Motherless Child Blues is a mysterious song by Elvie Thomas and Geeshie Wiley that was recorded in 1930 for Paramount Records. It is about lamenting not taking some motherly advice about jumping between too many men. Weather this advice was targeted to Elvie herself or just a fictitious persona is not clear. Thomas and Wiley recorded a few other records together, such as Last Kind Words Blues, which was recorded around the same time, However, this one is the only one that definitively features Elvie’s voice, with Geeshie on second guitar.
Not much is known about this recording due to its extreme rarity and a general lack of interest when it was released. What is certain, however, is that it was released as a “race record” just around the time that such recordings were gaining popularity with both white and African American communities. Unfortunately, the same success did not bleed over to Motherless Child Blues, and it was relegated to being sold alongside phonograph cabinets as a commercial tactic. These records, while they did have some appeal to both white and black people (though for differing reasons), they were not regarded in the same way as music that was accepted as being “white”. This disrespect carried down to the artists as well, and many African American musicians were given bad deals by their labels, which were typically owned by larger, whiter labels. It is far from unlikely that Elvie and Geeshie fell victim to this kind of malpractice, which would explain why, despite their obvious talent, they weren’t given as much effort by their label to make hem successful. The legacy of the talents behind the songs were preserved by good fortune alone, with some old, beat-up discs being found in peoples’ attics, forgotten and gathering dust.
The content of the song itself is only skin deep, with the lyrics spelling out the precise meaning of the song, leaving little room for hidden meanings or subtle references. It describes a person who failed to follow the advice that her mother gave on her deathbed. This is plainly described in the lines “Oh, Daughter, Daughter, please don’t be like me” and “But I did not listen what my mother said”. The richer content of the song comes from the tone Elvie Thomas manages to convey through such simple words. The minute details in her singing voice push through even the heavy wear and tear on the record and expertly reinforce the themes of the track.
My mother told me just before she died
My mother told me just before she died
My mother told me just before she died
My mother told me just before she died
Oh, Daughter, Daughter, please don’t be like me
Oh, Daughter, Daughter, please don’t be like me
Oh, Daughter, Daughter, please don’t be like me
To fall in love with every man you see
But I did not listen what my mother said
But I did not listen what my mother said
But I did not listen what my mother said
That’s the reason why I’m sitting in here today
Baby now she’s dead, six feet in the ground
Baby now she’s dead, she’s six feet in the ground
Baby now she’s dead, she’s six feet in the ground
And I’m a child and I am drifting ’round
Do you remember the day baby, you drove me from your door
Do you remember the day baby, you drove me from your door
Do you remember the day you drove me from your door
“Go away from here, woman, and don’t come here no more.”
I walked away and I wrangled my hands and cried
I walked away and I wrang my hands and cried
I walked away and I wrang my hands and cried
Didn’t have no blues, i couldn’t keep tarryin’ aroun’
Works Cited
Ackermann, Karl. “The Black Swan: A History Of Race Records.” All About Jazz. 8 July 2019, www.allaboutjazz.com/the-black-swan-a-history-of-race-records-by-karl-ackermann.
Traditional. “Motherless Child Blues.” Genius. 2019, genius.com/L-v-thomas-motherless-child-blues-lyrics.
Sullivan, John. “The Ballad of Geeshie and Elvie.” New York Times magazine. 13 April 2014, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/13/magazine/blues.html.
