Saint Louis Blues (song)

"The Saint Louis Blues"
"The Saint Louis Blues"
	Sheet music cover
Single by Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong, cornet
B-side	"Cold in Hand Blues"
Published	September 11, 1914
Released	April 10, 1925
Recorded	January 14, 1925
Genre	Blues
Length	2:46
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	W. C. Handy

"The Saint Louis Blues" (or "St. Louis Blues") is a popular American song composed by W. C. Handy in the blues style and published in September 1914. It was one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song and remains a fundamental part of jazz musicians' repertoire. Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Bing Crosby, Bessie Smith, Eartha Kitt, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Guy Lombardo, Peanuts Hucko, Art Tatum, and the Boston Pops Orchestra (under the directions of both Arthur Fiedler and Keith Lockhart) are among the artists who have recorded it. The song has been called "the jazzman's Hamlet".^[3] Composer William Grant Still arranged a version of the song in 1916 while working with Handy.^[4]

The 1925 version sung by Bessie Smith, with Louis Armstrong on cornet, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1993. The 1929 version by Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra (with Red Allen) was inducted in 2008. The 1922 version by W.C. Handy and his Memphis Blues Band was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2023.^[5]

^ Library of Congress. Copyright Office. (1914). Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1914 Musical Compositions Last Half of 1914 New Series Vol 9 Part 2. U.S. Copyright Office. U.S. Govt. Print. Off.
^ Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books. p. 12. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
^ Stanfield, Peter (2005). Body and Soul: Jazz and Blues in American Film, 1927–63. University of Illinois Press. pp. 83–. ISBN 978-0-252-02994-3. Retrieved April 12, 2005.
^ Smith, Catherine Parson (2000). William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 310.
^ "2023 National Recording Registry selections". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 12, 2023.

[copy-1] Library of Congress. Copyright Office. (1914). Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1914 Musical Compositions Last Half of 1914 New Series Vol 9 Part 2. U.S. Copyright Office. U.S. Govt. Print. Off.

[Russell-2] Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books. p. 12. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.

[Stanfield2005-3] Stanfield, Peter (2005). Body and Soul: Jazz and Blues in American Film, 1927–63. University of Illinois Press. pp. 83–. ISBN 978-0-252-02994-3. Retrieved April 12, 2005.

[UC-2000a-4] Smith, Catherine Parson (2000). William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 310.

[5] "2023 National Recording Registry selections". Library of Congress. Retrieved April 12, 2023.

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