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In the South of long ago whenever a new man appeared for work in any of the laborers gangs, he would be asked if he could sing. If he could he got the job. The singing of these working men set the rhythm for the work.
William Christopher Handy
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William Christopher Handy
Age: 84 †
Born: 1873
Born: November 16
Died: 1958
Died: March 29
Autobiographer
Composer
Jazz Musician
Music Journalist
Musician
Non-Fiction Writer
Pianist
Songwriter
Trumpeter
Florence
Alabama
W.C. Handy
W C Handy
WC Handy
Father of the Blues
William Christopher Handy
Asked
Laborers
Working
Appeared
Jobs
Gang
Work
Rhythm
Long
Whenever
Would
Sing
Men
South
Singing
Gangs
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The blues - the sound of a sinner on revival day.
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Whenever I heard the song of a bird and the answering call of its mate, I could visualize the notes in scale, all built up within my consciousness as a natural symphony.
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The name of my ailment was longing, and it was not cured till I finally went to the department store and counted out the money in small coins before the dismayed clerk. When I came to the house, I held up the instrument before the eyes of the astonished household.
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Where the Tennessee River, like a silver snake, winds her way through the clay hills of Alabama, sits high on these hills, my home town, Florence.
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Life is like a trumpet - if you don't put anything into it, you don't get anything out of it.
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I think America concedes that true American music has sprung from the Negro.
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Sometimes I feel like nothin,' somethin' throwed away, Somethin' throwed away. And then I get my guitar, play the blues all day.
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If my serenade of song and story should serve as a pillow for some composer's head, as yet perhaps unborn, to dream and build on our fond melodies in his tomorrow, I have not labored in vain.
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I knew the whistle of each of the river boats on the Tennessee.
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