Larvatus Prodeo

This is a revision of a recent post at Rock n Roll Damnation.

Got A Letter This Morning traces the history of the song Death Letter, a song that is synonymous with blues legend Son House. There is also a podcast that accompanies this post as if we are talking about music it pays to be able to hear it.

While some readers will be familiar with Son House, others may not be. Either way I hope you enjoy this piece of musicology and philatelical history. I’ve split the post into two parts to reflect the music in podcast. Part 2 is over the fold. Part 1 is here.

Death Letter Podcast Part 2 (9.5 MB)

Son House’s 1930 Paramount recording of My Black Momma pt II contains the stanzas that would become Death Letter in 1965. These recordings were made in Grafton, Wisconson with Charley Patton, Willie Brown and Louise Johnson and the songs from these sessions are rightly regarded as classics.

While Patton, Brown and House were traditional bluesmen, Johnson was a raunchy player of barrelhouse (or boogie woogie) piano. She wasn’t shy as the lyrics to On The Wall attest:

I’m going to show you women, honey,
how to cock it on the wall

Now you can snatch it, you can break it, you can
hang it on the wall

Throw it out the window, see if you
can catch it ‘fore it fall

Unfortunately little of Johnson was recorded other than these sessions.

At this time Patton and House often played together though for the sessions they recorded solo (sometimes with Willie Brown on second guitar). Son House recorded solo and cut My Black Mama Pt I and II, Dry Spell Blues Pt I and II, Preachin’ The Blues Pt I and II (the reason for multiple parts was that the songs exceeded the limit of a 78 record), a test acetate of Walking Blues (only found in 1985 and obviously a song Robert Johnson learned from Son House) and Clarksdale Moan and Mississippi County Farm Blues. These last two songs were considered lost until a 78 was found just last year.

My Black Mama Pt II opens with:

Hey, I solemnly swear, Lord, I raise my right hand
That I’m goin’ get me a woman, you get you another man
I solemnly swear, Lord, I raise my right hand
That I’m goin’ get me a woman, you get you another man

I got a letter this morning, how do you reckon it read?
“Oh, hurry, hurry, gal, you love is dead”
I got a letter this morning, how do you reckon it read?
“Oh, hurry, hurry, gal, you love is dead”

I grabbed my suitcase, I took off, up the road
I got there, she was laying on the cooling board
I grabbed my suitcase, I took on up the road
I got there, she was laying on the cooling board

Son House did not record again until over a decade later. Filling the gap in the evolution of Death Letter is Leadbelly. In 1935 he recorded a version of Death Letter Blues that lyrically owes something to Son House.

Yes she wrote me a letter, what do you reckon it read
Yes she wrote me a letter, what do you reckon it read
Come home sweet papa, now that baby dead

In 1941 and again in 1942 Son House was recorded by Alan Lomax. During these sessions Son House recorded with a band as well as solo. This interesting thing about these sessions is there are no tunes that reference Death Letter at all.

Son House disappeared soon after the Lomax recordings. He retired from music. Musical tastes were changing and it has been suggested that the death of his friend Willie Brown helped make his decision. He moved to Rochester,New York and went and worked on the railroads as a porter and other odd jobs until his rediscovery in 1964 by Dick Waterman. In 1965 he recorded for Colombia. He had to relearn how to play the guitar (and some of his songs) with help from Al Wilson from Canned Heat. My Black Momma finally became what we know today as Death Letter. The fact that Son House reworked My Black Mama into Death Letter is not surprising. Empire State Express recounted his time working as a porter on the railroads so apart from reworking, old songs new songs were created as well.

Another interesting conjecture related to his rediscovery was Son House’s age. At the time it was believed that he was in his mid-60s, his birth to have been in 1902. However it was discovered that the 1902 birth date was likely fabricated so that Son House could gain employment on the railroads in the 1940s. There is evidence (including from Mr House himself) that he was born in 1886. That would put him close to 80 when rediscovered (and a grand 102 when he died). As Dick Waterman said “This must be some kind of a commentary on hard living and bad liquor.” Rob Hutton has an excellent interview with Dick Waterman regarding this and other aspects of Son House’s life.

Son House’s Death Letter has been covered a number of times. It is a brave song to choose as a cover. I still remember well walking into a bar in Japan and the CD playing had a British band (I forget who was in it but the names were familiar) performing a version of Death Letter. Unfortunately they decided an up tempo, stomping boogie version was in order. Maybe not the most culturally or thematically sensitive version of the song.

Other artists have had a go with better results. The White Stripes and John Cougar Mellancamp for example. The most interesting version for mine is by Diamanda Galas on Malediction and Prayer.

Even though Son House did not experience the events recounted in the song and obviously used traditional sources, the song is undeniably his own. It still stands as one of the most powerful and influential blues song ever recorded.

A video of Son House performing Death Letter.