This post presents seven examples of Black American Old Time Music or early Blues songs in which red dresses symbolize mourning. This compilation isn't meant to represent all such songs.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
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FEATURED EXAMPLES
(These examples are presented in alphabetical order.)
Example #1: "Ella Speed"
Lyric Excerpt:
"When the women all heard that Ella Speed was dead
All goes back home and they re-ragged in red"
-snip-
[re-ragged = re-dressed; changed their clothes]
http://www.mikeballantyne.ca/transcriptions_other/ellaspeed.php [This link includes the song lyrics and the history behind the song.]
Sound file:
Lead Belly ~ Ella Speed
Jimsters, Published on Nov 20, 2012
The song Ella Speed by Lead Belly off of the CD You Don't Know My Mind.
-snip-
The publisher's summary also includes the song lyrics.
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Example #2: "Casey Jones"
Lyric Excerpt:
"Womens in Kansas all dressed in red,
Got de news dat Casey was dead.
Womens in Kansas all dressed in black,
Said,in fact, he was a crackerjack."
Dorothy Scarborough's 1925 book On The Trail Of Negro Folk Songs, p. 250
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Example #3: "Duncan And Brady"
Lyric Excerpt:
“Women all heard that Brady was dead,
Goes back home and they dresses in red
Come a sniffin' and a sighin' down the street,
In their big mother hubbards and their stockin' feet
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/l/leadbelly/duncan+and+brady_20184073.html
Sound file:
Duncan and Brady Leadbelly
songs1994, Uploaded on Feb 25, 2009
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Example #4: "John Henry"
Lyric Excerpt:
"John Henry had dat pretty liddle wife,
An' she went all dress up in red.
She walk ev'y day down de railroad track
To de place whar her steel-drivin' man fell dead."
Thomas W. Tally, Negro Folk Rhymes ,p. 105
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm
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Example #5: "John Henry" [Furry Lewis' version]
Lyric Excerpt
"When the womens in the West heard of John Henry's death
They couldn't stay at home in their beds
Some were dressed in white, some where dressed in red
Sayin Take me where John Henry fell dead...
Sound file:
'John Henry (The Steel Driving Man)' FURRY LEWIS (1928) Blues Guitar Legend
RagtimeDorianHenry, Uploaded on Apr 19, 2009
"John Henry (The Steel Driving Man) " (1928)
FURRY LEWIS
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Example #6: "Louis Collins"
Lyric Excerpt:
"Oh, when they heard that Louis was dead
all the people they dressed in red"
http://www.elyrics.net/read/m/mississippi-john-hurt-lyrics/louis-collins-lyrics.html
Sound file:
Mississippi John Hurt - Louis Collins (1928)
fulanodetal4, Published on Jun 21, 2012
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Example #6: "Poor Howard"
Lyric Excerpt:
Ol' Howard, po' boy
(plays the tune he just sung)
Ol' Howard he is dead an' gone
left me here to sing this song
left me here to sob and mourn (or moan)
Pretty little girl with a red dress on
(above line repeated two times)
God knows, pretty little girl with a red dress on"
http://www.lyricsmania.com/poor_howard_lyrics_leadbelly.html
Sound File:
Leadbelly - Poor Howard
3006khz, Published on Dec 30, 2012
Poor Howard (Green Corn). The audio is hard to hear, but, i think this is one of Lead Belly's coolest tunes.
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EDITOR COMMENTS - IN SEARCH OF AFRICAN EXPLANATIONS FOR THIS LYRICAL FEATURE
Black Americans -along with other people in the United States- have long considered wearing the color red to be higly inappropriate at funerals or at public or private gatherings before the funeral service such as "viewings" or "wakes" (both of these may mean the same thing in the United States).
However, it seems to me that lyrics in those old songs about Black women wearing red were more than a rhyming device, but were a reflection of an expectation in [at least] some communities for Black women to wear red as an expression of their mourning. That conclusion led me to assume that this tradition was a remnant of African culture which was passed on as a normative custom, but was later disgarded in order to conform with mainstream American culture.
