|
Ida Cox
Uncrowned Queen of the Blues
Ida Prather, born February 25, 1896 in Toccoa, Georgia, left home at
fourteen to work as a comedian and singer in Vaudeville and in the Tent Shows
and became one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s. In June 1923
Cox signed with Paramount Records and made her recording debut with Lovie Austin
(piano) and stayed with Paramount
until 1929. During this period she recorded 78 sides.
She made about a hundred
recordings between 1923 and 1940 with some of the best jazz musicians
accompanying her, such as Johnny Dodds, Buster Bailey, Charlie Green, Tommy
Ladnier, Kid Ory, James P. Johnson, Lester Young.
|
 |
She also wrote blues songs,
which were recorded by others such as Bessie Smith (e.g., "Nobody Knows You
When You're Down And Out"). Paramount billed her as the
"Uncrowned Queen of the Blues." Cox, like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey,
symbolized the liberated spirit of blues women.In her
particular way, Ida Cox was a feminist. The songs she
wrote and performed targeted the women in her
audience. "Wild
Women Don’t Have the Blues"
is a song that alludes to sexual freedom. "Pink Slip Blues" dealt with
the woes of unemployment. "Last Mile Blues" is a song about capital
punishment.
A very stylish woman, Cox possessed a lavish wardrobe.
Very much in control of her career, she was a shrewd
business woman: hired all of her own
musicians, produced her own stage shows, and managed her own touring company,
called Raising Cain.
By the 1930s people's taste in music changed and Ida Cox, like other Classic
Blues artists, lost popularity. Yet she continued to perform and
caught a break in 1939 when hired by producer John Hammond to perform at Carnegie
Hall in 1939 and sang in Hammond's "From Spirituals to Swing" concert,
which led to some new recordings in the 1940s. Cox suffered a stroke in
1944 and was forced into retirement. In 1961 she was coaxed out of retirement to
record one final session.
In 1945 she suffered a stroke when singing in a club in Buffalo, NY.
She then retired in Knoxville, Tennessee although she did record some songs in
1961. She died in 1967 from cancer. * * * *
*
|
One Hour Mama
By Ida Cox
I've always heard that haste makes waste
So I believe in takin' my time
The highest mountain can't be raced
It's something you must slowly climb
I want a slow and easy man
He needn't ever take the lead
Cause I work on that long-time plan
And I ain't a-lookin' for no speed
I'm a one hour mama
So no one minute papa
Ain't the kind of man for me
Set your alarm clock papa
One hour, that's proper
Then love me like I like to be
I don't want no lame excuses
'Bout my lovin' bein' so good
That you couldn't wait no longer
Now I hope I'm understood
I'm a one hour mama
So no one minute papa
Ain't the kind of man for me
I can't stand no greenhorn lover
Like a rookie goin' to war
With a load of big artillery
But don't know what it's for
He's got to bring me a reference
With a great long pedigree
And must prove he's got endurance
Or he don't mean that to me
I don't like no crowin' rooster
What just kicks a lick or two
Action is the only booster
Of just what my man can do
I don't want no imitation
My requirements ain't no joke
Cause I've got pure indignation
For a guy what's lost his stroke
I'm a one hour mama
So no one minute papa
Ain't the kind of man for me
Set your alarm clock papa
One hour, that's proper
Then love me like I like to be
I may want love for one hour
Then decide to make it two
Takes an hour before I get started
Maybe three 'fore I'm through
I'm a one hour mama
So no one minute papa
Ain't the kind of man for me
|
from a session recorded by Ida Cox and her All Star Band in
New York on 31 October 1939. Her All Stars included Hot Lips Page on trumpet and James P.
Johnson at the piano.
posted 19 November 2005
* * * *
*
Ida Cox—Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues
*
* * * *
|
Wild Women
Don’t Have the Blues
By Ida Cox
I hear these women raving 'bout their monkey men
About their trifling husbands and their no good friends
These poor women sit around all day and moan
Wondering why their wandering papa's don't come home
But wild women don't worry, wild women don't have no blues
Now when you've got a man, don't never be on the square
'Cause if you do he'll have a woman everywhere
I never was known to treat no one man right
I keep 'em working hard both day and night
'Cause wild women don't worry, wild women don't have their blues
I've got a disposition and a way of my own
When my man starts kicking I let him find another home
I get full of good liquor, walk the streets all night
Go home and put my man out if he don't act right
Wild women don't worry, wild women don't have their blues
You never get nothing by being an angel child
You better change your ways and get real wild
I wanna tell you something, I wouldn't tell you a lie
Wild women are the only kind that ever get by
wild women don't worry, wild women don't have their blues. |
*
* * * *
|
Ida Cox with her
All-Star Band This is from Collector's
Classics LP CC56, from a session recorded by Ida Cox and
her All Star Band in New York on 31 October 1939. Her
All Stars included Hot Lips Page on trumpet and
James P. Johnson at the piano.
