Beale Street Blues (Ramblin' Blues)

DESCRIPTION: "I've seen the lights of old gay Broadway," and much of the rest of the world, but the singer advises seeing Beale Street. But there is also a warning: "If Beale Street could talk, Married men would have to take their beds up and walk...."
AUTHOR: W. C. Handy
EARLIEST DATE: 1916
KEYWORDS: warning party
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Rorrer-RamblingBlues-LifeAndSongsOfCharliePoole, p .81, "Ramblin' Blues'" (1 text)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia1, pp. 277-278, "Beale Street Blues" (1 text)
Roud #11551
RECORDINGS:
Charlie Poole & the North Carolina Ramblers, "Ramblin' Blues" (Columbia 15286-D, 1928)
NOTES [50 words]: Edward Foote Gardner, Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century: Volume I -- Chart Detail & Encyclopedia 1900-1949, Paragon House, 2000, p. 319, estimates that this was the twenty-eighth most popular song in America in 1918 (#1 for the year being J. Will Callahan and Lee G. Roberts's "Smiles"). - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: CAFS1277

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