"Trouble in Mind" is a vaudeville blues-style song written by jazz pianist

Richard M. Jones Richard M. Jones, born Richard Marigny Jones (sometimes written Richard Mariney Jones), (June 13, 1892 – December 8, 1945) was an American jazz pianist, composer, band leader, and record producer. Numerous songs bear his name as author, includi ...

. Singer Thelma La Vizzo with Jones on piano first recorded it in 1924 and in 1926,

Bertha "Chippie" Hill Bertha "Chippie" Hill (March 15, 1905 – May 7, 1950), was an American blues and vaudeville singer and dancer, best known for her recordings with Louis Armstrong. Career Hill was born in Charleston, South Carolina, one of sixteen childre ...

popularized the tune with her recording with Jones and trumpeter

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

. The song became an early

blues standard Blues standards are blues songs that have attained a high level of recognition due to having been widely performed and recorded. They represent the best known and most interpreted blues songs that are seen as standing the test of time. Blues ...

, with numerous renditions by a variety of musicians in a variety of styles.

Lyrics and composition

"Trouble in Mind" has been called "one of the enduring anthems of the blues as hope for the future even in the darkest of times". In many versions, new lyrics are added. However, most usually include the well-known verse: The song has roots that pre-date blues. Two spiritual songs from the 1800s have been identified as antecedents: "I'm a-Trouble in De Mind", published in the ''Slave Songs of the United States'' (1867); and "I'm Troubled in Mind", cited in ''The Story of the isk UniversityJubilee Singers and Their Songs'' (1880). Other folk song collections from the early 1900s include similar titles, but the lyrics are not the same as those later used by Jones. Jones' lyrics deal with thoughts of suicide. Early recordings include the verses: Despite the sense of pain and despair, music writers such as Adam Gussow and

Paul Ackerman Paul Ackerman (February 18, 1908 – December 31, 1977) was an influential music journalist. Ackerman was born in New York, New York. From 1943 to 1973 he was the music editor of ''Billboard'' magazine. He wrote the liner notes to Harry Belafonte ...

point to the hope engendered by the refrain "I won't be blue always... For the sun will shine in my back door some day". Blues historian William Barlow calls the song "the anthem of the classic blues genre" and writer Steve Sullivan describes it as "one of the most indelible blues compositions of the 1920s. Musically, the song is an

eight-bar blues In music, an eight-bar blues is a common blues chord progression. Music writers have described it as "the second most common blues form" being "common to folk, rock, and jazz forms of the blues". It is often notated in or time with eight bars ...

, used with variations in other early

classic female blues Classic female blues was an early form of blues music, popular in the 1920s. An amalgam of traditional folk blues and urban theater music, the style is also known as vaudeville blues. Classic blues were performed by female singers accompanied by ...

songs, such as " Ain't Nobody's Business" (written by

Porter Grainger Porter Grainger ( Granger; October 22, 1891 − October 30, 1948) was an American pianist, songwriter, playwright, and music publisher. Biography When Grainger was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the Granger family name did not include an "i". A ...

and Everett Robbins in 1922) and "

Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" is a blues standard written by pianist Jimmie Cox in 1923 and originally performed in a Vaudeville-blues style. The lyrics in the popular 1929 recording by Bessie Smith are told from the point of vie ...

" (

Jimmy Cox James Cox (July 28, 1882 – March 3, 1925) was an American vaudeville performer, and songwriter famous for his Roaring Twenties hit, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" is a blues standard wri ...

, 1923). One music transcription shows an eight-bar

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...

in the key of

G major G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor. The G major scale is: Notable compositi ...

in common or 4/4

time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

at a slow

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

: Another has a simplified version with the lyrics: "Trouble in mind. I'm blue. But I won't be blue al- Vways, 'cause the sun's gonna shine in my backdoor some- day".

Recordings

Blues historian Gerard Herzhaft identifies "Trouble in Mind" as a

"that has been recorded over and over again in jazz, blues, and pop". In 1924, Thelma La Vizzo was the first to record the tune, with Jones accompanying her on piano. Two years later, Bertha "Chippie" Hill recorded it, with Jones and Louis Armstrong on

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...

(sometimes identified as trumpet). In a review of Hill's 1926 rendition by early jazz critic

Rudi Blesh Rudolph Pickett Blesh (January 21, 1899 – August 25, 1985) was an American jazz critic and enthusiast. Biography Blesh studied at Dartmouth College and held jobs writing jazz reviews for the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' and the '' New York ...

, he noted "poetically and musically it is of rare order... The voice sings in high register, except for the downward cadences which end the phrases; the taut, muted trumpet is very blue in tone; underneath, the piano is simple and rich". When

Georgia White Georgia White (9 March 1903 – c.1980) was an American blues singer, most prolific in the 1930s and 1940s. Little is known of her early life, but it has been suggested that she was born in Sandersville, Georgia. By the late 1920s she was singin ...

recorded the song in 1936, she also was accompanied by Jones on piano, and by a guitarist and bassist. According to

Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1903 – August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African American audiences. In the 1930s ...

, her performances beginning in 1929 with

Jimmie Noone Jimmie Noone (April 23, 1895 – April 19, 1944) was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader. After beginning his career in New Orleans, he led Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra, a Chicago band that recorded for Vocalion and Decca. Classical ...

helped to popularize the piece long before she recorded it. In 1952,

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...

recorded "Trouble in Mind", which was released shortly after her rendition of "

Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or ''Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Art * ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-Jo ...

". Hers was the first recording of the song to reach the record charts, peaking at number four on the ''Billboard'' Rhythm & Blues chart. Reviews from 1952 welcomed her return to a blues singing-style after pop-oriented songs, such as "Wheel of Fortune".

Nina Simone Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, ...

also scored a hit with it in 1961, when her recording reached numbers 11 on the R&B chart and 92 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart. Several additional recordings by Simone are in release, including a live performance from the 1960

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...

(''

Nina Simone at Newport ''Nina Simone at Newport'' is a live album by jazz singer and musician Nina Simone. It was released in August 1960; the recording taken from a concert held at the Newport Jazz Festival earlier in the year, on 30 June 1960. The album was her fourt ...

'') and a more intimate small-combo studio version from 1965 ('' Pastel Blues''). In a review of the 1965

Antibes Antibes (, also , ; oc, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal, Antíbol) is a coastal city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department of southeastern France, on the French Riviera, Côte d'Azur between Cannes and Nice. The town of ...

- Juan-les-Pins Jazz Festival in France, ''Billboard'' noted her performance of "Trouble in Mind" as "the blues at its most compelling and featured such unorthodox lyrical variations as 'Gonna let the 2:19 train and barbiturates ease my troubled mind'". A 2011 live recording from

Levon Helm Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. H ...

and

Mavis Staples Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress, and civil rights activist. She rose to fame as a member of her family's band The Staple Singers (she is the last surviving member of that band). Durin ...

appears on the 2022 album '' Carry Me Home''. In 2020, the

Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world. Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs the ...

inducted Hill's rendition of "Trouble in Mind" into the Blues Hall of Fame as a "Classic of Blues Recording".

References

Footnotes Citations Sources * * * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control 1924 songs Paramount Records singles Blues songs 1952 singles Dinah Washington songs 1961 singles Nina Simone songs Songs about trains

Lyrics and composition

Recordings

See also

References