"Dallas Blues", written by

Hart Wand Hart Ancker Wand (March 3, 1887 – August 9, 1960), was an American early fiddler and bandleader from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was of German extraction. In the musical world he is chiefly noted for publishing the "Dallas Blues" in March 1912 ( ...

, is an early blues song, first published in 1912. It has been called the first true blues tune ever published. However, two other 12-bar blues had been published earlier: Anthony Maggio's "I Got the Blues" in 1908 and "

Oh, You Beautiful Doll "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" is a ragtime love song published in 1911 with words by Seymour Brown and music by Nat D. Ayer. The song was one of the first with a twelve-bar opening. The tune has been recorded hundreds of times by many artists from ...

", a Tin Pan Alley song whose first verse is twelve-bar blues, in 1911. Also, two other songs with "Blues" in their titles were published in 1912: "Baby Seals Blues" (August 1912), a vaudeville tune written by Franklin "Baby" Seals, and " The Memphis Blues", written by

W.C. Handy William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. Handy was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musici ...

(September 1912). Neither, however, were genuine blues songs. The song, although written in standard blues tempo, is often performed in a

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott ...

or Dixieland style. The blues was originally published as an instrumental for piano solo. In its original published version it consists of a single twenty-bar theme (a basic twelve-bar theme with a repeat of the final eight measures) presented twice, the second time in a elaborated ragtime form. A second edition of the song, also for piano solo, uses the same twenty-bar theme but precedes it with an independent twelve-bar melody. In 1918, a third version appeared, for voice and piano, with lyrics by Lloyd Garrett to express the singer's longing for Dallas: The song version uses the two themes of the second version, but reduces the eight-bar repeat on the second theme, so both are twelve-bar. It is mainly in this third form that the work has become known. No date is found for the actual composition of "Dallas Blues" but

Samuel Charters Samuel Barclay Charters IV (August 1, 1929 – March 18, 2015) was an American music historian, writer, record producer, musician, and poet. He was a widely published author on the subjects of blues and jazz. He also wrote fiction. Overview Cha ...

, who interviewed Wand for his book ''The Country Blues'' (1959), states that Wand took the tune to a piano-playing friend, Annabelle Robbins, who arranged the music for him. Charters added that the title came from one of Wand's father's workmen who remarked that the tune gave him the blues to go back to Dallas. Since Wand's father died in 1909, the actual composition must have predated that. In any case, within weeks of its publication it was heard the length of the Mississippi River,Charters, ''The Country Blues'', p. 36: "Twenty bars in all, it was easy to play and whistle, and within a few weeks it was a favorite the length of the Mississippi River." and its influence on all the blues music that followed is well documented.

Early recordings

References

Bibliography

*Charters, Samuel B. (1975). ''The Country Blues''. Da Capo Press. . *Davis, Francis. (2003). ''The History of the Blues: The Roots, the Music, the People''. Da Capo Press. . *Duncan, Craig (1994). ''Blues Fiddling Classics''. Mel Bay Publications. . *Jasen, David A. (2002). ''A Century of American Popular Music: 1899–1999''. Routledge. . *Muir, Peter C. (2010). ''Long Lost Blues: Popular Blues in America, 1850-1920.'' University of Illinois.

ISBN The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and ...

978-0-252-03487-9. *Wand, Hart A. (1912)
"Dallas Blues"
Wand Publishing. Fro

*Wand, Hart A. (music); Garrett, Lloyd (words) (c. 1918)
"Dallas Blues"
Frank Root & Company. From th

{{authority control Blues songs 1912 songs Music of Oklahoma