St. Louis Blues Interpretation

“St. Louis Blues” from 1922 was composed by William Christopher “W. C.” Handy. It is a blues jazz song. Handy was known as “The Father of the Blues”. The blues is a musical genre whose origin is from the African-American communities. The blues songs were jazz songs, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll. “St. Louis Blues” remains a fundamental part of jazz musicians’ repertoire. Handy wrote this song mainly inspired by some memories of his life. He remembered hearing a woman walking down the street and saying: “My man’s got a heart like a rock cast in the sea”. This song verses are standard-twelve-bar blues which means that the most prominent chord progressions ae the 12-bar blues or blues changes. The song combines ragtime, it has