My Black Mama (Walking Blues)

My Black Mama ( Walking Blues ) “My Black Mama” (alternate title: “Walking Blues”) was improvised and recorded by Eddie “Son” House Jr. in summer 1930. The alternate title “Walking Blues” has been used to other melodies recorded by House, so the chosen base version is “My Black Mama” parts I and II released by Paramount in 1931. The musical form is a twelve-measure blues. The lyric scheme is AA (4 + 8), where all of the lyrics are declaimed in the first four measures, the first half of the…