Hesitating Blues- Version 2

Traditional Old-Time Blues Song; Widely Spread US

ARTIST: From the duet of Louis Armstrong, Velma Middleton/W. C. Handy; This version does not include Handy's second verse which I've included in brackets.

CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: Early 1900’s

RECORDING INFO: Buddy Boy Hawkins-1930, "Voice Throwing Blues" (on TimesAint01); Bookbinder, Roy. Ragtime Millionaire, Blue Goose 2023, LP (1977), cut#B.05; Kaleidoscope. Side Trips, Epic BN 26304, LP (196?), cut# 3; Van Ronk, Dave. Dave Van Ronk Sings, Vol. 2, Folkways FA 2383, LP (1961), cut#A.06; Brown, Milton; & his (Musical) Brownies. Western Swing. Vol. 2 Historic Recordings, Old-Timey LP 116, LP (1975), cut#A.04; Famous Pyle Brothers. Up on Pyle Mountain, Pyle, Cas (1989), cut#B.02; Garcia, Jerry; and David Grisman. Shady Grove, Acoustic Disc ACD 21, CD (1996), cut#13b; Hall, Kenny; and the Sweets Mill String Band. Kenny Hall and the Sweets Mill String Band, Vol.II, Bay 103, LP (197?), cut# 13; Holy Modal Rounders. Holy Modal Rounders, Prestige PR 7720, LP (1964), cut# 6; Holy Modal Rounders. Holy Modal Rounders, Fantasy 24711, LP (1972), cut#3.06; Laketown Buskers. Dance Around in Your Bones, Marimac 4006, Cas (1991), cut#B.03; Lunsford, Bascam Lamar. Folk Songs of America. The Robert Winslow Gordon Collection., Library of Congress AFS L68, LP (1978), cut# 3b; Poole, Charlie; and the North Carolina Ramblers. Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers. Vol Two, County 509, LP (196?), cut# 1 (If the River Was Whiskey); Poole, Charlie; and the North Carolina Ramblers. Southern Dance Music, Vol. 1, Old-Timey LP 100, LP (196?), cut# 3 (If the River Was Whiskey); Poole, Charlie; and the North Carolina Ramblers. White Country Blues, 1928-36 - A Lighter Shade of Blue. Vol. 1, Columbia Legacy CT47920, Cas (1993), cut# 4 (If the River Was Whiskey); Rag Daddy. On the Road Again, Voyager VRLP 201-S, LP (197?), A.02; Shootin' Creek String Band. Young Fogies, Vol. II, Rounder 0369, CD (1995), cut#16 (If the River Was Whiskey); Stringbean (David Ackerman). Stringbean and His Banjo. A Salute to Uncle Dave Macon, Starday SLP 215, LP (196?), cut# 5; Watson, Doc and Merle. Down South, Sugar Hill SH-3742, LP (1984), cut# 5; Old Crowe Medicine Show, Eutaw; McTell, Ralph. Eight Frames a Second, Capitol ST-24O, LP (196?), cut#

OTHER NAMES: If the River Was Whiskey; The Hesitating Blues;

RELATED TO: I’ve Got the Morning Blues; Yodeling Blues;

SOURCES: Silber-FSWB, p. 75, "Hesitation Blues;" Sweet Bunch of Daisies, Colonial Press, Bk (1991), p154 (Drinking Song- Davis Version);

NOTES: Form AB. There are many different sources and versions of this blues song. The main versions are: WC Handy’s “Hesitating Blues”; Billy Smythe's "Hesitation Blues," Charlie Poole’s “If the River Was Whiskey”; Rev. Gary Davis "Hesitation Blues;" There are some great fiddle solos and fiddling on the old-time jug band versions including newer bands like the Old Crowe Medicine Show’s “Hesitation Blues” from their CD, Eutaw. Most jug band versions are upbeat similar to Poole’s version.

