1 00:00:25,021 --> 00:00:27,021 [crickets chirping] 2 00:00:31,396 --> 00:00:33,396 [birds hooting] 3 00:00:38,771 --> 00:00:41,271 [running footsteps] 4 00:00:42,729 --> 00:00:44,562 [panting] 5 00:00:50,646 --> 00:00:52,062 [dogs barking] 6 00:00:55,896 --> 00:00:57,687 [distant singing] 7 00:00:59,687 --> 00:01:01,062 [panting heavily] 8 00:01:05,812 --> 00:01:07,937 {\an8}-[people speaking indistinctly] -[laughs] 9 00:01:08,021 --> 00:01:09,521 {\an8}[singing continues] 10 00:01:20,646 --> 00:01:23,854 ♪ My bell rang this morning ♪ 11 00:01:24,562 --> 00:01:27,687 ♪ Didn't know which way to go ♪ 12 00:01:27,771 --> 00:01:29,021 [crowd cheering] 13 00:01:33,271 --> 00:01:36,354 ♪ My bell rang this morning ♪ 14 00:01:37,229 --> 00:01:40,771 ♪ Didn't know which way to go ♪ 15 00:01:40,854 --> 00:01:42,854 -[woman] Yeah, Ma! -[crowd cheering] 16 00:01:42,937 --> 00:01:43,771 [man] Yeah, baby! 17 00:01:44,979 --> 00:01:48,229 ♪ I had the blues so bad ♪ 18 00:01:49,187 --> 00:01:53,187 ♪ I sat down on my floor ♪ 19 00:01:53,271 --> 00:01:54,354 [loud cheering] 20 00:01:58,354 --> 00:02:00,979 ♪ Daddy, Daddy ♪ 21 00:02:01,521 --> 00:02:04,979 ♪ Please come home to me ♪ 22 00:02:05,062 --> 00:02:06,437 [cheering] 23 00:02:08,312 --> 00:02:10,521 [crowd clapping in rhythm] 24 00:02:10,604 --> 00:02:13,104 ♪ Daddy, Daddy ♪ 25 00:02:13,646 --> 00:02:17,646 ♪ Please come home to me ♪ 26 00:02:17,729 --> 00:02:18,979 [cheering] 27 00:02:21,937 --> 00:02:24,729 ♪ I'm on my way ♪ 28 00:02:25,854 --> 00:02:30,437 ♪ Crazy as I can be ♪ 29 00:02:30,521 --> 00:02:31,937 [crowd cheering] 30 00:02:35,437 --> 00:02:38,854 ♪ Oooh… ♪ 31 00:02:43,729 --> 00:02:46,604 ♪ Hmm… ♪ 32 00:02:48,521 --> 00:02:51,396 ♪ Hmm… ♪ 33 00:02:52,937 --> 00:02:55,687 [Ma Rainey vocalizing] 34 00:03:10,021 --> 00:03:11,604 [crowd cheering] 35 00:03:12,146 --> 00:03:13,271 ♪ Ah! ♪ 36 00:03:13,354 --> 00:03:15,521 ♪ Daddy, Daddy ♪ 37 00:03:16,271 --> 00:03:19,729 ♪ Please come home to me ♪ 38 00:03:21,604 --> 00:03:22,687 [loud cheering] 39 00:03:23,854 --> 00:03:26,604 ♪ Daddy, Daddy ♪ 40 00:03:26,687 --> 00:03:28,771 ♪ Please come home to me ♪ 41 00:03:33,104 --> 00:03:35,646 ♪ I'm on my way ♪ 42 00:03:36,437 --> 00:03:39,896 ♪ Crazy as I can be ♪ 43 00:03:52,979 --> 00:03:53,896 ♪ Hey ♪ 44 00:03:54,812 --> 00:03:55,729 ♪ Hey, Daddy ♪ 45 00:03:57,312 --> 00:03:59,979 ♪ Please come home to me ♪ 46 00:04:01,562 --> 00:04:02,604 ♪ Hey ♪ 47 00:04:02,687 --> 00:04:04,104 ♪ Oh, yeah! ♪ 48 00:04:04,187 --> 00:04:07,021 ♪ I'm on my way ♪ 49 00:04:07,604 --> 00:04:11,021 ♪ Crazy as I can be ♪ 50 00:04:11,854 --> 00:04:13,354 [crowd cheering loudly] 51 00:04:14,896 --> 00:04:16,104 [rumbling] 52 00:04:18,771 --> 00:04:19,854 [hammering] 53 00:04:33,771 --> 00:04:35,104 [horn honking] 54 00:04:40,937 --> 00:04:42,562 [upbeat jazz music playing] 55 00:04:53,187 --> 00:04:54,437 [horns honking] 56 00:04:55,729 --> 00:04:56,896 [mechanical whirring] 57 00:05:00,396 --> 00:05:02,604 Testing, testing, one, two, three. 58 00:05:02,687 --> 00:05:04,771 Testing, one, two, three. 59 00:05:04,854 --> 00:05:07,437 -Testing, testing, one, two-- -Got that list? 60 00:05:07,521 --> 00:05:09,396 Uh, I got it. Don't worry about it. 61 00:05:09,479 --> 00:05:11,604 I'm holding you responsible. You keep her in line. 62 00:05:11,687 --> 00:05:14,812 I'm not putting up with any shenanigans. You hear, Irv? Irv? 63 00:05:14,896 --> 00:05:16,521 [lively piano music playing] 64 00:05:16,604 --> 00:05:17,521 Irv? 65 00:05:19,312 --> 00:05:20,146 Irv! 66 00:05:21,146 --> 00:05:23,979 Not putting up with any Royal Highness, Queen of the Blues bullshit. 67 00:05:24,062 --> 00:05:27,271 Mother of the Blues, Mel. Mother of the Blues. 68 00:05:27,354 --> 00:05:29,021 [upbeat jazz music playing] 69 00:05:48,437 --> 00:05:51,187 Heh. You should've heard Levee at the club last night, Toledo. 70 00:05:51,271 --> 00:05:53,062 Trying to talk to that gal Ma had with her. 71 00:05:53,146 --> 00:05:56,021 You ain't got to tell me. I know how Levee do. 72 00:05:56,104 --> 00:05:58,729 Levee tried talking to her and got his feelings hurt. 73 00:05:59,437 --> 00:06:00,687 I want you to get her in here, 74 00:06:00,771 --> 00:06:02,854 record those songs on that list, and get her out. 75 00:06:02,937 --> 00:06:03,771 -Just like clockwork. -[doorbell buzzes] 76 00:06:03,854 --> 00:06:05,479 Like clockwork, Mel. 77 00:06:05,562 --> 00:06:08,312 And that horn player, the one who gave me those songs, 78 00:06:08,396 --> 00:06:09,854 is he going to be here today? 79 00:06:09,937 --> 00:06:12,604 -I want to hear more of that sound. -How you boys doing, Cutler? 80 00:06:12,687 --> 00:06:14,271 [Cutler] Fine, Mr. Irvin. 81 00:06:14,354 --> 00:06:15,729 Where's Ma? She with ya? 82 00:06:15,812 --> 00:06:16,854 I don't know. 83 00:06:16,937 --> 00:06:18,646 She told us to be here at 1:00. That's all I know. 84 00:06:19,771 --> 00:06:21,229 Where's the, uh, horn player? 85 00:06:21,312 --> 00:06:24,604 Levee's supposed to be here same as we is. I reckon he'll be here in a minute. 86 00:06:24,687 --> 00:06:26,479 [upbeat jazz music playing] 87 00:06:30,604 --> 00:06:31,729 [horn honking] 88 00:06:37,146 --> 00:06:39,937 Hey, hey, hey. Good morning, Chicago. 89 00:06:40,646 --> 00:06:42,521 -[both chuckling] -[woman] He ain't from 'round here now. 90 00:06:47,479 --> 00:06:49,396 [tires screech, horn honks] 91 00:06:56,146 --> 00:06:59,104 Come on in. I'll get you fed and ready to make some music. 92 00:06:59,187 --> 00:07:00,062 [Cutler] Right. 93 00:07:00,146 --> 00:07:01,271 Right down the hall. 94 00:07:02,229 --> 00:07:03,979 Where's Ma? How come she isn't with the band? 95 00:07:04,062 --> 00:07:07,521 Everything's under control, Mel. I got everything under control. 96 00:07:08,104 --> 00:07:10,646 Cutler, here's the list of songs we're going to record. 97 00:07:12,354 --> 00:07:13,812 [chuckles] 98 00:07:14,479 --> 00:07:17,187 [Mel] Why isn't she here? And where's that horn player? 99 00:07:28,729 --> 00:07:30,479 What we got there, Toledo? 100 00:07:30,562 --> 00:07:31,812 Eh, we got, uh… 101 00:07:35,437 --> 00:07:38,187 Mmm. "Prove It on Me," "Hear Me Talking to You," 102 00:07:38,271 --> 00:07:40,604 "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," "Moonshine Blues." 103 00:07:40,687 --> 00:07:42,521 Oh. Them ain't the songs Ma told me. 104 00:07:42,604 --> 00:07:45,562 I wouldn't worry about it if I was you. Ma'll get it straightened out. 105 00:07:45,646 --> 00:07:46,854 [Cutler] "Moonshine Blues." 106 00:07:46,937 --> 00:07:49,729 That's one of them songs Bessie Smith sang, I believes. 107 00:07:49,812 --> 00:07:51,771 Eh, Slow Drag's right. I wouldn't worry about it. 108 00:07:51,854 --> 00:07:54,104 Levee know what time he's supposed to be here? 109 00:07:54,187 --> 00:07:56,729 Levee left the hotel talking about he was gonna buy shoes. 110 00:07:56,812 --> 00:07:58,812 Says it's the first time he beat you shooting craps. 111 00:07:58,896 --> 00:07:59,729 [all laughing] 112 00:07:59,812 --> 00:08:02,646 -I ain't thinking about no four dollars. -[Slow Drag] Levee sure was. 113 00:08:02,729 --> 00:08:03,771 [Toledo] Let me get a hit of that. 114 00:08:03,854 --> 00:08:05,312 [Slow Drag] That four dollars liked to burn a hole in his pocket. 115 00:08:05,396 --> 00:08:06,896 He's supposed to be here at 1:00. 116 00:08:07,479 --> 00:08:10,479 -That's some good Chicago bourbon. -[Levee] Look here, Cutler! 117 00:08:11,146 --> 00:08:14,187 -[in sing-song] I got me some shoes. -[Slow Drag] Ooh! 118 00:08:14,271 --> 00:08:16,562 Nigga, I ain't studying you. 119 00:08:16,646 --> 00:08:19,062 [Toledo] How much you pay for something like that, Levee? 120 00:08:19,146 --> 00:08:21,687 Eleven dollars. Four dollars of it belong to Cutler. 121 00:08:21,771 --> 00:08:24,812 Ooh! Levee say if it wasn't for Cutler, he wouldn't have no new shoes. 122 00:08:24,896 --> 00:08:26,687 I ain't thinking about Levee or his shoes. 123 00:08:26,771 --> 00:08:29,312 -[laughing] -[Cutler] Let's get ready to rehearse. 124 00:08:29,396 --> 00:08:32,396 [Slow Drag] I'm with you on that score. Don't want to be here all night. 125 00:08:32,479 --> 00:08:34,146 [Toledo] Ain't but four songs on the list. 126 00:08:34,229 --> 00:08:35,771 Last time there was six songs. 127 00:08:35,854 --> 00:08:38,896 Yeah. Now I'm ready. 128 00:08:41,062 --> 00:08:43,146 I can play some good music now. 129 00:08:43,229 --> 00:08:44,771 [upright bass playing] 130 00:08:45,854 --> 00:08:48,771 Damn! They done changed things around. 131 00:08:48,854 --> 00:08:50,687 Don't never leave well enough alone. 132 00:08:50,771 --> 00:08:55,146 Yeah, everything changing all the time. Even the air you breathing change. 133 00:08:55,229 --> 00:08:59,937 Yeah, you got, uh, monoxide, hydrogen, changing all the time. 134 00:09:00,021 --> 00:09:03,271 Skin changing. Different molecules. Everything. 135 00:09:03,354 --> 00:09:05,021 Nigga, what is you talking about? 136 00:09:05,104 --> 00:09:08,021 I'm talking about the room, I ain't talking about no skin and air. 137 00:09:08,104 --> 00:09:11,271 I'm talking about something I can see. I ain't talking about no molecules. 138 00:09:11,354 --> 00:09:13,896 I know what you talking about. You don't know what I'm talking about. 139 00:09:13,979 --> 00:09:17,646 That door. You see that door? That's what I'm talking about. 140 00:09:17,729 --> 00:09:19,021 Door wasn't there before. 141 00:09:19,104 --> 00:09:23,146 You wouldn't know your right from left. And damn if that door wasn't there. 142 00:09:23,229 --> 00:09:25,312 If you talking about they done switched rooms, you right. 143 00:09:25,396 --> 00:09:26,979 But don't go telling me that door wasn't there. 144 00:09:27,062 --> 00:09:29,312 Damn the door and let's do this. I want to get out of here. 145 00:09:29,396 --> 00:09:32,479 Toledo started all that about the door. I'm just saying that things change. 146 00:09:32,562 --> 00:09:35,979 What you think I was saying? Things change. The air and everything. 147 00:09:36,062 --> 00:09:38,271 Now you gonna say you was saying it. 148 00:09:38,354 --> 00:09:40,812 You gonna fit two propositions on the same track, 149 00:09:40,896 --> 00:09:43,104 run them into each other, and 'cause they crash, 150 00:09:43,187 --> 00:09:44,896 you gonna say it's the same train? 151 00:09:44,979 --> 00:09:47,646 -Now this nigga talking about trains. -[Cutler laughs] 152 00:09:47,729 --> 00:09:52,562 We done went from the air to the skin to the door and now trains. 153 00:09:52,646 --> 00:09:56,229 Toledo, I'd just like to be inside your head for five minutes 154 00:09:56,312 --> 00:09:57,646 just to see how you think. 155 00:09:57,729 --> 00:10:00,396 You done got more shit piled up and mixed up in there 156 00:10:00,479 --> 00:10:01,854 -than the devil got sinners. -[laughing] 157 00:10:01,937 --> 00:10:03,771 You been reading too many goddamn books. 158 00:10:03,854 --> 00:10:05,812 What you care about how much I read? 159 00:10:06,854 --> 00:10:08,479 I'm gonna ignore you 'cause you're ignorant. 160 00:10:08,562 --> 00:10:10,562 -Let's rehearse the music. -All right. 161 00:10:10,646 --> 00:10:12,271 You ain't gotta rehearse that. 162 00:10:12,354 --> 00:10:14,229 Ain't nothing but old jug-band music. 163 00:10:14,312 --> 00:10:15,937 They need one of them jug bands for this. 164 00:10:16,021 --> 00:10:18,021 Don't make no difference to me, long as we get paid. 165 00:10:18,104 --> 00:10:20,521 That ain't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about art. 166 00:10:20,604 --> 00:10:22,937 What's drawing got to do with it? 167 00:10:23,562 --> 00:10:25,479 Where you get this nigga from, Cutler? 168 00:10:25,562 --> 00:10:27,687 He sound like one of them Alabama niggas. 169 00:10:27,771 --> 00:10:29,771 It's Slow Drag, all right. 170 00:10:29,854 --> 00:10:31,229 Just play the piece, nigga. 171 00:10:31,312 --> 00:10:34,437 If you want to be one of them, uh, what you call virtuosos or something, 172 00:10:34,521 --> 00:10:36,146 you're in the wrong place. 173 00:10:36,229 --> 00:10:39,021 You ain't no King Oliver or Buddy Bolden. 174 00:10:39,104 --> 00:10:41,937 You're just an old trumpet player come a dime a dozen. 175 00:10:42,021 --> 00:10:42,979 Talking about art. 176 00:10:43,062 --> 00:10:45,646 What is you? I don't see your name in lights. 177 00:10:45,729 --> 00:10:49,021 I just play the piece. Whatever they want. I don't criticize other people's music. 178 00:10:49,604 --> 00:10:51,854 I ain't like you, Cutler. I got talent. 179 00:10:51,937 --> 00:10:53,146 -Oh, shit. -Ooh. 180 00:10:53,229 --> 00:10:55,646 Me and this horn, we's tight. 181 00:10:55,729 --> 00:10:57,937 If my daddy had a knowed I was gonna turn out like this, 182 00:10:58,021 --> 00:10:59,396 he woulda named me Gabriel. 183 00:10:59,479 --> 00:11:00,604 [all] Oh! 184 00:11:00,687 --> 00:11:02,854 I'm gonna get me a band and make me some records. 185 00:11:03,687 --> 00:11:05,771 I done give Mr. Sturdyvant some of my songs I wrote, 186 00:11:05,854 --> 00:11:07,937 and he say he gonna let me record them when I get my band together. 187 00:11:08,021 --> 00:11:10,354 I just gotta finish the last part of this song. 188 00:11:10,437 --> 00:11:13,854 I knows how to play real music, not this old jug-band shit. 189 00:11:13,937 --> 00:11:14,771 I got style. 190 00:11:14,854 --> 00:11:16,521 Oh, everybody got style. 191 00:11:16,604 --> 00:11:19,729 Style ain't nothing but keeping the same idea from beginning to end. 192 00:11:19,812 --> 00:11:21,187 Everybody got it. 193 00:11:21,271 --> 00:11:23,021 Everybody can't play like I do. 194 00:11:23,104 --> 00:11:24,937 Everybody can't have their own band. 195 00:11:25,021 --> 00:11:27,396 Until you get your own band where you can play what you want, 196 00:11:27,479 --> 00:11:29,062 play the piece and stop complaining. 197 00:11:29,146 --> 00:11:32,062 I told you when you came on here, this ain't none of them hot bands. 198 00:11:32,146 --> 00:11:35,562 This is an accompaniment band. You play Ma's music when you're here. 199 00:11:35,646 --> 00:11:37,271 I got sense enough to know that. 200 00:11:37,354 --> 00:11:39,187 I could look at y'all and see what kind of band it is. 201 00:11:39,271 --> 00:11:41,396 I could look at Toledo and see what kind of band it is. 202 00:11:41,479 --> 00:11:44,854 Oh, now Toledo ain't said nothing to you. Don't get Toledo started now. 203 00:11:44,937 --> 00:11:46,979 Is you all gonna rehearse the music or ain't you? 204 00:11:47,062 --> 00:11:49,062 How many times you done play them songs? 205 00:11:49,146 --> 00:11:51,771 -What you gotta rehearse for? -This a recording session. 206 00:11:51,854 --> 00:11:53,646 I want to get it right the first time and get on out of here. 207 00:11:53,729 --> 00:11:55,854 Well, y'all go on and rehearse, then. 208 00:11:55,937 --> 00:11:58,729 I'm going to finish this song for Mr. Sturdyvant. 209 00:11:59,437 --> 00:12:00,354 [hums] 210 00:12:02,396 --> 00:12:05,021 Levee, I don't want no shit. You rehearse like everybody else. 211 00:12:05,104 --> 00:12:06,812 You in the band just like everybody else. 212 00:12:06,896 --> 00:12:09,104 Mr. Sturdyvant gonna have to wait. It's the band's time. 213 00:12:09,187 --> 00:12:12,354 I'm ready if you want to rehearse. I said there ain't no point in it. 214 00:12:12,437 --> 00:12:13,896 Ma ain't here. What's the point? 215 00:12:13,979 --> 00:12:18,562 "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." One, two, you know what to do. 216 00:12:22,396 --> 00:12:23,687 [horns honking] 217 00:12:24,229 --> 00:12:25,771 [blues music playing] 218 00:12:27,687 --> 00:12:31,229 No, no, no. No, no. We ain't doing it that way. 219 00:12:31,312 --> 00:12:33,562 We doing my version. That's what Mr. Irvin told me. 220 00:12:33,646 --> 00:12:35,021 Say it's on the list he gave. 221 00:12:35,104 --> 00:12:36,312 Let me worry about what's on the list. 222 00:12:36,396 --> 00:12:38,396 What sense it make to rehearse the wrong version? 223 00:12:38,479 --> 00:12:40,229 You supposed to rehearse what you gonna play. 224 00:12:40,312 --> 00:12:42,146 -That's the way they taught me. -That's what I'm trying to say. 225 00:12:42,229 --> 00:12:43,812 You trying to tell me what we is and ain't gonna play, 226 00:12:43,896 --> 00:12:45,312 and that ain't none of your business. 227 00:12:45,396 --> 00:12:47,229 Your business is to play what I say. 228 00:12:47,312 --> 00:12:48,271 Oh. I see now. 229 00:12:48,354 --> 00:12:50,812 You done got jealous 'cause Mr. Irvin using my version. 230 00:12:50,896 --> 00:12:53,021 [scoffs] What I got  to be jealous of you about? 231 00:12:53,104 --> 00:12:55,229 The day I get jealous of you, I may as well lay down and die. 232 00:12:55,312 --> 00:12:58,021 Levee started all that 'cause he too lazy to rehearse. 233 00:12:58,104 --> 00:13:01,021 Where's the paper? Look at the paper. See what it say. 234 00:13:01,104 --> 00:13:02,187 Gonna tell me I'm too lazy to rehearse. 235 00:13:02,271 --> 00:13:03,729 [Cutler] We ain't talking about the paper. 236 00:13:03,812 --> 00:13:06,021 We talking about you understanding where you fit in here. 237 00:13:06,104 --> 00:13:08,646 -You play what I say. -I don't care what you play. 238 00:13:08,729 --> 00:13:11,729 Mr. Irvin gonna straighten it up. I don't care what you play. 239 00:13:11,812 --> 00:13:13,604 You boys know what's keeping Ma? 240 00:13:14,604 --> 00:13:16,104 Uh… 241 00:13:16,187 --> 00:13:19,021 Can't say, Mr. Irvin. She'll be along directly, I reckon. 242 00:13:19,104 --> 00:13:20,229 Well, you go ahead. 243 00:13:20,312 --> 00:13:23,562 Mr. Irvin… [chuckles] About these songs… 244 00:13:24,229 --> 00:13:25,396 Whatever's on the list. 245 00:13:25,479 --> 00:13:26,812 I'm talking about this "Black Bottom." 246 00:13:27,354 --> 00:13:29,854 -It's on the list. -Yes, sir, I know it's on the list. 247 00:13:29,937 --> 00:13:32,729 But I just want to know which version. We got two versions of that song. 248 00:13:32,812 --> 00:13:35,521 Oh, Levee's version. We're using Levee's arrangement. 249 00:13:36,437 --> 00:13:39,062 [Cutler] Okay, got that straight. Now about this "Moonshine Blues." 250 00:13:39,146 --> 00:13:41,771 Yeah, we'll work it out with Ma, Cutler. 251 00:13:41,854 --> 00:13:44,229 You boys just rehearse whatever's on that list. 252 00:13:46,396 --> 00:13:48,354 See, I told you! 253 00:13:48,437 --> 00:13:51,729 It don't mean nothing when I say it. You got to wait for Mr. Irvin to say it. 254 00:13:51,812 --> 00:13:52,896 I told you the way it is. 255 00:13:52,979 --> 00:13:55,437 The sooner you understand it ain't what you say, 256 00:13:55,521 --> 00:13:58,271 or what Mr. Irvin say, it's what Ma say that count. 257 00:13:58,354 --> 00:14:00,729 I don't care what you play. Don't matter to me. 258 00:14:00,812 --> 00:14:03,354 Mr. Irvin gonna straighten it up. I don't care what you play. 259 00:14:03,437 --> 00:14:06,271 Thank you. All right, let's, uh, play this "Hear Me Talking to You" 260 00:14:06,354 --> 00:14:08,396 till we figure out what's going on with this "Black Bottom." 261 00:14:08,479 --> 00:14:12,312 One, two, you know what to do. 262 00:14:12,396 --> 00:14:14,479 [piano music playing] 263 00:14:17,312 --> 00:14:19,146 [blues music playing] 264 00:14:49,562 --> 00:14:52,354 Don't nobody say when it comes to Ma. She gonna do what she wanna do. 265 00:14:52,437 --> 00:14:54,521 Mr. Irvin the one putting out the record. 266 00:14:54,604 --> 00:14:55,896 He gonna put out what she want him to put out. 267 00:14:55,979 --> 00:14:58,479 Levee confused about who the boss is. He don't know Ma's the boss. 268 00:14:58,562 --> 00:15:00,521 You know how many records she sold in New York? 269 00:15:00,604 --> 00:15:03,687 And you know what's in New York? Harlem. Harlem's in New York. 270 00:15:03,771 --> 00:15:05,187 [Slow Drag] So what if they didn't sell in New York? 271 00:15:05,271 --> 00:15:07,104 We packed them in in Memphis, Birmingham, Atlanta. 272 00:15:07,187 --> 00:15:10,312 We ain't in Memphis. We in Chicago. We in a recording session. 273 00:15:10,396 --> 00:15:12,646 Mr. Sturdyvant and Mr. Irvin say what's gonna be here. 274 00:15:12,729 --> 00:15:14,312 [blues music continues] 275 00:15:28,562 --> 00:15:30,187 You heard what the man told you. 276 00:15:30,271 --> 00:15:32,896 "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." Levee's arrangement. 277 00:15:32,979 --> 00:15:34,896 There you go. That's what he told you. 278 00:15:34,979 --> 00:15:37,146 I don't know why y'all want to pick with me about it. 279 00:15:37,229 --> 00:15:39,687 I'm with Slow Drag. Let's go and get it rehearsed. 280 00:15:39,771 --> 00:15:42,521 All right, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," Levee's version. 281 00:15:42,604 --> 00:15:45,021 [Toledo] How that first part go again there, Lev? 282 00:15:45,104 --> 00:15:46,062 It go like this. 283 00:15:47,354 --> 00:15:49,271 [playing lively tune on trumpet] 284 00:15:52,146 --> 00:15:53,729 That's to get the people's attention. 285 00:15:53,812 --> 00:15:56,604 That's when you and Slow Drag come in with the rhythm, 286 00:15:56,687 --> 00:15:58,354 me and Cutler play on the breaks. 287 00:15:58,437 --> 00:16:00,312 The man asked how the part go. Ain't ask for all that. 288 00:16:00,396 --> 00:16:01,771 "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." 289 00:16:02,354 --> 00:16:04,771 One, two, you know what to do. 290 00:16:13,146 --> 00:16:17,812 Hey, hey, hey. Y'all gotta keep up now. You playing in the wrong time. 291 00:16:17,896 --> 00:16:20,687 Will you let us play this song? We been playing before you was born. 292 00:16:20,771 --> 00:16:22,312 Trying to tell us how to play. 293 00:16:22,396 --> 00:16:24,021 All right. Let's try again. 294 00:16:24,104 --> 00:16:25,646 Wait a minute. Let me fix this. 295 00:16:25,729 --> 00:16:27,354 This string starting to unravel, 296 00:16:27,437 --> 00:16:29,896 and you know I want to play Levee's music right. 297 00:16:29,979 --> 00:16:32,479 If you was any kind of musician, you'd take care of your instrument. 298 00:16:32,562 --> 00:16:34,146 Keep it in tip-top order. 299 00:16:34,229 --> 00:16:37,229 If you was any kind of musician, I'd let you be in my band. 300 00:16:37,312 --> 00:16:38,687 -Shit. -Damn! 301 00:16:39,687 --> 00:16:41,729 Slow Drag, watch them big-ass shoes you got. 302 00:16:41,812 --> 00:16:43,271 Ain't nobody done nothing to you. 303 00:16:43,354 --> 00:16:44,271 You done stepped on my shoes. 304 00:16:44,354 --> 00:16:45,854 Then move them out the way. 305 00:16:45,937 --> 00:16:47,479 You was in my way. I wasn't in your way. 306 00:16:47,562 --> 00:16:50,312 Any man who takes a whole week's pay and puts it on some shoes, 307 00:16:50,396 --> 00:16:51,646 understand what I mean, 308 00:16:51,729 --> 00:16:53,979 what you walk around on the ground with, is a fool. 309 00:16:54,062 --> 00:16:55,187 And I don't mind telling him. 310 00:16:55,271 --> 00:16:56,854 What difference it make to you? 311 00:16:56,937 --> 00:16:59,104 Ain't nothing wrong with having nice shoes. 312 00:16:59,979 --> 00:17:01,646 -Look at Toledo. -[Levee] Ooh! 313 00:17:01,729 --> 00:17:02,771 [all laughing] 314 00:17:02,854 --> 00:17:04,062 What? 315 00:17:06,229 --> 00:17:07,562 What was that about Toledo? 316 00:17:08,146 --> 00:17:11,062 Nigga got them clodhoppers. Old brogans. 317 00:17:11,146 --> 00:17:13,396 He ain't nothing but a sharecropper. 318 00:17:14,271 --> 00:17:15,437 Hey, Slow Drag. 319 00:17:17,187 --> 00:17:18,562 Play something for me. 320 00:17:18,646 --> 00:17:20,104 [playing upbeat tune] 321 00:17:23,187 --> 00:17:26,312 A man gotta have some shoes to dance like this. 322 00:17:27,354 --> 00:17:30,604 He can't dance like this with them clodhoppers Toledo got. 323 00:17:30,687 --> 00:17:33,812 That's the trouble with colored folks, always looking to have a good time. 324 00:17:33,896 --> 00:17:35,812 More niggas have got killed trying to have a good time 325 00:17:35,896 --> 00:17:37,479 than God got ways to count. 326 00:17:38,271 --> 00:17:41,896 ♪ When the world goes wrong And I got the blues ♪ 327 00:17:41,979 --> 00:17:45,354 What the hell having a good time mean? That's what I want to know. 328 00:17:45,437 --> 00:17:47,562 Got to be more to life than just having a good time. 329 00:17:47,646 --> 00:17:49,979 If there ain't, then this is a piss-poor life we're living 330 00:17:50,062 --> 00:17:51,854 if that's all there is to be got out of it. 331 00:17:53,562 --> 00:17:56,021 Niggas been having a good time before you was born, 332 00:17:56,104 --> 00:17:58,604 and they gonna keep having a good time after you gone. 333 00:17:58,687 --> 00:18:01,479 Nobody talking about making the lot for the colored man 334 00:18:01,562 --> 00:18:02,979 better for him here in America. 335 00:18:03,062 --> 00:18:05,479 Ain't nobody thinking about what kind of life, 336 00:18:05,562 --> 00:18:07,021 the world they gonna leave for the young'uns. 337 00:18:07,104 --> 00:18:10,229 It's just, "Show me a good time. That's all I want." 338 00:18:10,312 --> 00:18:12,354 Aw. It just makes me sick. 339 00:18:12,437 --> 00:18:14,146 Good times is what makes life worth living. 340 00:18:14,229 --> 00:18:15,104 Uh-huh. 341 00:18:15,187 --> 00:18:18,229 Hey, I know how to have a good time as well as the next man. 342 00:18:18,729 --> 00:18:20,187 Yeah. 343 00:18:20,271 --> 00:18:23,687 I just said there's got to be more to life than just having a good time. 344 00:18:23,771 --> 00:18:26,146 I said, the colored man ought to be doing more 345 00:18:26,229 --> 00:18:28,479 than trying to have a good time all the time. 346 00:18:30,687 --> 00:18:32,479 Well, what is you doing, nigga? 347 00:18:32,562 --> 00:18:34,229 You're talking all them highfalutin ideas 348 00:18:34,312 --> 00:18:36,146 about making a better world for the colored man. 349 00:18:36,229 --> 00:18:37,896 What is you doing to make it better? 350 00:18:37,979 --> 00:18:42,021 You playing the music and looking for your next piece of pussy same as we is. 351 00:18:42,104 --> 00:18:43,604 What is you doing? 352 00:18:43,687 --> 00:18:46,771 It ain't just me, fool. I said everybody. 353 00:18:46,854 --> 00:18:50,271 You think I'm gonna solve the colored man's problem all by myself? 354 00:18:50,354 --> 00:18:53,104 I said "we." You understand that? 355 00:18:53,187 --> 00:18:56,271 We? That's every living colored man in the world 356 00:18:56,354 --> 00:18:59,021 got to do his share, got to do his part. 357 00:18:59,104 --> 00:19:01,437 I ain't talking about what I'm gonna do or you gonna do, 358 00:19:01,521 --> 00:19:04,104 or Cutler, Slow Drag, anybody else. 359 00:19:04,187 --> 00:19:08,312 I'm talking about what all of us gonna do together. 360 00:19:08,396 --> 00:19:10,271 That's what I'm talking about, nigga. 361 00:19:11,687 --> 00:19:13,771 Well, why ain't you just say that then? 362 00:19:13,854 --> 00:19:15,312 [Slow Drag laughing] 363 00:19:16,146 --> 00:19:19,187 Toledo, I don't know why you waste your time with this fool. 364 00:19:19,812 --> 00:19:21,312 I ain't gonna be too many more of your fools. 365 00:19:21,396 --> 00:19:22,896 Ain't nobody studying you. 366 00:19:22,979 --> 00:19:25,437 All right, I ain't nobody. Don't pay me no mind. 367 00:19:25,521 --> 00:19:27,021 Ain't nobody but the devil. 368 00:19:27,104 --> 00:19:28,646 There you go. That's who I am. 369 00:19:28,729 --> 00:19:30,396 I'm the devil. I ain't nothing but the devil. 370 00:19:30,479 --> 00:19:33,354 -I know a man sold his soul to the devil. -[all groan] 371 00:19:33,437 --> 00:19:36,937 Name of Eliza Cotter. Lived in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. 372 00:19:37,021 --> 00:19:37,896 [laughs] 373 00:19:37,979 --> 00:19:40,812 Devil came by and he upped and sold him his soul. 374 00:19:40,896 --> 00:19:43,979 Nigga, how you know this man done sold his soul to the devil? 375 00:19:44,062 --> 00:19:46,229 You talking some old-woman foolishness. 376 00:19:46,312 --> 00:19:48,604 Everybody know. It wasn't no secret. 377 00:19:48,687 --> 00:19:51,062 He went around working for the devil and everybody knowed it. 378 00:19:51,146 --> 00:19:53,729 Carried him a bag. One of them carpet bags. 379 00:19:53,812 --> 00:19:56,354 Folks say he carried the devil's papers and whatnot 380 00:19:56,437 --> 00:19:58,771 where he put your fingerprint on the paper with blood. 381 00:19:58,854 --> 00:20:00,562 Where he at now? That's what I want to know. 382 00:20:00,646 --> 00:20:02,896 He can have my whole handprint if he want to. 383 00:20:02,979 --> 00:20:04,646 Showed up one day all fancied out 384 00:20:04,729 --> 00:20:07,437 in the finest clothes you ever seen on a colored man. 385 00:20:08,187 --> 00:20:11,187 Pocketful of money, just living the life of a rich man. 386 00:20:11,854 --> 00:20:14,021 Had him a string of women he run around with 387 00:20:14,104 --> 00:20:15,687 and throw his money away on. 388 00:20:15,771 --> 00:20:18,187 One of the fellas of them gals he was messing with 389 00:20:18,271 --> 00:20:20,646 got fixed on him wrong and Eliza killed him. 390 00:20:20,729 --> 00:20:22,646 And laughed about it. 391 00:20:22,729 --> 00:20:25,021 Sheriff come and arrest him and let him go. 392 00:20:25,104 --> 00:20:27,354 Trial come up. Judge cut him loose. 393 00:20:27,437 --> 00:20:28,271 Cut him loose 394 00:20:28,354 --> 00:20:30,687 -and give him a bottle of whiskey. -[Cutler whistles] 395 00:20:30,771 --> 00:20:32,562 Folks ask what done happened to make him change, 396 00:20:32,646 --> 00:20:35,896 and he tell them straight-out he done sold his soul to the devil 397 00:20:35,979 --> 00:20:37,646 and asked them if they wanted to sell theirs, too, 398 00:20:37,729 --> 00:20:39,437 'cause he could arrange it for them. 399 00:20:39,521 --> 00:20:42,396 Hold on. What happened to this fella? That's what I want to know. 400 00:20:42,479 --> 00:20:45,271 Last I heard, he headed up north with that bag of his, 401 00:20:45,354 --> 00:20:47,229 handing out $100 bills on the spot 402 00:20:47,312 --> 00:20:49,646 to whoever wanted to sign on with the devil. 