Birth name: Ida Prather Born, 25 February 1896,
Toccoa, Habersham County,
Georgia, United States. Died 10
November 1967 (aged 71) Genres Jazz, Blues Instruments Vocalist. |
|
*
* * * *
 |
The Warmth of Other Suns
The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
By Isabel Wilkerson
Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, a sharecropper's
wife, left Mississippi for Milwaukee in
1937, after her cousin was falsely accused
of stealing a white man's turkeys and was
almost beaten to death. In 1945, George
Swanson Starling, a citrus picker, fled
Florida for Harlem after learning of the
grove owners' plans to give him a "necktie
party" (a lynching). Robert Joseph Pershing
Foster made his trek from Louisiana to
California in 1953, embittered by "the
absurdity that he was doing surgery for the
United States Army and couldn't operate in
his own home town." Anchored to these three
stories is Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist
Wilkerson's magnificent, extensively
researched study of the "great migration,"
the exodus of six million black Southerners
out of the terror of Jim Crow to an
"uncertain existence" in the North and
Midwest. Wilkerson deftly incorporates
sociological and historical studies into the
novelistic narratives of Gladney, Starling,
and Pershing settling in new lands, building
anew, and often finding that they have not
left racism behind. The drama, poignancy,
and romance of a classic immigrant saga
pervade this book, hold the reader in its
grasp, and resonate long after the reading
is done.
|
* * *
* *
* *
* * *
|
Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in
America
By Melissa V.
Harris-Perry
According to the
author, this society has historically exerted
considerable pressure on black females to fit into one
of a handful of stereotypes, primarily, the Mammy, the
Matriarch or the Jezebel. The selfless
Mammy’s behavior is marked by a slavish devotion to
white folks’ domestic concerns, often at the expense of
those of her own family’s needs. By contrast, the
relatively-hedonistic Jezebel is a sexually-insatiable
temptress. And the Matriarch is generally thought of as
an emasculating figure who denigrates black men, ala the
characters Sapphire and Aunt Esther on the television
shows Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son, respectively.
Professor Perry
points out how the propagation of these harmful myths
have served the mainstream culture well. For instance,
the Mammy suggests that it is almost second nature for
black females to feel a maternal instinct towards
Caucasian babies.
As for the source
of the Jezebel, black women had no control over their
own bodies during slavery given that they were being
auctioned off and bred to maximize profits. Nonetheless,
it was in the interest of plantation owners to propagate
the lie that sisters were sluts inclined to mate
indiscriminately.
|
 |
* * *
* *
 |
A Wreath for Emmett Till
By Marilyn Nelson; Illustrated by
Philippe Lardy
This memorial to
the lynched teen is in the Homeric
tradition of poet-as-historian. It is a
heroic crown of sonnets in Petrarchan
rhyme scheme and, as such, is quite
formal not only in form but in language.
There are 15 poems in the cycle, the
last line of one being the first line of
the next, and each of the first lines
makes up the entirety of the 15th. This
chosen formality brings distance and
reflection to readers, but also calls
attention to the horrifically ugly
events. The language is highly
figurative in one sonnet, cruelly
graphic in the next. The illustrations
echo the representative nature of the
poetry, using images from nature and
taking advantage of the emotional
quality of color. There is an
introduction by the author, a page about
Emmett Till, and literary and poetical
footnotes to the sonnets. The artist
also gives detailed reasoning behind his
choices. This underpinning information
makes this a full experience, eminently
teachable from several aspects,
including historical and literary—School
Library Journal |
* * * * *
The White Masters
of the World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
* * *
* *
Ancient African Nations
*
* * * *
If you like this page consider making a donation
* * *
* *
Negro Digest / Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
____ 2005
Enjoy!
* * *
* *
The
Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
* * * *
*
The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding
of Haiti
* * * * *
ChickenBones
Store
(Books, DVDs, Music, and more)
update 11 April 2012
|
