| Foreword |
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13 | (6) |
| STANDARDS (Blues Poems before World War II) |
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LANGST0N HUGHES The Weary Blues |
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19 | (2) |
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LANGSTON HUGHES Morning After |
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21 | (1) |
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LANGSTON HUGHES Beale Street Love |
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22 | (1) |
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LANGSTON HUGHES Song for a Dark Girl |
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23 | (1) |
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LANGSTON HUGHES Midwinter Blues |
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24 | (1) |
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25 | (1) |
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LANGSTON HUGHES Note on Commercial Theatre |
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26 | (1) |
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27 | (1) |
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CLAUDE McKAY The Harlem Dancer |
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28 | (1) |
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NANCY CUNARD Memory Blues |
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29 | (1) |
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COUNTEE CULLEN Colored Blues Singer |
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30 | (1) |
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31 | (3) |
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34 | (2) |
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NOCOLÁS GUILLÉN High Brown |
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36 | (1) |
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MELVIN B. TOLSON Sootie Joe |
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37 | (1) |
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MAXWELL BODENHEIM Street-level Jazz |
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38 | (2) |
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40 | (2) |
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W. H. AUDEN Funeral Blues |
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42 | (1) |
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MURIEL RUKEYSER George Robinson: Blues |
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43 | (3) |
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LEOPOLD SENGHOR Ndéssé, or "Blues" |
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46 | (1) |
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47 | (2) |
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CHARLES EDWARD SMITH Blues Stanzas |
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49 | (1) |
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RICHARD WRIGHT AND LANGSTON HUGHES Red Clay Blues |
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50 | (2) |
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RICHARD WRIGHT The FB Eye Blues |
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52 | (2) |
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VINCENT McHUGH Dicty Blues |
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54 | (1) |
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WARING CUNEY Down-home Boy |
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55 | (1) |
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WARING CUNEY Carry Me Back |
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56 | (1) |
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WARING CUNEY Let Me Tell You Blues Singers Something |
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56 | (1) |
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GWENDOLYN BROOKS Queen of the Blues |
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57 | (6) |
| SOME SONGS |
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W. C. HANDY St. Louis Blues |
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63 | (3) |
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66 | (2) |
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MA RAINEY See See Rider Blues |
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68 | (1) |
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BESSIE SMITH Empty Bed Blues |
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69 | (3) |
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BESSIE SMITH Backwater Blues |
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72 | (2) |
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BESSIE SMITH Gimme a Pigfoot |
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74 | (2) |
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IDA COX Wild Women Don't Have the Blues |
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76 | (1) |
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RICHARD M. JONES Trouble in Mind |
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77 | (2) |
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BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed |
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79 | (2) |
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SON HOUSE Death Letter Blues |
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81 | (5) |
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ROBERT JOHNSON Kindhearted Woman Blues |
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86 | (2) |
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ROBERT JOHNSON Hellhound on My Trail |
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88 | (2) |
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ROBERT JOHNSON Love in Vain |
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90 | (2) |
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JIMMY RUSHING Sent for You Yesterday |
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92 | (1) |
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LEAUBELLY Good Morning Blues |
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93 | (2) |
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MUDDY WATERS Hoochie Coochie Man |
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95 | (2) |
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BIG MAMA THORNTON Hound Dog |
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97 | (4) |
| FORM |
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101 | (3) |
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AMIRI BARAKA Look for You Yesterday, Here You Come Today |
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104 | (5) |
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109 | (1) |
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SONIA SANCHEZ Blues Haikus |
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110 | (2) |
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112 | (1) |
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NIKKI GIOVANNI Master Charge Blues |
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113 | (2) |
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MARGARET WALKER Inflation Blues |
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115 | (3) |
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QUINCY TROUPE Woke Up Crying the Blues |
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118 | (2) |
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ELIZABETH ALEXANDER Letter: Blues |
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120 | (2) |
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A. VAN JORDAN Cheating Woman Blues Haiku |
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122 | (1) |
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ETHERIDGE KNIGHT Feeling Fucked/Up |
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123 | (4) |
| FACING OFF |
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JAMES C. MORRIS The Blues |
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127 | (1) |
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KENNETH REXROTH Married Blues |
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128 | (1) |
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KENNETH PATCHEN Lonesome Boy Blues |
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129 | (1) |
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HENRY DUMAS Concentration Camp Blues |
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130 | (1) |
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HENRY DUMAS Outer Space Blues |
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131 | (1) |
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132 | (2) |