403 00:20:49,729 --> 00:20:51,979 Hmm. I sure wish I knew where he went. 404 00:20:52,062 --> 00:20:53,479 He wouldn't have to convince me long. 405 00:20:53,562 --> 00:20:55,146 Hell, I'd even help him sign people up. 406 00:20:55,229 --> 00:20:59,187 Nigga, God gonna strike you down with that blasphemy you talking. 407 00:20:59,271 --> 00:21:01,896 Oh, shit. God don't mean nothing to me. 408 00:21:01,979 --> 00:21:04,479 Let him strike me. Here I am, standing right here. 409 00:21:04,562 --> 00:21:05,979 What you talking about he gonna strike me? 410 00:21:06,062 --> 00:21:08,771 Here I am. Let him strike me. I ain't scared of him. 411 00:21:08,854 --> 00:21:10,646 All right. You gonna be sorry. 412 00:21:10,729 --> 00:21:12,271 You gonna fix yourself to have bad luck. 413 00:21:12,354 --> 00:21:13,771 Ain't nothing gonna work out for you. 414 00:21:13,854 --> 00:21:15,271 -Bad luck? -Yeah. 415 00:21:15,354 --> 00:21:16,854 What I care about bad luck? 416 00:21:17,729 --> 00:21:19,229 You talking simple. 417 00:21:19,312 --> 00:21:21,271 I ain't had nothing but bad luck all my life. 418 00:21:21,354 --> 00:21:24,271 Couldn't get no worse. What the hell I care about bad luck? 419 00:21:24,354 --> 00:21:26,104 I eat it every day for breakfast. 420 00:21:26,187 --> 00:21:29,062 You dumber than I thought you was, talking about bad luck. 421 00:21:29,854 --> 00:21:30,854 All right, nigga. 422 00:21:32,146 --> 00:21:34,021 You'll see. [chuckles] 423 00:21:34,604 --> 00:21:35,937 Can't tell a fool nothing. 424 00:21:37,146 --> 00:21:38,271 You'll see. 425 00:21:39,729 --> 00:21:41,021 [horns honking] 426 00:21:47,896 --> 00:21:49,021 Oh. There you go. 427 00:21:50,604 --> 00:21:51,687 Over there. 428 00:21:51,771 --> 00:21:53,604 -Whoa! -[crashing] 429 00:21:53,687 --> 00:21:54,979 [horns honking] 430 00:22:00,396 --> 00:22:01,687 [man] What are you doing? 431 00:22:02,354 --> 00:22:04,979 Cutler, your boys' sandwiches are here. 432 00:22:05,479 --> 00:22:07,146 -Cutler? -[policeman] Lady-- 433 00:22:07,229 --> 00:22:08,854 -[Ma Rainey] This is a brand new car. -Lady-- 434 00:22:08,937 --> 00:22:10,146 Ain't had but a ding. 435 00:22:10,229 --> 00:22:13,312 -Okay, lady-- -[Ma Rainey] What you gonna do? 436 00:22:13,396 --> 00:22:14,229 -Ma! -[policeman] I'm talking-- 437 00:22:14,312 --> 00:22:16,271 [Ma Rainey] I got eyes, you got eyes. What are you gonna do? 438 00:22:16,354 --> 00:22:17,396 -Listen to me-- -What happened? 439 00:22:17,479 --> 00:22:18,979 Tell this man who I am. Get him straight. 440 00:22:19,062 --> 00:22:20,896 Tell this man who he's messing with. 441 00:22:20,979 --> 00:22:23,354 Officer, what's the matter? What's the problem? 442 00:22:23,437 --> 00:22:24,937 When I walked up on the incident, this lady-- 443 00:22:25,021 --> 00:22:27,854 -Sylvester wrecked Ma's car. -I… I did not. The man hit me. 444 00:22:27,937 --> 00:22:29,437 [policeman] You want it in a nutshell? 445 00:22:29,521 --> 00:22:30,854 We got her charged with assault and battery. 446 00:22:30,937 --> 00:22:33,104 -Assault and what for what? -Sylvester was driving-- 447 00:22:33,187 --> 00:22:34,854 I can tell you what happened if you wanna know. 448 00:22:34,937 --> 00:22:37,396 That's my nephew. That's Sylvester. He was driving my car-- 449 00:22:37,479 --> 00:22:39,646 -We don't know whose car it is. -That's Ma's car. 450 00:22:39,729 --> 00:22:41,062 I bought and paid for that car. 451 00:22:41,146 --> 00:22:42,854 That's what you say. We gotta check it out. 452 00:22:42,937 --> 00:22:44,146 What's the problem? 453 00:22:44,229 --> 00:22:45,146 I was calling the paddy wagon 454 00:22:45,229 --> 00:22:47,687 to haul them to the station, sort everything out. 455 00:22:47,771 --> 00:22:49,854 -She's aggressive with the other driver-- -He got ugly with me. 456 00:22:49,937 --> 00:22:52,146 -I don't know why you tell that lie. -You let me tell the story? 457 00:22:52,229 --> 00:22:54,354 Well, if you gonna tell it, tell it right. 458 00:23:00,771 --> 00:23:04,062 Like I said, while I was waiting for the paddy wagon, 459 00:23:04,146 --> 00:23:05,812 I turn to hear this guy's side of the story. 460 00:23:05,896 --> 00:23:07,479 She won't let him get a word in edgeways. 461 00:23:07,562 --> 00:23:10,229 He steps in front of her to tell his version of things, 462 00:23:10,312 --> 00:23:11,146 she pushes him to the ground. 463 00:23:11,229 --> 00:23:12,604 She ain't hit him. He just fell. 464 00:23:12,687 --> 00:23:14,562 If that don't beat all to hell. I ain't touched the man. 465 00:23:14,646 --> 00:23:17,271 All right, Ma. Officer, can I speak to you for a minute? 466 00:23:17,354 --> 00:23:18,354 I got things to do. 467 00:23:18,437 --> 00:23:20,312 He bumped into me and fell down. 468 00:23:20,396 --> 00:23:22,354 Flopping on the ground like a rag doll. 469 00:23:23,562 --> 00:23:24,979 I ain't touch the man. 470 00:23:26,771 --> 00:23:28,229 [imperceptible] 471 00:23:32,771 --> 00:23:33,896 [Irvin] All right, Ma. 472 00:23:33,979 --> 00:23:35,521 Come on. Let's go. Move it out. 473 00:23:36,104 --> 00:23:37,062 I got it all taken care of. 474 00:23:37,146 --> 00:23:38,771 Clear it out. Come on. Let's go. 475 00:23:38,854 --> 00:23:40,229 What's going on? What did you do? 476 00:23:40,312 --> 00:23:41,187 Sturdyvant, get on away from me. 477 00:23:41,271 --> 00:23:43,312 That's the last thing I need, to go through your shit. 478 00:23:43,396 --> 00:23:45,687 -[policeman] Everybody move along. -It's not the place. 479 00:23:45,771 --> 00:23:47,021 Here, Ma. 480 00:23:47,937 --> 00:23:49,271 Let me take your things. 481 00:23:50,896 --> 00:23:52,646 -I don't believe we've met. -Hi. 482 00:23:52,729 --> 00:23:54,687 That's my nephew Sylvester, and that there's Dussie Mae. 483 00:23:54,771 --> 00:23:56,604 -Oh, hello. -[Ma Rainey] Everybody here? 484 00:23:56,687 --> 00:23:58,146 They're in the band room. 485 00:23:58,229 --> 00:24:01,396 -Ma, why don't you sit and relax? -I ain't for no sitting. 486 00:24:01,479 --> 00:24:03,937 -Where's the bathroom? -Uh, down that hall. 487 00:24:04,437 --> 00:24:07,937 Honey, call down there and see about my car. I need my car fixed today. 488 00:24:08,021 --> 00:24:09,437 Why y'all keep it so hot in here? 489 00:24:09,521 --> 00:24:11,937 Y'all want to make records, better get a fan on. 490 00:24:12,021 --> 00:24:14,479 I got it, Ma. I'll take care of everything. 491 00:24:29,771 --> 00:24:31,062 [Mel] She's late and already-- 492 00:24:31,146 --> 00:24:33,771 I talked to her last night. Got everything straight. 493 00:24:33,854 --> 00:24:35,979 You stay out of the way. Let me handle it. 494 00:24:36,062 --> 00:24:37,854 You handled it last time, remember? 495 00:24:37,937 --> 00:24:41,521 She marches in like she owns the place, complains about the building being cold, 496 00:24:41,604 --> 00:24:44,021 trips over a mic wire, then threatens to sue me. 497 00:24:48,312 --> 00:24:49,479 [playing piano] 498 00:24:50,437 --> 00:24:52,562 [humming softly] 499 00:25:00,021 --> 00:25:02,312 I ain't never been in a recording studio. 500 00:25:03,437 --> 00:25:04,604 Where the band at? 501 00:25:04,687 --> 00:25:06,604 They off somewhere rehearsing. 502 00:25:08,187 --> 00:25:10,271 Come over here and let me see that dress. 503 00:25:11,896 --> 00:25:13,437 That dress look nice. 504 00:25:15,271 --> 00:25:17,854 I'm gonna take you tomorrow to get you some things 505 00:25:17,937 --> 00:25:19,687 before I take you down to Memphis. 506 00:25:20,437 --> 00:25:23,687 They got some clothes up here they ain't got in Memphis. 507 00:25:24,479 --> 00:25:26,812 -I want you to look nice for me, hmm? -Mmm-hmm. 508 00:25:26,896 --> 00:25:29,771 You gonna travel with the show, you gotta look nice. 509 00:25:29,854 --> 00:25:32,479 I just need me some new shoes. These hurt my feet. 510 00:25:32,562 --> 00:25:35,937 Oh, don't you be messing around with no shoes that pinch your feet. 511 00:25:36,021 --> 00:25:39,896 Ma knows something about bad feet. Mmm. 512 00:25:42,104 --> 00:25:44,937 ♪ Oh, Lord ♪ 513 00:25:47,229 --> 00:25:50,354 ♪ These dogs of mine ♪ 514 00:25:51,229 --> 00:25:55,062 ♪ They sure do hurt me ♪ 515 00:25:55,146 --> 00:25:58,396 ♪ All the time ♪ 516 00:26:00,354 --> 00:26:02,521 ♪ Reason why? ♪ 517 00:26:02,604 --> 00:26:05,646 ♪ I don't know ♪ 518 00:26:05,729 --> 00:26:07,104 [Dussie Mae chuckles] 519 00:26:07,854 --> 00:26:13,729 ♪ Lord, I beg to be excused ♪ 520 00:26:14,729 --> 00:26:16,896 [growling] 521 00:26:18,812 --> 00:26:20,062 [both laugh] 522 00:26:20,146 --> 00:26:21,187 [Ma Rainey] Okay. 523 00:26:21,937 --> 00:26:24,521 Go on, get my slippers out my bag over yonder. 524 00:26:24,604 --> 00:26:26,229 [plays notes on piano] 525 00:26:30,396 --> 00:26:34,312 ♪ I can't wear me no sharp-toed shoes ♪ 526 00:26:36,104 --> 00:26:38,687 ♪ I went for a walk ♪ 527 00:26:39,562 --> 00:26:41,062 ♪ I stopped to talk ♪ 528 00:26:43,854 --> 00:26:50,146 ♪ Oh, how my corns did bark ♪ 529 00:26:50,854 --> 00:26:53,854 [sighs] I just want some of them yellow ones. 530 00:26:53,937 --> 00:26:55,687 About a half size bigger. 531 00:26:55,771 --> 00:26:58,562 We'll get you whatever you need. Sylvester too. 532 00:26:58,646 --> 00:26:59,896 Sylvester, tuck your clothes in. 533 00:26:59,979 --> 00:27:02,479 Straighten them up and look nice. Like a gentleman. 534 00:27:02,562 --> 00:27:03,812 Look at Sylvester with that hat on. 535 00:27:03,896 --> 00:27:07,271 [Ma Rainey] Take that hat off inside. Come over here and leave that piano. 536 00:27:07,354 --> 00:27:10,896 [stammering] I ain't doing nothing  to the… piano. I'm… l… looking at it. 537 00:27:10,979 --> 00:27:13,229 Baby, come over here and sit down. Come on. 538 00:27:14,521 --> 00:27:16,104 Soon as Mr. Irvin come back, 539 00:27:16,187 --> 00:27:18,854 I'm gonna have him take you down, introduce you to the band. 540 00:27:19,604 --> 00:27:21,812 Cutler gonna show you how your part go. 541 00:27:21,896 --> 00:27:24,687 When you get your money, send some of it home to your mama. 542 00:27:24,771 --> 00:27:27,937 -Let her know you're doing all right. -Okay. 543 00:27:28,021 --> 00:27:32,271 Ma, I called down to the garage and checked on your car. 544 00:27:32,354 --> 00:27:36,021 It's just a scratch, and they'll have it ready for you this afternoon. 545 00:27:36,104 --> 00:27:38,271 They'll send it over with one of their fellows. 546 00:27:38,354 --> 00:27:39,729 Better have my car fixed right. 547 00:27:39,812 --> 00:27:43,187 I ain't going for that. Brand-new car. They better fix it like new. 548 00:27:43,271 --> 00:27:45,021 [lively music playing faintly] 549 00:27:52,479 --> 00:27:54,604 Irvin, what is that I hear? 550 00:27:54,687 --> 00:27:56,729 I know they ain't rehearsing Levee's "Black Bottom." 551 00:27:56,812 --> 00:27:58,187 I know I ain't hearing that. 552 00:27:58,271 --> 00:28:00,229 Ma, it's what I wanted to talk to you about. 553 00:28:00,312 --> 00:28:02,521 Levee's version, it really picks it up. 554 00:28:02,604 --> 00:28:06,229 I ain't studying Levee nothing. I know what he done to that song. 555 00:28:06,312 --> 00:28:08,854 I don't like to sing it that way. I'm doing it the old way. 556 00:28:08,937 --> 00:28:11,437 That's why I brought my nephew in here to do the voice intro. 557 00:28:11,521 --> 00:28:15,021 That's what people want now, Ma. They want something they can dance to. 558 00:28:15,104 --> 00:28:17,229 Levee's arrangement gives the people what they want. 559 00:28:17,312 --> 00:28:20,021 It makes them excited, forget about their troubles. 560 00:28:20,104 --> 00:28:24,187 I don't care what you say, honey. Levee ain't messing up my song. 561 00:28:24,271 --> 00:28:26,937 If he got what the people want, let him take it somewhere else. 562 00:28:27,021 --> 00:28:29,437 I'm singing Ma Rainey's song, not Levee's song. 563 00:28:29,521 --> 00:28:31,104 Now that's all there is to it. 564 00:28:31,687 --> 00:28:34,771 Carry my nephew on down there. Introduce him to the band. 565 00:28:34,854 --> 00:28:36,979 I promised my sister I'd look out for him, 566 00:28:37,062 --> 00:28:40,312 so he's gonna do the voice intro to the song my way. 567 00:28:40,396 --> 00:28:41,479 [Irvin] We just figured-- 568 00:28:41,562 --> 00:28:45,562 Who's this "we"? What you mean "we"? Come talking this "we" stuff. Who "we"? 569 00:28:46,146 --> 00:28:47,729 Me and Sturdyvant. We decided-- 570 00:28:47,812 --> 00:28:50,271 You decided, huh? I'm just a bump on a log. 571 00:28:50,354 --> 00:28:52,146 I'm just gonna go whichever way the river drift. 572 00:28:52,229 --> 00:28:54,021 Is that it? You and Sturdyvant decided? 573 00:28:54,104 --> 00:28:56,146 -No. We just thought-- -I ain't got no good sense. 574 00:28:56,229 --> 00:28:59,562 I know nothing about music or what a good song is or what ain't. 575 00:28:59,646 --> 00:29:01,229 You know more about my fans than I do. 576 00:29:01,312 --> 00:29:03,854 It's not that. It's more of what the people want. 577 00:29:05,312 --> 00:29:09,479 Tell you something, Irvin, and you can go up there and you can tell Sturdyvant too. 578 00:29:10,104 --> 00:29:13,396 What you all say don't count with me, you understand? 579 00:29:13,479 --> 00:29:16,396 Ma listen to her heart. Ma listen to the voice inside her. 580 00:29:16,479 --> 00:29:17,854 That's what count with Ma. 581 00:29:18,646 --> 00:29:20,271 Carry my nephew on down there. 582 00:29:20,354 --> 00:29:23,521 Tell Cutler he'll do the voice intro to the "Black Bottom" song. 583 00:29:23,604 --> 00:29:25,187 Levee ain't messing up my song. 584 00:29:25,271 --> 00:29:27,021 If that don't set right with you and Sturdyvant, 585 00:29:27,104 --> 00:29:29,604 I can carry my black bottom on back down South to my tour, 586 00:29:29,687 --> 00:29:31,646 'cause I don't like it up here noways. 587 00:29:32,312 --> 00:29:34,146 Okay, Ma. 588 00:29:35,146 --> 00:29:36,104 I don't care. 589 00:29:38,604 --> 00:29:40,646 -I just thought-- -Damn what you thought! 590 00:29:40,729 --> 00:29:43,146 What you look like trying to tell me how to sing my song. 591 00:29:43,229 --> 00:29:45,854 That Levee and Sturdyvant shit, I ain't going for it. 592 00:29:47,729 --> 00:29:51,062 Sylvester, go introduce yourself. I'm through playing with Irvin. 593 00:29:51,146 --> 00:29:53,896 Uh… Where I go? Which way they at? 594 00:29:55,062 --> 00:29:57,396 Come on. I'll carry you down there myself. 595 00:29:57,479 --> 00:29:59,229 Can I go? I want to see the band. 596 00:29:59,312 --> 00:30:00,562 No. Come on, Sylvester. 597 00:30:01,187 --> 00:30:03,729 Okay, Ma. Have it your way, 598 00:30:04,312 --> 00:30:06,187 but we'll be ready to go in 15 minutes. 599 00:30:06,271 --> 00:30:08,312 We'll be ready to go when Madam says so. 600 00:30:08,396 --> 00:30:10,104 That's the way it go around here. 601 00:30:12,187 --> 00:30:13,229 Perfect. 602 00:30:13,312 --> 00:30:14,687 [upbeat music playing] 603 00:30:32,312 --> 00:30:34,271 Cutler, this here my nephew Sylvester. 604 00:30:34,354 --> 00:30:37,562 He'll do the voice intro on "Black Bottom" using the old version. 605 00:30:37,646 --> 00:30:39,937 What? Mr. Irvin said we're using my version. 606 00:30:40,021 --> 00:30:41,562 I ain't studying you or Mr. Irvin. 607 00:30:41,646 --> 00:30:43,562 Cutler, get him straightened out on how to do his part. 608 00:30:43,646 --> 00:30:44,771 I ain't thinking about Levee. 609 00:30:44,854 --> 00:30:47,021 These folks done messed with the wrong person. 610 00:30:47,104 --> 00:30:50,812 Cutler gonna teach you how to do your part. Go ahead and get it straight. 611 00:30:50,896 --> 00:30:52,979 Don't worry about what nobody else say. 612 00:30:53,062 --> 00:30:54,146 [Cutler laughing] 613 00:30:55,687 --> 00:30:58,271 Hey, come on in, boy. I'm Cutler. [chuckles] 614 00:30:58,354 --> 00:31:01,896 That's Toledo, Levee, and Slow Drag over there. 615 00:31:01,979 --> 00:31:04,187 -Sylvester, huh? -Sylvester Brown. 616 00:31:04,271 --> 00:31:05,771 I wrote a version of that song, 617 00:31:05,854 --> 00:31:08,562 what picks it up and sets it down in the people's lap, 618 00:31:08,646 --> 00:31:10,437 and here she come talking this. 619 00:31:10,521 --> 00:31:14,021 You don't need that old circus bullshit. I know what I'm talking about. 620 00:31:14,104 --> 00:31:16,312 You gonna mess up the song, Cutler, and you know it. 621 00:31:16,396 --> 00:31:17,771 I ain't gonna mess up nothing. Ma say-- 622 00:31:17,854 --> 00:31:19,479 I don't care what Ma say! 623 00:31:20,062 --> 00:31:22,521 I'm talking about what the intro gonna do to the song. 624 00:31:22,604 --> 00:31:25,354 The peoples in the North ain't gonna go for that old tent-show nonsense. 625 00:31:25,437 --> 00:31:27,062 -They wanna hear some music. -[Cutler] Nigga. 626 00:31:27,146 --> 00:31:29,812 I done told you time and again. Ma say what to play, not you. 627 00:31:29,896 --> 00:31:32,854 You ain't here to be doing no creating. You play whatever Ma say. 628 00:31:32,937 --> 00:31:35,229 I might not play nothing. I might just quit. 629 00:31:35,312 --> 00:31:38,229 Nigga, don't nobody care if you quit. Whose heart you gonna break? 630 00:31:38,312 --> 00:31:39,479 Levee ain't gonna quit. 631 00:31:39,562 --> 00:31:41,687 He need to make money to keep him in shoe polish. 632 00:31:41,771 --> 00:31:44,271 -[scoffs] -[all laughing] 633 00:31:44,354 --> 00:31:47,604 I done told y'all you don't know me. You don't know what I'll do. 634 00:31:47,687 --> 00:31:50,146 I don't think nobody give a damn. Sylvester, look here. 635 00:31:50,229 --> 00:31:52,812 The band plays the intro, and then you say, 636 00:31:52,896 --> 00:31:55,229 "All right, boys, you done seen the rest." 637 00:31:55,312 --> 00:31:56,854 "Now I'm gonna show you the best." 638 00:31:56,937 --> 00:31:59,854 "Ma Rainey's gonna show you her black bottom." 639 00:32:00,437 --> 00:32:03,562 You got that? Heh. All right, let me hear you do it one time. 640 00:32:05,812 --> 00:32:08,104 All right, boys, you done s… s… [stuttering] 641 00:32:09,604 --> 00:32:10,646 …seen the rest. 642 00:32:11,354 --> 00:32:12,479 [stammering] 643 00:32:12,562 --> 00:32:14,187 Now I'm gonna show you the best. 644 00:32:15,146 --> 00:32:19,187 Ma Rainey's gonna show you her black b… b… b… 645 00:32:19,271 --> 00:32:21,104 [stuttering] 646 00:32:21,187 --> 00:32:22,271 …bottom. 647 00:32:22,354 --> 00:32:26,812 [scoffs] All right, Cutler. Let me see you fix that. 648 00:32:27,521 --> 00:32:28,979 Straighten that out. 649 00:32:29,062 --> 00:32:31,771 Slow Drag, whoo, you hear this shit? 650 00:32:31,854 --> 00:32:34,604 How in the hell the boy gonna do the part if he can't even talk? 651 00:32:34,687 --> 00:32:37,771 [stuttering] Who… Who's you to tell me what to do, nigga? 652 00:32:37,854 --> 00:32:41,062 This ain't your band. Ma tell me to d… do it, I'mma do it. 653 00:32:41,646 --> 00:32:44,396 So you can go to hell… n… n… nigga. 654 00:32:45,271 --> 00:32:46,979 [laughs] 655 00:32:47,062 --> 00:32:50,646 [mockingly] B… Boy, ain't nobody studying you. Cutler, go on and fix that. 656 00:32:51,229 --> 00:32:53,771 You fix that and I'll shine your shoes for you. 657 00:32:53,854 --> 00:32:55,396 Go on and fix that one. 658 00:32:55,479 --> 00:32:58,979 You say, uh, you Ma's nephew? 659 00:32:59,062 --> 00:33:00,771 Yeah, so what that mean? 660 00:33:00,854 --> 00:33:03,271 Oh, I ain't meant nothing. I was just asking. 661 00:33:03,354 --> 00:33:05,271 Let's rehearse so the boy can get it right. 662 00:33:05,354 --> 00:33:07,104 I ain't rehearsing nothing. 663 00:33:07,187 --> 00:33:08,771 Just wait till I get my band together. 664 00:33:08,854 --> 00:33:11,479 I'm gonna record that song and show you how it's supposed to go. 665 00:33:11,562 --> 00:33:14,396 We can do it without Levee. Sylvester, you remember your part? 666 00:33:14,479 --> 00:33:17,687 Yeah, I… I remember pretty g… good. 667 00:33:18,687 --> 00:33:20,979 Well, come on. Let's do it then. All right? 668 00:33:21,771 --> 00:33:23,979 [piano music playing] 669 00:33:24,062 --> 00:33:24,937 Levee. 670 00:33:25,604 --> 00:33:27,021 [footsteps approaching] 671 00:33:30,604 --> 00:33:32,646 Good, you boys are rehearsing, I see. 672 00:33:32,729 --> 00:33:36,396 Yessir, we rehearsing. We know them songs real good. 673 00:33:36,479 --> 00:33:39,062 Good. Say, Levee, did you finish that song? 674 00:33:39,771 --> 00:33:41,771 Yessir, Mr. Sturdyvant. I got it right here. 675 00:33:42,354 --> 00:33:45,062 I wrote that other part just like you say. It go like… 676 00:33:45,646 --> 00:33:48,146 ♪ You can swing it You can bring it ♪ 677 00:33:48,229 --> 00:33:51,062 ♪ You can dance at any hall ♪ 678 00:33:51,146 --> 00:33:54,312 ♪ You can slide across the floor You'll never have to stall ♪ 679 00:33:54,396 --> 00:33:56,271 ♪ My jelly roll ♪ 680 00:33:56,354 --> 00:33:58,354 Then I wrote that part for the other people to dance, 681 00:33:58,437 --> 00:34:00,146 like you say, for them to forget about their troubles. 682 00:34:00,229 --> 00:34:03,104 Good. I'll see about your songs as soon as I get the chance. 683 00:34:03,187 --> 00:34:05,771 -I'll just take this. -Yessir, Mr. Sturdyvant. 684 00:34:06,437 --> 00:34:08,104 Soon as you get the chance. 685 00:34:09,187 --> 00:34:11,271 [all laughing] 686 00:34:11,354 --> 00:34:12,896 [Cutler] You hear Levee? You hear this nigga? 687 00:34:12,979 --> 00:34:14,604 "Yessir, we's rehearsing, boss." 688 00:34:14,687 --> 00:34:17,604 I heard him. Seen him too. Shuffling them feet. 689 00:34:17,687 --> 00:34:20,062 [Toledo] Yeah, well, Levee can't help it none. 690 00:34:20,146 --> 00:34:24,312 He's spooked up by the white man. Ain't had time to study 'em. 691 00:34:24,396 --> 00:34:27,146 I studies the white man, I got him studied good. 692 00:34:27,229 --> 00:34:30,687 The first time one fixes on me wrong, I'm gonna show him just how much I study. 693 00:34:30,771 --> 00:34:32,729 Come tell me I'm spooked up by the white man. 694 00:34:32,812 --> 00:34:35,562 You let one mess with me, I'll show you how spooked up I am. 695 00:34:35,646 --> 00:34:38,562 The man come in here, call you a boy, 696 00:34:38,646 --> 00:34:41,229 tell you to get up off your ass and rehearse, 697 00:34:41,312 --> 00:34:43,479 and you ain't had nothing to say except, "Yessir!" 698 00:34:43,562 --> 00:34:44,854 [all laughing] 699 00:34:46,187 --> 00:34:49,396 I can say "yessir" to whoever I please. What you got to do with it? 700 00:34:49,479 --> 00:34:52,479 I know how to handle white folks. I been handling them for 32 years. 701 00:34:52,562 --> 00:34:54,062 You gonna tell me how to do it? 702 00:34:54,146 --> 00:34:56,562 Just 'cause I say "yessir," don't mean I'm spooked up by him. 703 00:34:56,646 --> 00:34:59,021 I know what I'm doing. Let me handle him my way. 704 00:34:59,104 --> 00:35:00,521 [Cutler] Well, go and handle it then. 705 00:35:00,604 --> 00:35:02,437 Toledo, you always messing with somebody. 706 00:35:02,521 --> 00:35:06,146 Always agitating somebody with that old philosophy bullshit. 707 00:35:06,229 --> 00:35:08,562 You stay out of my way about what I do and say. 708 00:35:08,646 --> 00:35:11,104 I'm my own person. Just let me alone. 709 00:35:11,187 --> 00:35:15,021 All right, all right. Levee, you right. I apologize. 710 00:35:15,104 --> 00:35:17,812 Ain't none of my business you spooked up by the white man. 711 00:35:17,896 --> 00:35:20,271 -[all laughing] -See, that's the shit I'm talking about. 712 00:35:20,354 --> 00:35:22,187 Y'all back up and leave Levee alone. 713 00:35:22,271 --> 00:35:24,854 Oh, come on, Levee. We was all just having fun. 714 00:35:24,937 --> 00:35:27,146 Toledo ain't said nothing about you he ain't said about me. 715 00:35:27,229 --> 00:35:28,354 You just taking it all wrong. 716 00:35:28,437 --> 00:35:29,646 I ain't meant nothing by it. 717 00:35:29,729 --> 00:35:31,521 Levee got to be Levee! 718 00:35:32,146 --> 00:35:35,062 He don't need nobody messing with him about the white man! 719 00:35:35,896 --> 00:35:39,021 'Cause you don't know nothing about me. You don't know Levee. 720 00:35:39,104 --> 00:35:41,354 You don't know nothing about what kind of blood I got! 721 00:35:41,437 --> 00:35:43,396 What kind of a heart I got beating here! 722 00:35:46,146 --> 00:35:47,729 I was eight years old 723 00:35:48,312 --> 00:35:50,729 when a gang of white mans come into my daddy's house 724 00:35:50,812 --> 00:35:53,229 and have to do with my mama any way they want. 725 00:35:54,729 --> 00:35:59,312 We was living in Jefferson County, about eight miles outside of Natchez. 726 00:35:59,396 --> 00:36:02,687 My daddy's name was Memphis. Memphis Lee Green. 727 00:36:02,771 --> 00:36:07,062 Had him near 50 acres of good farming land. I'm talking good land. 728 00:36:07,146 --> 00:36:08,729 Grow anything you want. 729 00:36:09,521 --> 00:36:11,521 He done gone off of shares and bought this land 730 00:36:11,604 --> 00:36:14,146 from Mr. Hallie's widow woman after he done passed on. 731 00:36:14,229 --> 00:36:17,187 Folks called him a uppity nigger 'cause he done saved and borrowed 732 00:36:17,271 --> 00:36:19,896 to where he could buy this land and be independent. 733 00:36:21,146 --> 00:36:22,854 It was coming on planting time, 734 00:36:23,521 --> 00:36:26,937 and my daddy went into Natchez to get him some seed and fertilizer. 735 00:36:27,021 --> 00:36:31,521 Called me, say, "Levee, you the man of the house now." 736 00:36:33,354 --> 00:36:35,479 "Take care of your mama while I'm gone." 737 00:36:38,437 --> 00:36:39,979 I wasn't but a little boy. 738 00:36:41,562 --> 00:36:42,896 Eight years old. 739 00:36:46,021 --> 00:36:47,104 My mama… 740 00:36:48,312 --> 00:36:51,437 was frying up some chicken when them mans come in the house. 741 00:36:52,354 --> 00:36:54,146 Must have been eight or nine of 'em. 742 00:36:55,479 --> 00:36:59,896 She's standing there frying that chicken when them mans come and took a hold of her 743 00:36:59,979 --> 00:37:04,562 just like you take hold of a mule and make it do what you want. 744 00:37:08,562 --> 00:37:10,062 There was my mama… 745 00:37:11,521 --> 00:37:13,229 with a gang of white mans. 746 00:37:17,771 --> 00:37:19,687 She tried to fight 'em off. 747 00:37:21,021 --> 00:37:23,771 I could see where  it wasn't gonna do her any good. 748 00:37:25,062 --> 00:37:27,146 I didn't know what they was doing to her, 749 00:37:27,229 --> 00:37:30,562 but I figured whatever it was, they might as well do to me too. 750 00:37:32,687 --> 00:37:36,646 My daddy had a knife he kept around there for hunting and working and whatnot. 751 00:37:36,729 --> 00:37:39,729 And I knew where he kept it. I went and got it. 752 00:37:42,146 --> 00:37:47,146 I'm gonna show you how spooked up I was by the white man. 753 00:37:49,021 --> 00:37:51,896 I tried my damnedest to cut one of them's throat. 754 00:37:53,229 --> 00:37:54,771 I hit him on the shoulder. 755 00:37:55,896 --> 00:37:57,562 He reached back, grabbed hold of that knife, 756 00:37:57,646 --> 00:38:00,062 and whacked me across the chest with it. 757 00:38:03,937 --> 00:38:05,021 [sniffles] 758 00:38:05,854 --> 00:38:07,437 That's what made them stop. 759 00:38:08,854 --> 00:38:11,062 They was scared I was gonna bleed to death. 760 00:38:13,021 --> 00:38:14,812 My mama wrapped me in a blanket, 761 00:38:14,896 --> 00:38:18,021 carried me two miles down to the Furlow place 762 00:38:18,104 --> 00:38:20,354 and they drove me up to Doc Albans. 763 00:38:20,437 --> 00:38:23,979 He was waiting on a calf to be born, and he say he ain't had time to see me. 764 00:38:25,146 --> 00:38:27,396 They carried me to Miss Etta, the midwife, 765 00:38:28,562 --> 00:38:30,021 and she fixed me up. 766 00:38:32,354 --> 00:38:33,812 My daddy came back 767 00:38:34,812 --> 00:38:37,729 and acted like he done accepted the facts of what happened. 768 00:38:38,229 --> 00:38:40,604 He got the names of them mans from Mama. 769 00:38:41,729 --> 00:38:43,021 He found out who they was, 770 00:38:43,104 --> 00:38:45,354 and then we announced we was moving out that county. 771 00:38:45,437 --> 00:38:47,937 We said goodbye to everybody, all the neighbors. 772 00:38:48,021 --> 00:38:50,312 [breathes deeply] 773 00:38:50,396 --> 00:38:53,396 My daddy went and smiled in the face of one of them crackers 774 00:38:53,479 --> 00:38:54,937 who had been with my mama. 775 00:38:57,146 --> 00:38:58,729 Smiled in his face… 776 00:38:59,979 --> 00:39:01,646 and sold him our land. 777 00:39:03,854 --> 00:39:06,521 We moved over with relations in Caldwell. 778 00:39:07,229 --> 00:39:09,021 He got us settled in, 779 00:39:09,729 --> 00:39:12,896 and then he took off one day. I ain't never seen him since. 780 00:39:16,521 --> 00:39:17,979 [chuckles sadly] 781 00:39:18,062 --> 00:39:19,396 He sneaked back. 782 00:39:21,146 --> 00:39:22,687 Hiding up in the woods, 783 00:39:23,562 --> 00:39:26,104 laying to get them eight or nine men. 784 00:39:29,104 --> 00:39:31,521 He got four of them before they got him. 785 00:39:33,146 --> 00:39:34,312 [chuckles] 786 00:39:38,104 --> 00:39:39,604 [inhales deeply] 787 00:39:39,687 --> 00:39:41,646 They tracked him down in the woods. 788 00:39:44,187 --> 00:39:45,646 Caught up with him, hung him… 789 00:39:47,187 --> 00:39:48,354 set him afire. 790 00:39:53,229 --> 00:39:56,896 My daddy wasn't spooked up by the white man. No, sir. 791 00:39:57,979 --> 00:40:00,229 And that taught me how to handle them. 792 00:40:01,312 --> 00:40:05,812 I seen my daddy go up and grin in this cracker's face. 793 00:40:05,896 --> 00:40:08,312 [laughs scornfully] 794 00:40:08,396 --> 00:40:11,562 Smile in his face and sell him his land. 795 00:40:11,646 --> 00:40:15,229 All the while, he's planning how he's gonna get him 796 00:40:16,104 --> 00:40:17,646 and what he's gonna do to him. 797 00:40:19,354 --> 00:40:21,229 That taught me how to handle them. 798 00:40:23,187 --> 00:40:27,021 So you all just back up and leave Levee alone about the white man. 799 00:40:27,854 --> 00:40:31,437 I can smile and say "yessir" to whoever I please. 800 00:40:31,521 --> 00:40:33,479 I got my time coming to me. 801 00:40:36,812 --> 00:40:39,437 You all just leave Levee alone about the white man. 802 00:40:57,521 --> 00:41:00,604 [Toledo] ♪ Everybody ♪ 803 00:41:03,396 --> 00:41:06,687 Everybody come from different places in Africa, right? 804 00:41:06,771 --> 00:41:08,437 Different tribes and things. 