Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. (March 21, 1902 (?)[1][2] -- October 19, 1988) was an American blues singer and guitarist. House pioneered an innovative style featuring strong, repetitive rhythms, often played with the aid of slide guitar, and his singing often incorporated elements of southern gospel and spiritual music. House did not learn guitar until he was in his early twenties, as he had been "churchified", and was determined to become a Baptist preacher. He associated himself with Delta blues musicians Charlie Patton and Willie Brown, often acting as a sideman. In 1930, House made his first recordings for Paramount Records during a session for Charlie Patton. However, these did not sell well due to the Great Depression, and he drifted into obscurity. He was recorded by John and Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1941 and '42. Afterwards, he moved north to Rochester, New York, where he remained until his rediscovery in 1964, spurred by the American folk blues revival. Over the next few years, House recorded several studio albums and went on various tours until his death in 1988. His influence has extended over a wide area of musicians, including Robert Johnson, John Hammond, Alan Wilson (of Canned Heat), Bonnie Raitt, The White Stripes, and John Mooney. https://www.brettmarvin.com/**** Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases a film clip of African American Blues singer/guitarist Son House singing his composition entitled "Grinnin In Your Face".
Information about Son House and the lyrics to this song are included in this post along with selected comments from this video's discussion thread.
The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, entertainment, inspirational, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Son House for his musical legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_Housefor information about Son House. Here's the beginning sentence of that page:"Edward James "Son" House Jr. (March 21, 1902[a] –
October 19, 1988) was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist, noted for
his highly emotional style of singing and slide guitar playing"...
**** LYRICS - GRINNIN IN YOUR FACE(Son House)
"Don't you mind people grinnin' in your face
Don't mind people grinnin' in your face
You just bear this in mind, a true friend is hard to find
Don't you mind people grinnin' in your face
You know your mother would talk about you
Your sisters and your brothers too
Yes, don't care how you're tryin' to live
They'll talk about you still
Yes, but bear, ooh, this in mind, a true friend is hard to find
Don't you mind people grinnin' in your face
Don't mind people grinnin' in your face
Don't mind people grinnin' in your face
Oh, just bear, ooh, this in mind, a true friend is hard to find
Don't you mind people grinnin' in your face
You know they'll jump you up and down
They'll carry you all around and 'round
Just as soon as your back is turned
They'll be tryin' to crush you down
Yes, but bear this in mind, a true friend is hard to find
Don't you mind people grinnin' in your face
Don't mind people grinnin' in your face
Don't mind people grinnin' in your face, oh, Lord
And just bear, ooh, this in mind, a true friend is hard to find
Don't you mind people grinnin' in your face"
-snip-
Online source for lyrics and metadata https://genius.com/Son-house-grinnin-in-your-face-lyrics
Genius Metadata: Son House released “Grinnin' in Your Face” in 1965.
Genius Metadata: “Grinnin' in Your Face” by Son House was written by Son House." **** SELECTED COMMENTS ABOUT SON HOUSE'S SONG "GRINNIN IN YOUR FACE" These comments are given in chronological order with the earliest comments given first, except for replies. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlt76tCrDdg
1. @xXOr30Xx, 2012 "'cause in real music you only need your voice and hands to
make a great song~" ** 2. @HonorinTreason, 2018 "BadAss. Nothing but voice and hands. :)" ** 3. @AvioftheSand, 2020 "Some of the truest lyrics you will ever hear" ** 4. @0patience4flz,2020 "This will OUTLAST....BY FAR...todays so called...music." ** 5. @CaitlinBrooksMusic, 2020 "RIP Son House, one of the most influential blues singers." ** 6. @lex61519, 2020 "Iconic" ** 7. @handmadehearts, 2022 "Truly EPIC. Bless everyone that helped in recording this,
and in bringing it to my ears. One for the ages." ** 8. @kimlec3592, 2022 "Beyond wonderful" ** 9. @Skotanax, 2022 "Well, that was deep" ** 10. @phoenixmastrogiovanni157, 2022 "we owe black musicians everything" ** 11. @nelsonnelson999, 2023 "Great!!!!! all of it..and the Lyrics! preachin the truth
right there..Wisdom of the ages..." ** 12. @glennpiticco1470, 2023 "Oh my God this is incredible…sure glad I discovered Sun
House…it’s as if the Earth had started trembling from the shear power of this
man’s voice…may Sun House’s music live on for forever for many generations
enjoy!!!"