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SHERMAN ALEXIE Reservation Blues |
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134 | (1) |
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GUSTAVO PÉREZ FIRMAT Bilingual Blues |
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135 | (1) |
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MARILYN CHIN Blues on Yellow |
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136 | (2) |
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138 | (2) |
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140 | (2) |
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142 | (1) |
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CALVIN FORBES Some Pieces |
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143 | (2) |
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DARRELL BURTON Broom Song |
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145 | (1) |
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ALLEN GINSBERG Sickness Blues |
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146 | (2) |
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SANDRA McPHERSON Bad Mother Blues |
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148 | (2) |
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150 | (2) |
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JUNE JORDAN Uncle Bull-boy |
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152 | (2) |
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TRACIE MORRIS Get Away 1928 |
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154 | (2) |
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SEAN HILL Joe Chappel's Foot Log Bottom Blues 1952 |
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156 | (2) |
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ALAN DUGAN Swing Shift Blues |
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158 | (1) |
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159 | (4) |
| FIGURES |
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SHERLEY ANNE WILLIAMS Any Woman's Blues |
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163 | (2) |
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CORNELIUS EADY I'm a Fool to Love You |
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165 | (2) |
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CORNELIUS EADY Muddy Waters & the Chicago Blues |
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167 | (1) |
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168 | (1) |
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KEVIN YOUNG Langston Hughes |
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169 | (2) |
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WILLIE PERDOMO Song for Langston |
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171 | (1) |
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STERLING PLUMPP Muddy Waters |
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172 | (2) |
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HONOREE FANONNE JEFFERS Big Mama Thornton |
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174 | (1) |
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CHARLES WRIGHT Poem Almost Wholly in My Own Manner |
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175 | (3) |
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JOHN BERRYMAN Dream Song [no, 40] |
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178 | (1) |
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DAVID WOJAHN John Berryman Listening to Robert Johnson's King of the Delta Blues, January 1972 |
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179 | (1) |
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180 | (1) |
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181 | (2) |
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ALFRED ENCARNACION Bulosan Listens to a Recording of Robert Johnson |
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183 | (4) |
| FREIGHT |
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AL YOUNG The Blues Don't Change |
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187 | (2) |
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G. E. PATTERSON Cinderella |
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189 | (1) |
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YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA Annabelle |
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190 | (1) |
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YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA For You, Sweetheart, I'll Sell Plutonium Reactors |
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191 | (2) |
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YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA Woman, I Got the Blues |
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193 | (1) |
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CATHERINE BOWMAN Hard-Luck Resume |
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194 | (1) |
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THOMAS McGRATH Gone Away Blues |
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195 | (2) |
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ROBERT CREELEY Broken Back Blues |
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197 | (2) |
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199 | (1) |
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WILLIAM MATTHEWS Narcissus Blues |
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200 | (1) |
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RAYMOND R. PATTERSON Special Pain Blues |
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201 | (2) |
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TOI DERRICOTTE Blackbottom |
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203 | (2) |
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MAJOR JACKSON How to Listen |
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205 | (1) |
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JANE COOPER Wanda's Blues |
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206 | (2) |
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ALBERT MURRAP From Aubades |
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208 | (2) |
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NATASHA TRETHEWEY At the Station |
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210 | (2) |
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JEFF FALLIS Nosferatu Blues |
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212 | (2) |
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214 | (1) |
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215 | (2) |
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BOB KAUFMAN Blues for Hal Waters |
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217 | (2) |
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BOB KAUFMAN Heavy Water Blues |
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219 | (3) |
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WANDA COLEMAN Heavy Daughter Blues |
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222 | (3) |
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TERRANCE HAYES The Things-No-One-Knows Blues |
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225 | (2) |
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ANTHONY WALTON The Encyclopedia of Rhythm and Blues |
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227 | (4) |
| FINALE (For Bessie Smith) |
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231 | (1) |
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ROBERT HAYDEN Homage to the Empress of the Blues |
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232 | (1) |
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JACKIE KAY Twelve Bar Bessie |
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233 | (2) |
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MYRON O'HIGGINS Blues for Bessie |
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235 | (3) |
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WARING CUNEY Bessie Smith |
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238 | (1) |
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COLLEEN J. McELROY Mae West Chats It Up with Bessie Smith |
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239 | (2) |
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MICHAEL S. HARPER Last Affair: Bessie's Blues Song |
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241 | (2) |
| List of Authors |
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243 | (4) |
| Acknowledgments |
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247 | |
Other versions by this Author
