St. Louis Blues

Song facts

From Wikipedia:

“Saint Louis Blues” (or “St. Louis Blues”) is a popular American song composed by W. C. Handy in the blues style and published in September 1914. It was one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song and remains a fundamental part of jazz musicians’ repertoire. Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Bessie Smith, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Guy Lombardo, and the Boston Pops Orchestra are among the artists who have recorded it. The song has been called “the jazzman’s Hamlet.” Composer William Grant Still arranged a version of the song in 1916 while working with Handy.:310

The 1925 version sung by Bessie Smith, with Louis Armstrong on cornet, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1993. The 1929 version by Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra (with Red Allen) was inducted in 2008. […]

From The Beatles Bible:

A brief snippet of The Beatles performing the 1914 song ‘St Louis Blues’ was recorded during the White Album sessions in July 1968, and released half a century later.

Paul McCartney led the rendition during the second session for ‘Hey Jude’ at London’s Trident Studios on 30 July 1968. Although the track lasts 52 seconds, the actual performance amounts to less than 30 seconds.

Although George Harrison played guitar during the early part of the ‘Hey Jude’ session, by the time of ‘St Louis Blues’ he had relocated to the studio’s control room, where he chatted to the rest of the band via talkback. Other songs played during the session included Ray Charles’ ‘Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Cryin’’.

‘St Louis Blues’ made a return on day five of the Get Back/Let It Be sessions, on 8 January 1969. That version was even briefer: Harrison suggested the song as a possibility, followed by John Lennon playing the melody on an electric guitar. […]

Lyrics