This speculation led me on an online search for information about and examples of traditional West African or Central African cultures in which the color red was associated with death or with mourning someone's death. I focused on those geographical regions because the African ancestors of most Black Americans came from those parts of Africa.*
Prior to a new search I re-read a Mudcat Folk & Blues forum discussion thread "The death of Louis Collins" http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=3132. That thread includes lyrics of & comments about the song "Louis Collins" and some other Old Time Music/Early Blues songs which include references to women wearing red for mourning. I particularly focused on this comment that Guest,Bruce, Date: 04 Oct 02 cited and McGrath of Harlow 04 Oct 02 - 08:39 PM quoted from a Grateful Dead lyric blog:
Catherine Yronwode helpfully explains a bit more about the reference to "dressed in red":*http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/LOUISCOL.HTM
"White folks, accustomed to black being the colour worn both for funerals and for post-funereal mourning, sometimes think that references in blues songs to dressing in red signify a party atmosphere or happiness over a person's death. Not so. In Africa, and among African-Americans in earlier times, drssing in red has been a funerary custom. As such, it is reminiscent of burial with red ochre pigment, which was used among neolithic people (the "red paint people") the world around. The religious idea behind this custom is that as a baby is born from the mother's womb through blood, so will rebirth occur (after interrment in Mother Earth) through blood."
-snip-
While that comment interested me, the references to red being a funeral custom in Africa and among African Americans in earlier times was much too general for me. And as my online search for information about early Black American funeral customs was yielded no information about standard colors worn by mourners, I changed gears and started looking for more details about traditional African funeral customs.
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red#Red_in_different_cultures_and_traditions:
"In Central Africa, Ndembu warriors rub themselves with red paint during celebrations. Since their culture sees the color as a symbol of life and health, sick people are also painted with it. Like most Central African cultures, the Ndembu see red as ambivalent, better than black but not as good as white.[123] In other parts of Africa, however, red is a color of mourning, representing death.[124] Because red bears are associated with death in many parts of Africa, the Red Cross has changed its colors to green and white in parts of the continent.[125]"
-snip-
Note: It seems to me that "bears are associated" in that sentence is a typographical error for "bears [carries] an association with". In any event, I'm not satisfied with the much too general comment of red having that meaning in "many parts of Africa".
-snip-
A number of websites indicate that the color red is used in South Africa to symbolize mourning or death. However, most of those websites don't indicate whether "South Africa" refers to the nation or the geographical region. Furthermore, hardily any of those websites indicate the specific ethnic group/s in South Africa where it was or it is traditional to wear red for mourning.
Here's one exception to those much too general websites about the meaning of colors in African cultures:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/across-zimbabwe-red-rags-signify-a-nation-in-mourning-855428.html
"Across Zimbabwe, red rags signify a nation in mourning"
By Daniel Howden in Mpopoma township , Matabeleland
Friday 27 June 2008
"Red rags have been tied around lamp posts that don't light and hung from bus shelters. Giant V-signs have been painted over the pot-holed thoroughfares. Bulawayo, the opposition stronghold, awakes today to find it has been painted red. As Zimbabweans turn out to vote in a one-man election, a final message of defiance was being daubed overnight on the only public space available to the opposition: the roads.
One of the key organisers of the Movement for Democratic Change's "red campaign" who identified himself only as Thomas, said the symbolism was clear. "Red is the colour of the MDC. In African culture, it is also the colour of mourning. We are mourning the death of democracy, or the little we had of democracy."
-snip-
Notwithstanding that quoted comment, red is NOT the standard color of mourning in all African cultures.
Another website http://www.cimh.org/Handouts/June%2027-28,%202011%20Cultural%20Competence%20Summit/Tues.Jun28_300-430_WS-8A_Blanch_Handout1.pdf provides these meanings for red:
"Red: mourning = Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa"
Red: Nigeria –wealth, vitality, aggression
Red: Some areas [of Africa]- good luck
-snip-
But, for instance, that same website indicates that the color "orange" means mourning in Egypt.
It wasn't until I found online articles & videos of Ghanaian funeral customs did I find information about red being used for mourning. In that West African nation, the standard colors for funerals are black or red and black. Could this traditional Ghanaian custom be the source of the Black American Old Time Music & early Blues lyric feature of referring to women wearing red for mourning? I think so.
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RELATED PANCOCOJAMS POSTS
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/colors-associated-with-funerals-in.html for a pancocojams post about colors worn at Ghanaian funerals.
Also, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/various-african-funeral-customs.html for a pancocojams post on various other African funeral traditions including the nation of South African custom of "after tears parties".
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Thanks to all the known and unknown composers of these featured songs. Thanks also to all the performers who are featured in this post. And thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these YouTube examples.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
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