Bessie Smith - Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out (Official Audio) 

This woman from a 100yrs ago makes me feel things I don't even feel in the modern world. She is amazing and gives me total goosebumps ❤ i feel like ive lived a life long ago, some sort of connection. I couldnt honestly say.. its just a feeling i have ❤

Janis Joplin paid for this ladies headstone...... RIP to both great ladies....

Everything she sings about is relevant. I can relate to all of it. Human beings have not changed. Go ahead Bessie

Whoever you are and if you've been in there place or if you are in that place of hopeless, don't give up. You are worthy, just take your time. I wish you the best!😊

My Great Aunt Bessie ❤. Thanks for keeping her name alive.

With Bessie Smith , the blues became a major force in American popular music . On her first test in the studio , in 1922 , she was rejected as too coarse - supposedly because she broke off a take to say , " I gotta spit . " Her first release , " Down Hearted Blues , " recorded in February 1923 , was one of the biggest - selling records of the year , and despite the usually short - lived tastes of the record - buying public , she continued to be one of the major recording artists of the 1920s . She had learned some of her style from Ma Rainey , when she toured with her as a 20 - year - old with The Rabbit's Foot Minstrels , but when she began her recording career , she was in her late 20s and had matured , gaining a range of phrasing and expression that went beyond any of the other classic blues performers . Within a year , she was outselling every other blues artist . the early 1930s , despite the wear on her voice from overuse and too much alcohol , she did a last session - produced by John Hammond - with Benny Goodman and Jack Teagarden . Her career was richly productive , and some of her brooding presence was captured in the short film St. Louis Blues , where , after a raffish plot encumbered with most of the period's racial stereotypes , she is shown performing the song in a bar with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra accompanying her and the Hall - Johnson choir joining in from the tables around her . It is an unforgettable glimpse of one of popular music's most significant performers . " Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out " is one of her classic songs , done in the late 1920s when her voice had darkened , and it opens with an eloquent statement of the verse by cornetist Ed Allen , who was working with the Williams studio groups at this time . Her recording has been imitated by hundreds of other singers , but no one has caught the introspection and brooding power of Bessie's performance .

I did a book report on Ms Smith back in high school 😭 her story was very inspirational for women to never give up what you like to do.

Almost a century old and still a banger. Thats a true classic if i dare say.

Thank you, Ms. Smith, for being strong and fearless! I honor you, I salute you.....I love you.

It's not just that she has a gorgeous voice, it's that she understood it. She's so strong, but the "without a doubt" curl is vulnerable, almost desperate, and then it's back to her normal strong voice. Just spectacular. Janis Joplin was right, Ms. Smith had it all.

Love her..almost 100 years ago...Bessie Smith super duper

Bessie Smith voice is so rich, full of soul and grit.❤️

A hundred years later, no one has equalled Bessie in the blues. Gawd, what a voice.

What a rich voice. You can feel Bessie's emotions from her words and her way of singing.

Music has many Kings, and Queens. But there's only one Empress.

So Much power in This voice, i doubt any modern Singer could sing half as good as Bessie did.

This song is nearly a 100 years old! At it's still soo good!

I admit bioshock 2 introduced me to this timeless piece ✨️ but I'm loving it in my soul 💖 beautifully done Bessie what a classy lady 💖

I enjoyed listening to the song. It gave me goosebumps, the power and emotion she carries in her voice is amazing!

The Bioshock games made me appreciate songs from the 30s 40s 50s

1929 and nobody has done it better ever.

This is what I call music. Amazing vocals.

Thankful I played BioShock 2 as a kid and got to hear this. Nostalgia is sweet.

Thank you Empress for this song! You nailed it! RIP ❤😊

i had to do an assignment for us history about a musician famous during the harlem renaissance so i looked up some random one. i came across bessie smith and looked up a song i could talk about. the title of this one intrigued me so i put it down for the assignment. now i'm listening to it for the first time and my god her voice is beautiful

we're all the same. thank you bessie

My Heaven above. So perfect. Wow - I have adored Bessie Smith for years. She could sing a phone book and blow you over. Good Lord!

I think that this might be the greatest vocal Blues performance in History.

Perfect grit, another time. No one sounds like that nowadays Classic treasure

The legends live on through their sound which radiates throught body and mind . It is fine very fine.

She is always the greatest blues singer! Nobody has her voice!

This song is a life lesson…I feel it in my soul. Great lyrics, music and voice.

Glad I learned about her in history class. Her voice was so beautiful

I love this one. They played it on Sanford and Son when Fred went to Vegas 💕

Listening to Bessie Smith almost 100 years after she recorded this song makes me wish that I had been born around 1910. That would be too young to be drafted into WW1, but old enough to enjoy hearing Bessie Smith, Enrico Caruso, and Geraldine Ferrar, and other great musicians from that time. Nobody else has ever even come close to the Empress of the Blues in singing the blues.

Hearing this after sparing Grace Holloway was a true blessing. Really fits her character, I think. Someone who she hated showed her compassion unlike those closest to her. Thank you, Bioshock!

