I've got a lovesick tale to tell to you
Though it ain't no affair of mine
It's 'bout a gal named Sue

and a boy named Lou
They were fighting all the time

Sue came home one afternoon
And found an empty dining room
Without a word her turtledove had flown
She began to moan

My sweetie went away

but he didn't say where
He didn't say when,

he didn't say why
Or bid me goodbye;

I'm blue as I can be……….

Bessie Smith My Sweetie Went Away lyrics are property and copyright of their owners. Full lyrics may now be Public Domain but are not displayed here.

Alexander’s Ragtime Band

Bessie Smith photograph by Carl Van Vechten

CREATE A QUIZ for ‘My Sweetie Went Away’ and the Slideshare by Ms Fuller!

Best ones uploaded may be published!  Some questions to get you started:

1. The song mentions a girl named Sue and a boy named  _ _ _
2. Two instruments played in ‘My Sweetie’ are Piano and  C _ _ _ _ _ _ _
3. Bessie Smith was born in C _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
4. A famous duo that helped Bessie succeed were Ma and Pa R _ _ _ _ _ _
5. In 1923 Clarence Williams and Bessie Smith produced a record breaker, ‘DownH _ _ _ _ _ _     _ _ _ _ _

Singer - Bessie Smith

Antique Phonograph Music Program 02/17/2015 is licensed under a

Public Domain / Sound Recording Common Law Protection License.

Audio from the Free Music Archive. WFMU - Curator.

Bessie Smith was the most popular blues singer of the 1920s and 30s.

She became known as Empress of the Blues.This recording, probably from 1923, features clarinet and piano. Other notable recordings of this song were by Dolly Kay, Teresa Brewer and The Californian Ramblers society band. Some versions were for mechanical piano. The music was written by Roy Turk and Lou Handman. Jazz Pilgrims have a chord chart for My Sweetie Went Away

Bessie Smith achieved fame with her 1923 recording of DownHearted Blues.

Scroll down for an audio sample of another classic: Alexander’s Ragtime Band

MY SWEETIE WENT AWAY