[Dixielandjazz] Black & Blue misconceptions

[briantowers]

Nancy,
This song was first sung by a female singer in the 1929 show "Hot
Chocolates"
This is evident when one studies the gender implications in the verse, as
follows:

Verse:
Out in the street, shufflin' feet,
Couples passin' two by two,
While here am I, left high and dry,
Black, and 'cause I'm black I'm blue.
Browns and yellers, all have fellers,
Gentlemen prefer them light,
Wish I could fade, can't make the grade,
Nothing but dark days in sight:

I guess this is why Louis Armstrong had to leave out the verse, when he sang
and recorded it.  Perhaps some-one familiar with the show "Hot Chocolates"
can state the circumstances in which the song was sung and by whom it was
sung..

Cheers
Brian Towers,
Hot Five Jazzmakers, Toronto, Canada

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nancy Giffin" <nancyink at ulink.net>
To: "DJML" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 8:53 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Black & Blue significance


> OFF-LIST
> Hi, Steve,
> In a conversation with Tommy Loy when he was out here last year, he said
> that it was written because he was having a clandestine affair with a
white
> woman and was frustrated that he couldn't be out in the open with the
truth.
> What say ye, Bob Romans, Bill Gunter, Rebecca, Jim Beebe, Bob Ringwald, or
> anyone else to whom he may have told this? BTW: Didn't Tommy sing it so
> well, and with so much heart? Wonderful.
>
> From: Stephen Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
>
> Sung by a dark black man lamenting the intolerance of lighter skinned
blacks
> towards him, in a show written by blacks, for black audiences.
>
> It was only after Louis Armstrong made "Black & Blue" very famous, that
> it was assumed to be about the intolerance of whites towards blacks.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone