Victoria Spivey (October 15, 1906 – October 3, 1976) was an American blues … Read Full Bio ↴Victoria Spivey (October 15, 1906 – October 3, 1976) was an American blues singer and songwriter. During a recording career that spanned forty years, from 1926 to the mid-1960s, she worked with Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Clarence Williams, Luis Russell, Lonnie Johnson, and Bob Dylan. She also performed in vaudeville and clubs, sometimes with her sister, Sweet Pease Spivey. Among her compositions are "Black Snake Blues", "Dope Head Blues" and "Organ Grinder Blues". In 1962 she initiated her own recording label, Spivey Records.

She was born Victoria Regina Spivey in Houston, Texas, United States, the daughter of Grant and Addie (Smith) Spivey. Her father was a part-time musician and a flagman for the railroad; her mother was a nurse. Her sisters were Addie "Sweet Peas" Spivey (1910–1943), also a singer and musician, who recorded for several major record labels between 1929 and 1937, and Elton Island Spivey (1900–1971), who also followed a professional singing career as The Za Zu Girl.
Spivey's first professional experience was in a family string band led by her father in Houston. After Grant Spivey died, the seven-year-old Victoria played on her own at local parties and, in 1918, was hired to accompany films at the Lincoln Theater in Dallas. As a teenager, she worked in local bars, nightclubs, and buffet flats, mostly alone, but occasionally with singer-guitarists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson. In 1926, she moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where she was signed by Okeh Records. Her first recording, "Black Snake Blues", did well, and her association with the record label continued. She made numerous Okeh sides in New York until 1929, then switched to the RCA Victor label. Between 1931 and 1937, more recordings followed on the Vocalion and Decca labels, and, working out of New York, she maintained an active performance schedule. Spivey's recorded accompanists included King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Lonnie Johnson, and Red Allen. She recorded many of her own songs, which dwelt on disease, crime and outré sexual images.
The Depression did not put an end to Spivey's musical career; she found a new outlet for her talent in the year of the crash, when film director King Vidor cast her to play "Missy Rose" in his first sound film, Hallelujah! (1929). Through the 1930s and 1940s, Spivey continued to work in musical films and stage shows, often with her husband, vaudeville dancer Billy Adams, including the Hellzapoppin' Revue.
In 1951, Spivey retired from show business to play the pipe organ and lead a church choir, but she returned to secular music in 1961, when she was reunited with an old singing partner, Lonnie Johnson, to appear on four tracks on his Prestige Bluesville album, Idle Hours. The folk music revival of the 1960s gave her further opportunities to make at least a semblance of a comeback. She recorded again for Prestige Bluesville, sharing an album Songs We Taught Your Mother with fellow veterans Alberta Hunter and Lucille Hegamin and began making personal appearances at festivals and clubs.
In 1962, Spivey and jazz historian Len Kunstadt launched Spivey Records, a low-budget label dedicated to blues and related music. They recorded prolifically such performers as Sippie Wallace, Lucille Hegamin, Otis Rush, Otis Spann, Willie Dixon, Roosevelt Sykes, Big Joe Turner, Buddy Tate and Hannah Sylvester, as well as newer artists including Luther Johnson, Brenda Bell, Washboard Doc, Bill Dicey, Robert Ross, Sugar Blue, Paul Oscher, Danny Russo and Larry Johnson.
In March 1962, Bob Dylan contributed harmonica and back-up vocals, accompanying Victoria Spivey and Big Joe Williams on a recording for Spivey Records. The recordings were released on Three Kings And The Queen (Spivey LP 1004) and Kings And The Queen Volume Two (Spivey LP 1014). (Dylan was listed under his own name on the record covers.) In 1964 Spivey made her only recording with an all-white band: the Connecticut based Easy Riders Jazz Band, led by trombonist Big Bill Bissonnette. It was released first on an LP and later re-released on compact disc.
Spivey married four times; her husbands included Ruben Floyd and Billy Adams.
Victoria Spivey died in New York on October 3, 1976, at the age of 69, from an internal haemorrhage.

Hoodoo Man Blues
Victoria Spivey Lyrics

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When I was down in Alabama
There was a man from Louisiana
Claimed to know everything
And when the women would go to him
Here is what they would say:

They'd say, "I'm blue as I can be
Ain't got nobody under the sun loves me

I mean, I'm blue, blue, blue as I can be
So won't you please see
What you can do for me"

They'd tell the Hoodoo Man
Everybody's talkin' 'bout the Hoodoo Man
The women's all ravin' about
I'll take him in for you
Now if that'll have to do
Your man is yelling, too
I know he's through with you
And I mean, that I'm just the Hoodoo Man

I mean the Hoodoo Man
The girls is all ravin' about
The Hoodoo Man
The women's all crazy about
When he must do, yes, he's bound to do
Anything for you

You own your P's and Q's
What I mean, that I'm just a Hoodoo Man

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Victoria Spivey's "Hoodoo Man Blues" tell the story of a man from Louisiana who claims to know everything about hoodoo, a traditional African American form of spirituality and medicine often associated with the Gullah Geechee culture of the American South. The song implies that this man is some kind of spiritual advisor or healer, particularly for women who are feeling emotionally distressed or abandoned by their lovers. The women express their sadness and desperation to the Hoodoo Man, hoping that he can help them in some way to alleviate their suffering.

The phrase "Hoodoo Man" is used repeatedly throughout the song, underscoring the man's reputation as someone who possesses special knowledge and power. The women are described as "ravin' 'bout" him, suggesting that his reputation has spread through word of mouth and that he is famous on some level within the community. The song also implies that the Hoodoo Man has a certain amount of control over the women who seek his help, as they are described as "crazy" or "yellin'" and the verse ends with a warning to "own your P's and Q's," a colloquialism that suggests the need to be obedient and respectful.

Overall, "Hoodoo Man Blues" can be interpreted as a celebration of hoodoo as a cultural practice and as a way of coping with difficult circumstances. The song suggests that the Hoodoo Man is a figure of power and influence within the community, someone who can provide comfort and guidance to those in need.

Line by Line Meaning

When I was down in Alabama
During my time in Alabama

There was a man from Louisiana
I met a man from Louisiana

Claimed to know everything
He boasted that he knew everything

And when the women would go to him
Whenever the women visited him

Here is what they would say:
This is what they would tell him

They'd say, "I'm blue as I can be
They would confess, "I am extremely sad

Ain't got nobody under the sun loves me
I don't have anyone in the world who loves me

I mean, I'm blue, blue, blue as I can be
I'm really, really sad

So won't you please see
Could you please help me

What you can do for me"
By doing whatever you can to heal my sadness

They'd tell the Hoodoo Man
They would confide in the Hoodoo Man