Track 3: You've Got To Give Me Some

Posted by Benson

Track 3 on Tuba Skinny: Live at Friends is a wonderfully sultry song called You've Got To Give Me Some originally recorded by Bessie Smith, the Empress of the Blues.

Bessie Smith is an interesting character.  She was far and away one of the most popular blues artists of the 1920s and 30s, drawing huge crowds with her rich, powerful, and clear voice.  She is perhaps best remembered for her song, Downhearted Blues, which kicked off her career with Columbia Records in 1923.  

Before signing with Columbia, Bessie primarily performed on the vaudeville circuit.  She was born somewhere between 1894 and 1898 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  She started as a street musician in Chattanooga, but in 1912 she was discovered by the famous Ma Rainey who asked Bessie to join her travelling show as a dancer and a singer.  Bessie stayed with Ma Rainey's travelling show until 1915 when she joined the vaudeville circuit and eventually built up her own following in the south and along the east coast.

Those were the heydays of the classic blues, the times when the stars of the vaudeville began to record - the reportedly first recording of a black American was Crazy Blues by the fabulous Mamie Smith (not related with Bessie Smith) in 1920. Oddly enough, the talent scouts looking for more female singers like Mamie Smith considered the voice of Bessie Smith as 'too rough' to be recorded.

Bessie Smith recorded about 160 songs for Columbia between 1923 and 1931, some of which were her own compositions.  She wrote Back Water Blues after witnessing a flood destroy homes and property; Poor Man's Blues, which lamented the differences between the haves and have-nots in America in the 1920s; and on Mama's Got the Blues she sang about preferring the virility of black men over "brown-skinned" ones.

Toward the end of the 1920s there was a period in which the blues was slipping in popularity and Bessie's career started to lag.  Frank Waller, who recorded and produced all of her recordings with Columbia, thought that singing bawdy material might help to rejuvenate her career.  Thus, in 1929 she recorded You've Got To Give Me Some, a raucously sultry song filled with thinly-veiled sexual references.  In spite of the provocative nature of the You've Got To Give Me Some, as well as another bawdy track called Kitchen Man, Bessie's sales did not immediately improve.  

Nevertheless, in spite of the lagging popularity of the blues, Bessie's powerful voice and electrifying stage presence kept her a star right up until her tragic death in a 1937 automobile accident.  She has remained legendary blues icon ever since.

Although Erica's astounding voice pays apt tribute to the Empress of the Blues, her version of You've Got To Give me Some is much more reserved than the original.  On the CD, Erica sings:

Loving is the thing I crave
For your love I'll be your slave
You gotta give me some, please give me some
Can't you hear me pleading, you gotta give me some

Hear my cryin' on my bended knees
If you wanna put my soul at ease
You gotta give me some, please give me some
You gotta give me some, please give me some
I can’t wait all day you gotta give me some

To the milkman I heard Mary scream
Said she wanted a lots of cream
You gotta give me some, please give me some
I can’t wait all day you gotta give me some

Sweet as candy in a candy shop
Is just your sweet sweet lollypop
You gotta give me some, please give me some
Cant you hear me beggin, you gotta give me some

As provocative as that may be, consider it against Bessie's original lyrics, and keep in mind that the original was recorded 83 years ago:

Loving is the thing I crave
For your love I'll be your slave
You gotta give me some, yes give me some
Can't you hear me pleading, you gotta give me some

Said mister Jones to old butcher Pete,
I want a piece of your good old meat
You gotta give me some, oh give me some
I crave your round steak, you gotta give me some

Sweet as candy in a candy shop
Is just your sweet sweet lollipop
You gotta give me some, please give me some
I love all day suckers, you gotta give me some

To the milkman I heard Mary scream
Said she wanted a lots of cream
You gotta give me some, oh give me some
Catch it when you come sir, you gotta give me some

Hear my cryin' on my bended knees
If you wanna put my soul at ease
You gotta give me some, please give me some
Can't stand it any longer, you gotta give me some

Seeper called to Pele-Mele, sugar lump
Said I'm going crazy about your hump
You've got to give me some, please give me some
I can't wait eight days, you gotta give me some

Jay bird said to the peckerwood,
I like to peck like a pecker should
But give me some, yes give me some
I'm crazy about them worms, you've gotta give me some

Next week we'll defy convention and skip down to Track 9 on the CD, Yellow Dog Blues, another Bessie Smith classic.  It seems fitting to take Erica's tack and remember the Empress of the Blues for her less exploitative work.