Black and Blue (Fats Waller song)

"(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue" is a 1929 jazz standard and racial protest song^[1]^[2] composed by Fats Waller and Harry Brooks with lyrics by Andy Razaf.^[3]

Composition and Debut

"Black and Blue" debuted in the Broadway musical Hot Chocolates (1929), sung by Edith Wilson. Razaf biographer Barry Singer recounts that the lyricist was coerced into writing the song (with music by Waller) by the show's financier, New York mobster Dutch Schultz, though Razaf subverted Schultz's directive that it be a comedic number:^[4]

He demanded a comedy song for a lady who says how tough it is to be black...He literally put a gun to Andy's head and told him that if he didn't write it he would never write again. The opening-night response to the song was silence -people were stunned. Then they went crazy. Andy hadn't written the comedy song Schultz wanted, but because it was a hit, Schultz left him alone.
— Barry Singer, author of "Black and Blue: The Life and Lyrics of Andy Razaf ^[5]

In the show, Wilson originally sang the song from a bed with white sheets, but the bed was removed after the first show due to the judgement that it was too suggestive.^[6] The show also included Waller's hit compositions "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose".^[7]

Other Versions

Louis Armstrong later performed and recorded the song several times omitting the opening verse.

Blues singer Ethel Waters's 1930 version of the song became a hit, and the song has been recorded by many artists since then.

Frankie Laine's 1946 version was featured in the 2011 video game L.A. Noire, as part of the in-game radio station, K.T.I. Radio.

The song is also featured in the prologue of Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man (1952) as its protagonist, while hiding underground in a basement with 1369 light bulbs, listens to the song being played by Armstrong and contemplates the "horrors of slavery" while smoking a reefer.^[8]

References

^ Holden, Stephen (8 February 1989). "A Lot of Hit Songs from an Unsung Lyricist". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
^ Gates, David (3 January 1993). "Harlem's Man Of Mystery". Newsweek. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
^ Copyright of Catalog Entires 1956, Archive.org - retrieved on 10 June 2024
^ Singer, Barry (1992). Black and Blue: The Life and Lyrics of Andy Razaf (PDF). New York: Schirmer Books. pp. 216–217. ISBN 9780028723952. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
^ Holden, Stephen (8 February 1989). "A Lot of Hit Songs from an Unsung Lyricist". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
^ Brothers, Thomas (2014). Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 346. ISBN 978-0-393-06582-4.
^ David Tenenholz: Fats Waller (Thomas Wright) Archived 2009-04-06 at the Wayback Machine at jazz.com - retrieved on 20 May 2009
^ Brothers, Thomas (2014). Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 354. ISBN 978-0-393-06582-4.