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Bull
Dyker's Blues
Research
I worked so hard researching
this that
I decided to share what I found,
and hopefully encourage others
with additional info to
contact me
and
it all started with...
did anyone record
"Bull Dyker's Blues"?
or similar titles...
search
phrases:
the dream
bull dyker's dream
bull dyker's blues
bull diker's dream
digah's dream
digah's stomp
b.d.'s dream
bowdigger's dream
ladies' dream
dream rag
When
something is put on the internet, it seems to take on a life of its
own,
like waves crossing the seas, often with the identical phrasing, and
just
as often taking huge leaps from what is stated or intended by an author
to
results that just cannot be verified.
Before
I start the research info, here are some examples of the myth
that Ma Rainey recorded "Bull Dyker's Dream"
from
UniBlogger, kind of a second string Wiki:
(Wikipedia itself does not mention the song)
On
to the research, starting perhaps as close to the beginning as possible:
Link
Another
link to hear the song file, with more credibility than the Youtube
one above
More
about Johnson from the wonderful site Red Hot Jazz,
and it is likely the 1945 recording is the same one listed at the
Library of Congress site, as Alan Lomax was long associated with
Folkways Records
Link
Link
Link
And,
Eubie Blake's version, "The Dream Rag"
Here's
one reference, Shane Vogel's "The Scene of Harlem Cabaret,"
2009
*the reference
above to a performance of the song by John "the bear" Wilson
has later determined to be incorrect. It was Jesse Pickett. See the
CD liner notes above.
I have
seen a couple of references to the song being recorded by Fats Waller.
Waller did
record a song with the title "The Digah's Stomp," in 1927.
I wonder if this correlation between
the songs is at all correct, with only the word "digah"
to go by. To me it sure has no
resemblance to the Pickett song as done by James P Johnson. Also I
do not understand
why Waller (who takes writing credit for it) would call it a stomp,
when to me it is
something that might be used to put ice skaters to sleep. But listen
for yourself...
Another
mention of Waller
Note
30 above takes us to Jonathan Katz' book of essays, from 1975, and
in that book,
on page 77, Chris Albertson quotes the lyrics of "It's Dirty
But Good." And Albertson's
own footnote only tells us he got the lyrics from an etymological
study by Peter Tamony.
And
HERE is where some people get the idea the Bessie Smith recorded
"It's Dirty But Good." Chris Albertson (who wrote The book
on Bessie Smith),
starts off the essay he gave to "Gay American History,"
a chapter called
"Lesbianism in the Life of Bessie Smith" with quotes from
two songs, but
does not mention either one again in the rest of the 6-page essay.
His footnotes do explain that "Boy in the Boat" was recorded
by George
Hannah, but no info is given on the recording for "It's Dirty
But Good."
I can understand the folks on the net who think Bessie recorded it.
They
took a very easy jump. By the way, the song was recorded by Rufus
and
Ben Quillian, in 1930, and is in Part 2 of this show.
Here
are two sites echoing the error
As
I could not find the video where you can conveniently hear it,
I uploaded it to Youtube, click the graphic to hear it.
And
HERE is another place readers may make a jump.
This is in Sandra Lieb's 1981 book on Ma Rainey, generally
considered the main book on her. On page 123, in the
middle of a discussion of of Rainey's song "Sissy Blues,"
she starts talking about "Bull Dyker's Dream," saying
there are several versions of the song but not mentioning
who did them. Her footnote goes to another book and turns
out to be about another subject. By ommission, she lets the
reader assume Ma Rainey had a version of the song.
alas,
it turns out that footnote 29 refers only to the "freak shows"
The
website
coverage of Ma Rainey on the respected site
OutHistory.org makes the jump even easier. It quickly says
"Rainey's own composition "Sissy Blues" was a matter-of-fact
complaint by a woman whose male lover was stolen by a "sissy"
man, "Miss Kate. " Several recordings exist of a song about
lesbians, "Bull Dyker's Dream."
It cites the original expanded article, by Jonathan Katz
(from The Advocate, July 18, 1989), though it has the same information:
To
reinforce the jump made by readers that we are talking about
a Ma Rainey song, the article is titled "Singing the 'Bull Dyker's'
Blues."
No, it does not punctuate it "Bull Dyker's Blues," but that
niceity would
get by many.
As
long as I'm complaining, I'll repeat something I mentioned in my script
section.
So here's one of the frustrating things
about being a researcher.
It's that once in a while you find things stated as fact but when
you try to verify them,
.... well, you just cannot. I've
got another Bessie Smith example.
In 1928 she recorded the song "Empty Bed Blues," about a
man. And I found an article about it by David Hajdu, who wrote a wonderful
biography of Billy Strayhorn. He says Bessie sang the lyrics....
I
want a deep-sea diving woman
That got a stroke that can't go wrong
I want a deep-sea diving woman
That got a stroke that can't go wrong
Yeah, touch that bottom, gal
Hold it all night long
Well,
while I would love to verify that, I just cannot. Perhaps he has some
way of knowing that she sang those lyrics live, but I do not think
she recorded them. You can hear the non-lesbian version, where she's
definitely singing about a man, in Part 2 of this show.
