A classic 1914 blues with the habanera rhythm.
words and music by W.C. Handy
The sheet music:
Accompaniment:
Lyrics
- I hate to see de ev’nin’ sun go down
Hate to see de evenin’ sun go down
Cause my baby, he done lef dis town
Feelin’ tomorrow lak Ah feel today
Feel tomorrow lak Ah feel today
I’ll pack my trunk, make my get away
St. Louis woman wid her diamon’ rings
Pulls dat man roun’ by her apron strings
‘Twant for powder an’ for store bought hair
De man I love would not gone nowhere
Chorus
Got de St. Louis Blues jes as blue as Ah can be
Dat man got a heart lak a rock cast in the sea
Or else he wouldn’t have gone so far from me (Dog-gone-it!)
Chorus
I loves dat man lak a school boy loves his pie
Lak a Kentucky Col’nel loves his mint an’ rye
I’ll love ma baby till the day Ah die
- Been to de Gypsy to get ma fortune tole
To de Gypsy done got ma fortune tole
Cause I’m most wile ’bout ma Jelly Roll
Gypsy done tole me, “don’t you wear no black”
Yes she done tole me “don’t you wear no black”
Go to St. Louis, you can win him back
Help me to Cairo, make St. Louis by maself
Git to Cairo find ma ole friend Jeff
Gwine to pin ma self close to his side
If Ah flag his train, I sho’ can ride
Chorus
A black headed gal make a freight train jump the track
Said a black headed gal make a freight train jump the track
But a long tall gal makes a preacher ball the Jack
Chorus
Lawd a blonde headed woman makes a good man leave the town
I said blonde headed woman makes a good man leave the town
But a red head woman makes a boy slap his papa down
- You ought to see dat stovepipe brown of mine
Lak he owns de Dimon Joseph line
He’d make a cross-eyed o’ man go stone blind
Blacker than midnight, teeth lak flags of truce
Blackest man in de whole St. Louis
Blacker de berry, sweeter is the juice
About a crap game he knows a pow’ful lot
But when work-time comes he’s on de dot
Gwine to ask him for a cold ten spot
What it takes to get it, he’s cert’nly got
Chorus
Oh ashes to ashes and dust to dust
I said ashes to ashes and dust to dust
If my blues don’t get you, my jazzin’ must
Sung here by Fred Feild: