settima

blues

The Tempest (Derek Jarman, 1979)

Jul

28

The Tempest (1979)

Sailors dancing in a room wildly decorated with guirlandes and flowers (via). DP: Peter Middleton.

Local nightlife: people dancing or at a show*

“Don't know why There's no sun up in the sky Stormy weather Since my man and I ain't together Keeps raining all of the time

Oh, yeah Life is bad Gloom and misery everywhere Stormy weather, stormy weather And I just can get my poor self together Oh, I'm weary all of the time The time, so weary all of the time

When he went away The blues walked in and met me Oh, yeah if he stays away Old rocking chair's gonna get me All I do is pray The Lord will let me Walk in the sun once more

Oh, I can't go on, can't go on, can't go on Everything I have is gone Stormy weather, stormy weather Since my man and I, me and my daddy ain't together Keeps raining all of the time Oh, oh, keeps raining all of the time Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah raining all of the time Stormy stormy Stormy weather Yeah”

– Elisabeth Welch, Stormy Weather (Harold Arlen & Ted Koehler, 1933)

A radiant Goddess (Elisabeth Welch) performs the torch song Stormy Weather. Enchanted sailors dance.

 

St. Louis Blues (Dudley Murphy, 1929)

Dec

20

Walter “Wolfman” Washington – 1943

St. Louis Blues (1929)

Bessie “the Empress of Blues” Smith, singing her blues away. DP: Walter Strenge .

Featuring rhythm and blues, funk or blues, for Walter “Wolfman” Washington's birthday (1943)

“I hate to see the evening' sun go down I hate to see the evening' sun go down It makes me think I'm on my last go 'round

Feeling' tomorrow like I feel today Feeling' tomorrow like I feel today I'll pack my grip and make my getaway”

Saint Louis woman with her diamond rings Pulls that man around by her apron strings Wasn't for powder and the store-bought hair The man I love wouldn't go nowhere, nowhere

I got them Saint Louis Blues; just as blue as I can be He's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me”

– Bessie Smith, St. Louis Blues (W. C. Handy)