"You Just Can't Keep a Good Woman Down": Alice Walker sings the blues

Thulani Davis's description of Big Mama's performance in the 1980 concert Blues Is A Woman, which occurred alongside classic blues legend Sippie Wallace and others, also captures something of the individual quality of her voice, presence, and image:

The concert's finest moment was Big Mama Thornton, who sported a man's 3-piece suit (completely offsetting all the sequins and chiffon) topped with a straw hat and showing a man's gold watch. She sat at stage center and talked and played a few pieces she wanted to play (not on the program).... she wore out the harmonica & wailed & rocked the house. She set the standard for what it's all about. She was the woman who left home, left home early, and she reminded me of a song they say was sung way back before 1910 that women blues singers took over as their own: "Ain't nobody's bizness if I do." (Davis 56; emphasis added)

Like Gracie Mae, Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was a big woman for most of her life, weighing some 300 pounds in 1965 (Strachowitz).(7) Moreover, the name Gracie Mae itself suggests some connection to Willie Mae Thornton.

One difference between character and real-life singer is that Big Mama Thornton did not compose "Hound Dog"; the popular songwriting team Lieber and Stoller did that. Nevertheless, as Strachowitz's comments suggest, she made the song her own in performance, embellishing the text and adding a humorous ad lib monologue. A second difference is that Walker's character, Gracie Mae Still, made her original recording of the unnamed song in 1923, while Thornton recorded "Hound Dog" in 1952. Walker's character is a "classic" blues singer and composer, a contemporary friend and rival of Bessie Smith, whereas Thornton was an R & B performer and composer. Yet, like Big Mama Thornton, Gracie Mae Still embodies several generations of blues women. In the character of Gracie Mae, Walker celebrates the long "herstorical" tradition of the blues and the lives and work of its Black female creators, from Bessie Smith to Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, Aretha Franklin, and beyond.

As Gracie Mae embodies many singers, her song embodies many songs. Although Walker uses three blanks (----- ----- -----), loosely suggesting a three-word title, she chooses not to specify the song's title because it could be many songs, and its meaning extends beyond the particulars of any one song. (8) At the same time, Walker's story would appear to signify on the song "Hound Dog," and, in any case, an examination of the song provides an interesting reading of aspects of the story's meaning.

You ain't nothin' but a hound dog, been snoopin' 'round my door [2x]

You can wag your tail, but I ain't gonna feed you no more.

You told me you was high class, but I could see through that

Yes, you told me you was high class, but I could see through that

And Daddy I know, you ain't no real cool cat.

You made me feel so blue, you made me weep and moan