blues". Another Arnold song, "Sagefield Woman Blues", introduced the phrase "dust my broom", which Johnson used as a song title.[8]

[...]

In 1938 Arnold left the music industry and began to work in a Chicago factory.[6] Located by blues researchers in 1962, he showed no interest in returning to music to take advantage of the resurgence of interest in the blues among young white audiences.[6] His song "Milk Cow Blues" was recorded by Elvis Presley.[2]"...

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LYRICS - RED BEANS AND RICE 
(Kokomo Arnold)

When I was down in Georgia, I was doing mighty well
When I was down in Georgia, I was doing mighty well
Since I been here in Chicago, I been catching a plenty hell

Says I'm going down to the station, ain't going to take no one's advice
Says I'm going down to the station, ain't going to take no one's advice
Says I'm going back to Georgia, where I can get my red beans and rice

Now these Chicago women, have give me such a hard way to go
Now these Chicago women, have give me such a hard way to go
Says they done took all my black money, and they got me running from door to door

Now I been setting here looking, way down that lonesome road
Now I been setting here looking, way down that lonesome road
Says I'm raggedy and I'm hungry, and I ain't got no place to go

Now I been rolling, I been rolling from sun to sun
Said I been rolling, I been rolling from sun to sun
Says I got where I can't get no loving, not until my payday comes

 https://genius.com/Kokomo-arnold-red-beans-and-rice-lyrics

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ADDENDUM - RED BEANS & RICE (traditions in New Orleans, Louisiana)

From https://www.mccormick.com/zatarains/red-beans-and-rice#:~:text=There%20are%20two%20reasons%20red,in%20the%20next%20night's%20meal. Red Beans & Rice 101

"What is red beans & rice?

The short answer: It's pretty self-explanatory.

Red beans & rice is a dish composed primarily of red beans and rice. But of course, as is often the case, the resulting dish is greater than the sum of its parts. And New Orleans-style red beans & rice is indeed a great dish.

In the standard preparation, red kidney beans are simmered with seasoning vegetables, one or more pork products, herbs and spices for hours until the ingredients meld into a creamy, savory thing of beauty that's served atop fluffy rice to form one of the defining dishes of New Orleans cuisine.

Is it true you only eat red beans & rice on Mondays?

Not exactly. People will (and do) eat red beans & rice any and every day in New Orleans, but certainly more of it gets eaten on Mondays than any other day of the week. The explanation is tradition. There are two reasons red beans & rice became a Monday tradition.

First, families in 19th-century New Orleans would often have a ham as part of their more elaborate Sunday dinners. Red beans & rice was a great way to extend the value of the ham by using the hambone and leftover scraps of ham in the next night's meal.

Second, Monday was customarily laundry day in New Orleans households. Laundry in those days was laborious (not that it's a walk in the park today, but back then it could be an all-day chore that involved boiling clothes, using a hand crank to wring them out, and then some), and doing the wash didn't get you off the hook for having to put a meal on the table that night. So red beans & rice was an ideal washday dinner, because it's very hands-off. Essentially, you put everything in a pot, set it over a low flame and walk away for a couple of hours.

Doing laundry on Mondays is a bygone custom in New Orleans, but the red beans & rice tradition remains. Many restaurants serve it as a Monday lunch special, and many families have it at home every Monday night."...

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