Bessie Smith, Billie Holliday, Etta James and Tracy Chapman The Bluesy Black Women that I Love

Bessie Smith, Billie Holliday, Etta James and Tracy Chapman

The Bluesy Black Women that I Love

By Kami Bryant

My love affair with the blues began one day when I was fourteen sitting at Southern Illinois University of Carbondale’s library listening to scratchy songs on vinyl. My mother was attending SIU Carbondale pursuing her bachelor’s degree. I would spend hours in the library while she was in class. I didn’t finish eighth grade because I came down with a debilitating illness called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome when I was eleven years old. I spent most of the next five years completely bed ridden. My mother took me out of school and decided that I should be home schooled. When not lying in bed reading as many books as I could get my hands on, I would go to the library. The university library was a treasure trove and a holy place to my fourteen-year-old book worm’s soul. I would spend all day at the library reading books. I then discovered not only could I read books, but I could listen to music too. So, with big can headphones on, I discovered ladies who sing the blues.

Bessie Smith was born on April 15th, 1894. She died on September 26th, 1937. She died from injuries sustained in a car crash. The rumor is she bled to death because a whites only hospital refused to take her. That isn’t completely accurate. It is true that a blacks only ambulance was called to take her to a blacks only hospital. It is a tragic story told in Edward Albee’s 1959 play, The Death of Bessie Smith.

The first song I listened to by Bessie Smith was “Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl” recorded in 1931. It is such a naughty little song and fourteen-year-old me just loved it.

I need a little sugar in my bowl

I need a little hot dog on my roll

I can stand a bit of lovin', oh so bad

I feel so funny, I feel so sad

After Bessie Smith, I discovered Billie Holiday. Billie Holiday was born on April 7th, 1915 and died July 17th, 1959. The song I remember listening to was “Strange Fruit”, recorded in 1939. It is a song about lynching black people in the South. It is such a powerful, horrible, and terrifying song. I still get chills thinking about it.

Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant south

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Etta James was another favorite. Etta was born on January 25th, 1938 and died January 20th, 2012. The first song I discovered of Etta’s was the 1962 "Something's Got a Hold on Me".

Something’s got a hold on me, yeah (oh, it must be love)

Oh oh, something’s got a hold on me right now, child (oh, it must be love)

Let me tell you now

I got a feeling, I feel so strange

Everything about me seems to have changed

It is a fun bouncy bluesy soulful song. You may recall Christina Aguilera singing it in the beginning of the 2010 movie Burlesque. Though, in my honest opinion no one can quite sing a song like Etta James could.

I am mixed race. My father is black, but I was raised by my white mother. My mother was born in 1935 and she was a professional singer. When she was young, she even tried singing the blues herself in clubs. She was 5’3” blue-eyed and blonde. She said it was really hard learning to sing the blues. I wish I could have seen her try though. That would have been really something. My mother died five years ago when she was eighty and I still miss her to this day. I miss the days that we would go out to sing karaoke together.

I miss karaoke a lot in these days of COVID. My favorite song to sing at karaoke will always be Tracy Chapman’s 1996 song “Give Me One Reason”. I get a little sassy when I sing it. I swing my hips. I dance. I know the song so well; I don’t even need to follow along with the lyrics. I do a little growl. I give it my all with some sexy attitude. I feel strong and confident when I sing it. And the lyrics are the person that I aspire to be.

I don’t want no one to squeeze me, they might take away my life

I just want someone to hold me, oh, and rock me through the night

This youthful heart can love you, yes, and give you what you need

I said, this youthful heart can love you, oh, and give you what you need

But I’m too old to go chasing you around

Wasting my precious energy

Bessie Smith, Billie Holliday, Etta James, and Tracy Chapman, four influential black women of music. I remember being fourteen listening to the naughty “Need a Little Sugar in my Bowl” on scratchy vinyl and giggling. I cry when I hear Billie Holliday sing “Strange Fruit”. I dance to Etta James singing “Something’s Got a Hold of Me.” Then I get up in front of a crowd in a dark karaoke bar and belt out Tracy Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason” with a saucy, sassy shake of my hips. And maybe someday when karaoke bars come back post COVID, I will sing it again.