Quotes About Bessie

Of all the family medical problems, the most worrisome was that of Bessie.

her 1935 memoir of life in Gilded Age New York, "King Lehr" and the Gilded Age, Bessie

A victrola was a big deal in those days, and there weren't any parlors around that had one except Alice's. I spent many a wonderful hour there listening to Pops and Bessie. I remember Pops' recording of 'West End Blues' and how it used to gas me. It was the first time I ever heard anybody sing without using any words.

I thought it over. Dollywood. "Islands in the Stream." That body. She was the best thing that had ever come out of Tennessee. Jesus Christ, it wasn't even close. Bessie had got it on the first try

Bessie cried. "I ain't movin' to Arizona! Damnit, there is nothin' there but gravel and scorpions..."

Back Water Blues" by Bessie Smith. This is the one most closely associated with the 1927 flood,