Black vernacular speech has long been of interest to Wald, who wrote The Dozens: A History of Rap’s Mama (Oxford University Press, 2014). What set the book Jelly Roll Blues in motion were two things he heard in the well-known recordings that Jelly Roll Morton made in 1938 at the Library of Congress, recorded by Alan Lomax. The first is the language used by Morton to recreate the music of his youth, which was more profane—more real—by far than any previous versions of those songs that Wald had heard. The second was Morton’s version of The Murder Ballad—a very long (30-minute) saga in blues format; the first of this kind of form that Wald had ever heard.
This is the jumping off point for the author to explore why so much was lost, not just to recordings, but in song books of music that have been collected since the 19th century. One reason was self-censorship. Black performers, especially women, were unlikely to trust collectors, who were almost universally white and male. A second reason is that publishers would not print “unacceptable” lyrics. A third reason was the censorship imposed by the collectors themselves. Wald saw this very clearly in the difference between the notes that had been taken by John Lomax (Alan’s father) and the published songbook versions. Lomax softened the language in his transcriptions, saying they had to be toned-down for “so-called polite society.”
It’s hard to imagine anyone researching this area more thoroughly than Wald. And yet, as he is the first to admit, it is very difficult to pin down the real facts surrounding the creation of a song. The why of a song is provided by the lyrics themselves. Even if there are many versions, the generative idea behind a song remains: sexual bragging or frustration; two-timing; money; violence feared, occurring and repaid; maltreatment by the police; the difficulty of just getting by. However, the specific who, where and when of a song are a lot more difficult to relate authoritatively.
Wald provides an enormous amount of context to try and explain the possible geneses of songs. In the process, he gives us an in-depth view of life in New Orleans and other cities like St. Louis with large black communities. He describes in detail the sometimes mundane sometimes brutal or violent lives—especially of the “sporting” class—that transpired in brothels, saloons and places of employment and relaxation.