The Library of Congress has a version of Hesitating Blues by Jelly Roll Morton, piano, vocal, with an introduction by Alan Lomax. Arkansas oldtime group Reaves White County Ramblers recorded a version under the 'Hesitation Blues' title with the delightful couplet: I went down to the river to jump in an' drown/I thought of my honey and I couldn't go down.

The lyrics from ‘Hesitation Blues are generally floaters from other songs, especially the “Rye Whiskey/Jack O’Diamonds” group.

Abbe Niles suggests that both of the first published 1915 versions by Handy and Smythe were inspired by "by the same folk source." The source could have been Louisville pianist  Thomas "Hop" Hopson but more likely was a "wandering musician who sang Poole version with the "If the river was whiskey" line as well as one about "silk stockin's and ruffled drawers/ got many a po' man wearin' overalls." (A line also used by Robert Johnson) [Source: David Evans in his book, "Ramblin' on my Mind."] 

An earlier song titled "How Long Must I Wait" was in the repertoire of George and Nina Coleman who performed the song in Texas in 1913 as their own composition. 

Both Handy's and Symthe's 1915 versions were successful.

W.C. HANDY: W. C. Handy produced a song, "The Hesitating Blues" (copyright 1915; see Handy/Silverman-Blues, pp. 100-103) which uses this key line, but it is much more elaborate and with a different plot; Handy's version is a rewrite of an earlier song. The essential similarity is the last lines: Honey, oh honey, how long/Will I have to wait?/Oh, won't you tell me now/Baby, why do you hesitate?

Handy's piece was originally titled Hesitating Blues and several artists give credit to W.C. Handy for writing it in 1915. Louis Armstrong did a cover of Handy's version in 1954. Billboard's edition of August 1915 called it "A hesitation novelty with ginger and go." The earliest recording I have found is by Esther Bigeau, who recorded a slow sensual version on March 28, 1923.

ART GILLHAM: In California he had a group known as Art Gillham’s Society Syncopaters. Art met his long time song writing partner in St. Louis. Billy Smythe and and Billy's cousin, Scott Middleton appear to have gone with Art to California. By 1915 they returned to the midwest and in Louisville, Kentucky published their first composition, Hesitation Blues. The same year, W.C. Handy published a similar song, Hesitating Blues. Both appear to have been based on a folk song. W.C. Handy acknowledged the two songs were independently composed. The Smythe-Middleton-Gillham team wrote a large number of lyrics to go with the song. One of the phrases Art wrote was "Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, show me a man a woman can trust." Art, Billy and Scott went to New York as song pluggers. In New York Art studied music with Ernest E. Brambach. In 1925 Gillham did an acoustic session for Columbia 140390-2 Hesitation Blues (electric microphone) (2 takes) recording his version.

Billy Smythe's version has the line:

The eagle on the dollar says, "In God we trust,"
Woman wants a man- she wants to see that dollar first.


Thomas "Hop" Hopson: According to David Evans in his book, "Ramblin' on my Mind" Handy stole his Hesitating Blues from Louisville pianist  Thomas "Hop" Hopson. Evean states that, "according to oral history the song was written by Hopson." Clearly Handy's version is a rewrite based on an earlier song. Perhaps Gillham's song was taken from Hopson since they were both in Louisville in 1915.

CHARLIE POOLE: Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "If the River Was Whiskey" Columbia 15545-D, 1930; on CPoole02; Charlie Poole's lively breakneck speed version was copied by the Holy Modal Rounders, which is similar to the Philadelphia Jug Band version.

REV. GARY DAVIS: The Davis version has been copied by Hot Tuna, Von Ronk and others. The version is usually played fingerstyle and has an Am/E vamp in the verse.

