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Home / Eric Clapton Nobody Knows You When You're Down & Out

Eric Clapton Nobody Knows You When You're Down & Out

Early on blues standard written past Jimmie Cox

1929 single past Bessie Smith

"Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out"
Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out single cover.jpg
Single past Bessie Smith
B-side "Accept It Correct Back"
Released September xiii, 1929 (1929-09-13)
Recorded New York Metropolis, May 15, 1929
Genre Blues
Length three:00
Characterization Columbia
Songwriter(s) Jimmie Cox

"Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" is a blues standard written past pianist Jimmie Cox in 1923 and originally performed in a Vaudeville-blues style. The lyrics in the popular 1929 recording by Bessie Smith are told from the point of view of somebody who was once wealthy during the Prohibition era and reflect on the fleeting nature of material wealth and the friendships that come and get with it. Since her 1929 recording, the song has been interpreted by numerous musicians in a variety of styles.

Lyrics and composition [edit]

When the song was equanimous in 1923, the "Roaring Twenties" were coming into full swing. Cox's publisher Clarence Williams Music filed a copyright registration on December 17, 1923[1] list the title every bit "Nobody knows you when you are down and out" (no contraction).[2] After the post-World War I recession, a new era of prosperity was experienced in the U.Due south. and elsewhere. Notwithstanding, in the confront of all the optimism, the known lyrics grade a cautionary tale virtually the fickle nature of fortune and its attendant relationships:

Once I lived the life of a millionaire, spendin' my coin I didn't take a care
I carried my friends out for a skilful time, buying bootleg liquor, champagne and vino
When I begin to fall so low, I didn't have a friend and no identify to go
And then if I ever become my mitt on a dollar again, I'1000 gonna concur on to information technology 'til them eagles smiling
Nobody knows you, when y'all down and out
In my pocket not 1 penny, and my friends I oasis't any

The song is a moderate-tempo dejection with ragtime-influences, which follows an eight-bar progression audio speaker icon Play(help·info) :[three] [4]

I – Iiivii VI7 two – Vi7 ii IV7 – ♯ iv o 7 I – Six7 II7 V7

Early recordings [edit]

Although "Nobody Knows You When You Are Down and Out" was copyrighted in 1923, the commencement known publication did not appear until a recording of 1927. Piedmont dejection musician Bobby Leecan, who recorded with various ensembles, such every bit the South Street Trio, Dixie Jazzers Washboard Ring, and Fats Waller'south Half-dozen Hot Babies, recorded "Nobody Needs You When Yous're Down and Out" under the name "Bullheaded Bobby Bakery and his guitar", with his song and fingerpicking-style guitar. His version, recorded in New York around June 1927, is credited on the record label to Bobby Leecan and has completely dissimilar lyrics from the popular 1929 version, with emphasis on being poor, including a verse most being cheated playing "The Numbers".[5]

The second known recording of the vocal was on January eleven, 1929, by an obscure vocal quartet, the Aunt Jemima Novelty Four, first to apply the now-familiar title, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out".[6]

Four days later, influential boogie-woogie pianist Pinetop Smith recorded "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" in Chicago,[7] crediting Cox equally the writer. In it, lyrics (over again quite dissimilar from either Bobby Leecan'due south or Bessie Smith's) are spoken rather than sung, by Pinetop Smith and Alberta Reynolds,[6] to Pinetop'south pianoforte accompaniment. The song is one of 11 known recordings past Smith, who died two months afterwards he recorded it.

Bessie Smith vocal [edit]

Bessie Smith recorded the song on May 15, 1929,[8] in New York City. Different the earlier versions, she recorded the vocal with instrumental accompaniment, including a small trumpet section. When Smith's record was released on September 13, 1929 (a Friday), the lyrics turned out to be oddly prophetic. The New York stock market had reached an all-fourth dimension loftier less than two weeks earlier, just to go into its biggest decline two weeks after in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which signaled the outset of the x-year Great Depression.

