“Dream Blues”
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 11:57 PM Ma Rainey’s performance of “Dream Blues” paints a picture of sorrow and hopelessness. It starts off with a banjo strumming a sad tune. In the beginning she sings about how she ‘had a dream last night and the night before’ her words sound drawn out and tired. She makes her audience feel what she is feeling through her singing. It’s like she is actually talking to you personally about her problems. Nothing is held back in her performance.
The recurring theme is men in her life who treat her badly. It is shown through the gloomy tone of her voice. The sad tone carries through the rest of the piece. In the last stanza of the song her singing gets louder and it is almost as if she is crying out. The form is ‘ABABA’, it keeps a constant beat to the song almost like a question and response. You can hear the melody build up and drop at the end of each phrase giving the song more of a blues feeling. Something else I noticed is the banjo or string instrument in the background is not very loud. All attention is on the message Ma Rainey is trying to get out to her audience.
Reader Comments (1)
Many of you that wrote about “Dream Blues” and “Black Eye Blues” mentioned the portrayal of women in abusive relationships. Do you think the women in these songs are strong or weak? What part of the music makes you feel that way? (the lyrics, the singer’s expression, the instruments, etc.) Are these songs meant as a warning to the listener or are they meant for commiseration between women in the same situation? or both? Here are three posts that address some of these questions well. Please comment on one of the posts to add your thoughts to the discussion.
http://benleedscarson.com/ma-rainey-and-bessie-smith/2009/10/10/dream-blues.html
http://benleedscarson.com/ma-rainey-and-bessie-smith/ma-rainey-dream-blues.html
http://benleedscarson.com/ma-rainey-and-bessie-smith/what-it-means-to-have-the-black-eye-blues.html