{"id":1773,"date":"2017-10-03T01:07:24","date_gmt":"2017-10-03T06:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=1773"},"modified":"2017-10-03T01:07:24","modified_gmt":"2017-10-03T06:07:24","slug":"whats-a-stavin-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2017\/10\/03\/whats-a-stavin-chain\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s a Stavin\u2019 Chain?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In 1938, American ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax and the self-proclaimed inventor of jazz Jelly Roll Morton came together to lay down the definitive timeline for the birth of jazz. Their recording session resulted in a 9-hour collection of Jelly Roll Morton songs and interviews between Morton and Lomax. In the first song recorded during these sessions, <em>Winin\u2019 Boy Blues<\/em>, Morton sings the lines<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>I\u2019m the winin\u2019 boy, don\u2019t deny my name<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I can pick it up and shake it like Stavin\u2019 Chain\u2019s<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fxkvu_gWlQI?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>(Caution: this song contains some of the most explicit lyrics I&#8217;ve ever heard)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The phrase Stavin\u2019 Chain stood out to me. What exactly is a Stavin\u2019 Chain? Upon investigation, I found that this is not the only instance of a blues\/jazz singer singing about Stavin\u2019 Chain. There were songs by Lil Johnson (<em>Stavin\u2019 Chain) <\/em>and \u201cBig\u201d Joe Williams (<em>Stavin\u2019 Chain Blues<\/em>) that refer to Stavin\u2019 Chain. From browsing various blues forum websites, I have found a variety of interpretations to what a Stavin\u2019 Chain is. Some say it is a tool used to make barrels. Others claimed that Stavin\u2019 Chain is a figure in African-American folklore famous for conducting trains. One man claimed that it\u2019s an expression for having sex. Luckily, I was able to find an interview between Lomax and Morton about this very subject in <em>Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library of Congress Recordings<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Taken from the recording\u00a0<em>Bad Men and Pimps<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Lomax: And what about Stavin&#8217; Chain?<br \/>\nJelly Roll: Stavin&#8217; Chain, well he was a pimp. Supposed to have more women in this district than any other pimp.<br \/>\nLomax: Did you actually know Stavin&#8217; Chain?<br \/>\nJelly Roll:\u00a0 No, I heard everybody talk about him, never get into his way&#8230;<br \/>\nLomax: What what did you hear about him, this is very interesting cause, you know, they have a song about Stavin&#8217; Chain<br \/>\nJelly Roll: Well, you know, he slept like Stavin&#8217; Chain.<br \/>\nLomax: Good tune, too.<br \/>\nJelly Roll: Yes, I like the tune, I can&#8217;t, couldn&#8217;t\u00a0 memorize the tune, you know&#8230;<br \/>\nLomax: Popular around New Orleans as well.<br \/>\nJelly Roll: Yeah, at one time it was. Let&#8217;s see&#8230; that was around&#8230;.19&#8230;.8.<br \/>\nLomax: Was Stavin&#8217; Man a white man or colored one?<br \/>\nJelly Roll: A colored one.<br \/>\nLomax: Supposedly good looking.<br \/>\nJelly Roll: Yes, he&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. Women was supposed to be crazy about him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As it turns out, Lomax knew this Stavin\u2019 Chain character that Morton was singing about. Stavin\u2019 Chain, also known as Wilson Jones, was an American blues musician that Lomax photographed and recorded in 1934. Stavin\u2019 Chain was famous for his sexual prowess became a legend in the American blues scene. I\u2019ve found that American blues music is one with an extremely rich history and is full of similar, obscure references. Hours of research can be done unpacking and contextualizing the lyrics from this music. For being able to do this, we owe much gratitude to Alan Lomax for preserving this music for future study and enjoyment.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2017\/10\/00341v.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1775\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2017\/10\/00341v-214x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2017\/10\/00341v-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2017\/10\/00341v-107x150.jpg 107w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2017\/10\/00341v.jpg 732w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2017\/10\/Stavin.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-1776\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2017\/10\/Stavin-233x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"233\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2017\/10\/Stavin-233x300.jpg 233w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2017\/10\/Stavin-116x150.jpg 116w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2017\/10\/Stavin-768x989.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2017\/10\/Stavin.jpg 795w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 233px) 100vw, 233px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GX_QKr_mssM?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Sources<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Bad Men and Pimps.&#8221; YouTube. February 11, 2015. Accessed October 02, 2017. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=iwxP8uT-zQ4.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Jelly Roll Morton &#8211; Winin&#8217; Boy Blues &#8211; Library of Congress 1939.&#8221; YouTube. June 02 2015. Accessed October 02, 2017.\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fxkvu_gWlQI<\/p>\n<p>Lomax, Alan 1915-2002. &#8220;Lomax Collection.&#8221; [Stavin&#8217; Chain playing guitar and singing the ballad &#8220;Batson,&#8221; Lafayette, La. (fiddler in the background)]. January 01, 1970. Accessed October 02, 2017. http:\/\/www.loc.gov\/pictures\/collection\/lomax\/item\/2007660070\/.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Winin&#8217; Boy Blues.&#8221; Community Guitar Home. Accessed October\u00a03,\u00a02017. http:\/\/www.communityguitar.com\/students\/Songs\/WininBoy.htm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1938, American ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax and the self-proclaimed inventor of jazz Jelly Roll Morton came together to lay down the definitive timeline for the birth of jazz. Their recording session resulted in a 9-hour collection of Jelly Roll Morton &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2017\/10\/03\/whats-a-stavin-chain\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1693,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[119,33,200,762,761,760],"class_list":["post-1773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alan-lomax","tag-blues","tag-development-of-jazz","tag-jelly-roll-morton","tag-lyrics","tag-stavin-chain"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-sB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1693"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1773"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1780,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1773\/revisions\/1780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}