805 00:41:09,521 --> 00:41:11,979 Soon awhile they began to make one big stew. 806 00:41:12,687 --> 00:41:16,604 You had your, uh, carrots and your peas, 807 00:41:16,687 --> 00:41:18,562 and your potatoes over here. 808 00:41:18,646 --> 00:41:21,021 And over there, you had your meat and nuts, 809 00:41:21,104 --> 00:41:23,229 uh, okra, corn. 810 00:41:23,312 --> 00:41:28,062 And you mix it up, cook it real good to where the flavors flow through. 811 00:41:28,146 --> 00:41:29,896 And then you got one thing. 812 00:41:29,979 --> 00:41:32,062 You got a stew. 813 00:41:33,062 --> 00:41:36,062 Now you take and you eat that stew. 814 00:41:36,146 --> 00:41:40,562 You take and you make your history with that stew. 815 00:41:41,729 --> 00:41:45,271 But you look around and you see some carrots over there, 816 00:41:45,354 --> 00:41:48,104 and some peas over here. 817 00:41:48,896 --> 00:41:53,229 And… that stew is still there. 818 00:41:54,604 --> 00:41:58,729 Hmm. You done made your history and it's still there. 819 00:42:00,729 --> 00:42:03,562 You can't eat it all. [laughs] 820 00:42:06,896 --> 00:42:07,979 What you got? 821 00:42:08,937 --> 00:42:12,021 You got some leftovers. That's what it is. 822 00:42:13,437 --> 00:42:15,521 [plays piano] 823 00:42:15,604 --> 00:42:21,896 See, we's the leftovers. The colored man, he is the leftovers. Huh. 824 00:42:21,979 --> 00:42:23,271 [piano continues playing] 825 00:42:36,187 --> 00:42:38,104 What's the colored man gonna do with himself? 826 00:42:39,521 --> 00:42:40,729 [sighs] 827 00:42:40,812 --> 00:42:42,729 That's what we're waiting to find out. 828 00:42:48,771 --> 00:42:53,896 But first he's got to know that he's a leftover. 829 00:43:03,187 --> 00:43:04,854 [upbeat jazz music playing] 830 00:43:22,771 --> 00:43:23,771 [Cutler] Mr. Irvin. 831 00:43:27,437 --> 00:43:29,521 I ain't got nothing to do with it, but… 832 00:43:31,062 --> 00:43:32,562 the boy can't do the part. 833 00:43:32,646 --> 00:43:34,646 He stutters right through it every time. 834 00:43:35,521 --> 00:43:38,896 It's a whole different bottom, though. It's a whole different style. 835 00:43:38,979 --> 00:43:41,896 [Cutler] Relax and breathe, and everything's gonna be all right. 836 00:43:41,979 --> 00:43:44,229 I'm just gonna cue you in… 837 00:43:44,312 --> 00:43:47,187 [Slow Drag] I know where the four is, man. Don't got to tell me nothing. 838 00:43:47,271 --> 00:43:51,146 [Cutler] You're gonna smile and say the line. Then we gonna get goin'. 839 00:43:51,229 --> 00:43:53,229 -Cutler. -Ma'am? 840 00:43:53,312 --> 00:43:55,771 [Slow Drag] I know it's on the four… 841 00:43:55,854 --> 00:43:58,896 Levee got his eyes in the wrong place. You better school him, Cutler. 842 00:43:58,979 --> 00:44:02,229 Come on, Levee. Let's get ready to play. Keep your mind on your work. 843 00:44:02,312 --> 00:44:05,521 Okay, boys. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. 844 00:44:06,104 --> 00:44:09,021 "Moonshine Blues" first. "Moonshine Blues," Ma. 845 00:44:09,104 --> 00:44:11,687 I ain't doing no moonshine nothing. I'm doing "Black Bottom" first. 846 00:44:11,771 --> 00:44:13,604 Come on, Sylvester. Where's Sylvester's mic? 847 00:44:13,687 --> 00:44:15,271 Irvin, get him a mic. 848 00:44:15,354 --> 00:44:18,854 Uh… Ma, the boys say he can't do it. 849 00:44:19,437 --> 00:44:22,979 Who? Who say he can't do it? What boys say he can't do it? 850 00:44:24,146 --> 00:44:25,812 The band, Ma. The boys in the band. 851 00:44:27,937 --> 00:44:28,979 What band? 852 00:44:30,854 --> 00:44:31,979 Band work for me. 853 00:44:32,062 --> 00:44:34,646 [Irvin] He stutters, Ma. They say he stutters. 854 00:44:34,729 --> 00:44:36,562 I don't care if he do. 855 00:44:36,646 --> 00:44:39,812 I promised the boy he could do the part, so he gonna do it. 856 00:44:39,896 --> 00:44:43,479 And that's all there is to it. He don't stutter all the time. 857 00:44:43,562 --> 00:44:45,187 Get a microphone down here for him. 858 00:44:45,271 --> 00:44:46,646 We don't have time. We can't-- 859 00:44:46,729 --> 00:44:48,479 If you wanna make a record, find the time. 860 00:44:48,562 --> 00:44:51,146 I ain't playing with you. I could walk out of here right now. 861 00:44:51,229 --> 00:44:53,479 Go back to my tour. I don't need to go through all this. 862 00:44:53,562 --> 00:44:55,937 Go get the boy a microphone. 863 00:45:01,646 --> 00:45:04,229 Levee, I know you had something to do with this. Watch yourself. 864 00:45:04,312 --> 00:45:05,312 It was Cutler. 865 00:45:05,396 --> 00:45:08,271 It was you. You the only one… [stuttering] 866 00:45:08,354 --> 00:45:09,979 The boy stutter. He can't do the part. 867 00:45:10,062 --> 00:45:11,562 Can or can't, he gonna do it. 868 00:45:11,646 --> 00:45:13,812 -You ain't got nothing to do with it. -I don't care. 869 00:45:13,896 --> 00:45:17,104 -He can sing the whole song. -Well, all right. Thank you. 870 00:45:17,187 --> 00:45:19,146 He's only getting one chance. The cost of this-- 871 00:45:19,229 --> 00:45:21,771 Damn the cost. You always talking about the cost. 872 00:45:21,854 --> 00:45:24,729 I make more money for this outfit than anybody else you got put together. 873 00:45:24,812 --> 00:45:27,437 If he mess up, he'll do it till he get it right. 874 00:45:30,896 --> 00:45:33,312 Come on, baby. Come on. Come. 875 00:45:33,937 --> 00:45:37,437 Stand right there. Hold your hands like I told you to. Okay. Come on. 876 00:45:38,646 --> 00:45:40,562 All right. Don't worry about messing up. 877 00:45:40,646 --> 00:45:42,729 You mess up, we'll do it till you get it right. 878 00:45:42,812 --> 00:45:44,979 All right. Play it for him, Cutler. 879 00:45:45,062 --> 00:45:45,937 All right. 880 00:45:46,021 --> 00:45:49,604 One, two, you know what to do. 881 00:45:51,396 --> 00:45:52,354 All right, boys, 882 00:45:53,229 --> 00:45:57,062 [stuttering] you done seen the best. 883 00:45:57,854 --> 00:45:59,146 Now I'm gonna show you the rest. 884 00:45:59,771 --> 00:46:03,687 Ma Rainey's gonna show you her b… b… b… 885 00:46:03,771 --> 00:46:06,062 black b… bottom. 886 00:46:06,604 --> 00:46:10,021 That's real good, baby. You take your time. You'll get it right. 887 00:46:10,104 --> 00:46:12,104 [Irvin] Okay, Ma. We're ready to go. 888 00:46:12,187 --> 00:46:14,896 -Where's my Coke? -"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," boys. 889 00:46:14,979 --> 00:46:18,771 Where's my Coke? I need a Coke. Hot as it is. Shit. I need a Coke. 890 00:46:18,854 --> 00:46:19,771 What's the matter, Ma? 891 00:46:19,854 --> 00:46:21,937 Where's my Coke? I need a cold Coca-Cola. 892 00:46:22,479 --> 00:46:23,854 Uh, Ma, look… 893 00:46:24,896 --> 00:46:26,146 I forgot the Coke. 894 00:46:26,729 --> 00:46:29,437 Let's do it without it, huh? Just this one song. What say, boys? 895 00:46:29,521 --> 00:46:33,104 Damn what the band say. You supposed to have my Coca-Cola. You knew that. 896 00:46:33,187 --> 00:46:34,812 I ain't doing nothing without my Coca-Cola. 897 00:46:35,437 --> 00:46:36,937 -Shit. -[Mel] Just a minute here, Ma. 898 00:46:37,021 --> 00:46:38,396 You come in an hour late-- 899 00:46:38,479 --> 00:46:40,979 Get out my face. Irvin, I told you keep him away from me. 900 00:46:41,062 --> 00:46:43,062 I'm tired of her nonsense. I'm not gonna put up with this. 901 00:46:43,146 --> 00:46:45,021 Let me. Ma, listen. 902 00:46:45,104 --> 00:46:48,396 I'll call down to the deli and get you a Coke. But let's get started. 903 00:46:48,479 --> 00:46:51,312 Sylvester's standing there ready to go, the band's all set up. 904 00:46:51,396 --> 00:46:52,854 Let's do this one song. 905 00:46:52,937 --> 00:46:55,021 Too cheap to buy me a Coca-Cola. I'll buy my own. 906 00:46:55,104 --> 00:46:57,104 Slow Drag, Sylvester. Go on, baby. 907 00:46:57,187 --> 00:47:01,146 Get me three bottles of Coca-Cola, ice cold. Get y'all something too. 908 00:47:01,229 --> 00:47:02,271 -Keep the change. -Yes, ma'am. 909 00:47:03,229 --> 00:47:04,979 Irvin, get away from me. Shit. 910 00:47:05,062 --> 00:47:07,479 You can wait till I get my Coca-Cola. Ain't gonna kill you. 911 00:47:07,562 --> 00:47:09,979 Okay, Ma. Get your Coke. 912 00:47:10,062 --> 00:47:11,521 Gentlemen, the band room. 913 00:47:12,104 --> 00:47:14,187 Christ sakes, get your Coke. 914 00:47:18,729 --> 00:47:19,896 Cutler. 915 00:47:21,521 --> 00:47:23,229 Come here a minute. I need to talk to you. 916 00:47:28,437 --> 00:47:30,146 [horns honking] 917 00:47:34,312 --> 00:47:36,396 -[bell dinging] -[indistinct chatter] 918 00:47:36,479 --> 00:47:37,896 [chatter stops] 919 00:47:41,937 --> 00:47:45,146 What's all this shit about "the boys in the band said"? 920 00:47:45,229 --> 00:47:47,187 I tells you what to do. 921 00:47:47,271 --> 00:47:50,646 I says what the matter is with the band. I say who can and can't do what. 922 00:47:50,729 --> 00:47:52,271 We just say 'cause the boy stutter. 923 00:47:52,354 --> 00:47:54,437 I know he stutters. Don't you think I know? 924 00:47:54,521 --> 00:47:55,854 This is what gonna help him. 925 00:47:55,937 --> 00:47:57,187 We thought it'd be easier-- 926 00:47:57,271 --> 00:47:58,937 He gonna do the part. I don't wanna hear any more of this shit 927 00:47:59,021 --> 00:48:01,021 about what the boys in the band says. 928 00:48:05,937 --> 00:48:09,646 And I want you to find somebody to replace Levee when we get to Memphis. 929 00:48:09,729 --> 00:48:11,354 Levee ain't nothing but trouble. 930 00:48:11,437 --> 00:48:12,687 Levee all right. 931 00:48:12,771 --> 00:48:15,271 He plays good music when he puts his mind to it. 932 00:48:15,354 --> 00:48:17,521 -He know how to write music too. -I don't care. 933 00:48:17,604 --> 00:48:18,646 He ain't nothing but bad news. 934 00:48:18,729 --> 00:48:21,187 Find somebody else. He the ringtail leader. 935 00:48:21,271 --> 00:48:23,687 I know it was his idea who to say who can do what. 936 00:48:23,771 --> 00:48:27,229 Dussie Mae! Sit your ass down and stop flaunting yourself around. 937 00:48:27,312 --> 00:48:28,396 I ain't doing nothing. 938 00:48:28,479 --> 00:48:30,604 Just go somewhere and stay out of the way. 939 00:48:38,354 --> 00:48:39,271 [door shuts] 940 00:48:45,729 --> 00:48:48,562 [humming] 941 00:48:48,646 --> 00:48:51,479 ♪ You can slide across the floor ♪ 942 00:48:51,562 --> 00:48:54,937 ♪ You'll never have to stall My jelly roll ♪ 943 00:48:55,021 --> 00:48:59,854 ♪ Oh, my jelly roll My jelly roll ♪ 944 00:48:59,937 --> 00:49:02,854 Hi. I just wanted to see what it look like down here. 945 00:49:03,646 --> 00:49:04,979 Well, come on in. 946 00:49:05,812 --> 00:49:06,812 I don't bite. 947 00:49:09,146 --> 00:49:10,562 I didn't know you could write music. 948 00:49:10,646 --> 00:49:13,437 I just thought you was jiving me at the club last night. 949 00:49:13,521 --> 00:49:15,687 No, baby. I knows how to write music. 950 00:49:15,771 --> 00:49:18,021 I done give some of my songs to Mr. Sturdyvant. 951 00:49:18,104 --> 00:49:19,604 He say he gonna let me record 'em. 952 00:49:19,687 --> 00:49:21,396 I'm gonna have my own band. 953 00:49:21,479 --> 00:49:25,562 Hey, Toledo. Ain't I give Mr. Sturdyvant some of my songs I wrote? 954 00:49:26,146 --> 00:49:27,937 Don't get Toledo mixed up in nothing. 955 00:49:29,729 --> 00:49:31,687 You gonna have your own band, sure enough? 956 00:49:32,271 --> 00:49:36,354 -Levee Green and his Footstompers. -[giggles] 957 00:49:36,437 --> 00:49:39,812 A man what's gonna get his own band need to have a woman like you. 958 00:49:39,896 --> 00:49:43,187 A woman like me need a man to bring it and put it in my hand. 959 00:49:44,021 --> 00:49:45,604 I don't need nobody getting something for nothing 960 00:49:45,687 --> 00:49:47,479 and leave me standing in my door. 961 00:49:47,562 --> 00:49:51,062 That ain't Levee's style, sugar. I knows how to treat a woman. 962 00:49:51,646 --> 00:49:54,646 Buy her presents and things. Treat her like she want to be treated. 963 00:49:54,729 --> 00:49:57,854 That's what they all say till it come time to be buying the presents. 964 00:49:57,937 --> 00:50:01,646 When we get down to Memphis, I'm gonna take you out, 965 00:50:01,729 --> 00:50:03,396 show you a good time. 966 00:50:04,229 --> 00:50:06,312 Show you Levee know how to treat a woman. 967 00:50:12,021 --> 00:50:13,021 Ma. 968 00:50:14,771 --> 00:50:18,937 This "Moonshine Blues," that's one of them songs that Bessie Smith sangs, I believe. 969 00:50:19,021 --> 00:50:19,937 Bessie what? 970 00:50:20,521 --> 00:50:21,812 I ain't thinking about Bessie. 971 00:50:22,354 --> 00:50:24,979 Shit. I taught Bessie. Bessie ain't doing nothing but imitating me. 972 00:50:25,062 --> 00:50:28,187 What I care about Bessie? I don't care if she sell a million record. 973 00:50:28,271 --> 00:50:31,271 She got her people. I got mine. I don't care what nobody else do. 974 00:50:31,354 --> 00:50:33,021 Ma was the first. Don't you forget it. 975 00:50:33,104 --> 00:50:34,437 Nobody said nothing about all that. 976 00:50:34,521 --> 00:50:36,562 -I'm saying that's the song she sang. -I've been doing this a long time. 977 00:50:36,646 --> 00:50:39,687 Ever since I was a little girl. I don't care what nobody else do. 978 00:50:39,771 --> 00:50:42,271 Shoot. That's what get me so mad with Irvin. 979 00:50:43,604 --> 00:50:45,396 White folks try to be put out with you all the time. 980 00:50:45,479 --> 00:50:47,771 Too cheap to buy you a damn Coca-Cola. 981 00:50:47,854 --> 00:50:50,312 I lets them know it, though. Ma don't stand for no shit. 982 00:50:51,062 --> 00:50:52,104 Shoot. 983 00:50:52,187 --> 00:50:55,187 They wanna take your voice and trap it in all them fancy boxes 984 00:50:55,271 --> 00:50:59,687 with all them buttons and dials, and then too cheap to buy you a Coca-Cola. 985 00:51:00,271 --> 00:51:02,187 Don't cost but a nickel a bottle. 986 00:51:04,812 --> 00:51:05,729 [door slams shut] 987 00:51:06,854 --> 00:51:08,812 They don't care nothing about me. 988 00:51:11,979 --> 00:51:15,104 All they want is my voice. 989 00:51:18,771 --> 00:51:20,104 Well, I done learned that. 990 00:51:22,146 --> 00:51:24,229 And they gonna treat me the way I want to be treated 991 00:51:24,312 --> 00:51:25,937 no matter how much it hurt 'em. 992 00:51:29,687 --> 00:51:32,521 They back there right now calling me all kinds of names. 993 00:51:32,604 --> 00:51:34,562 Calling me everything but a child of God. 994 00:51:35,187 --> 00:51:38,562 But they can't do nothing else 'cause they ain't got what they wanted yet. 995 00:51:39,396 --> 00:51:43,021 As soon as they get my voice down on one them recording machines, 996 00:51:43,771 --> 00:51:48,312 then it's just like I'd be some whore and they roll over and put their pants on. 997 00:51:48,396 --> 00:51:50,146 They ain't got no use for me then. 998 00:51:52,021 --> 00:51:54,104 I know what I'm talking about. You watch. 999 00:51:54,812 --> 00:51:57,521 And Irvin, he right there with the rest of them. 1000 00:51:57,604 --> 00:51:59,354 He don't care nothing about me either. 1001 00:52:00,062 --> 00:52:03,271 He's been my manager for six years, and the only time he had me over his house 1002 00:52:03,354 --> 00:52:05,104 was to sing for some of his white friends. 