Notes From Karl Coulthard: "Hesitating Blues" was performed by Louis Armstrong and Velma Middleton and written by W. C. Handy. The recording I transcribed comes from the Columbia album Louis Armstrong Plays W. C. Handy and was recorded in Chicago on July 12, 1954. The accompaniment includes Armstrong on trumpet, Trummy Young on trombone, Barney Bigard on clarinet, Billy Kyle on piano, Arvell Shaw on string bass, and Barrett Deems on drums. "Hesitating Blues" is an adaptation of a 1915 composition by Handy titled "Hesitation Blues". W. C. Handy has often been referred to as the "father of the blues". While this is certainly an exaggeration, Handy did have a significant impact on the early development of the blues. From the 1890's through the 1920's Handy transcribed and published the melodies and lyrics to numerous traditional blues songs, thus preserving, in a certain sense, a large body of blues music that existed during the time before the first blues recordings were made in 1920. As such, it might be more accurate to refer to Handy as the publisher, rather than the author, of this song.

On the surface, "Hesitating Blues" appears to be a very benign and jovial song, engaging with the simple and sentimental theme of the impatience of lovers when they are separated from or unable to possess the subject of their affection for even a short period of time. However, themes of hesitation and waiting and phrases such as "tell me how long will I have to wait" carry a great deal of meaning and significance within the context of African-American culture and history. The genealogy of these themes and phrases stretches all the way back to the era of slavery in the United States. Black slaves, working in the fields on plantations in the south, would often engage in call and response singing to help pass the time and to distract themselves, however briefly, from the bleak and nearly hopeless circumstances of their lives. These "slave songs" frequently repeated phrases such as "how long will I have to wait" in reference to the seemingly impossible dream of someday being free. After slavery was abolished, however, themes of hesitation and waiting continued to appear constantly in African-American fiction and music, including blues, for the spectre of slavery had merely been replaced by that of racial discrimination and segregation. Now, African-Americans were "waiting" for an end to the poverty and racism that darkened their lives, to be recognized as equals, and to be able to enjoy all of the simple pleasures and luxuries, such as liberty and justice, that were readily afforded to white people.

Thus, I would cite "Hesitating Blues" as an example of the dialectical nature of the blues. On the one hand, it is a very warm and humorous song, and Louis Armstrong and Velma Middleton perform it with a great deal of mirth and laughter. However, this laughter exists simultaneously with and in spite of the genealogy of suffering that is evoked by the themes of hesitation and waiting. This song employs a characteristic blues technique of overlaying or covering grave matters with mirth in an effort to combat and overcome the suffering occasioned by these matters. However, this mirth is never able to provide a complete cover, for there are always residual traces of suffering visible in the product of this emotional mimesis. In "Hesitating Blues", these residual traces are apparent in the lingering unanswered question "why do you hesitate?" The memory evoked in this song by the themes of hesitation and waiting includes a time when African-Americans were denied the right to even basic familial relations, and when these relations were constantly being cruelly torn asunder. As a result, even when faced with the prospect of an apparently safe and loving relationship, the ominous traces of this collective memory still cause many African-Americans to hesitate.

Here are the lyrics from Handy's "Hesitating Blues":

(Louis) Hello Central,
What's the matter with this line? 
I wanna talk to that high brown of mine 
Tell me how long 
Will I have to wait 
Please give me two ninety-eight 
Why do you hesitate?

Oh, what you say, 
Can't talk to my brown 
A storm last night blowed the wires all down 
Now, tell me how long 
Will I have to wait 
Oh, won't you tell me now 
Why do you hesitate?

(Instrumental break)

[Missing verse from Handy's original lyrics:

Procrastination is the thief of time,
So all the wise owls say, "One stitch in time may save nine"
Tomorrow's not today, and if you put off,
Somebody's bound to lose.
I'd be his, he'd be mine,
And I'd be feeling gay,
Left alone to grieve and pine,
My best friend's gone away 
He's gone and left me the Hesitating Blues.]

(Velma) Say, Sunday night 
My beau proposed to me 
Said he'd be happy if his wife I be 
Said he, "how long, 
Baby, will I have to wait? 
Come be my wife, my Kate 
Why do you hesitate?"

Say, I declined him 
It was just for a stall 
He left that night on the cannonball 
Honey, oh honey, how long 
Will I have to wait? 
Oh, won't you tell me now 
Baby, why do you hesitate?