Seems
Like Murder Here: Southern Violence And The Blues Tradition
By Adam Gussow
(University Of Chicago Press)
In
"Seems Like Murder Here" Adam Gussow digs deep
into the dark underbelly of blues shedding light on the
intimate link between the birth of blues and the violent
culture that nourished it. Gussow's book is a penetrating
look at the blues not simply as a music of lost love and
hard times but a music born out of the claustrophobic
threat of violence that surrounded blacks in the Jim Crow
South. This is a deep, troubling and controversial book
but ultimately a very important one.
Gussow
began this study in one of his regular columns in Blues
Access magazine and was roundly criticized for lack of
evidence. This book is an eloquent answer to those critics
as he decodes the message within blues lyrics, literary
works, newspaper accounts, eyewitnesses and blues memoirs.
His case is a compelling one but also controversial for
there are practically no overt references to lynching
within blues lyrics and as he admits are the evidence
is "semi-obscure and.. arguable." Not everyone
will swayed by Gussow's evidence but the sheer amount
of information he sifts through and the tantalizing conclusions
he offers up are fascinating and very convincing.
Between
1890 and 1930 there were 3,220 reported lynchings and
the black population was in a constant state of terror.
Gussow contends that blues was a form of "lyricized
complaint" and also a form of healing. This thesis
is neatly summed up in the preface: "...black southerners
evolved blues song as a way of speaking back to, and maintaining
physic health in the face of, an ongoing threat of lynching..."
In
the following chapters Gussow cites numerous examples,
looking for veiled references in a wide variety of sources
from first hand accounts of W. C. Handy, David Honeyboy
Edwards, and B. B. King to literary examples in the work
of Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston interspersing them
with real-life incidents and historical events. Gussow
deconstructs and reinterprets popular blues songs like
"Trouble In Mind" and "St. Louis Blues"
citing the latter song's opening line "I hate to
see the evenin' sun go down" side by side with a
line by composer W.C. Handy from his autobiography- "I
had passed through towns with signs saying, 'Nigger don't
let the sun go down on you here". It's these juxtapositions
and interpretations where Gussow really excels but it's
also likely to cause the most controversy and while there
where many times I felt myself nodding in assent there
were also many times when I felt he was reading too much
into something that probably should be taken on face value.
Still Gussow's insights are always intriging and their
cumulative effect will forever change how you listen to
those classic blues songs you thought you understood so
well.
What
makes Gussow's insights so fascinating is that most of
the examples he draws from are not obscure blues songs
and texts but familiar one that are often ignored. He
devotes whole chapters to Mamie Smith's "Crazy Blues",
considered the first recorded blues, but one that's widely
dismissed as lightweight and manages to come up with some
thought provoking comments on this long maligned song.
Equally compelling is the chapter "Make My Getaway"
that looks deeply in W.C. Handy's autobiography "Father
of the Blues" a book that is generally held in low
regard but under Gussow's gaze it yeilds a bounty of provocative
insights.
"Seems
Like Murder Here" is a deep, thoughtful meditation
on the more disturbing elements of blues culture and how
a downtrodden class sought to deal with crippling oppression
and ultimately gave America one of it's greatest artistic
achievements. In turns this book casts a wider net throwing
a bright light on the ugly truths of our racial past.
This is a major blues work and should not be missed for
those who want to broaden their blues education.
Mississippi
Fred McDowell & Johnny Woods: Mama Says I'm Crazy
(Fat Possum)