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W.C. Handy

The First Blues Song?

Although historians argue the first real blues song was not recorded until 1920, there were several songs written before that deserve mention for containing elements of the blues. The first song that contained such elements was by W.C. Handy, who wrote his seminal song "Memphis Blues" in 1909. The song itself was written on commission for the election campaign of E. H. Crump, the famous Memphis, TN mayor, and was intended to help bring out the black vote. Although not as popular as Handy's later compositions, it was an important piece.

This, however, was not the first copyrighted song to use the word "blues," that honor going to the song "Dallas Blues" penned by the white bandleader Hart Wand some months earlier. The term "blues" itself was common long before it became associated with music. Tracing its origins to Elizabethan England, the word took on its more or less current meaning in American vernacular as early at the 1850s.

It was Handy, however, who began a craze with his song "St. Louis Blues," one of the most recorded songs in music history. Copyrighted in 1914, "St. Louis Blues" was really an amalgam of blues, ragtime, and even tango, but deserves its place in blues history for its endurance and charm. Al Bernard, a famous vaudeville performer, scored the first of many hits with the song in 1919. Before 1945, "St. Louis Blues" was the second-most recorded song in American history.

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