1003 00:52:05,187 --> 00:52:07,021 Huh. I know how they do. 1004 00:52:07,104 --> 00:52:09,687 Yeah. Shit, you colored and you can make 'em some money, 1005 00:52:09,771 --> 00:52:14,062 then you all right with them, otherwise you just a dog in the alley. 1006 00:52:14,979 --> 00:52:16,687 I done made them more money from my records 1007 00:52:16,771 --> 00:52:19,229 than all them other recording artists they got put together, 1008 00:52:19,312 --> 00:52:23,146 and then they wanna balk about how much this session is costing them. 1009 00:52:23,229 --> 00:52:25,396 I can't see how it's costing as much as they say. 1010 00:52:25,479 --> 00:52:28,229 Shit, it ain't. I don't pay that kind of talk no mind. 1011 00:52:32,271 --> 00:52:35,021 -I already got my fellas picked out. -Mmm-hmm. 1012 00:52:35,104 --> 00:52:39,229 I'm getting me some good fellas. Know how to play real sweet music. 1013 00:52:39,312 --> 00:52:42,604 You get your own band, we'll see about this stuff you talking. 1014 00:52:43,229 --> 00:52:45,937 I just wanna show you I knows what the womens like. 1015 00:52:46,021 --> 00:52:48,896 They don't call me Sweet Lemonade for nothing. 1016 00:52:48,979 --> 00:52:50,687 Stop it now. Somebody gonna come in here. 1017 00:52:50,771 --> 00:52:51,729 No, they ain't. 1018 00:52:53,187 --> 00:52:54,187 Look here, sugar. 1019 00:52:55,021 --> 00:52:56,687 What I wants to know is, 1020 00:52:57,437 --> 00:53:02,271 can I introduce my red rooster to your brown hen. 1021 00:53:09,229 --> 00:53:13,021 You get your own band and we'll see if your red rooster know how to crow. 1022 00:53:13,104 --> 00:53:15,646 -[Dussie Mae giggling] -[Levee whoops] 1023 00:53:15,729 --> 00:53:17,354 [Levee moaning] 1024 00:53:19,354 --> 00:53:20,687 [Dussie Mae laughing] 1025 00:53:21,729 --> 00:53:24,271 [Levee] Mmm. Damn, baby. 1026 00:53:24,354 --> 00:53:27,187 Now I know why my grandpappy sat on the front porch 1027 00:53:27,271 --> 00:53:30,396 with a straight razor when my grandma hung out the wash. 1028 00:53:30,479 --> 00:53:32,021 You crazy! 1029 00:53:32,104 --> 00:53:34,271 -[Dussie Mae laughing] -[Levee] Whoo! 1030 00:53:36,979 --> 00:53:40,979 I bet you sound like the midnight train to Alabama 1031 00:53:41,062 --> 00:53:43,646 when it crosses the Mason-Dixon Line. 1032 00:53:43,729 --> 00:53:44,771 [moans] 1033 00:53:47,854 --> 00:53:50,104 [Dussie Mae] How you get so crazy? 1034 00:53:50,187 --> 00:53:53,354 It's women like you that drive me so… 1035 00:53:54,979 --> 00:53:56,687 -Good God. -[laughing] 1036 00:53:57,271 --> 00:53:59,854 Happy birthday to the lady with the cakes. 1037 00:54:00,437 --> 00:54:02,896 [discordant notes play on piano] 1038 00:54:02,979 --> 00:54:04,437 [Dussie Mae moaning] 1039 00:54:04,521 --> 00:54:06,396 [both laugh] 1040 00:54:13,229 --> 00:54:15,021 Sure done got quiet in here. 1041 00:54:19,146 --> 00:54:21,229 I never could stand no silence. 1042 00:54:22,354 --> 00:54:25,479 I always got to have some music going on in my head somewhere. 1043 00:54:26,271 --> 00:54:27,896 It keeps things balanced. 1044 00:54:27,979 --> 00:54:30,146 Music will do that. It fills things up. 1045 00:54:31,479 --> 00:54:34,896 The more music you have in the world, the fuller it is. 1046 00:54:34,979 --> 00:54:37,937 I can agree with that. I got to have my music too. 1047 00:54:38,562 --> 00:54:40,896 White folk don't understand about the blues. 1048 00:54:41,896 --> 00:54:44,562 They hear it come out, but they don't know how it got there. 1049 00:54:46,229 --> 00:54:49,062 They don't understand that that's life's way of talking. 1050 00:54:50,229 --> 00:54:51,771 You don't sing to feel better. 1051 00:54:52,646 --> 00:54:55,521 You sing 'cause that's a way of understanding life. 1052 00:54:57,771 --> 00:55:00,229 The blues help you get out of bed in the morning. 1053 00:55:02,062 --> 00:55:04,271 You get up knowing you ain't alone. 1054 00:55:05,979 --> 00:55:07,812 There's something else in the world. 1055 00:55:09,229 --> 00:55:12,687 Something's been added by that song. 1056 00:55:15,479 --> 00:55:16,396 Mmm. 1057 00:55:19,562 --> 00:55:22,146 This be an empty world without the blues. 1058 00:55:22,229 --> 00:55:23,562 [both laugh] 1059 00:55:24,354 --> 00:55:25,187 Yeah. 1060 00:55:25,271 --> 00:55:28,729 I try to take that emptiness and fill it up with something. 1061 00:55:29,521 --> 00:55:31,146 Ooh! [chuckles] 1062 00:55:33,854 --> 00:55:37,229 I ain't started blues way of singing. Blues always been there. 1063 00:55:37,312 --> 00:55:39,021 But if they wanna call me the Mother of Blues, 1064 00:55:39,104 --> 00:55:41,229 that's all right with me. It don't hurt none. 1065 00:55:41,312 --> 00:55:42,646 [both laugh] 1066 00:55:43,729 --> 00:55:46,521 Sure did take y'all a long time. Sylvester, get Irvin. 1067 00:55:46,604 --> 00:55:47,729 Tell him we ready to go. 1068 00:55:47,812 --> 00:55:48,729 I'll grab Levee. 1069 00:55:53,062 --> 00:55:54,229 [Dussie Mae moans] 1070 00:55:54,312 --> 00:55:56,687 [Levee exhales] 1071 00:55:59,104 --> 00:56:00,062 [Levee] Ah… 1072 00:56:05,562 --> 00:56:07,271 [knocking at door] 1073 00:56:07,354 --> 00:56:09,729 Ma got her Coke, Levee. We about ready to start. 1074 00:56:09,812 --> 00:56:11,812 -[Levee whispers] Get this off me. -[Dussie Mae] Okay. 1075 00:56:11,896 --> 00:56:15,854 -[Levee whispers] Okay, gotta go. -[Dussie Mae whispers] Just go! 1076 00:56:15,937 --> 00:56:17,771 [Ma Rainey sipping loudly] 1077 00:56:30,062 --> 00:56:33,604 Okay, boys. "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," take one. 1078 00:56:34,937 --> 00:56:37,646 Two, you know what to do. 1079 00:56:38,229 --> 00:56:40,062 [blues music playing] 1080 00:56:40,146 --> 00:56:45,271 All right, boys, you… you… d… done… 1081 00:56:48,229 --> 00:56:49,354 Take two. 1082 00:56:50,146 --> 00:56:51,229 All right, boys, 1083 00:56:51,312 --> 00:56:54,479 you done seen the rest. Now I'm gonna show you the best. 1084 00:56:54,562 --> 00:56:58,229 Ma Rainey's gonna show you her… B… B… B… 1085 00:57:01,896 --> 00:57:03,021 Take… 1086 00:57:05,271 --> 00:57:06,187 [Ma Rainey] Hmm. 1087 00:57:07,187 --> 00:57:08,021 [sips loudly] 1088 00:57:12,437 --> 00:57:15,229 Ma, can we just do it without the… 1089 00:57:17,396 --> 00:57:18,479 Take six. 1090 00:57:22,896 --> 00:57:23,729 [yawns] 1091 00:57:26,396 --> 00:57:27,521 Take seven. 1092 00:57:29,729 --> 00:57:30,812 [blues music playing] 1093 00:57:30,896 --> 00:57:31,937 All right, boys, 1094 00:57:32,646 --> 00:57:36,021 you done seen the rest. Now I'm gonna show you the best. 1095 00:57:36,729 --> 00:57:38,979 Ma Rainey's gonna show you her black bottom. 1096 00:57:39,604 --> 00:57:42,896 ♪ Way down South in Alabamy ♪ 1097 00:57:44,271 --> 00:57:47,562 ♪ I got a friend they call Dancin' Sammy ♪ 1098 00:57:48,812 --> 00:57:52,437 ♪ Who's crazy About all the latest dances ♪ 1099 00:57:53,062 --> 00:57:57,354 ♪ Black bottom stomps And the new baby prances ♪ 1100 00:57:57,437 --> 00:58:01,854 ♪ The other night at a swell affair ♪ 1101 00:58:02,437 --> 00:58:05,937 ♪ Soon as the boys Found out that I was there ♪ 1102 00:58:06,021 --> 00:58:10,562 ♪ They said, "Come on, Ma Let's go to the cabaret" ♪ 1103 00:58:11,646 --> 00:58:15,229 ♪ When I got there, they began to say ♪ 1104 00:58:16,271 --> 00:58:19,937 ♪ "I wanna see that dance They call the black bottom" ♪ 1105 00:58:20,979 --> 00:58:23,104 ♪ "I wanna learn that dance" ♪ 1106 00:58:24,937 --> 00:58:29,479 ♪ "Wanna see the dance They call your big black bottom" ♪ 1107 00:58:30,187 --> 00:58:32,854 ♪ It'll put you in a trance ♪ 1108 00:58:34,521 --> 00:58:38,187 ♪ All the boys in the neighborhood ♪ 1109 00:58:38,271 --> 00:58:42,979 ♪ They say "Your black bottom is really good" ♪ 1110 00:58:44,271 --> 00:58:48,062 ♪ "Come on and show me Your black bottom" ♪ 1111 00:58:48,979 --> 00:58:52,229 ♪ "I wanna learn that dance" ♪ 1112 00:58:53,604 --> 00:58:57,604 ♪ I wanna see the dance They call the black bottom ♪ 1113 00:58:58,437 --> 00:59:01,062 ♪ I wanna learn that dance ♪ 1114 00:59:02,771 --> 00:59:07,771 ♪ Wanna see you do the dance You call your big black bottom ♪ 1115 00:59:07,854 --> 00:59:10,687 ♪ It'll put you in a trance ♪ 1116 00:59:12,229 --> 00:59:15,979 ♪ Early one morning 'Bout the break of day ♪ 1117 00:59:17,229 --> 00:59:21,062 ♪ Grandpa told Grandma, I heard him say ♪ 1118 00:59:21,937 --> 00:59:25,937 ♪ "Get on up and show your old man Your black bottom" ♪ 1119 00:59:26,437 --> 00:59:30,437 ♪ I wanna learn that dance Yes, sir ♪ 1120 00:59:31,521 --> 00:59:34,854 ♪ I wanna learn that dance ♪ 1121 00:59:38,604 --> 00:59:41,646 Okay, that's good, Ma. That sounded great. Good job, boys. 1122 00:59:41,729 --> 00:59:43,646 -See? I told you you could do it! -[laughs] 1123 00:59:43,729 --> 00:59:45,646 -[Cutler] He did good. -All you gotta do is set your mind to it. 1124 00:59:45,729 --> 00:59:47,271 -He did better than I thought he would. -My baby. 1125 00:59:47,354 --> 00:59:51,229 -Mwah. That's my baby. -Hey, boy. Hey, boys, Ma. 1126 00:59:51,312 --> 00:59:55,437 -Yeah! -Hey, let's do "Moonshine Blues" next? 1127 00:59:56,104 --> 00:59:57,146 "Moonshine Blues," boys. 1128 00:59:57,229 --> 01:00:00,979 Irv? Something happened with the recording. Check that mic. 1129 01:00:01,521 --> 01:00:03,604 One, one, one, two, check, one-- 1130 01:00:03,687 --> 01:00:05,396 No. The problem's with the kid's mic. 1131 01:00:06,812 --> 01:00:08,687 Oh, Christ Almighty! 1132 01:00:09,271 --> 01:00:11,021 -Ma, we didn't record the song. -Shit! 1133 01:00:11,104 --> 01:00:12,646 What you mean you didn't record the song? 1134 01:00:12,729 --> 01:00:14,229 What were you and Sturdyvant doing up there? 1135 01:00:14,312 --> 01:00:15,562 [Irvin] Levee must have kicked the plug out. 1136 01:00:15,646 --> 01:00:16,562 I ain't kicked nothing. 1137 01:00:16,646 --> 01:00:18,354 If Levee had his mind on what he was doing. 1138 01:00:18,437 --> 01:00:21,271 If it ain't one thing, it's another. Straighten your black ass out. 1139 01:00:21,354 --> 01:00:23,229 Hell, it ain't my fault. I ain't done nothing. 1140 01:00:23,312 --> 01:00:24,354 It's the cord, Mel. 1141 01:00:24,437 --> 01:00:26,354 The cord's all chewed up. We need another cord. 1142 01:00:26,437 --> 01:00:28,062 -The most disorganized… -[Irvin] Ma? 1143 01:00:28,146 --> 01:00:29,562 -[Ma Rainey] Waste of my time. -Where's she going? 1144 01:00:29,646 --> 01:00:31,104 -Shit. -[Irvin] Ma? Ma! 1145 01:00:31,687 --> 01:00:32,521 Ma? 1146 01:00:32,604 --> 01:00:35,479 If you walk out of this studio, you're through. You're washed-up. 1147 01:00:35,562 --> 01:00:37,312 Chrissakes, Mel! Ma! 1148 01:00:37,396 --> 01:00:40,271 Ma, come back here! Ma, please! 1149 01:00:43,104 --> 01:00:43,937 Listen, Ma. 1150 01:00:45,146 --> 01:00:46,854 These records are gonna be hits. 1151 01:00:47,562 --> 01:00:49,479 They are gonna sell like crazy. 1152 01:00:49,562 --> 01:00:51,437 Hell, even Sylvester will be a star. 1153 01:00:52,687 --> 01:00:53,854 Fifteen minutes. 1154 01:00:55,146 --> 01:00:58,604 That is all I am asking, Ma. Just 15 minutes. 1155 01:01:03,354 --> 01:01:06,229 Fifteen minutes. You hear me, Irvin? Fifteen minutes. 1156 01:01:06,312 --> 01:01:09,396 Then I'm gonna carry my black bottom on back down to Georgia, you hear me? 1157 01:01:09,479 --> 01:01:11,229 Fifteen minutes. [scoffs] 1158 01:01:14,979 --> 01:01:17,187 [exhales] You boys go ahead and take a break. 1159 01:01:17,271 --> 01:01:19,562 Fifteen minutes. We'll be ready to go. 1160 01:01:20,521 --> 01:01:22,354 Don't make no difference to me if she leave. 1161 01:01:22,437 --> 01:01:24,396 I'm ready to get on outta here, anyway. 1162 01:01:24,479 --> 01:01:25,604 If I was Mr. Irvin, 1163 01:01:25,687 --> 01:01:28,479 I'd go on and get them cords and things hooked up right. 1164 01:01:28,562 --> 01:01:31,354 If Levee kept his mind on his work, we wouldn't be in this fix. 1165 01:01:31,437 --> 01:01:32,646 We'd be up there finishing up. 1166 01:01:32,729 --> 01:01:35,062 Now we gotta see if that boy can get that part right. 1167 01:01:35,146 --> 01:01:37,396 He got one eye on the gal and the other on his trumpet. 1168 01:01:37,479 --> 01:01:39,146 [Cutler] Nigga, don't you know that's Ma's gal? 1169 01:01:39,229 --> 01:01:42,229 I ain't done nothing to her. I just talk to her like I talk to anybody else. 1170 01:01:42,312 --> 01:01:44,771 Your ass gonna be out there scraping the concrete, lookin' for a job, 1171 01:01:44,854 --> 01:01:45,812 you keep messing around with her. 1172 01:01:45,896 --> 01:01:48,604 I ain't done nothing to the gal. I just asked her her name. 1173 01:01:48,687 --> 01:01:51,021 If you sayin' I can't do that, Ma'll just have to go to hell. 1174 01:01:51,104 --> 01:01:53,729 I'm through with it. [scoffs] Try talking to a fool. 1175 01:01:53,812 --> 01:01:57,687 Some mens got it worse than others. Some mens is excited to be a fool. 1176 01:01:57,771 --> 01:01:59,396 [chuckles] 1177 01:01:59,479 --> 01:02:02,104 I knows about it. The excitement is something else. 1178 01:02:02,187 --> 01:02:05,896 I done experienced it. Make you feel good to be a fool. 1179 01:02:06,479 --> 01:02:07,812 But it don't last long. 1180 01:02:07,896 --> 01:02:11,104 Over in a minute, then you got to tend with the consequences. 1181 01:02:11,187 --> 01:02:14,562 That's the best sense you made all day, talking about being a fool. 1182 01:02:14,646 --> 01:02:17,854 That's the only sensible thing you said today, admitting you was a fool. 1183 01:02:17,937 --> 01:02:21,396 Oh, I admits it, all right. Ain't nothing wrong with it. 1184 01:02:21,479 --> 01:02:24,396 I done been a little bit of everything. [chuckles] 1185 01:02:24,479 --> 01:02:27,187 Gonna be a bit more things before I'm finished with it. 1186 01:02:27,271 --> 01:02:29,396 But I ain't never been the same fool twice. 1187 01:02:29,479 --> 01:02:30,812 That's where we part ways. 1188 01:02:30,896 --> 01:02:33,229 But you been a fool. That's what counts. 1189 01:02:33,312 --> 01:02:35,437 Talking about I'm a fool for asking the girl her name, 1190 01:02:35,521 --> 01:02:37,146 and here you is one yourself. 1191 01:02:37,229 --> 01:02:39,021 I married a woman. A good woman. 1192 01:02:39,104 --> 01:02:42,146 To this day, I can't say nothing bad about this woman. 1193 01:02:42,229 --> 01:02:45,604 I married her with all the good intentions and graces of being hooked up, 1194 01:02:45,687 --> 01:02:47,896 bound to her for the rest of my life. 1195 01:02:47,979 --> 01:02:49,854 Looking for this woman to put me in my grave, 1196 01:02:50,437 --> 01:02:52,687 but she went out and joined the church. 1197 01:02:54,021 --> 01:02:58,646 She got up there and got to seeing them good Christian men 1198 01:02:58,729 --> 01:03:00,812 and wondering why I ain't like that. 1199 01:03:01,396 --> 01:03:04,146 Soon she figured she hooked up to a heathen. 1200 01:03:04,229 --> 01:03:05,521 Couldn't live like that. 1201 01:03:06,771 --> 01:03:07,771 So she left. 1202 01:03:08,521 --> 01:03:09,646 Hmm. 1203 01:03:09,729 --> 01:03:14,437 I just sat down and I figured I was a fool 1204 01:03:14,521 --> 01:03:18,021 not to see that she needed something that I wasn't giving her, 1205 01:03:18,104 --> 01:03:20,437 else she wouldn't have been up there at the church. 