W.C.

HANDY – CHANTEZ-LES BAS

1873 – 1958
By Diane Cameron

I often wonder how much of a factor timing is for people who rise to greatness. Let’s take Martin
Luther King; it would be difficult to imagine him being born in the ‘80’s. It would have been a decade
and some days after the centrifuge of the Civil Rights Movement. Even more timely is Barak Obama;
some African Americans believe he is Martin’s “dream”, the child of promise, the yin to the yang of
every Jim Crow beating, lynching and hooded cross burning cowardice. There is a bittersweet fruit
birthed from suffering. To some it culminates in depression while others use it as a springboard to
activism and excellence. It’s the old “pressure makes a diamond” adage or a subliminal source of
encouragement that causes one to laugh past the suffering.

Can you imagine being born in 1873? 8 years after the end of the American Civil War? The same
year a race riot broke out in Vicksburg, Miss., leaving 75 blacks dead. Funny they always name the
number of dead, but rarely the injured. Artist, especially musicians are extremely sensitive to
surroundings and emotions. Many a timeless song was created with no conception of gaining fame or
popularity, just a simple desire to purge one’s soul musically of whatever emotions were boiling over
inside. The list of song subjects are endless and varied; love lost, regained, lost again, betrayal,
loneliness and the longing to be somewhere else with someone else. Protest songs of injustice,
defeat, memorializing a loved one, abandonment or just plain homesick. Each days challenge brings
additional subjects and stories to sing about. Perhaps as early as in his mother’s womb he felt her
pained existence through the umbilical cord. 1873 was a tumultuous time for recently freed slaves.

W.C. Handy was born in 1873 in Florence, Alabama. As a musician, his predecessors and greatest
musical influence were the slave songs from the cotton fields. Their music credentials were the
unison singing of the field congregation. Sans musical training or degrees, just the raw emotion of the
reality of current life and remembrance of their stolen one. It was music drawn from the diverse
African cultures touched by the slave trade, steeped in firm African traditions brought across the
waters with the stolen passengers all across the world. The songs were tears set to music. It was this
and other influences that shaped his music and bestowed upon him the title, “Father of the Blues”.

At the age of 12, he fell in love with a guitar in a shop window; working a succession of odd jobs he
saved enough money to buy it to the dismay of his parents. His father was very angry and insisted
that he return the "devil's plaything" and exchange it for "something that'll do you some good."
Honestly now, parents are the same in any generation.
At age 15, Handy joined a minstrel show and began his musical career. Alas, after touring a few
towns, the troupe fell apart, and the teenager found himself walking the railroad tracks back to
Florence. He organized the Lauzette Quartet and headed for the opening of the Chicago’s World Fair.
After arriving in Chicago they discovered the fair had been postponed for a year. Disappointed and
broke they moved on to St. Louis, Missouri, where they eventually disbanded.
The country was experiencing an unstable economy. Handy’s memories of St. Louis days would
imprint themselves on his mind and music bringing this educated son of a minister closer to the
experience of the despair. Bathed in misery, W. C. Handy suffered from hunger and head lice, his
bedroom was a vacant lot, poolroom chair, horse's stall, and the levee rocks in Mississippi. Handy
would relate in his autobiography, his inner voice said repeatedly, "Your father was right, your proper
place is in the ministry," and his old schoolteacher's words rang through his head, "What can music
do but bring you to the gutter?" but he never gave in. The musician continued to make a living playing
his coronet and later noted that these down-and-out days would lead to the birth of his "St. Louis
Blues", and an even richer music and publishing career.

Later, his composition, "Memphis Blues" was such a huge success that Handy published it in 1912.
Although he sold the rights to the song for a mere $100, his musical style had arrived. In 1914, at the
age of 40, he published his most famous composition, "St. Louis Blues." Handy began to write and
publish prolifically and his popularity soared. He opened his own publishing business and worked
steadily throughout the 1920s and 1930s despite problems with his vision. His eyes had been
sensitive since childhood and the heavy demands of his career took their toll on his vision. In 1943,
he lost his balance and fell from a subway station which caused him to go totally blind. He died on
March 28, 1958 of acute bronchial pneumonia at the age of 84. He was buried in Woodlawn
Cemetery, Bronx, New York with many notables attending the funeral service and an estimated
150,000 people along the funeral route.

W.C. Handy has been called "the Father of the Blues" admitting that he did not invent the blues but
he was largely responsible for delivering this emotional music style to the world’s audience. There
have been many honors bestowed upon Handy since his death. In Memphis, a city park is named
after him and in his hometown of Florence, Alabama; the log cabin where he was born has been
restored and turned into a museum which houses mementos from his life. The city of Florence also
holds an annual music festival in his honor.

Thank God for his timeless music and influence in the Blues genre. I am so glad he was born in 1873
instead of 1973; somehow the title “Father of Hip Hop” doesn’t seem to fit.