** 13. @erickriebel4366, 2023 "I'M LEARNING.
OLD BLUES STARTED IT ALL
STUDY THAT YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID ❤❤" ** Reply 14. @zdave6083, 2024 "Blues , gospel and jazz are the fountainhead from which all
American popular music sprang." ** 15. @techno4beer, 2023 "All the way, but certainly from African soil." ** 16. @genem9725, 2024 "It goes without saying, but I'm gonna say it anyway. Without
this basic form of The Blues, there'd be no rock and roll. Thank you my
brother." ** Reply 17. @zdave6083, 2024 "Without blues, gospel and jazz ...there would be no American
popular music."
The Charity, Oct. 30, 2017 Son House live 1967 in TV-Studio
-snip-
According to Stefan Wirz, a commenter on this video's discussion thread, this video was recorded at October 9, 1967 at WDR TV in Cologne, Germany
****
Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents information about Son House and showcases a 1967 video of Son House's performance of his song "Death Letter Blues" (also given as "Death Letter").
The lyrics for that song are also included in this pancocojams post along with two comments from this video's discussion thread.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Son House for his musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those who are associated with this video. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
Special thanks to Pavel Skradlant for suggesting that I showcase Cassandra Wilson performing Son House's "Death Letter" on this pancocojams blog. That suggestion led to me to publish this post on Son House and this post that showcases two videos of Cassandra Wilson performing that song:
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/09/two-videos-of-african-american-jazz.html
****
INFORMATION ABOUT SON HOUSE
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_House
"Edward James "Son" House Jr. (March 21, 1902[1] –
October 19, 1988) was an American delta blues singer and guitarist, noted for
his highly emotional style of singing and slide guitar playing.
After years of hostility to secular music, as a preacher and
for a few years also working as a church pastor, he turned to blues performance
at the age of 25. He quickly developed a unique style by applying the rhythmic
drive, vocal power and emotional intensity of his preaching to the newly
learned idiom. In a short career interrupted by a spell in Parchman Farm
penitentiary, he developed his musicianship to the point that Charley Patton,
the foremost blues artist of the Mississippi Delta region, invited him to share
engagements and to accompany him to a 1930 recording session for Paramount
Records.
Issued at the start of the Great Depression, the records did
not sell and did not lead to national recognition. Locally, House remained
popular, and in the 1930s, together with Patton's associate Willie Brown, he
was the leading musician of Coahoma County. There he was a formative influence
on Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. In 1941 and 1942, House and the members of
his band were recorded by Alan Lomax and John W. Work for the Library of
Congress and Fisk University. The following year, he left the Delta for
Rochester, New York, and gave up music.
In 1964, a group of young record collectors discovered
House, whom they knew of from his records issued by Paramount and by the
Library of Congress. With their encouragement, he relearned his repertoire and
established a career as an entertainer, performing for young, mostly white
audiences in coffeehouses, at folk festivals and on concert tours during the
American folk music revival, billed as a "folk blues" singer. He
recorded several albums, and some informally taped concerts have also been
issued as albums. House died in 1988.[3] In 2017, his single "Preachin'
the Blues" was inducted in to the Blues Hall of Fame.[4]
[...]
Honors
In 2007, House was honored with a marker on the Mississippi
Blues Trail in Tunica, Mississippi.[25]
In 2017, his single "Preachin' the Blues" was
inducted in to the Blues Hall of Fame.[4]"
**** LYRICS - DEATH LETTER BLUES (Son House, 1933)
I got a letter this morning, how do you reckon it read? Say, "Hurry, hurry! The gal you love is dead." I got a letter this morning, I say how you reckon it read? It say, "Hurry, hurry! mmm 'cause the gal you love is
dead."
You know I grabbed up my suitcase, took off down the road When I got there, she was laying on the cooling board I grabbed up my suitcase, I said I took off down the road I said when I got there, mmm she's laying on the cooling
board
Lord, I walked up close, I looked down in her face She's a good old girl, got to lay her to Judgment Day I say I walked up close, I looked down in her face I say she's a good old girl got to lay her to Judgment Day
Lord I fold up my arms, I slowly walked away I said, "Farewell, Honey, I'll see ya Judgement Day!" I fold up my arms, ah yes, I walked away And I said, "Farewell, farewell, hmm, I'll see you
Judgement Day!"
