Talk:Hesitation Blues

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Wikified as part of the Wikification wikiproject! JubalHarshaw 15:54, 4 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Whilst acknowledging the disputes over authorship of Hesitation Blues, I have amended the Song Infobox to accurately reflect the fact that only Billy Smythe was given composer credit for it on the instrumental Victor recording of 1916. The disk and label are clearly visible on the 2009 YouTube video of the recording .  I can't help but wonder if he  was the only composer credited because it was a purely instrumental version.....???--Rt. Hon. Aloysius StCyr Twistlethrop, Knight of the Rivet d&#39;Or. (talk) 14:12, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

George Blau adds: Credits for Billy Smythe, Scott Middleton and Art Gillham appear on the Columbia recording by Art Gillham on February 25, 1925. The song was republished in 1926 by Jack Mills Music listing Smythe-Middleton and Gillham (see https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=496924000322867&set=vb.248980348504261&type=2&theater). On earlier sheet music written by Smythe and Gillham,(1923) for Mean Blues it is stated "by the writers of Hesitation Blues" (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=253860954682867&set=a.252554461480183.57316.248980348504261&type=1&theater)

Billy Smythe was interviewed twice about Hesitation Blues in San Antonio Light (available through ancestry.com).
 * February 6, 1941, Section B, page 1 article "All In Getting Swing Of Hit Songs", Smythe talks about he and Gillham being partners and their first song was Hesitation Blues. They wrote approximately 100 songs together..


 * February 22, 1935, Section B, page 1 article "Around The Plaza", "Smythe's greatest hit was the famous Hesitation Blues which starts off with that immortal observation I've never been to heaven but I've been told, etc. Smythe and the other writer, Art Gillham, hadn't been out of school long when they wrote and sold that tune and started an avalanche of blues songs which hasn't entirely subsided yet. The funny thing about the Hesitation Blues was that their original conception was not hot and low, but sweet and melancholy. A million Americans for instance know the tune ...trio of the chorus, but Smythe and Gillham are probably the only men alive today who know the song actually had a verse and remember how it went...

Art Gillham told me (George Blau) that Scott Middleton was Billy Smythe's brother-in-law. The three traveled to the west coast by train with a dance band in 1914. They passed the time by making up verses to the tune which they had heard in St. Louis. When they returned, Gillham stayed in St. Louis, and worked with Ted Browne Music. Smythe moved to Louisville where he began publishing music Billy Smythe Music. Scott Middleton went to Chicago with another music publisher. The tune's origin is unknown but was familiar to the three and to W.C. Handy who wrote words to the same tune. Handy's words are a simple man telephones his girl who does not answer. The Smythe-Middleton-Gillham song has over 50 verses in the 1926 edition. The tune is traditional, and Handy said neither stole the tune from the other. Handy said the song was sung to him by a wandering musician, who told him the tune was from a hymn, as yet unidentified.

See other wikipedia articles on Hesitation Blues and on Art Gillham. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lwhisper (talk • contribs) 02:43, 9 May 2014 (UTC)

File:Hesitationblues.ogg
Can someone who works with these things (soundfiles) integrate the recorded version of the song into the article? 76.65.128.132 (talk) 09:50, 25 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I think something like this should work, but it needs some info in the "description" field about which artist or version this is. Mild Bill Hiccup (talk) 10:03, 25 December 2011 (UTC)