St. Louis Cyclone

St. Louis Cyclone Blues (MP3)

In our ongoing look at the blues ads that appeared in the Chicago Defender we examine two topical numbers about the St. Louis Cyclone of 1927. The St. Louis Cyclone hit five months after the flooding of the Mississippi river. The 1927 flood provoked an outpouring of songs by both whites and African-Americans. Many blues songs were written directly about the flood itself while others dealt with related matters like levee work, refugee camps and other natural disasters. Among those who wrote flood themed songs was Lonnie Johnson who recorded “South Bound Water” four days after the disaster, a cover of Bessie Smith’s “Back Water Blues” and “Broken Levee Blues.” Johnson’s “St. Louis Cyclone Blues” was recorded in New York City just four days after the catastrophe. On September 29 a cyclone struck St. Louis, killing 84 people in five minutes and causing one million dollars in damage. The impact of this disaster was minimal in relation to the Mississippi flood and this is reflected in the fact that only four songs were released about the subject. In addition to Johnson there was a sermon by Rev. J.M. Gates titled “God’s Wrath In The St. Louis Cyclone”, Elzadie Robinson’s “St. Louis Cyclone Blues” (a shorter version of Johnson’s song) and “Tornado Groan” by Luella Miller.

Johnson was at the height of his popularity during this period, cutting some 130 sides between 1925 and 1932. Accordingly his recordings were advertised regularly in the Chicago Defender with some forty ads appearing in the paper between 1926 and 1931. In addition to being a gifted singer and guitarist he was also an imaginative songwriter as “St. Louis Cyclone Blues” amply demonstrates:

I was sitting in my kitchen, lookin’ ‘way out cross the sky (2x)
I thought the world was ending, I started in to cry.

The wind was howlin’, the buildings beginnin’ to fall (2x)
I seen that mean old twister comin’, just like a cannonball

The world was black as midnight, I never heard such a noise before (2x)
Sound like a million lions, when they turn loose their roar

Oh, people was screamin’, and runnin’ every which away (2x)
[spoken ] Lord have mercy on our poor people!
I fell down on my knees, I started in to pray

The shack where we were living, she reeled and rocked but never fell (2x)
[spoken ] Lord, Have mercy!
How the cyclone spared us, nobody but the Lord can tell

God’s Wrath In The St. Louis Cyclone (MP3)

Recorded sermons were among the most popular and best selling of the race records in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Rev. J.M. Gates waxed some two hundred titles between 1926 and 1941, which accounted for a staggering quarter of all sermons recorded during this period. These records provide a fascinating look into the views and concerns of black America at a time when very few outlets existed for black expression. Gates’ sermons were advertised in the Chicago Defender close to thirty times between 1926 and 1930. Gates tackled a wide variety of topical concerns exemplified in titles like “The California Kidnapping”, “The Flood Of Alabama”,  “President Roosevelt Is Everybody’s Friend”, “Joe Louis’ Wrist And Hist Fist”, “Hitler And Hell” among others. “God’s Wrath In The St. Louis Cyclone” was recorded a week after the disaster and actually relates a litany of natural disasters, the St. Louis Cyclone being just one of them. Just as many songs viewed the sinking of the titanic as divine intervention so too did gospel singers and preachers view natural disasters as God’s retribution.