Talk:List of blues standards/Archive 1

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It does _not_ include too many examples

I love it that way and keep coming back for more examples. I've saved the page in case you destroy it. regards —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.171.77.1 (talk) 11:40, 27 September 2007 (UTC)


Those Robert Johnson's songs are always credited to him but are they rather traditionals? Does somebody know? --128.214.69.11 14:17, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

  • He probably did cop a riff or two; "If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day" borrows from "Roll And Tumble" by Hambone Willie Newbern. Folk music is like that. And considering we all steal from him... He does make self-references in a few songs, so I'm guessing those are originals. Deltabeignet 05:55, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Define 'Blues Standards'

Ok, there's alot of great blues songs out there, and loads that people know of, but not performed that often, say 'Red House' or 'Voodoo Chile Blues' by Jimi Hendrix, and songs like 'St James' Infirmary' which is often performed, but hardly known out side musical circuits...help me out here! JimHxn 12:49, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Organizing the page

I believe it would be much better to organie the page by song titles, after all the songs are the standards. "Ain't Nobody's Business" may have been sung by Bessie Smith but it was the foundation of Jimmy Witherspoon's career and Dinah Washington did a memorable version, etc.

I'm going to leave this note here awhile and, hearing no objection, reorganize the page by song, with notes on authors, performers identified with it, etc. Ortolan88 02:38, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

  • I think this is a good idea, it should be alphabetical, with authors and notable performers listed. I think this should be done within 3 days of no-reply? JimHxn 12:59, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

I agree that song name would be a better way of ordering the page. I added Shake your Money Maker under Elmore James, which I think qualifies as a standard just based upon the great number of people who have recorded it.

Blues is a distinct music genre

Blues music is as different from rock as jazz, reggae, etc. Blues has its own identity: heritage, festivals, publications, halls of fame, record labels, etc. Blues standards are songs that are "widely known, performed, and recorded by BLUES ARTISTS" (emphasis added). The fact that a blues song is popular with rock or jazz artists does not make it a blues standard. —Ojorojo (talk) 23:47, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Not at all. Those festivals and publications you prize so much started in the 1960s. The blues started in the 1880s. You cannot take the blues out of jazz, rock&roll, country music, or, indeed, American music. Those things all started with the blues. Do you think "Rhapsody in Blue" isn't part of the blues? "Careless Love" is sung by countless artists, etc etc etc. Is "St. Louis Blues" not to be touched by jazz artists? I've been trying to define "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" as what is, 12-bar blues, but you squares keep editing it out. Ortolan88 (talk) 22:39, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Proposed reorganization

The criteria for WP:Featured list candidates include that the list comply with the WP:Manual of Style. MOS:LIST provides more specific guidelines, including the requirement that all individual items should be verifiable. WP:Source list adds that each item be well referenced. Propose to reorganize the list using a table format better handle the referencing requirement, such as:

Title First recorded by Year First charting single by
(if different) 		Sources
"Caldonia" Louis Jordan 1945 [1][2][3]
"Catfish Blues" Robert Petway 1941 Muddy Waters (1951 as "Still a Fool") [4][5][6]
"Crosscut Saw" Tommy McClennan 1941 Albert King (1967) [7][8][9]
"Cross Road Blues" Robert Johnson 1936 Cream (1969 as "Crossroads") [10][11][12]

This format would minimize citation clutter and by using a sortable table, it would also be possible to see the list by ordered by artist name or year. If there are no objections, I'll go ahead and implement it. —Ojorojo (talk) 16:10, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

Missing Songs

--84.58.234.239 (talk) 04:54, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

More missing songs
'Sent for you Yesterday (Here you come Today)' Jimmy Rushing and Count Basie Band
'Goin' to Chicago' Jimmy Rushing and Count Basie Band
'Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue' Duke Ellington with tenor saxophone interval by Paul Gonsalves
'C Jam Blues Duke Ellington Orchestra
etc, etc, etc Hank Williams and thousands of other jazz and country artists Ortolan88 (talk) 18:52, 25 November 2014 (UTC)
I'd like to add "Blues with a Feeling", if the consensus is that it meets the criteria. Apparently written and certainly first recorded by Rabon Tarrant with Jack McVea; later recorded by Little Walter, Paul Butterfield, Jimmy Witherspoon, Taj Mahal, etc. etc. Ghmyrtle (talk) 13:53, 22 November 2016 (UTC)
The list criteria is five or more RS that specifically say "blues standard". Many writers (especially pop journalists) are too quick to call a song a blues standard, when it is merely recorded by a notable artist, old, or popular during a certain time. If a song really is a blues standard, it should appear in multiple sources. — Ojorojo (talk) 17:21, 22 November 2016 (UTC)
The fact that the citations in this article are almost all to offline books, rather than online sources, makes it extremely difficult for editors to check whether that is the case, for those songs currently listed as well as any new suggestions. Ghmyrtle (talk) 22:08, 22 November 2016 (UTC)
All of the sources are (or were) accessable online. Try Google book searches for "blues standard", "blues standards", "standard of the blues", etc. and the song name (and its variants). —Ojorojo (talk) 15:06, 23 November 2016 (UTC)

There are several that almost have five identified online refs that specifically say "blues standards":

—Ojorojo (talk) 16:40, 1 March 2017 (UTC) —Ojorojo (talk) 20:27, 11 January 2018 (UTC) —Ojorojo (talk) 18:32, 24 January 2018 (UTC) —Ojorojo (talk) 20:09, 27 January 2018 (UTC)

Possible additional songs

With more reliable sources becoming available, several more songs may meet the list criteria (five or more RS that specifically say "blues standard"). These include (alphabetically):

—Ojorojo (talk) 16:35, 2 February 2018 (UTC) —Ojorojo (talk) 17:48, 21 June 2018 (UTC) —Ojorojo (talk) 18:52, 20 August 2021 (UTC) —Ojorojo (talk) 16:37, 21 August 2021 (UTC)

Charting singles

This column seems to be based on the R&B chart, which of course is U.S.-only - and not the pop chart or the UK chart, among others. Should this be clarified, or expanded? Ghmyrtle (talk) 16:02, 19 September 2021 (UTC)

It was an attempt at reducing the number of inline citations, but now should probably be clarified. The "Charting single(s) by" column is meant to apply to all major charts. Billboard's Race/R&B/Soul/Black singles charts (via Whitburn's Top R&B Singles 1942–1988) is the main source and is included as the ref for the column. For versions that appear on other charts, the ref is added following their entry (Hot 100, UK Singles, and Australia). Perhaps all the chart citations should be moved to the bundled citations in "Refs" column (I have all the page numbers for Whitburn). And an efn could be added to "Charting single(s) by" column header with something like "The singles charts in which the standards appear are: Billboard's Race/R&B/Soul/Black singles charts and Hot 100 charts; UK Singles Charts; and Australian singles charts." Or? —Ojorojo (talk) 16:31, 19 September 2021 (UTC)
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