> Folk Music > Songs > St. Louis Blues / I Hate to See the Evening Sun Go Down

St. Louis Blues / I Hate to See the Evening Sun Go Down

[ Roud 13982 ; W.C. Handy]

William Christopher Handy wrote St. Louis Blues in 1912.

Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies recorded St Louis Blues in Chicago in 1936. This was included in 1977 on their Topic/String album Taking Off!.

Johnny Silvo sang St Louis Blues in 1999 on his and Diz Disley’s Fellside album Blues in the Backyard.

Deanna Kirk sang St Louis Blues live at Deanna’s, New York City, on 14 July 1993. This was included in 2000 on her album Live at Deanna’s.

Jon Lozier played St Louis Blues on harmonica in a recording made by Mark Wilson and Roger Cooper in South Portsmouth, Kentucky, on 26 September 1999. In was included in 2007 on the Musical Traditions anthology Meeting’s a Pleasure Volume 4. Mark Wilson noted:

John played two sorts of harmonica, a regular Marine Band as employed on the previous item, and the chromatic variety heard here, which renders the accidentals of this famous W.C. Handy composition feasible. In modern times, Handy’s work is sometimes dismissed as derivative, but I think his best work shows a real flair for reconfiguring traditional fragments in very evocative ways.

Jon Doran sang Evening Sun on the 2024 album Jon Doran & The Northern Assembly. He noted:

I first heard this from a recording of Cas Wallin on the Digital Library of Appalachia, then later discovered it originated as an old blues song by W.C. Handy. Our words come from the great blues musician and composer, Memphis Minnie, who provided some heartbreaking verses for us to play with. It inspired Jordan [Aikin] to compose a short tune that concludes the song beautifully.

Lyrics

Jon Doran sings Evening Sun

Well I hate to see the evening sun go down.
I hate to see the evening sun go down,
Cause it makes me think I’m on the last go round.
I hate to see the evening sun go down.

Build me up, let me go,
I’m here today, and gone tomorrow.
Like a river’s ebb and flow,
I’m here today.

Well I’ve been to the river, looked up and down.
Been to the river, looked up and down,
And there’s many the time I thought I’d jump in and drown.
Been to the river, looked up and down.

Well tell me how to ease a troubled mind.
Tell me how to ease a troubled mind.
When the big boat comes, I’ll just jump on behind.
Tell me how to ease a troubled mind.