Ma Rainey

Mother Of The Blues: The Complete Paramount Recordings 1923-1928

Black Swan Records

Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, most likely born April 26, 1886, in Columbus, Georgia, first heard the blues in 1902 in rural Missouri and began incorporating it into her shows more and more as audiences responded to it. By that point, she was already performing in tent shows, singing both minstrel songs and more contemporary vaudeville styles. She toured with her husband, William “Pa” Rainey, until their separation in the mid-1910s. She was known for her opulence, often decked out in jewelry and wearing a gold tooth. In 1926, at the peak of her popularity, she purchased a Mack bus for $13,000 that would transport her and the twenty other performers in her traveling shows. She performed for audiences of Black and white listeners, though they were segregated within the tents and theaters. In 1938, legendary A&R executive John Hammond went looking for her for his Carnegie Hall concert “From Spirituals to Swing,” but she had retired; she passed away the following year.

Memphis Minnie wrote a song, “Ma Rainey,” in her honor in 1940. In 1992, restoration of Ma Rainey’s house in Columbus, Georgia, began. B.B. King aided efforts, headlining a benefit concert. The house is now the Ma Rainey House & Blues Museum. August Wilson wrote the play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which later became a film, in 1982.

Rainey’s recording of “See See Rider,” accompanied by Louis Armstrong, was added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry in 2004. Ma Rainey sings, “See See Rider, see what you have done, lord, lord, lord, made me love you, now your gal has come, you made me love you, now your gal has come. I’m going away baby, won’t be back till fall, lord, lord, lord, goin’ away baby won’t be back till fall, if I find me a good man won’t be back at all. I’m gonna buy me a pistol, just as long as I am tall, lord, lord, lord, shoot my man and catch a cannonball. If he won’t have me he won’t have no gal at all. See See Rider, where did you stay last night? lord, lord, lord, your shoes ain’t buttoned and your clothes don’t fit you right. You didn’t come home till the sun was shining bright.”

On “Oh Papa Blues,” a song subsequently recorded by Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey chimes, “Just like a rainbow, I have faded away, my daddy leaves me ‘most every a-day, but he don’t mean me no good; why? because I only wish he would, I’m almost goin’ insane. I’m forever tryin’ to call his name. Oh, papa, look what you doin’, look what you doin’. Oh, papa, you caused me ruinin’, you caused me ruinin’. All the money, I give you. You treat me mean and made me awfully blue. Then you’ll miss me, you’re going to kiss me, you’ll ‘gret the day that you ever quit me.”

“Prove It on Me” is one of the first songs ever written about gay culture; many have postulated that Rainey herself was bisexual. She chants, “Went out last night, had a great big fight, everything seemed to go wrong, I looked up, to my surprise, the gal I was with was gone. Where she went, I don’t know, I mean to follow everywhere she goes; folks say I’m crooked, I didn’t know where she took it, I want the whole world to know. They say I do it, ain’t nobody caught me, sure got to prove it on me, went out last night with a crowd of my friends, they must’ve been women, ’cause I don’t like no men.”

On the second, faster take of the risqué “Shave ‘Em Dry,” Rainey moans, “There’s one thing I don’t understand, why a good-lookin’ woman likes a workin’ man, hey, hey, hey, daddy, let me shave ’em dry. Going away to wear you off my mind, you keep me hungry and broke, daddy, all the time. Hey, hey, hey, daddy let me shave ’em dry. Don’t see how them hungry women can sleep, they shimmies all day without a bite to eat, hey, hey, hey, daddy, let me shave ’em dry. Going downtown to spread the news, State Street women wearin’ brogan shoes, hey, hey, hey, daddy, let me shave ’em dry. If it wasn’t for their powder and their store-bought hair, State Street gals couldn’t go nowhere, hey, hey, hey, daddy, let me shave ’em dry. There’s one thing I can’t understand, Some women? State Street like a man.”

“Booze and Blues” features Rainey as she groans, “Went to bed last night, and folks, I was in my dream, I went to bed last night and I was in my dream, woke up this mornin’, the police were shakin’ me. I went to the jailhouse, drunk and blue as I could be, I went to the jailhouse, drunk and blues as I could be, but this cruel old judge sent my man away from me. They carried me to the courthouse, lordy, how I was cryin’. They carried me to the courthouse, lordy, how I was cryin’. They gave me sixty days in jail and money couldn’t pay my fine. Sixty days ain’t long when you can spend them as you choose. Sixty days ain’t long when you can spend them as you choose, but they seem like years in a cell where there ain’t no booze…gotta have the booze to cure these blues.”

