Empty Bed Blues

In the 1920's women began to "cut loose," during the era of dancing, flappers, booze, partying and women's right to vote.  But even as there was an air of independence, the sexual independence remained one-sided, with males still having the right to be assertive sexually and women remaining coy and discreet.  Bessie Smith, however, broke the mold.

Bessie Smith was an African American blues singer whose music set the standard for blues songs in her day, as she was popular across the board for her sultry songs that took liberties where other women had not.  Smith expressed the sexy side of woman, even to the point of having the woman as the very assertive and demanding type and one who wanted her own needs met.

And a bed that's empty, well that's a shame.  It wasn't a bed that was necessarily matrimonial either for Smith, who alluded to a woman's interest in having the independence to choose and the knowledge there were competitors for a man's attention that required a woman to shed some inhibitions in relating with men.

James P. Johnson wrote the song "Empty Bed Blues" that was recorded not just by Smith but by Etta James, Billie Holiday, and even Woody Guthrie.  It's Smith's version, however, that stands out as the first major recording, that along with other of Smith's songs gave the message that women's freedom was coming out in ways that would usher in decades of change.