You know, I went in my room, and I bowed to pray But the priest came along, and drove my spirit away I went in my rules, yeah, I bowed to pray I said, well, the blues came along, and drove my spirit away
You know, I thought I'd never love but four women in my life My mother, my sister, dead gal, and my wife I thought I'd never love, and I said, but four women in my
life I said my mother and my sister, my dead gal, and my wife
(You know, looked like 10,000 people Were standin' around the buryin' ground I didn't know I loved her, until I let her down Looked like 10,000 standin' around the buryin ground You know I didn't know that I loved her UntiI I began to let her down)
You know I didn't feel so bad Till the good Lord turned me down I didn't have a soul to throw my arms around I didn't feel so bad until the good Lord's son went down I say I didn't have a soul to throw my arms around You know I's cryin' last night, the night before I'm gonna change my way of living So I won't be crying no more You know I cried last night, I said, all the night before I said I'm gone change my way of living so I won't cry no
more
(You know it's so hard to love when someone don't love you Don't look like satisfaction, don't care what you do It's so hard to love someone that don't love you You know you don't get no satisfaction Don't care what you do
You know love had a fault Make you do things you don't want to do Love sometimes leave you feelin sad and blue Love had a fault, make you do things you don't want to do Love sometimes leave you feelin sad and blue)
[Pancocojams Editor's Note: These comments were written in response to another commenter's question about what this song means.]
Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.]
1. Rod Jones, 2021 "@Charles
Williams This isn't a complex song, and
incorporates some themes very common in the delta blues. Death is one of these
themes, the death of a lover very often.
There is no need, and no cause, to make it complex - it's
simply about loss, and grief.
The singer (Son House in this instance) is seperated from
his wife or girlfriend - we don't know why. Maybe he's out on the road or
riding the blinds, doing gigs, or some other kind of work. (Son House worked on
the railways at one point in his life). Maybe they split up, but he still loves
her anyway.
He receives a "death letter" (possibly on the special,
black-bordered stationery that was used back then), informing him that she has
died, so he quickly packs a bag and heads back to where she lives.
He attends the mortuary where he is shown her body, and bids
her farewell until they are re-united on Judgement Day.
He attends the funeral, where a large crowd has assembled,
which indicates that she was well thought-of locally. (In Ghana, for example,
if the whole village attends your funeral, everyone knows you were a good
person). After the service he walks away, saddened, and tries to comfort
himself with the thought that they will be re-united on Judgement Day.
Back in his bedroom he tries to pray but the blues (in this
case you could say grief), comes upon him and he is unable to pray.
He asks God to have mercy on his soul, saying that he would
never seek to harm anyone.
There are other variations of these lyrics, but that's the
ghist.
The blues is the truth. The big themes of the blues are the
big themes of life itself - in this case Love and Death.
** 2. Rod Jones, 2021 "@Charles
Williams There are subtexts to the blues
- voodoo is one of them ("got a black cat bone, gotta mojo too, high john
the conqueror..."), but the whole African culture around death is probably
the most deeply embedded and pervasive.
Listen to Bukka White's Fixing To Die, and Blind Lemon's See
That My Grave Is Swept Clean, or any version of St James Infrimary, amongst
many others.
The African death culture crossed the Atlantic, and melded
with Christianity, as in Death Letter Blues, and countless others.
Think about New Orleans funerals with marching bands, and
Jamaican Nine Nights funerals.
Add to that the fact that Stephan Grossman, who knew Son
House well after he was "rediscovered", said that House was obsessed
with death, especially when drunk (as he often was), and you might start to
understand some of the dark underpinning of this song - so deeply embedded that
it doesn't even need to be mentioned or explained.
"There's two kinds of music - the blues and
zippedee-do-dah." "
This post showcases Son House's Blues classic "Don't You Mind People Grinning In Your Face. Information about Son House is included in the summary of the sound file featured in this post. The song's lyrics are also given in this post.
The contents of this post are presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Son House for his musical legacy. Thanks also to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube and the transcriber of this song.
****
LYRICS: DON'T YOU MIND PEOPLE GRINNIN IN YOUR FACE
(Son House)
Dont you mind people grinnin in your face
Dont mind people grinnin in your face
You just bear this in mind, a true friend is hard to find
Dont you mind people grinnin in your face
You know your mother would talk about you
Your own sisters and your brothers too
They just dont care how youre tryin to live
Theyll talk about you still
Yes, but bear, ooh, this in mind, a true friend is hard to find
Dont you mind people grinnin in your face
Dont you mind people grinnin in your face
Dont you mind people grinnin in your face
Oh, just bear, ooh this in mind, a true friend is hard to find
Dont you mind people grinnin in your face
You know theyll jump you up and down
Theyll carry you all 'round and 'round
Just as soon as your back is turned
Theyll be tryin to crush you down
Yes, but bear this in mind, a true friend is hard to find
Dont you mind people grinnin in your face
Dont mind people grinnin in your face
Dont mind people grinnin in your face, oh, Lord
And just bear this in mind, a true friend is hard to find
Dont you mind people grinnin in your face
****
FEATURED EXAMPLE: SON HOUSE - Grinnin' In Your Face
Brett Marvin, Uploaded on Jul 27, 2009
Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. (March 21, 1902 - October 19, 1988) was an American blues singer and guitarist. House pioneered an innovative style featuring strong, repetitive rhythms, often played with the aid of slide guitar, and his singing often incorporated elements of southern gospel and spiritual music.
