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about

“Harlem Blues” is another walk through the streets of Harlem, mentioning
historical landmarks, the Black newspapers The Age and The News, and notable performers like James Reese Europe and bandleader “Happy” Rhone. The music is by William Christopher Handy (1873–1958), known widely as the first musician to attempt to codify what could not be codified: the Delta blues. W. C. Handy’s importance as a musical pioneer cannot be overstated. Not only were his compositions ground-breaking, he was a great band leader, and discovered major talents like William “Willy” Grant Still (see below). Handy and his brother published at least ten
of Still’s early songs and ran one of the first and most formidable Black music publishing companies in the country. Without his talents many of these artists would have been penniless or banished into obscurity.

lyrics

Harlem Blues
(W. C. Handy)

You never can tell what’s in a woman’s mind
And if she’s from Harlem, there’s no use o’ tryin’
Just like the tide her mind comes and goes, like March weather,
When she will change, nobody knows,

The woman I love, she just turned me down,
She’s a Harlem Brown

Oft’-times I wish that I were in the ground,
Six feet underground,
She idolized me as no other could, then surprised me
Leaving a note that she was gone for good.

And since my sweetie left me Harlem ain’t the same old place,
Though a thousand flappers smile right in my face,
I think I’ll mooch some home-made hooch and go out for a lark,
Just to drive off these mean Harlem Blues.

Ah there’s one sweet spot in Harlem,
It’s known as striver’s row,
Dicty folks some call ’em
Live there and you should know,
That I have a friend who lives there
I know he won’t refuse
To put some music to my troubles
And call ’em Harlem Blues.
Now, you can have your Broadway, give me Lenox Avenue,
Angels from the skies stroll Seventh and for that thanks are due,
To Madam Walker’s Beauty shops and Poro system too,
That made them Angels without any doubt.

There are some spots in Harlem where I’m told it’s sudden death,
To let a body see you stop to catch your breath,
Yet if you’ve never lived in Harlem, so the old saw saith,
“you have really been camping out.”

Mama, listen to those Harlem Blues
o’er the radio phone
Oh, those times recall ’em,
remember Happy Rhone
And the Clef Club dances led by
Jim Europe’s jazzy band,
Sweet memories,
Change your mind once more and
Come to your Harlem man.

credits

from Wide as Heaven: A Century of Song by Black American Composers, released March 1, 2024

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New World Records Brooklyn, New York

Anthology of Recorded Music, Inc., which records under the label New World Records, was founded in 1975.

We are dedicated to the documentation of American music that is largely ignored by the commercial recording companies.

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