Bessie Smith'south "Nobody Knows You When Yous're Downwards and Out" became one of her biggest hits, but was released before "race records" were tracked by tape manufacture publications, such as Billboard magazine. Today, it "more than whatever other, is the song that about people associate with Bessie Smith".[ix]

1940s–1960s renditions [edit]

The song was then identified with Bessie Smith that no ane recorded the song again until a generation later. It became a blues standard that "forced the crowds of her [Smith's] female person imitators to try (in vain) to equal her through the following decades".[8] In the late 1950s and early on 1960s, information technology became pop during the American folk music revival; a version by Nina Simone reached number 23 in the Billboard R&B chart besides as number 93 in the Hot 100 popular nautical chart in 1960.[10]

Eric Clapton versions [edit]

When he was an art student in the early 1960s, Eric Clapton was attracted to London's folk-music scene and the fingerpicking acoustic guitar-style of Big Beak Broonzy.[11] Along with "Cardinal to the Highway", "Nobody Knows You lot When You're Downward and Out" was i of the first songs that Clapton learned to play in this style.[11] In 1970, he recorded a grouping version with his band, Derek and the Dominos, for their debut album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. The recording took place at the Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, with Jim Gordon (drums), Carl Radle (bass), Bobby Whitlock (organ), and Duane Allman (slide guitar). As Whitlock recalled, Sam Samudio, who was also recording at Criteria, suggested that they tape the song.

This was Duane Allman's outset vocal with us. I believe that information technology was a vocal that he and Eric both had in common ... This song was recorded live, vocals and all, with no overdubs. Information technology was the first have, simply of class it was all worked out before we went into it.[12]

Allman had recorded "Nobody Knows You When Y'all're Downwards and Out" earlier with his brother Gregg and used similar guitar lines for the Derek and the Dominos recording.[12] Whitlock also noted that Clapton played through a Fender Champ guitar amplifier (a five-watt do amp), while Allman used a Fender Twin.[12]

Before long after the studio recording, the vocal became office of the Dominos live set. Although it did non appear on their 1973 In Concert album, a recording from the Fillmore East on October 24, 1970 was later included on the expanded Live at the Fillmore album released in 1994. For this version, Clapton played all the guitar parts and Whitlock performed on pianoforte. In 1992, Clapton recorded some other rendition for the MTV Unplugged series. In keeping with the prove's theme, the song was performed in an acoustic style. Clapton recounted: "I besides enjoyed going dorsum and playing the old stuff like 'Nobody Knows Yous When You're Down and Out', which was how it all started dorsum in Kingston [University] so long agone."[xiii]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ "Catalog of copyright entries, northward.s. pt.3 five.18 no.2 1923, pp. 979 & 1372, copyright no. 24658". Babel.hathitrust.org . Retrieved December 5, 2020.
  2. ^ Ockerbloom, John Marker (December 21, 2018). "Public Domain Day advent agenda #21: Nobody Knows You When You're Downwards and Out by Jimmie Cox". Everybodyslibraries.com . Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  3. ^ Weissman 2005, p. 154.
  4. ^ Hal Leonard 1995, pp. 160–161.
  5. ^ Perfect 133, Pathé Actuelle 7533
  6. ^ a b "Discography of American Historical Recordings - Site - Discography of American Historical Recordings". Adp.library.ucsb.edu . Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  7. ^ Vocalion 1256
  8. ^ a b Herzhaft 1992, p. 464.
  9. ^ Albertson 2005, p. 33.
  10. ^ Whitburn 1988, p. 375.
  11. ^ a b Clapton 2007, pp. 29–30.
  12. ^ a b c Whitlock & Roberty 2010, p. 95.
  13. ^ Clapton 2007, p. 254.

References [edit]

  • Albertson, Chris (2005). Bessie. Yale Academy Press. ISBN978-0-300-10756-2.
  • Clapton, Eric (2007). Clapton: The Autobiography. Broadway Books. ISBN978-0-7679-2536-five.
  • Hal Leonard (1995). The Blues. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN0-7935-5259-i.
  • Herzhaft, Gerard (1992). "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out". Encyclopedia of the Blues. University of Arkansas Press. ISBNi-55728-252-8.
  • Martinéz, Aciano (1994). Unplugged y solteros de Eric Clapton son productos más vendidos en el país!. Buenos Aires: CAPIF.
  • Weissman, Dick (2005). Blues. Infobase Publishing. ISBN978-0-8160-6926-2.
  • Whitburn, Joel (1988). Top R&B Singles 1942–1988. Record Research, Inc. ISBN0-89820-068-7.
  • Whitlock, Bobby; Roberty, Marc (2010). Bobby Whitlock: A Stone 'due north' Roll Autobiography. McFarland. ISBN978-0-7864-5894-3.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody_Knows_You_When_You%27re_Down_and_Out