BEALE STREET BLUES
(W.C. Handy)

Recorded by : Henry "Red" Allen; Cat Anderson; Louis Armstrong; Buster Bailey;
Bay City Jazz Band; Bix Beiderbecke; Chu Berry; Big Maybelle; 
Big Bill Bissonnette; William Bolcom; Pete Brown; Canadian Brass; 
Benny Carter; Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street; 
The Charleston Chasers; Geoff Cole; Nat King Cole; Bill Coleman; Eddie Condon; 
Bob Crosby & His Orch.; Wild Bill Davison; Wilbur DeParis; Jimmy Dorsey; 
Tommy Dorsey; Dukes of Dixieland; Roy Eldrige; Duke Ellington; Doc Evans; 
Rick Fay; Ella Fitzgerald; Pete Fountain; Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band; 
Jesse Fuller; Carl Halen; W.C. Handy; Erskine Hawkins; 
Clancy Hayes & The Salty Dogs; Fletcher Henderson & His Orch.; Woody Herman; 
Earl Hines; Hird Family; Art Hodes; Lindsay Holiday; Lena Horne; 
Alberta Hunter; Cliff Jackson; Papa Bue's Viking Jazzband; Jonah Jones; 
Leroy Jones; Eartha Kitt; Eddie Lang; The Lawson-Haggart Jazz Band; 
The George Lewis Band; Guy Lombardo; Johnny Maddox; Wingy Manone & His Orch.; 
Rod Mason; Mississippi Fred McDowell; Eddie Metz & His Gang; Miff Mole; 
Morton Seven; Jelly Roll Morton; Red Nichols; The Original Memphis Five;
Kid Ory; Panama Jazz Band; Ben Pollack; Mel Powell; Freddy Randall;
The Red Clay Ramblers; Tom Saunders; Bob Scobey's Frisco Band; Boyd Senter;
Jamil Sharif; Holly Shelton; Cybill Shepherd; Muggsy Spanier; Lew Stone;
Ralph Sutton; Jack Teagarden; Butch Thompson; Big Joe Turner; Johnny Varro;
Joe Venuti; Terry Waldo; Fats Waller; Lu Watters; Dave Whitney; 
Herb Wiedoeft's Cinderella Roof Orch.; Wolverines Jazz Band Of Bern;
Yerba Buena Jazz Band.


I've seen the lights of gay Broadway,
Old Market Street down by the Frisco Bay,
I've strolled the Prado, I've gambled on the Bourse;
The seven wonders of the world I've seen,
And many are the places I have been,
Take my advice, folks, and see Beale Street first!

You'll see pretty browns in beautiful gowns,
You'll see tailor-mades and hand-me-downs,
You'll meet honest men, and pick-pockets skilled,
You'll find that business never ceases 'til somebody gets killed!

If Beale Street could talk, if Beale Street could talk,
Married men would have to take their beds and walk,
Except one or two who never drink booze,
And the blind man on the corner singing "Beale Street Blues!"

I'd rather be there than any place I know,
I'd rather be there than any place I know,
It's gonna take a sergeant for to make me go!

I'm goin' to the river, maybe by and by,
Yes, I'm goin' to the river, maybe by and by,
Because the river's wet, and Beale Street's done gone dry!