"Trouble in Mind" is a vaudeville blues-style song written by jazz pianist Richard M. Jones. Singer Thelma La Vizzo with Jones on piano first recorded it in 1924 and in 1926, Bertha "Chippie" Hill 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, 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 Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

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 Richard M. 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 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, used with variations in other early classic female blues songs, such as " Ain't Nobody's Business" (written by

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

and Everett Robbins in 1922) and " Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" ( Jimmy Cox, 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, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...

in the key of

G major G major is a major scale based on G (musical note), G, with the pitches G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, C (musical note), C, D (musical note), D, E (musical note), E, and F♯ (musical note), F. Its key signature has one sharp (music ...

in common or 4/4

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

at a slow

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

: 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 blues standard "that has been recorded over and over again in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, 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

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. There is also a soprano cor ...

(sometimes identified as trumpet). In a review of Hill's 1926 rendition by early jazz critic Rudi Blesh, 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". In 2020, the Blues Foundation inducted Hill's rendition into the

Blues Hall of Fame The Blues Hall of Fame is a music museum operated by the Blues Foundation at 421 S. Main Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Initially, the "Blues Hall of Fame" was not a physical building, but a listing of people who have significantly contributed to b ...

as a "Classic of Blues Recording". When

Georgia White Georgia White (9 March 1903 – c.1980) was an American blues singer, most prolific in the 1930s and 1940s. White was born in Sandersville, Georgia in 1903. By the late 1920s she was singing in nightclub, clubs in Chicago. She made her first sou ...

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, 1893 or 1903August 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 19 ...

, her performances beginning in 1929 with

Jimmie Noone James "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 ...

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, one of the most popular black female recording artists of the 1950s. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a ...

recorded "Trouble in Mind", which was released shortly after her rendition of " Wheel of Fortune". Hers was the first recording of the song to reach the record charts, peaking at number four on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' 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 Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and po ...

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

Antibes Antibes (, , ; ) is a seaside city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in Southeastern France. It is located on the French Riviera between Cannes and Nice; its cape, the Cap d'Antibes, along with Cap Ferrat in Saint-Jean-Ca ...

- 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. Hel ...

and

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

appears on the 2022 album '' Carry Me Home''.

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 Sam Cooke songs

Lyrics and composition

Recordings

See also

References