"Off-topic"/Free-form discussions > Prove it on Me Blues
I agree with you, Rita. I would further argue that Ma Rainey goes against the norm, challenging gender roles which suggest womens' inherent inferiority and lack of power in comparison to men. Ma Rainey's "Prove It On Me Blues" generates a feeling of group belonging among those women who can relate to the song and feel a comfort that they are not alone. This song empowers women who, in those times, were supposed to portray a certain role in the family as the homemaker. She definitely breaks the standard not only for women in music, but for women as they are perceived in society.
Oct 19, 2009 at 11:52 PM |
CassandraSepeda
CassandraSepeda
Ma Rainey's Prove it on me blues is a beautiful representation of the "sexual love" experienced in "physical and spiritual evidence- and the blues aesthetic evidence-of freedom" (page 45 "Mama's got the Blues). In a time and place where homosexuality was looked down upon, Ma Rainey sung proudly about dressing up like a man and hanging out with women because she isn't interested in men. She even talks from the perspective of a rough and tumble masquline type who gets in a fight and has a "gal" who runs off on her.
As the article "Mama's Got the Blues" says, the blues women wrote songs that they hoped other women, maybe not all women but at least some would relate to. Although most of Ma Rainey's songs were not about cross dressing and hanging out with women she knew that there were some women in her audience who would feel empowered by her song. This song has "decidedly feminist implications" because it is about being proud of feeling sexual feelings towards anyone you want, however it is also about hiding these feelings because "they" need to prove she did what she did.
This song is sung in deeper voice than all the other songs by Ma Rainey on our playlist because she is playing a different role of the other songs she sings, she is the male role in this song. In most songs today women don't sing about cross dressing and being attracted to women. If a song gets popular about being attracted to women if you are a woman it has to be sexy and feminine ( examples include "I Kissed a Girl" the original country-ish song with that title, as well as Katty Perry's version, and Tatu's "All the Things She Said.) Ma Rainy doesn't try to be cute about it, she tries to be butch about it, almost transgender about it. She says that no one can prove it was her, and sings proudly about being mistaken for a man. This song should be an example that songs by women do not have to be all about femininity, songs can be about being a masculine female, or a crossdressing female, or a female who get in fights and gets drunk and hits on women.
Ma Rainey's "Prove it on Me Blues" is the only song about a woman being attracted to other women I have ever heard that was not about being sexy and exciting men, who should have no place in the song.
Take that Katty Perry! Who gives a shit about what your boyfriend thinks.