[Dixielandjazz] Blues question - 'Matchbox Blues"

[Bill Haesler]

Further to John Gill's Off Line reply to my query to his comment that Ma Rainey recorded "Matchbox Blues" he commented:

> As for Ma Rainey, I have in the back of my head that she uses that phrase on one of her records, but your question has caused me to doubt myself so I'm probably mistaken about it.

Dear John,
You weren't.
A check through the Angela Y Davis book 'Blues Legacies and Black Feminism' (which contains complete transcriptions of all the Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith blues lyrics) reveals that Ma used the line twic in the second stanza of her "Lost Wandering Blues" recorded with the Pruitt Twins for Paramount 12098 in March 1924.

"I'm standin' here wonderin', will a matchbox hold my clothes
"Lord, I'm standin' here wonderin', will a matchbox hold my clothes
"I got a trunk too big to be botherin' with on the road." 
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6NUfH9gc7s

Go to the head of the class.
8>)
And I definitely agree with you that Blind Lemon Jefferson uses the word "soul" not "clothes" on his Okeh version of "Matchbox Blues".
Very kind regards,
Bill.