House was an important influence on Muddy Waters and also on Robert Johnson. A seminal Delta blues figure, he remains influential today, with his music being covered by blues-rock groups such as The White Stripes.
This post provides showcases the song "Am I Right Or Wrong" by African American Bluesman Son House. Song lyrics and my comments about the meaning of the verses with skin color referents
are also included in this post. Information about Son House is also found in this post.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Son House for his musical legacy. Thanks also to those who are quoted in this post and those who published the featured videos on YouTube.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT SON HOUSE
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_House
"Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. (March 21, 1902[1] – October 19, 1988) was an American blues singer and guitarist, noted for his highly emotional style of singing and slide guitar playing.
After years of hostility to secular music, as a preacher, and for a few years also as a church pastor, he turned to blues performance at the age of 25. He quickly developed a unique style by applying the rhythmic drive, vocal power and emotional intensity of his preaching to the newly learned idiom. In a short career interrupted by a spell in Parchman Farm penitentiary, he developed to the point that Charley Patton, the foremost blues artist of the Mississippi Delta region, invited him to share engagements, and to accompany him to a 1930 recording session for Paramount Records.
Issued at the start of The Great Depression, the records did not sell and did not lead to national recognition. Locally, Son remained popular, and in the 1930s, together with Patton's associate, Willie Brown, he was the leading musician of Coahoma County. There he was a formative influence on Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. In 1941 and 1942, House and the members of his band were recorded by Alan Lomax and John W. Work for Library of Congress and Fisk University. The following year, he left the Delta for Rochester, New York, and gave up music.
In 1964, a group of young record collectors discovered House, whom they knew of from his records issued by Paramount and by the Library of Congress. With their encouragement, he relearned his style and repertoire and enjoyed a career as an entertainer to young white audiences in the coffee houses, folk festivals and concert tours of the American folk music revival billed as a "folk blues" singer. He recorded several albums, and some informally taped concerts have also been issued as albums. Son House died in 1988.[3]
In addition to his early influence on Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, he became an inspiration to John Hammond, Alan Wilson (of Canned Heat), Bonnie Raitt, The White Stripes, Dallas Green and John Mooney."
****
LYRICS: "AM I RIGHT OR WRONG"
(Son House)
Am i right or wrong
you need not think because I'm* black
i'm gonna beg you to take me back
now babe, was that right or wrong
I'm going in the spring
i got messed from shakin' that thing
now babe, was i right or wrong
yeah up the hickory down the pine
I bust my britches right behind
now babe, was i right or wrong
you need not think because you're brown
i'm gonna let you dog me round
now honey, was that right or wrong
don't you think that because you're yella
i'm gonna give you my last four dollars
now babe, was i right or wrong
look a here honey what you want me to do
done all i could to get along with you
now honey, was that right along
you need not think because I'm* black
ahm gonna beg you to take me back
now honey, was that right or wrong
N' I'm going in the spring
but i got messed from shakin that thing
now honey, was i right or wrong
posted by Gumbo http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=2203.20;wap2 along with these comments:
"Am I Right or Wrong 1942
the progression is Eb Ab Db F#
apparently based on There are Others Who Don't Think That Way by Shepard Edmonds which i haven't heard."
-snip-
Gumbo gives the "you need not think because you're black". I changed it to "I'm black" because that is what I clearly hear in the sound file that is showcased in this post.
"Black", "brown", and "yella" ("yellow") in that song refers to African American skin complexions from very dark skinned to light skinned.
The use of "I'm black" instead of "you're black" is important. In 1942 -and still for some people today-a dark skinned Black person was (is) considered to be less desirable than a Black person of any other complexion. Therefore, the singer is saying that in spite of that, he wasn't going to beg his lover to take him back.
Also, in the verse beginning with the line "you need not think because you're brown", the singer is saying that in spite of what was considered the desirability of having a black skinned person having a brown skinned lover, he isn't going to let that woman treat him badly (i.e. "dog him around"). And in the verse that begins with the line "don't you think that because you're yella", ins spite of the opinion in those days (and afterwards including today for some people) that a light skinned woman was (is) the most desirable Black woman, the singer is saying that he's not going to give that woman his last dollars.