In the 2015 film Bessie, Ma Rainey was portrayed by Mo’Nique, and in the 2020 film Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, she was portrayed by Viola Davis. She was also explored in Angela Davis’ landmark book Blues Legacies and Black Feminism. Rainey was inducted into both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame, and was a recipient of a 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award Grammy. This 5-CD set will be released on July 24, 2026.

On “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Rainey declares, “Now, you heard the rest, Ah boys, I’m gonna show you the best. Ma Rainey’s gonna show you her black bottom. Way down south in Alabamy, I got a friend they call dancin’ Sammy, who’s crazy about all the latest dancin, Black Bottom Stomp and the prancin’. The other night at a swell affair, soon as the boys found out I was there, he said, ‘Come on, Ma, let’s go to the cabaret’, when I got there you oughta hear me say…I wanna learn that dance, want to see the dance you call your big black bottom.”

On “Dead Drunk Blues,” Rainey wails, “My man is freakisk drunk, this morning, daddy say, ‘be yourself’. Oh, give me Houston, that’s the place I crave, Oh, give me Houston, that’s the place I crave. So when I’m dry, I drink, whickey is just made. Oh, whiskey, whiskey is some folks downfall, Oh, whiskey, whiskey, is some folks downfall, but if I don’t get whiskey, I ain’t no good at all. When I was in Houston, drunk ‘most every day, when I was in Houston, drunk ‘most every day, lord, where’s the police? I drank so much whiskey, I thought I’d pass away. Have you ever been drunk, slept all in your clothes? Have you ever been drunk, slept in all your clothes, and when you wake up, feel like you out of door? Daddy, I’m goin’ get drunk, just one more time. Where’s the whiskey bottle? Honey, I’m gonna get drunk, papa, just one more time, ’cause when I’m drunk, nothin’ don’t worry my mind.”

“Stack O’ Lee Blues” features Rainey as she howls, “Stack O’ Lee was a bad man, everybody knows, and when they see Stack O’ Lee comin’, they’d give him the road. He was my man, but he done me wrong. Stack O’ Lee, Stack O’ lee, was short-tempered and bad, he’d take everything his women would bring and everything they had, he was my man, but he done me wrong. Stack O’ Lee’s on the warpath, and you better run. ‘Cause Stack O’ Lee bad man, and he’ll kill you just for fun. He was my man, but he done me wrong. Stack O’ Lee’s in jail now, with his face turned to the wall, pretty women and old corn whiskey was the cause of it all, he was my man, but he done you wrong.”

On “Chain Gang Blues,” written by Thomas A. Dorsey, Ma Rainey pleads, “The judge found me guilty, the clerk, he wrote it down, the judge found me guilty, the clerk, he wrote it down. It’s a four-gallon trouble, I know the county roads now. Many days of sorrow, many nights of woe. Many days of sorrow, many nights of woe, and a ball and chain everywhere I go. Chains on my feet, and locks on my hands, chains on my feet and locks on my hands. It’s all on account of bein’ a woman’s man. It was early this mornin’ that I had my trial, it was early this mornin’ that I had my trial. Ninety days on the county road and the judge didn’t even smile.”

“Yonder Comes the Blues,” written by Rainey and Jay Mayo Williams, finds Rainey crooning, “I worry all day, I worry all night. Every time my man comes home, he wants to fuss and fight. When I pick up the paper to read about the news, just as I’m satisfied, yonder comes the blues. I went down to the river each and every day, trying to keep from crying’ and do my self away. I walked and walked till I wore out my shoes, I can’t walk no further, yonder come the blues. Some folks never worry, things all go all right, when I get a letter, it never brings good news. Every time I see the mail, babe, yonder comes the blues. Go back blues don’t come this way, oughta give me something else besides the blues all day. Every man I love, I’ve been refused, and when I want some loving yonder comes the blues. People have different blues and think their mighty bad, but blues that bother me are the worst I’ve ever had. I’ve been disgusted and confused, every time I look around yonder come those blues.”

This release re-contextualizes Ma Rainey’s importance within her own time. While Son House, Robert Johnson, and Charley Patton are much better known today due to name-checks and cover songs by rock and roll artists, Rainey’s record sales and jukebox plays far outstripped theirs. Unlike the film, the box set also restores her credits as her own manager for nearly thirty years and as a songwriter or co-writer on at least one-third of her recordings, according to registered copyrights. The set includes four previously un-reissued alternate takes. Now longtime fans and new listeners alike will be able to experience the power of her music in the best audio quality to date, on this 5-CD, 118-track box set with a 100-plus-page book featuring an in-depth biography, never-before-published photos, and track-by-track liner notes from three-time Grammy nominee David Sager. Check out the history of Ma Rainey.

Richard Ludmerer

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