That was fabulous! I understand now why Janis Joplin admired her so much.

Bessie Smith brought me here

❤grateful to my gramma for sharing these records and these clubs with these gifted musicians. I'm not ever alone when I have these ❤❤❤❤

I’m 51 years old and I’m almost ashamed to say that sanford and son brought me here! Love the song 🎵

Water for Elephants brought me here. Great song!

What a voice💕

This is the caliber of talent we may never see again

Bessie was a phenomenal blues singer! Right up there with Aretha!

You gotta love bioshock for adding songs like this

God bless her bro that voice was powerful and beautiful and elegant and i felt that in my soul i started to cry🥲❤

Guy Johnson’s book “Standing at the Scratch Line”, brought me here. Lmao damn I’m a 90’s baby from Chicago just reading an old school book, but man I appreciate Jazz music.. Shit so relaxing and soothing. And the concept of the song is so real, I feel that shit.. and many rap/hip hop songs have the same meaning

THIS SONG AND HER WERE MEANT FOR EACH-OTHER , MAGNIFICENT !

Absolute Legend

Rest in peace 🕊️ you fought a good fight left a positive mark on the world

I just made my way back from this state, this song is way too true... Sad but True...

I didn't know who she was until the last few years. I was watching the movie Monterey Pop and Michelle Phillips likened Janis Joplin to Bessie Smith, so I had to research to find out more about her and loved what I discovered. So thanks to Michelle Phillips for turning me on to Bessie Smith.

une voix du Jazz merveilleuse Bessie Smith qui a marquer ma jeunesse sublime que je ne peu oublier

Because of "Jim Crow," the wonderful Bessie left us W-A-Y too soon. But legends don't die. She lives on in her recordings!

Janis Joplin bought Bessie Smith a grave stone when she found out she was buried in an unmarked grave. RIP LADIES

Wow. Just wow.

Marvelous!

Love this song. It's in Bioshock 2! That's how i found it.

Classic Music

I love it,... this is what I feel

Nothing like the very old singers of the great songs. I can’t imagine being 21 & the 1920’s coming of age! 😊 Thank You!

Janis Joplin was a huge fan. She sang cover on Ms Smith's song in the coffee houses and rag-tag bars in the earliest stages of her career., and I think Ms Smith was her most favorite singer.

she is amazing, and we have her for ever xxx

Sing it Bessie sing it.❤

The great Bessie Smith

Her life relates to all women in all races and she was possibly the first wpman to give us rights in her way. love ya

Can't be beaten. I love the way she sings the "bootleg liquor".

Janis Jopine brought me here. She liked here music.

i love old music and im only 9 years old 2020 :)

Imagine hearing this in person, or a decent analog recording 30 or 40 years later.

je l'apprécie énormément ,dans ma bibliothèque (jazzy) ❤

Wonderful classic blues. Love the 20's to 50's classics.

So many men covered this.... She's amazing. I always repost. Love. Love. Love.

The mother of them all! BESSIE SMITH!

Love you Bessie ❤!!!!!

This is realiseren a great singer of the blues❤❤❤

Bessie is the best!

Sanford and son brought me here

Kelly Clarkson show on Cece Winans brought me here!!! My goodness! What a voice!! 💯🔥 beautiful!!

One of the great American singers. Regardless of genre.

As blues & jazz guitarist and vocalist I play this song at least dozen of times I just love the lyrics and chord patterns to this amazing masterpiece I sing & play this song everyday!

Just what a brilliant, soulful vocal performance and what a brilliantly together band. Lightning in a bottle magic this one, didn’t need autotune or pitch correction in mastering, just real The whole way through xx

Once I lived the life of a millionaire Spending my money, I didn't care I carried my friends out for a good time Buying bootleg liquor, champagne and wine Then I began to fall so low I didn't have a friend, and no place to go So if I ever get my hand on a dollar again I'm gonna hold on to it till them eagle's grin Nobody knows you when you down and out In my pocket not one penny And my friends I haven't any But If I ever get on my feet again Then I'll meet my long lost friend It's mighty strange, without a doubt Nobody knows you when you down and out I mean when you down and out Mmm, when you're down and out Mmm, not one penny And my friends I haven't any Mmm, well I felt so low Nobody wants me round their door Mmm, without a doubt No man can use you wen you down and out I mean when you down and out

Wonderful - My favorite Bessie

Ain't that the truth

Karen Dalton brought me here. ❤ what a voice.

The words say it aii cannot be more true

Always applicable to life.

CLASSIC THANK YOU

I can really see why Janis Joplin admired her ❤️

I love you ganny

This song was ahead of it time

She helped creating the GOAT singer, Janis Joplin! Man what a singer Bessie was

SPECTACULAR IN SO MANY WAYS

This song is beautiful.

The truth.

Bessie is the best❤

Monster voice and style. Unique.

Bobby Womack did a great job 👏🏾 I love this also 👏🏾💥

the ultimate lady!!!!!