By Elvie Thomas
The song “Motherless Child Blues” was recorded by Elvie Thomas and Geeshie Wiley in 1930 on the western coast of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. These artists helped define the “pre-war blues” and “country blues” genres, and the unique history behind them shaped this hit song.
L.V. “Elvie” Thomas, also known as Elvie Slack was born in 1891 in Houston Texas under the name L.V. Grant. Elvie was the first member of her family to have a real interest in music, specifically blues music. She had a short academic career, dropping out of the fifth grade to begin playing the guitar at the age of 11. In an interview with famous musicologist Mack Mcormick she talks about the neighborhood boys she used to hang around, “They had guitars and liked to fool with them, so I guess they kinda got me started”. By the time Elvie was 17 she began playing live music at local country suppers: club or group-style dinner gatherings.
Less than a year later, when Elvie was only 18, records state that she wa an inmate in the Harris County jail. It is still unclear why or how long she was detained, but thinking about the lives of the black community in the early 1900s, it was not unusual for these arrests to be without rightful cause. When she was released, again we are unsure of exactly how much time has passed, she went right back to making music and playing guitar, only this time she began to put herself on the map by playing with artists around Houston, and this is how she came to know Geeshie Wiley.
Lille Mae “Geeshie” Wiley was Elvie Thomas’s First musical partner. Although not a born Texan, Geeshie was living in Houstonwhen her and Elvie got together and began producing blues music.
“Motherless Child Blues” was recorded and issued by Paramount Records. Paramount’s recording studio was not at all what we think of when we think of a studio today. It was described as “barn-like” and was divided into a control room and a performance space. The recording equipment was equally as minimal. Performers like Elvie and Geeshie were to sing into a wooden horn that was meant to focus sound towards an electrical microphone. During the time of Elvie Thomas’s recordings, there were electrical problems at the studio, so workers had to return to an old weight and pulley method to turn the plates after every couple minutes to get the recordings. These mechanical sounds can be slightly heard in the background of “Motherless Child Blues” when the speed appears to change about half way through the song.
Geeshie Wiley’s trail ends shortly after this song was produced, when she was listed as the murder suspect under the cause of death report of her boyfriend’s death certificate. After that mention, Lillie Mae “Geeshie” Wiley wasn’t ever really seen or heard from again. Elvie says in older interviews that she must have “slipped out west”.
Elvie Thomas eventually retired to sing at her church, and her trail seemed to fade off as well before her death in 1979.
I could go on for pages about the intricacies of Elvie Thomas and her mysterious life, but let’s shift the focus here to her music, more specifically, “Motherless Child Blues”.
(I encourage you to go back to the song recording at the top and listen to the background of the recording!)
Right off the bat, we can hear the intense static coming through the recording, no doubt a product of Paramount’s studio. The lyrics depict a child being told not to become like her mother, but the child not listening to that advice. It appears to be a song of sadness and childhood trauma. The lyrics repeat themselves a lot, only changing in tone.
Lyrics:
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’
I think the message this song is trying to get across is that parents may not always be the role models we assume them to be, and are utterly human just like we are. The love we have for our parents is unconditional regardless of their words or actions. The guitar and the off-beat of the singing in this song is characteristic of early blues music. I personally think you can hear the emotion through Elvie’s voice in this song as well. Her raspy voice and almost howling-like singing tone is characteristic of the blues genre.
References:
Sullivan, John Jeremiah. “The Ballad of Geeshie and Elvie.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Apr. 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/13/magazine/blues.html.
“Elvie Thomas.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Apr. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvie_Thomas.
“Geeshie Wiley.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Nov. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geeshie_Wiley.
“L. V. Thomas – Motherless Child Blues.” Genius, https://genius.com/L-v-thomas-motherless-child-blues-lyrics.
