“Death Letter Blues”

Description

Singer gets a letter, telling him to come home, because the girl he loves is dead. He comes home, to find her on the "cooling board." He buries her, weeping, telling her he'll meet her on Judgement Day

Notes

The Hull recording ["France Blues"] incorporates the core of "Death Letter" but adds floating non-narrative verses from "Mobile Line" and elsewhere. - PJS

Cross references

  • cf. "France Blues" (verses)

Recordings

  • Eugene "Son" House, "Death Letter" (on SonHouse1)
  • Papa Harvey Hull, "France Blues" (Black Patti 8001/Gennett 6106/Champion 15264, 1927; on BefBlues1)

About

Author: unknown
Earliest date: 1927 (verses floated to recording by Papa Harvey Hull). As a discrete song, 1966 (recording, Eugene "Son" House)
Found in: US(SE)