What Did I Do To Be So Black And Blue Essay

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Recommended: Jazz and african american history

Eric Betsill
10/6/2017
Survey of Jazz
(What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue
In the 1920’s and 30’s, (What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue is a song originally written in 1929, and composed by Fats Waller with Harry Brooks and Andy Razaf writing the lyrics. Originally, the song was composed due to the request of a gangster who had invested in a show that was to be performed at a night-club frequented by wealthy whites who wished to consume alcohol during the time of prohibition. After uncovering the songs upbringing, it should come as no surprise that the original piece was intended to be performed by a black, female artist who sings about the struggles of life as a black person, and it’s goal was to generate laughs at the expense of black people. Later on, Louis Armstrong took the song and performed it but not without first changing the lyrics and thus shifting the message of the song as a whole.
Jazz musicians wanted to stand out from the rest of the crowd in the 1920’s. With the new genre emerging, as an artist, getting lost
Record agencies were not impervious to discrimination, and even with Armstrong’s wild popularity, he still felt the effects. Putting performers with darker skin on more demanding tour schedules, and offering less help in finding adequate accommodations was common practice for record labels. Armstrong refers here to his less than adequate sleeping arrangements, the room he was assigned was cold, and lacking blankets or enough padding. Cold may also refer to loneliness, the absence of someone sleeping next to Armstrong in bed is not only physically colder, but for someone who is used to sleeping with a significant other, sleeping alone may be uncomfortable. The mentioning of lead may be a testament to how much this song matters to Armstrong, Lead being one of the densest elements on the periodic table could be a reference to the gravity of the

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