Examples of this kind might be multiplied indefinitely, but these will suffice. In the notes on the songs in the various chapters of this book will be found comments bearing upon the relation of formal blues and folk songs.
Thus it is clear that in many cases there is a complex inter-relation and interaction between the folk song and the formal production. But the tendency has been on the whole for the latter to get further and further away from folk sources. Few authors now attempt to do more than imitate certain features of the old-time blues. In order to understand more clearly the present situation, it is necessary to consider for a moment the blues as they are manufactured today.
There are at least three large phonograph companies which give special attention to Negro songs. They will be designated herein as “A,” “B,” and “C.” The following table, compiled from data obtained from the general “race record” catalogs of these three companies, gives an idea of the importance of the blues.
| Brand of Record | Total No. of Titles in Catalog | No. Religious and Classical Titles | No. Secular Titles | Titles Containing Word “Blues” | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Percentage of Secular Songs | ||||
| “A” | 592 | 34[19] | 558 | 263 | 43 |
| “B” | 430 | 90[20] | 340 | 154 | 40 |
| “C” | 298 | 44[19] | 254 | 108 | 42 |
[19] No classical titles listed.
[20] Includes 28 classical titles.
In this table only those titles including the word “blues” have been counted as blues. If the term were expanded to include all songs which are now popularly known as blues, it would be found that upwards of seventy-five per cent of the total number of secular songs listed in the catalogs would fall in this class. The “A” catalog bears the title, “A” Race Records—The Blue Book of Blues; the “B” catalog follows titles like Oh, Daddy, Brown Baby, Long Lost Mama, etc., with the explanation, “blues song” or “blues record”; and the “C” catalog bears the title, “C” Race Records—The Latest Blues by “C” Colored Artists. Certainly the popular notion among both whites and Negroes now is that practically every Negro song which is not classed as a spiritual is a blues. The term is now freely applied to instrumental pieces, especially to dance music of the jazz type, and to every vocal piece which, by any stretch of the imagination, can be thought of as having a bluish cast.
A survey of the titles in the three catalogs mentioned above yields some interesting data concerning the nature of the formal blues. For one thing, there are sixty or seventy titles of the place or locality type. Southern states and cities figure prominently in this kind of blues, although the popularity of Northern localities is on the increase. The favorite states are Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia. The chief titles for these states are as follows:
- Alabama
- Alabama Blues
- Birmingham Blues
- Mobile Blues
- Selma Bama Blues
- Bama Bound Blues
- Georgia
- Atlanta Blues
- Decatur Blues
- Georgia Hunch
- Georgia Blues
- Louisiana
- Lake Pontchartrain Blues
- Lou’siana Low-down Blues
- New Orleans Hop Scop Blues
- New Orleans Wiggle
- Shreveport Blues
- Mississippi
- Mississippi Blues
- Ole Miss Blues
- Mississippi Delta Blues
- Texas
- Dallas Blues
- Houston Blues
- Red River Blues
- Waco Texas Blues
- Seawall Special Blues
- Virginia
- Virginia Blues
- Hampton Roads Blues
- Norfolk Blues
There are also, to name only a few others, Arkansas Blues, Florida Blues, California Blues, Carolina Blues, Omaha Blues, Michigan Water Blues, Memphis Blues, Tulsa Blues, St. Louis Blues, Salt Lake City Blues, Wabash Blues, and Blue Grass Blues. Finally there are foreign titles, such as London Blues and West Indies Blues. Titles, of course, are not to be taken as accurate indices of the contents of the songs. As a matter of fact, most of the songs bearing titles of the locality type really deal with the relation of man and woman.