Jackson was born in Hernando, Mississippi, and was raised on a farm, where he learned to play guitar. Around 1905 he started working as a singer, dancer, and musician in medicine shows, playing dances and parties often with other local musicians such as Gus Cannon, Frank Stokes and Robert Wilkins. He soon began travelling with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, featuring Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, and other minstrel shows.
He also played clubs on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. His popularity and proficiency secured him a residency at Memphis's prestigious Peabody Hotel in 1919. Like Leadbelly, Jackson knew hundreds of songs including blues, ballads, vaudeville numbers, and traditional tunes, and became a popular attraction.
In 1927, talent scout H. C. Speir signed him to a recording contract with Vocalion Records. On October 10 1927, he recorded "Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues", which became a best-seller, and in the melody and lyrics of which can be traced the outline of many later blues and rock and roll songs, including "Rock Around The Clock" and "Kansas City". Following his hit Jackson recorded a series of 'Kansas City' follow-ups and soundalikes.[2] He moved to Memphis in 1928, and made a series of further recordings, including the comic medicine show song "I Heard the Voice of a Pork Chop". He also appeared in King Vidor's all-black, 1929 film, Hallelujah!.
Jackson ran the Red Rose Minstrels, a travelling medicine show which toured Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama. As a talent scout for Brunswick Records, he discovered Rufus "Speckled Red" Perryman, gaining him his first recording session[3]. Shortly afterwards, in February 1930, Jackson recorded his own last session. He later moved back to Hernando, and continued to perform until his death in 1933.
Janis Joplin later recorded a version of "Kansas City Blues", inserting the lines "Babe, I'm leavin', yeah I'm a-leavin' this mornin' / Goin' to Kansas City to bring Jim Jackson home".
Jackson was a major influence on the Chicago bluesman J. B. Lenoir, and his "Kansas City Blues" was a regular fixture of Robert Nighthawk's concert set list.
The song "Wild About My Lovin'" was covered by The Lovin' Spoonful and released on their first "best of" album in 1967.
St. Louis Blues
Jim Jackson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I hate to see that evening sun go down
Cause my baby, he's gone left this town
Feelin' tomorrow like I feel today
If I'm feelin' tomorrow like I feel today
I'll pack my truck and make my give-a-way
Pulls that man around by her, if it wasn't for her and her
That man I love would have gone nowhere, nowhere
I got the St. Louis blues, blues as I can be
That man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea
Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me
I love my baby like a school boy loves his pie
Like a Kentucky colonel loves his mint 'n rye
I love my man till the day I die
The lyrics to Jim Jackson's "St. Louis Blues" captures the deep sense of loneliness and heartache that accompanies a lost love. The opening line, "I hate to see that evening sun go down," sets the mood for the rest of the song, providing a melancholic backdrop for the singer's woes. The second line, "Cause my baby, he's gone left this town," cements the narrative of the song, revealing that the singer's lover has left her and presumably moved on to another town.
The singer of the song goes on to describe her feelings of hopelessness, noting that she feels tomorrow will be no different than today, and that she may even have to leave town herself. The introduction of the St. Louis woman and her diamond ring is a poignant reminder of the ways in which love can be fickle, and how easily we can be left behind by those we love. The refrain of "I got the St. Louis blues" reinforces the sense of sadness and despair that permeates the song.
In the final verse, the singer reveals just how deeply she loves her baby, likening her love to that of a schoolboy for his pie, or a Kentucky colonel for his mint and rye. The line "I love my man till the day I die" is a powerful statement of devotion, revealing just how invested the singer is in her relationship.
Overall, Jim Jackson's "St. Louis Blues" is a heart-wrenching song that captures the pain of lost love, and the struggle to move on and find happiness in the wake of heartbreak.
Line by Line Meaning
I hate to see that evening sun go down
I'm saddened by the sunset as my lover is no longer here
Cause my baby, he's gone left this town
My partner has departed from this city, leaving me alone
Feelin' tomorrow like I feel today
If I wake up tomorrow, and feel the same way I do today
If I'm feelin' tomorrow like I feel today
Suppose my emotions are unchanged tomorrow
I'll pack my truck and make my give-a-way
Then, I will pack my belongings and depart suddenly
St. Louis woman with her diamond ring
The lady from St. Louis, adorned in her precious diamonds
Pulls that man around by her, if it wasn't for her and her
Controls and manipulates her man, without her influence he'd have gone nowhere
That man I love would have gone nowhere, nowhere
My lover would have achieved nothing, if not for her intervention
I got the St. Louis blues, blues as I can be
I am filled with misery, which is the St. Louis blues
That man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea
My partner has a hardened heart, like a stone thrown into the ocean
Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me
This is why he left me, if not for his hardened heart
I love my baby like a school boy loves his pie
I adore my lover as a young boy cherishes his favorite dessert
Like a Kentucky colonel loves his mint 'n rye
I cherish him as a Southern gentleman would cherish his favorite whiskey
I love my man till the day I die
I cherish my partner wholeheartedly, until my last breath
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: WILLIAM C HANDY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@danielgniewoehner4926
Well, I hate to see that evening sun go down
Well, I hate to see that evening sun go down
'Cause it make me think, "Am I on my last go-round?"
If I'm feeling tomorrow a-like I feel today
If I feel tomorrow like I feel today
I'm gonna pack my suitcase and make my long get-away
'Cause the St. Louis woman, she wears her diamond ring
She leads her man around by her apron string
If it wasn't for powder and this store-bought hair
Oh, the girl I love wouldn't go nowhere, hair, hair
I got the St. Louis blues and just as blue as I can be
My girl got a heart like a rock cast in the sea
That's the reason why she goes so far from me
I love my girl like a schoolboy loves his pie
A-like a Kentucky white man loves his rock-and-rye
I love my girl 'til the day I die
A red-headed woman make a freight train jump the track
A red-headed woman will make a freight train jump the track
And a black-headed gal will make a preacher ball the jack
I got the St. Louis blues and just as blue as I can be
My girl got a heart like a rock cast in the sea
That's the reason why she goes so far from me