1206 01:03:21,021 --> 01:03:21,979 So, yeah… 1207 01:03:22,854 --> 01:03:25,062 Toledo been a fool about a woman. 1208 01:03:26,437 --> 01:03:27,812 That's part of making life. 1209 01:03:28,979 --> 01:03:31,062 Toledo, what you call a fool 1210 01:03:31,146 --> 01:03:33,437 and what I call a fool are two different things. 1211 01:03:33,521 --> 01:03:37,687 A fool is responsible for what happen to him. 1212 01:03:37,771 --> 01:03:40,312 A fool cause it to happen. Like Levee. 1213 01:03:40,812 --> 01:03:44,604 He keep messing around with Ma's gal, his feet be out there scraping the ground. 1214 01:03:44,687 --> 01:03:46,771 -That's a fool. -Nothing gonna happen to Levee. 1215 01:03:46,854 --> 01:03:48,437 Levee ain't gonna let nothing happen to him. 1216 01:03:48,521 --> 01:03:51,396 Better not let Ma see you ask her. That's what the man's trying to tell you. 1217 01:03:51,479 --> 01:03:53,229 I don't need nobody to tell me nothing. 1218 01:03:53,312 --> 01:03:55,979 Toledo, all I'm saying is, from the looks of it, 1219 01:03:56,062 --> 01:03:58,396 from your story, I don't think life treated you fair. 1220 01:03:58,479 --> 01:03:59,771 Oh, life's fair. 1221 01:03:59,854 --> 01:04:00,979 Life ain't shit. 1222 01:04:01,062 --> 01:04:03,229 You can put it in a paper bag and carry it around with you. 1223 01:04:03,312 --> 01:04:05,521 -It ain't got no balls. -[door clangs] 1224 01:04:05,604 --> 01:04:08,354 Now death? Death got some style. 1225 01:04:08,437 --> 01:04:11,021 Death will kick your ass and make you wish you never been born. 1226 01:04:11,104 --> 01:04:12,521 That's how bad death is. 1227 01:04:12,604 --> 01:04:14,812 But you can rule over life. Life ain't nothing. 1228 01:04:14,896 --> 01:04:17,646 Nigga talking about life is fair and ain't got a pot to piss in. 1229 01:04:17,729 --> 01:04:19,729 All right. Now I'm gonna tell you something. 1230 01:04:19,812 --> 01:04:22,187 A nigga gonna be dissatisfied no matter what. 1231 01:04:22,271 --> 01:04:24,271 Niggas got a right to be dissatisfied. 1232 01:04:24,354 --> 01:04:27,312 Is you gonna be satisfied with a bone somebody done throwed you 1233 01:04:27,396 --> 01:04:29,479 when you done seen them eating a whole hog? 1234 01:04:29,562 --> 01:04:32,646 You lucky they let you be an entertainer. You're lucky and don't even know it. 1235 01:04:32,729 --> 01:04:36,479 I'm talking about being satisfied with a bone somebody done throwed you. 1236 01:04:36,562 --> 01:04:40,146 That's what's the matter with y'all, you're satisfied sitting in one place. 1237 01:04:40,229 --> 01:04:41,771 Soon as I get my band together 1238 01:04:41,854 --> 01:04:44,354 and record them songs Mr. Sturdyvant done told me I can make, 1239 01:04:44,437 --> 01:04:47,521 I'm gonna be like Ma and tell the white man just what he can do. 1240 01:04:48,104 --> 01:04:49,646 Ma tell Mr. Irvin she leaving? 1241 01:04:49,729 --> 01:04:53,146 Mr. Irvin get down on his knees and beg her to stay. 1242 01:04:53,229 --> 01:04:56,354 That's the way I'm gonna be. Make the white man respect me. 1243 01:04:56,437 --> 01:04:58,396 The white man don't care nothing about Ma. 1244 01:04:58,479 --> 01:05:00,646 The colored folks made Ma a star. 1245 01:05:00,729 --> 01:05:03,396 The white folks don't care nothing about who she is 1246 01:05:03,479 --> 01:05:04,979 or what kind of music she make. 1247 01:05:05,062 --> 01:05:07,937 Let her go to one of them white folks hotel and see how big she is. 1248 01:05:08,021 --> 01:05:10,687 [scoffs] Hell, she can't even get a cab up here in the North. 1249 01:05:10,771 --> 01:05:13,104 I'mma tell you something. Reverend Gates. 1250 01:05:13,187 --> 01:05:15,521 Slow Drag, you know who I'm talking about. Reverend Gates. 1251 01:05:15,604 --> 01:05:19,354 Reverend Gates was, uh, coming up from Tallahassee to Atlanta 1252 01:05:19,437 --> 01:05:22,896 to see his sister who was sick at that time with the consumption. 1253 01:05:23,729 --> 01:05:26,604 The train come up through Thomasville, then past Moultrie, 1254 01:05:26,687 --> 01:05:29,104 and then ended up in this little town called Sigsbee. 1255 01:05:29,187 --> 01:05:31,187 You can stop telling that right there. 1256 01:05:31,271 --> 01:05:35,187 Ain't but one train come out of Tallahassee headed north to Atlanta. 1257 01:05:35,271 --> 01:05:36,479 It don't stop at Sigsbee. 1258 01:05:36,562 --> 01:05:38,896 The only train that stop at Sigsbee is the Santa Fe, 1259 01:05:38,979 --> 01:05:40,562 and you gotta transfer at Moultrie to get it. 1260 01:05:40,646 --> 01:05:42,312 Maybe that's what he done. I don't know. 1261 01:05:42,396 --> 01:05:44,479 I'm just telling you he got off at Sigsbee. 1262 01:05:44,562 --> 01:05:47,229 You telling it. Tell it your way. Just make up anything. 1263 01:05:47,312 --> 01:05:49,146 Leave him alone and let him finish. 1264 01:05:49,229 --> 01:05:50,729 Go on, tell it your way. 1265 01:05:50,812 --> 01:05:54,021 Reverend Gates got off this train in Sigsbee. 1266 01:05:54,104 --> 01:05:55,479 Figured he'd check the schedule 1267 01:05:55,562 --> 01:05:59,354 to make sure he arrived in time for somebody to pick him up. All right? 1268 01:05:59,437 --> 01:06:03,812 While he's there, it come upon him that he had to go to the bathroom. 1269 01:06:03,896 --> 01:06:05,896 Now, the only colored restroom they had 1270 01:06:05,979 --> 01:06:09,812 was an outhouse they had sitting way back, 200 yards or so from the train station. 1271 01:06:10,562 --> 01:06:13,937 While he's in the outhouse, the train go off and leave without him. 1272 01:06:14,562 --> 01:06:17,854 Now, he don't know where he is in this town. 1273 01:06:17,937 --> 01:06:19,896 In fact, he ain't never heard of it before. 1274 01:06:19,979 --> 01:06:22,104 I heard of it, and he ain't got off no train 1275 01:06:22,187 --> 01:06:24,229 coming outta Tallahassee in Sigsbee. 1276 01:06:24,812 --> 01:06:28,146 The man's standing there trying to figure out what he gonna do, 1277 01:06:28,229 --> 01:06:30,521 where this train done left him in this strange town. 1278 01:06:32,437 --> 01:06:33,646 It started getting dark. 1279 01:06:34,354 --> 01:06:36,729 He sees where the sun's getting low in the sky, 1280 01:06:36,812 --> 01:06:39,187 and he's trying to figure out what he gonna do, 1281 01:06:39,271 --> 01:06:40,771 when he noticed a couple of white fellas 1282 01:06:40,854 --> 01:06:42,896 standing across the street from the station. 1283 01:06:42,979 --> 01:06:44,896 Just standing there, watching him. 1284 01:06:46,021 --> 01:06:48,771 Then two or three more fellas come up and join the other one. 1285 01:06:49,271 --> 01:06:53,271 Now he look around the station. He don't see no colored folks nowhere. 1286 01:06:53,771 --> 01:06:55,604 He don't know what's getting into these fellas' minds, 1287 01:06:55,687 --> 01:06:57,812 so he commence to walking. 1288 01:06:57,896 --> 01:07:01,021 He don't know where he walking. He walking down the railroad tracks 1289 01:07:01,104 --> 01:07:03,437 when he hear, "Hey, nigger." 1290 01:07:04,854 --> 01:07:06,271 Just like that. 1291 01:07:07,062 --> 01:07:08,479 "Hey, nigger." 1292 01:07:10,062 --> 01:07:11,229 He keep walking. 1293 01:07:12,104 --> 01:07:15,146 They call him some more. He kept walking. 1294 01:07:16,312 --> 01:07:19,854 Then he heard a gunshot. Yeah. He stopped then, you know. 1295 01:07:20,729 --> 01:07:21,937 They crowded around him. 1296 01:07:22,687 --> 01:07:23,812 He's standing there, 1297 01:07:24,604 --> 01:07:26,187 cross around his neck, 1298 01:07:26,271 --> 01:07:29,312 and the little Bible that he keep with him all the time. 1299 01:07:30,479 --> 01:07:34,104 They ask who he was. He said he was Reverend Gates 1300 01:07:34,187 --> 01:07:35,687 and he was on his way to see his sister 1301 01:07:35,771 --> 01:07:37,979 who was sick, and the train went off and left him. 1302 01:07:38,062 --> 01:07:40,937 And they said, "Yeah, nigger?" 1303 01:07:41,521 --> 01:07:43,187 "But can you dance?" 1304 01:07:47,146 --> 01:07:48,437 He looked at them 1305 01:07:49,146 --> 01:07:50,604 and commenced to dancing. 1306 01:07:53,354 --> 01:07:56,437 One of them reached up and tore his cross off his neck, 1307 01:07:56,521 --> 01:08:00,021 said he was committing heresy by dancing with a cross and a Bible. 1308 01:08:02,396 --> 01:08:04,979 Took his Bible and tore it up, 1309 01:08:05,062 --> 01:08:07,854 and had him dancing till they got tired of watching him. 1310 01:08:09,146 --> 01:08:13,729 -That's the only way that man-- -What I wants to know is, he a man of God. 1311 01:08:13,812 --> 01:08:16,437 Where the hell was God when all this was going on? 1312 01:08:17,479 --> 01:08:19,479 Why didn't God strike down them crackers 1313 01:08:19,562 --> 01:08:21,687 with some of this lightning you talking about to me? 1314 01:08:22,187 --> 01:08:23,979 Levee, you gonna burn in hell. 1315 01:08:24,062 --> 01:08:26,771 Why didn't God strike some of them crackers down? Tell me that. 1316 01:08:26,854 --> 01:08:29,896 That's the question. Don't come telling me this burning-in-hell shit. 1317 01:08:30,562 --> 01:08:31,979 He a man of God, 1318 01:08:32,062 --> 01:08:34,521 why didn't God strike some of them crackers down? 1319 01:08:35,562 --> 01:08:38,687 I'll tell you why. I'll tell you the truth. 1320 01:08:39,562 --> 01:08:41,896 God ain't never listened to no nigga's prayers. 1321 01:08:41,979 --> 01:08:44,271 God take the nigga's prayers and throw them in the garbage. 1322 01:08:44,354 --> 01:08:48,687 God don't pay niggas no mind. In fact, God hate niggas. 1323 01:08:49,312 --> 01:08:51,604 Hate them with all the fury in his heart. 1324 01:08:51,687 --> 01:08:54,354 Jesus don't love you, nigga. Jesus hate your black ass. 1325 01:08:54,437 --> 01:08:56,979 Come talking that shit to me. Talking about burning in hell. 1326 01:08:57,062 --> 01:08:58,937 God can kiss my ass. 1327 01:08:59,021 --> 01:09:00,271 [grunts] 1328 01:09:00,354 --> 01:09:04,687 You wanna blaspheme my God! That's my God! My God, you worthless-- 1329 01:09:04,771 --> 01:09:06,146 Let him go! 1330 01:09:06,229 --> 01:09:07,437 -You worthless! -Let him go! 1331 01:09:07,521 --> 01:09:10,562 -That's my God! Blaspheme my God. -Let it go! It don't mean nothing! 1332 01:09:11,521 --> 01:09:13,021 It don't mean nothing! 1333 01:09:13,604 --> 01:09:16,146 It's your God, huh? Is that right? 1334 01:09:18,729 --> 01:09:21,104 All right, I'm gonna give your God a chance. 1335 01:09:21,729 --> 01:09:23,604 I'm gonna give your God a chance. 1336 01:09:23,687 --> 01:09:25,937 I'm gonna give him a chance to save your black ass. 1337 01:09:26,479 --> 01:09:28,937 -Put that knife up! -Stay out of this, Toledo. 1338 01:09:29,021 --> 01:09:30,187 -That's no way to solve nothing. -Put that knife up! 1339 01:09:30,271 --> 01:09:33,187 I'm talking to Cutler's God! You hear me? 1340 01:09:33,271 --> 01:09:36,521 Cutler's God! I'm calling Cutler's God! 1341 01:09:37,729 --> 01:09:39,312 Come on and save this nigga. 1342 01:09:39,896 --> 01:09:42,146 Strike me down before I cut his throat. 1343 01:09:42,229 --> 01:09:45,062 -You gonna burn in hell, nigga. -I'm calling your God. 1344 01:09:45,687 --> 01:09:49,437 I'm gonna give him a chance to save you. I'm calling your God! 1345 01:09:50,187 --> 01:09:51,437 Cutler's God? 1346 01:09:51,521 --> 01:09:53,396 Come on and save this nigga. 1347 01:09:54,229 --> 01:09:56,437 Come on and save him like you did my mama. 1348 01:09:57,771 --> 01:10:00,021 Save him like you did my mama! 1349 01:10:02,562 --> 01:10:04,396 I heard her when she call you. 1350 01:10:06,104 --> 01:10:10,771 I heard her when she said, "Lord have mercy. Jesus help me." 1351 01:10:11,771 --> 01:10:15,396 "Please, God, have mercy on me, Lord. Jesus help me." 1352 01:10:16,979 --> 01:10:18,729 Did you turn your back? 1353 01:10:21,562 --> 01:10:24,104 Did you turn your back, motherfucker? 1354 01:10:25,521 --> 01:10:27,146 Did you turn your back? 1355 01:10:29,187 --> 01:10:30,021 Come on. 1356 01:10:31,396 --> 01:10:33,396 Come on and turn your back on me. 1357 01:10:35,437 --> 01:10:37,187 Turn your back on me! 1358 01:10:38,312 --> 01:10:39,646 Come on. Where is you? 1359 01:10:41,229 --> 01:10:43,354 Come on and turn your back on me! 1360 01:10:44,812 --> 01:10:48,646 Turn your back on me, motherfucker! I'll cut your heart out! 1361 01:10:49,812 --> 01:10:53,187 Come on. What's the matter? Where is you? 1362 01:10:54,146 --> 01:10:56,062 Come on and turn your back on me. 1363 01:10:57,062 --> 01:10:59,187 Come on, what you scared of? 1364 01:11:00,687 --> 01:11:04,521 Turn your back on me! Come on! 1365 01:11:06,437 --> 01:11:07,771 [scoffs] 1366 01:11:10,521 --> 01:11:12,354 Coward motherfucker! 1367 01:11:14,562 --> 01:11:17,146 [panting] 1368 01:11:17,229 --> 01:11:18,854 Your God ain't shit, Cutler. 1369 01:11:22,229 --> 01:11:23,646 Your God ain't shit. 1370 01:11:28,229 --> 01:11:29,312 [exhales] 1371 01:11:30,354 --> 01:11:31,979 [panting] 1372 01:11:36,937 --> 01:11:38,729 [trumpet playing] 1373 01:11:39,937 --> 01:11:44,062 ♪ Hello, central, give me 609 ♪ 1374 01:11:44,771 --> 01:11:48,271 ♪ What it takes to get it In these hips of mine ♪ 1375 01:11:48,354 --> 01:11:51,021 ♪ Oh, you'll hear me talking to you ♪ 1376 01:11:51,604 --> 01:11:54,646 ♪ I don't bite my tongue ♪ 1377 01:11:56,979 --> 01:11:59,437 ♪ You wanna be my man ♪ 1378 01:11:59,521 --> 01:12:03,062 ♪ You better bring it with you When you come ♪ 1379 01:12:06,396 --> 01:12:08,937 ♪ You wanna be my man ♪ 1380 01:12:09,021 --> 01:12:12,979 ♪ Bring it with you when you come ♪ 1381 01:12:23,937 --> 01:12:25,729 Wonderful. We got that, boys. 1382 01:12:25,812 --> 01:12:26,896 Whoo-hoo! 1383 01:12:26,979 --> 01:12:29,271 Good session, Ma. We've got ourselves some winners! 1384 01:12:29,354 --> 01:12:31,354 Slow Drag, where you learn to play that bass at? 1385 01:12:31,437 --> 01:12:33,271 I heard it singing. I heard you. 1386 01:12:33,354 --> 01:12:35,062 You had that bass jumping all over the place. 1387 01:12:35,146 --> 01:12:36,312 I was following Toledo. 1388 01:12:36,396 --> 01:12:38,521 Nigga got them long fingers striding all over the piano. 1389 01:12:38,604 --> 01:12:41,146 -I was trying to keep up with him. -That's what you supposed to do. 1390 01:12:41,229 --> 01:12:42,937 -Play the music. -Cutler, you hear Slow Drag 1391 01:12:43,021 --> 01:12:44,896 on that bass spanking like you spank a baby? 1392 01:12:44,979 --> 01:12:46,687 -[spanks] -Boom! 1393 01:12:47,312 --> 01:12:49,687 Levee, what were you doing? Why you playing all them notes? 1394 01:12:49,771 --> 01:12:52,979 Playing ten notes for every one you supposed to play. Don't call for all that. 1395 01:12:53,062 --> 01:12:55,521 You're supposed to improvise on the theme. That's what I was doing. 