"If You Don't Like My Peaches" Lyrics In The 1923 Bessie Smith Recording "Mama's Got The Blues"

Bessie Smith, Jun 19, 2018

Provided to YouTube by Zebralution GmbH

Mama's Got the Blues (Digitally Remastered) · Bessie Smith

The Singles 1923-1928, Vol. 2

℗ 1923 Columbia - A3900

Released on: 2018-01-10

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a 1923 sound file of Bessie Smith singing "Mama's Got The Blues".

The lyrics for this song are included in this post.  This post also presents information about Blues singer Bessie Smith.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the composers * of this song and thanks to Bessie Smith for her musical legacy. Thanks also to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.
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*The summary for this sound file indicates that "C. Williams" is the name of the lyricist for this song and "J. H. Trent" is the name of the composer. In another internet site I read that this song was composed by Clarence Williams and S. Martin.
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This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series that showcases some examples of songs that include the words "If you don't like my peaches". Many examples of those songs include the words "If you don't like my peaches*, don't shake my tree". In some of those examples, that line may be followed by the line "Stay out of my orchard, and let my peaches be".

*The word "apple" may be substituted for the word "peaches" in some songs after the mid 1940s. 

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/05/partial-chronology-of-songs-with-lyrics.html for the pancocojams post entitled "I Really Like Your Peaches/Gonna Shake Your Tree" Lyrics In The Clovers' 1954 R&B Song "Lovey Dovey"

Also, click the "if you don't like my peaches, don't shake my tree" tag for other pancocojams posts in this series.

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LYRICS - MAMA'S GOT THE BLUES
(sung by Bessie Smith, 1923) 

Some people say that the weary blues ain't bad
Some people say the weary blues ain't bad
But it's the worst old feeling that I've ever had

Woke up this morning with the jinx around my bed
I woke up this morning with the jinx around my bed
I didn't have no daddy to hold my aching head

Brown skin's deceitful, but a yellow man is worse
Brown skin's deceitful, but a yellow man is worse
I'm gonna get myself a black man and play safety first

I got a man in Atlanta, two in Alabama, three in Chattanooga
Four in Cincinnati, five in Mississippi, six in Memphis, Tennessee
If you don't like my peaches, please let my orchard be

Online source: https://genius.com/Bessie-smith-mamas-got-the-blues-lyrics
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"Brown man, yellow man, and black man" are skin color references for African Americans. "Yellow man" means "light skin men".

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INFORMATION ABOUT BESSIE SMITH
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Smith
"Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, she is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and was a major influence on fellow blues singers, as well as jazz vocalists.[1]

Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Smith was young when her parents died, and she and her six siblings survived by performing on street corners. She began touring and performed in a group that included Ma Rainey, and then went out on her own. Her successful recording career with Columbia Records began in 1923, but her performing career was cut short by a car crash that killed her at the age of 43."...

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