Born Ruth Alston Weston on 30th January 1928 in Portsmouth, Virginia, she attended I. C. Norcom High School, a historically black high school. Brown's father was a dockhand who directed the local church choir, but the young Ruth showed more of an interest in singing at USO shows and nightclubs. She was inspired by Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington. In 1945, Brown ran away from her home in Portsmouth along with a trumpeter, Jimmy Brown, whom she soon married, to sing in bars and clubs. She then spent a month with Lucky Millinder's orchestra, but was fired after she brought drinks to the band for free, and was left stranded in Washington, D.C.
Blanche Calloway, Cab Calloway's sister, also a bandleader, arranged a gig for Brown at a Washington nightclub called Crystal Caverns and soon became her manager. Willis Conover, a Voice of America disc jockey, caught her act and recommended her to Atlantic Records bosses, Ahmet Ertegün and Herb Abramson. Brown was unable to audition as planned though, because of a serious car accident that resulted in a nine-month hospital stay. In 1948, however, Ertegün and Abramson drove to Washington from New York City to hear her sing in the club. Although her repertoire was mostly popular ballads, Ertegün convinced her to switch to rhythm and blues. His productions for her, however, retained her pop style, with clean, fresh arrangements and the singing spot on the beat with little of the usual blues singer's embroidery.
In her first audition, in 1949, she sang "So Long", which became a hit. This was followed by "Teardrops from My Eyes" in 1950; written by Rudy Toombs, it was the first upbeat major hit for Ruth Brown, establishing her as an important figure in R&B. Recorded for Atlantic Records in New York City in September 1950, and released in October, it was on Billboard's List of number-one R&B hits (United States) for eleven weeks. The huge hit earned her the nickname "Miss Rhythm", and within a few months Ruth Brown became the acknowledged queen of R&B.
She followed up this hit with "I'll Wait for You" (1951), "I Know" (1951), "5-10-15 Hours" (1953), "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" (1953), "Oh What a Dream" (1954), "Mambo Baby" (1954), and "Don't Deceive Me" (1960). She also became known as "Little Miss Rhythm" and "the girl with the teardrop in her voice". In all, she was on the R&B charts for 149 weeks from 1949 to 1955, with sixteen top-ten blues records including five number ones, and became Atlantic's most popular artist, earning Atlantic records the proper name of "The House that Ruth Built".
During the 1960s, Brown faded from public view to become a housewife and mother, and only returned to music in 1975 at the urging of Redd Foxx, followed by a series of comic acting gigs, including roles in the sitcom Hello, Larry and the John Waters film Hairspray as local DJ Motormouth Maybelle, as well as Broadway appearances in Amen Corner and Black and Blue, which earned her a Tony Award for her performance and a Grammy award for her album Blues on Broadway, featuring hits from the show.
Brown's fight for musicians' rights and royalties in 1987 led to the founding of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. She was inducted as a Pioneer Award recipient in its first year, 1989. In 1993, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as "The Queen Mother of the Blues".
She has become an iconic symbol to many black women for later generations, where she is also a favourite artist and inspiration for later blues artists such as Bonnie Raitt. Brown recorded and sang along with fellow rhythm and blues performer Charles Brown, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and toured with Raitt on Raitt's tour in the late 1990s, "Road Tested". Her 1995 autobiography, Miss Rhythm, won the Gleason Award for music journalism.
Brown died in a Las Vegas-area hospital on 17th November 2006, from complications following a heart attack and stroke she suffered after surgery in October 2006. A memorial concert for her was held on 22nd January 2007 at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York.
Stop Knockin
Ruth Brown Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I hate to see that evening sun go down,
'Cause my lovin' baby done left this town.
If I feel tomorrow, like I feel today,
If I feel tomorrow, like I feel today,
I'm gonna pack my trunk and make my getaway.
She pulls my man around by her apron strings.
And if it wasn't for powder and her store-bought hair,
Oh, that man of mine wouldn't go nowhere.
I got those St. Louis blues, just as blue as I can be,
Oh, my 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 man like a schoolboy loves his pie,
Like a Kentucky colonel loves his rocker and rye
I'll love my man until the day I die, Lord, Lord.
I got the St. Louis blues, just as blue as I can be, Lord, Lord!
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 got those St. Louis blues, I got the blues, I got the blues, I got the blues,
My man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea,
Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me, Lord, Lord!
The song “St. Louis Blues” is a classic blues tune about a woman in St. Louis who has lost her man. The first two stanzas express her sadness at the departure of her lover. She is dismayed to see the sun go down, because it is yet another day he is not with her. She sings that if she feels the same tomorrow as she does today, she will pack her things and leave, hoping to find him. The lyrics suggest that the woman is relentlessly pursuing her man, despite his absence.
The next lines speak of another woman in St. Louis who has apparently taken the singer’s man from her. She describes her rival as wearing diamond rings and keeping her man on a tight leash. But the singer is not without resources; she asserts that her man wouldn’t leave her but for her rival’s makeup and luxurious hair. The singer has the blues, but she is confident that she will win her man back.
The final stanza sums up the singer’s devotion to her man, stating that she loves him more than a schoolboy loves his pie, or a Kentucky colonel loves his favorite drink. She is determined to be with him until the end of her days. Overall, Ruth Brown's "St. Louis Blues" is a poignant expression of the depth of a woman's love for a man.
Line by Line Meaning
I hate to see that evening sun go down,
It pains me to witness the sunset, because it reminds me that my beloved partner has left this place.
If I feel tomorrow, like I feel today,
If my emotions remain the same tomorrow as they are today, I will prepare to leave.
Oh, that St. Louis woman, with her diamond rings,
That woman from St. Louis, with her ostentatious jewelry, has captivated the attention of my man.
She pulls my man around by her apron strings.
She manipulates and controls my partner, leading him to make decisions based on her desires.
And if it wasn't for powder and her store-bought hair,
If it weren't for her excessive makeup and purchased hair, my lover would never leave me.
Oh, that man of mine wouldn't go nowhere.
My partner wouldn't even consider leaving my side if it weren't for her influence.
I got those St. Louis blues, just as blue as I can be,
I am deeply saddened by my situation and filled with feelings of sorrow and despair.
Oh, my man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea,
My lover's heart has become hardened and unbreakable, just like a rock submerged in the ocean.
Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me.
If he was open to my love, he would not have traveled such a distance away from me.
I love my man like a schoolboy loves his pie,
My affection for my partner is pure and innocent, like the way a young boy loves his favorite dessert.
Like a Kentucky colonel loves his rocker and rye
My love is as strong and enduring as a Kentuckian's love for a classic whiskey drink.
I'll love my man until the day I die, Lord, Lord.
My devotion to my partner will never waver, even until my last breath.
I got the St. Louis blues, just as blue as I can be, Lord, Lord!
My feelings of sadness and despair are overwhelming and all-consuming.
That man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea,
My lover's heart has become a hardened, unmovable object, much like a rock in the ocean.
Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me, Lord, Lord!
If he had any love left for me, he would not have distanced himself so greatly.
Contributed by Aaliyah K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.