1396 01:12:55,604 --> 01:12:57,437 You're supposed to play the song like I sing it. 1397 01:12:57,521 --> 01:12:59,646 [chuckling] The way everybody else play it. 1398 01:12:59,729 --> 01:13:01,687 I was playing the song the way I felt it. 1399 01:13:01,771 --> 01:13:04,812 I'm trying to sing my song and you messing up my ear. 1400 01:13:04,896 --> 01:13:07,771 -You call that playing music? -Hey, I know what I'm doing. 1401 01:13:08,604 --> 01:13:10,604 Y'all back up and leave me alone about my music. 1402 01:13:10,687 --> 01:13:13,479 I done told you it ain't about your music. It's about Ma's music. 1403 01:13:13,562 --> 01:13:14,979 That's all right. I told you what to do. 1404 01:13:15,062 --> 01:13:17,021 What I care about what you and Cutler do? 1405 01:13:21,354 --> 01:13:24,604 Y'all gonna fire me. I don't care. I'll go get my own band anyway. 1406 01:13:24,687 --> 01:13:27,104 -You keep messing with me-- -Nobody studying you. 1407 01:13:27,187 --> 01:13:29,021 All right, nigga. You fired. 1408 01:13:35,062 --> 01:13:37,687 You think I care about being fired? I don't care. 1409 01:13:37,771 --> 01:13:39,812 -You doing me a favor. -Cutler, Levee's out. 1410 01:13:39,896 --> 01:13:43,021 -He ain't playing in my band no more. -I'm fired? Good! 1411 01:13:43,104 --> 01:13:45,187 Best thing that ever happened to me. 1412 01:13:46,521 --> 01:13:48,271 I don't need this shit. 1413 01:13:54,104 --> 01:13:55,187 [door slams shut] 1414 01:14:03,812 --> 01:14:05,854 [breathing heavily] 1415 01:14:20,979 --> 01:14:22,521 [door rattling] 1416 01:14:23,146 --> 01:14:24,896 [grunting] 1417 01:14:27,896 --> 01:14:28,729 [grunts] 1418 01:14:31,812 --> 01:14:33,062 Okay. 1419 01:14:36,604 --> 01:14:38,229 [grunting] 1420 01:14:41,479 --> 01:14:43,021 [breathes deeply] 1421 01:14:44,562 --> 01:14:45,854 [grunts] 1422 01:14:53,396 --> 01:14:54,687 [exhales] 1423 01:14:56,937 --> 01:14:58,771 [breathes heavily] 1424 01:15:00,271 --> 01:15:01,812 [upbeat jazz music playing] 1425 01:15:12,854 --> 01:15:14,646 Mel will be out with your money in a minute. 1426 01:15:14,729 --> 01:15:16,854 That's cash money. I don't want no check. 1427 01:15:17,396 --> 01:15:20,062 I'll see what I can do. I can't promise you nothing. 1428 01:15:20,146 --> 01:15:22,646 As long as it ain't no check. I ain't got no use for a check. 1429 01:15:22,729 --> 01:15:26,729 Listen, Ma. I talked to Sturdyvant, and he said… 1430 01:15:26,812 --> 01:15:28,646 Now I tried to talk him out of it, 1431 01:15:28,729 --> 01:15:32,604 but he said the best he can do is take $25 of your money 1432 01:15:32,687 --> 01:15:34,646 and give it to Sylvester. 1433 01:15:34,729 --> 01:15:36,187 Take what and do what? 1434 01:15:37,979 --> 01:15:41,604 If I wanted the boy to have $25 of my money, I'd give it to him. 1435 01:15:42,812 --> 01:15:44,062 He's supposed to have his own money. 1436 01:15:44,146 --> 01:15:45,979 He's supposed to get paid like everybody else. 1437 01:15:46,562 --> 01:15:48,687 You go on up there, and you tell Sturdyvant 1438 01:15:48,771 --> 01:15:50,729 that he better pay the boy his own money. 1439 01:15:50,812 --> 01:15:53,437 -Yeah, I talked to him-- -[Ma Rainey] Talk to him again. 1440 01:15:53,521 --> 01:15:55,146 Tell him if he don't pay the boy his own money, 1441 01:15:55,229 --> 01:15:57,979 he'll never make another record of mine again. Tell him that. 1442 01:15:59,271 --> 01:16:02,187 You supposed to be my manager. Always talking about sticking together. 1443 01:16:02,271 --> 01:16:03,354 Start sticking. 1444 01:16:06,271 --> 01:16:08,521 -Get the boy his money! -Okay. 1445 01:16:09,229 --> 01:16:10,396 I'll see what I can do. 1446 01:16:14,479 --> 01:16:17,604 [door opens and shuts] 1447 01:16:22,229 --> 01:16:24,104 [breathing heavily] 1448 01:16:38,229 --> 01:16:39,396 [door opens] 1449 01:16:41,562 --> 01:16:42,687 Hey, Ma. 1450 01:16:44,021 --> 01:16:45,437 Is there something wrong? 1451 01:16:45,521 --> 01:16:46,771 Is there a problem? 1452 01:16:47,437 --> 01:16:49,562 I want you to pay the boy his money. 1453 01:16:49,646 --> 01:16:51,187 Sure, Ma. I got it right here. 1454 01:16:52,021 --> 01:16:55,229 It's, uh, 200 for you and 25 for the kid, right? 1455 01:16:58,354 --> 01:16:59,521 Irvin misunderstood me. 1456 01:16:59,604 --> 01:17:01,729 It was all a mistake. It was all a mistake. 1457 01:17:02,562 --> 01:17:05,146 -A mistake, huh? -Sure, Ma. Made a mistake. 1458 01:17:05,812 --> 01:17:07,187 But he's paid, right? 1459 01:17:07,271 --> 01:17:08,562 The only mistake… 1460 01:17:09,562 --> 01:17:12,396 was when you found out I hadn't signed the release forms. 1461 01:17:12,479 --> 01:17:13,562 That was a mistake. 1462 01:17:14,354 --> 01:17:16,229 Come on. Sign the forms, huh? 1463 01:17:16,312 --> 01:17:18,646 -Dussie Mae, Sylvester, come on. -Ma, sign the forms. 1464 01:17:18,729 --> 01:17:20,479 [Ma Rainey] Irvin, where's my car? 1465 01:17:20,562 --> 01:17:22,812 It's right out front. I got the keys right here. 1466 01:17:22,896 --> 01:17:25,312 Come on and sign these forms, huh? 1467 01:17:27,979 --> 01:17:28,979 [Irvin sighs] 1468 01:17:31,187 --> 01:17:32,354 Irvin, give me my keys. 1469 01:17:33,271 --> 01:17:36,187 Sure, Ma. Just… sign these forms. 1470 01:17:43,271 --> 01:17:45,146 Send them to my address. I'll get around to 'em. 1471 01:17:45,229 --> 01:17:47,937 Come on, Ma. I took care of everything, didn't I? 1472 01:17:48,021 --> 01:17:49,562 I straightened everything out. 1473 01:17:50,396 --> 01:17:51,229 Ma? 1474 01:17:55,229 --> 01:17:56,062 Please? 1475 01:17:57,396 --> 01:17:58,687 [man whistling] 1476 01:18:15,896 --> 01:18:17,521 And you tell Sturdyvant, 1477 01:18:17,604 --> 01:18:20,521 any more mistakes and I can make my records someplace else. 1478 01:18:21,187 --> 01:18:23,104 [car starting] 1479 01:18:41,562 --> 01:18:42,979 [instrument clattering] 1480 01:18:47,437 --> 01:18:51,271 [Cutler] I ain't gonna stand for it. Ain't gonna bring me no check down here. 1481 01:18:53,062 --> 01:18:54,771 Man give me a check last time. What happened? 1482 01:18:54,854 --> 01:18:56,604 We had to go all over Chicago to get it cashed. 1483 01:18:56,687 --> 01:18:59,521 See a nigga with a check, first thing they think is he stole it. 1484 01:18:59,604 --> 01:19:01,396 I ain't had no trouble cashing mine. 1485 01:19:01,479 --> 01:19:02,937 I don't visit no whore houses. 1486 01:19:03,021 --> 01:19:04,812 You don't know my business, so don't start nothing. 1487 01:19:04,896 --> 01:19:08,354 I'm tired of you as it is. I ain't but two seconds off your ass, noway. 1488 01:19:08,437 --> 01:19:09,646 Don't y'all start nothing now. 1489 01:19:09,729 --> 01:19:11,896 What the hell I care what you're tired of? I wasn't talking to you. 1490 01:19:11,979 --> 01:19:14,229 -I was talking to this man. -Boys, I've got your pay. 1491 01:19:15,271 --> 01:19:18,521 Mr. Irvin told me you boys prefer cash, and that's what I have for you. 1492 01:19:19,104 --> 01:19:21,104 That was a good session you boys put in. 1493 01:19:21,187 --> 01:19:22,021 There's 25 for you. 1494 01:19:22,104 --> 01:19:24,979 Yes, sir, you boys really know your business. Twenty-five for you. 1495 01:19:25,062 --> 01:19:28,187 We're gonna get you back in here real soon. Twenty-five. 1496 01:19:28,271 --> 01:19:31,437 And have another session, so you can make some more money. 1497 01:19:31,521 --> 01:19:32,729 And 25 for you. 1498 01:19:33,521 --> 01:19:35,146 [Levee] Uh, Mr. Sturdyvant, sir? 1499 01:19:37,896 --> 01:19:39,437 About them songs I give you? 1500 01:19:41,062 --> 01:19:43,521 Oh, yeah. Oh, Levee. Uh, I thought about it. 1501 01:19:43,604 --> 01:19:45,604 I don't think that people will buy them. 1502 01:19:45,687 --> 01:19:47,562 They're not the type of songs we're looking for. 1503 01:19:47,646 --> 01:19:50,687 Mr. Sturdyvant, sir. I done already got my band picked out. 1504 01:19:50,771 --> 01:19:54,312 I got some real good fellas. They know how to play real good music. 1505 01:19:54,396 --> 01:19:57,104 I know if the peoples hear the music, they'll buy it. 1506 01:19:57,187 --> 01:20:00,271 Uh, Levee, I'll be fair with you. They're not the right songs. 1507 01:20:00,354 --> 01:20:03,271 Mr. Sturdyvant, peoples is tired of hearing jug-band music. 1508 01:20:03,354 --> 01:20:06,312 The people in the big city? They want something with some fire to it. 1509 01:20:06,396 --> 01:20:08,479 Harlem, Detroit, DC. 1510 01:20:08,562 --> 01:20:11,687 Okay, I'll tell you what. I'll give you $5 apiece for 'em. 1511 01:20:11,771 --> 01:20:16,604 I don't want $5, Mr. Sturdyvant. I wants to record them songs like you say. 1512 01:20:16,687 --> 01:20:18,771 Like I say, they're not the kind of songs we're looking for. 1513 01:20:18,854 --> 01:20:21,271 Mr. Sturdyvant, you asked me to write them songs. 1514 01:20:21,354 --> 01:20:23,812 Why didn't you tell me that when I first give them to you? 1515 01:20:23,896 --> 01:20:25,812 You told me you was gonna let me record them. 1516 01:20:25,896 --> 01:20:27,312 What's the difference between then and now? 1517 01:20:27,396 --> 01:20:30,187 -I'll pay you for your trouble. -What's the difference? 1518 01:20:30,271 --> 01:20:31,604 That's what I wanna know. 1519 01:20:32,187 --> 01:20:34,062 I had my fellas play your songs. 1520 01:20:34,146 --> 01:20:37,521 When I heard them, they didn't sound like the kind I'm looking for right now. 1521 01:20:37,604 --> 01:20:39,562 You got to hear me play them. 1522 01:20:39,646 --> 01:20:42,687 You ain't heard me play them. That's what's gonna make them sound right. 1523 01:20:42,771 --> 01:20:44,104 Levee, I don't doubt that. 1524 01:20:44,187 --> 01:20:47,146 It's just that, I don't think they'd sell like Ma's records. 1525 01:20:48,479 --> 01:20:50,229 But I'll take 'em off your hands for you. 1526 01:20:51,937 --> 01:20:54,187 [chuckles] Mr. Sturdyvant, sir. 1527 01:20:55,062 --> 01:20:58,521 I don't know what fellas you had playing them songs, 1528 01:20:58,604 --> 01:21:02,604 but if I could play them, I'd set them down in the people's lap. 1529 01:21:02,687 --> 01:21:05,437 Now, you told me I could record them songs. 1530 01:21:05,521 --> 01:21:06,979 There's nothing I can do about that. 1531 01:21:07,062 --> 01:21:10,687 Like I say, it's $5 apiece. That's what I'll pay ya. 1532 01:21:10,771 --> 01:21:12,062 I'm doing you a favor. 1533 01:21:12,146 --> 01:21:15,562 If you write any more, I'll help you out and take 'em off your hands. 1534 01:21:15,646 --> 01:21:18,771 The price is $5 apiece. Just like now. 1535 01:21:43,271 --> 01:21:44,479 Hey, watch it, now. 1536 01:21:45,062 --> 01:21:47,062 Shit. You stepped on my shoe. 1537 01:21:47,146 --> 01:21:48,396 Excuse me there, Levee. 1538 01:21:48,479 --> 01:21:49,354 Look at that. 1539 01:21:50,521 --> 01:21:52,396 Nigga, you stepped on my shoe. 1540 01:21:52,479 --> 01:21:54,937 -What you do that for? -Said I'm sorry. 1541 01:21:55,729 --> 01:21:59,562 You gonna step on my goddamn shoe. You done fucked up my shoe. 1542 01:22:00,896 --> 01:22:02,687 Look at what you done to my shoe, nigga. 1543 01:22:03,479 --> 01:22:05,979 I ain't step on your shoe. What you wanna step on my shoe for? 1544 01:22:06,062 --> 01:22:06,979 Man said he was sorry. 1545 01:22:07,062 --> 01:22:10,146 How the hell he gonna be sorry when he done ruined my shoe? 1546 01:22:10,812 --> 01:22:12,104 Come talk about sorry. 1547 01:22:12,187 --> 01:22:14,729 Nigga, you stepped on my shoe, you know that? 1548 01:22:16,812 --> 01:22:20,729 -See what you done done? -I said, "Excuse me." Now it's over. 1549 01:22:20,812 --> 01:22:23,687 -What you want me to do, huh? -Wanna go and fuck up my shoe like that. 1550 01:22:23,771 --> 01:22:26,229 I ain't step on your shoe. Huh? Look at this. 1551 01:22:26,312 --> 01:22:29,687 -Okay, come on, now. -Naw, naw. Look at what you done. 1552 01:22:30,271 --> 01:22:32,562 Look at that. That's my shoe. 1553 01:22:32,646 --> 01:22:35,479 You did it. You did it! 1554 01:22:35,562 --> 01:22:37,021 You fucked up my shoe. 1555 01:22:37,687 --> 01:22:40,771 You stepped on my shoe with them raggedy-ass clodhoppers. 1556 01:22:40,854 --> 01:22:43,854 Ain't nobody studying about you and your shoe. 1557 01:22:44,396 --> 01:22:46,271 I said, "Excuse me." 1558 01:22:46,354 --> 01:22:49,354 If you can't accept that, then the hell with it. 1559 01:22:50,979 --> 01:22:52,229 What you want me to do? 1560 01:22:54,062 --> 01:22:55,896 You stepped on my shoe. 1561 01:22:55,979 --> 01:22:57,854 [gasps, groans] 1562 01:22:58,937 --> 01:23:00,104 [Toledo whimpers] 1563 01:23:01,771 --> 01:23:04,521 He… He stepped on my shoe. He did. 1564 01:23:05,979 --> 01:23:08,854 Honest. Cutler, he stepped on my shoe. 1565 01:23:08,937 --> 01:23:11,396 What he do that for? Toledo, what you do that for? 1566 01:23:11,479 --> 01:23:14,021 [gasping, groans] 1567 01:23:14,104 --> 01:23:14,979 Cutler, help. 1568 01:23:16,187 --> 01:23:17,646 He stepped on my shoe. 1569 01:23:17,729 --> 01:23:18,562 Cutler! 1570 01:23:19,104 --> 01:23:20,771 [Levee breathing heavily] 1571 01:23:20,854 --> 01:23:22,646 It's okay, Toledo. I'll help you. 1572 01:23:23,229 --> 01:23:24,146 Come on, Toledo. 1573 01:23:24,854 --> 01:23:27,354 [Levee grunting] 1574 01:23:27,937 --> 01:23:29,562 [panting] 1575 01:23:35,021 --> 01:23:35,937 Oh, no. 1576 01:23:43,271 --> 01:23:44,854 [Levee breathing heavily] 1577 01:23:47,646 --> 01:23:48,854 Don't… 1578 01:23:51,687 --> 01:23:53,646 [breathing shakily] 1579 01:23:53,729 --> 01:23:55,729 Don't look at me like that. 1580 01:23:58,687 --> 01:24:00,271 Don't look at me like that. 1581 01:24:03,896 --> 01:24:05,437 [somber music playing] 1582 01:24:09,812 --> 01:24:11,354 [breathing heavily] 1583 01:25:22,646 --> 01:25:24,521 [upbeat music playing] 1584 01:25:29,437 --> 01:25:32,604 ♪ You can swing it, you can bring it ♪ 1585 01:25:32,687 --> 01:25:35,812 ♪ You can dance at any hall ♪ 1586 01:25:35,896 --> 01:25:39,229 ♪ You can slide across the floor ♪ 1587 01:25:39,312 --> 01:25:42,312 ♪ You'll never have to stall Oh, my jelly roll ♪ 1588 01:25:42,396 --> 01:25:43,854 ♪ My jelly roll ♪ 1589 01:25:43,937 --> 01:25:45,396 ♪ Oh, my jelly roll ♪ 1590 01:25:45,479 --> 01:25:47,062 ♪ My jelly roll ♪ 1591 01:25:47,146 --> 01:25:49,604 ♪ Oh, my jelly roll ♪ 1592 01:25:49,687 --> 01:25:52,354 ♪ Please, baby, let me have it all ♪ 1593 01:26:21,812 --> 01:26:24,021 [blues music playing] 1594 01:26:26,604 --> 01:26:28,604 [vocalizing] 1595 01:26:53,021 --> 01:26:56,396 {\an8}♪ My bell rang this morning ♪ 1596 01:26:56,479 --> 01:27:00,771 {\an8}♪ Didn't know which way to go ♪ 1597 01:27:04,271 --> 01:27:08,312 {\an8}♪ My bell rang this morning ♪ 1598 01:27:08,396 --> 01:27:12,312 {\an8}♪ Didn't know which way to go ♪ 1599 01:27:15,562 --> 01:27:19,187 {\an8}♪ I had the blues so bad ♪ 1600 01:27:19,271 --> 01:27:23,896 {\an8}♪ I sit right down on my floor ♪ 1601 01:27:27,437 --> 01:27:30,937 {\an8}♪ I felt like going on the mountain ♪ 1602 01:27:31,021 --> 01:27:35,187 {\an8}♪ Jumping over in the sea ♪ 1603 01:27:38,521 --> 01:27:42,062 {\an8}♪ I felt like going in the mountain ♪ 1604 01:27:42,146 --> 01:27:46,271 {\an8}♪ Jumping over in the sea ♪ 1605 01:27:49,229 --> 01:27:52,729 {\an8}♪ When my daddy stay out late ♪ 1606 01:27:52,812 --> 01:27:57,062 {\an8}♪ He don't care a thing for me ♪