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Hesitation Blues
Traditional Old-Time Blues Song; Widely Spread US
ARTIST: From Bascom Lamar Lunsford 1925;
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; How Long Must I Wait
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." That 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.
Lunsford: This is Lunsford's only recording of "Hesitation Blues"; he recorded relatively few blues during his career. In the September 23, 1926, issue of Adventure, Gordon wrote, "I am still much interested in early ‘blues' and ‘rags' and in those curious combinations made up partly of genuine folk material and partly of vaudeville or stage songs" ( p.189). This song surely fits his description of a "curious combination."
Although W. C. Handy (p.94) copyrighted a "Hesitation Blues" in 1923 (He also recorded it), only the chorus bore much relation to the familiar song performed by Lunsford here. And versions of that song had already been collected by Frank C. Brown (III, p. 564) and Newman I. White (pp. 391, 325, 339, 398). White suggested that the song came from a "Hesitation Waltz" which was popular about 1914. Whatever the origin of the song, it was well known by the twenties. Handy did with this song as he did with a number of others—used it as a basis for his own more sophisticated composition. Other sophisticated performers included the song in their repertoires. Vaudeville comedian Al Bernard made two recordings of it during the twenties, and it was recorded in 1925 by Art Gillham, "The Whispering Pianist." In 1930 another white singer from North Carolina, Charlie Poole, recorded a version of the song under the title "If the River Was Whiskey." And there have been a number of other recordings and collections of the song since then. Gordon collected a version in California (Cal. 292A & B), received one from an Adventure reader (2120), and recorded another in North Carolina (A116, NC173).
Each of Lunsford's stanzas is a floating verse which has appeared in other songs, generally blues. The formula "I ain't no _______ nor no _______'s son" was collected by White (p.398) and Scarborough (B, pp. 276-77) in various forms, and appears in Poole's recording. Bluesman Bo Carter constructed an entire song, "All Around Man," using this form.
The second verse is most commonly found with the ballad "The Boll Weevil" (see Laws, p.255), which dates from the early twentieth century and was collected widely in the South during the twenties and thirties.
The final verse is likewise a floater, but has turned up in recent years as a verse in the song "Big Ball's In Town" (NLCR, pp. 216-17) as recorded by North Carolinian J. E. Mainer and such groups as the Mountain Ramblers. The significance of the reference to "Coolidge meat skin at fifty cents a pound" is obscure, but it is interesting that Georgia singer Fiddlin' John Carson also used "Hesitation Blues" for two political compositions: "Tom Watson special" for the 1924 Georgia gubernatorial campaign and "Georgia's Three-Dollar Tag" for Eugene Talmadge's 1932 campaign for the same post.
Here are the lyrics from Bascom Lamar Lunsford:
HESITATION BLUES
Gordon cyl. A41, ms. NC60
Bascom Lamar Lunsford
Asheville, North Carolina
October 19, 1925
Now I'm no teacher nor no teacher's son,
But I can teach you how ‘til my papa comes.
So say boys, how long must I have to wait?
Can I get her now or must I hesitate?
Talk about the boll weevil flyin' up in the air,
Wherever he lights, he leaves his family there.
Oh say boys, how long must I have to wait?
Can I get her now or must I hesitate?
Workin' on the railroad, sleepin' on the ground,
Eatin' Coolidge meat skin at fifty cents a pound.
Oh say boys, how much longer must I have to wait?
Can I get her now or must I hesitate?
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