Language of the Blues - Edmonton Blues Society

`
I'm going back south where I can get my hambone boiled
These northern men are about to let my poor hambone spoil
Calloway used hambone this way in his
Because these women in New York City let my good hambone spoil
Songs:
St. Louis Bl- W.C. Handy
- Ida Cox
H A RP
Harp is slang for a harmonica, which is also called a comb. Down South a harmonica is
sometimes called a mouth harp or a French harp. Glenn Weiser, author of the fascinating
book Blues and Rock Harmonica, noted that in the late 1800s, the Carl Essbach company
during the early part of the 20th century, coinciding with the emergence of the blues. 215
According to Weiser, the forerunner of the modern harmonica, the accordion, and the
concertina was a free-reed instrument invented by Chinese Emperor Nyn-Kwya in 3000
B.C. Called the sheng, it was brought to Europe in the early 1800s. 216
The sheng is the oldest known free-reed instrument. Free-reed instruments use a reed
framed in a chamber. The reed freely vibrates when air passes over it. These vibrations
cause the characteristic warbly sound of the harmonica and the accordion. With fixedreed
instruments, in contrast, such as the clarinet, the saxophone, the Indian shanai and
the Chinese sona, the air passing over the reed vibrates in sympathy with the reed,
producing a clearer tone. 217
African American musicians explored the limitations of the harmonica and discovered
reeds. W.C. Handy recalled hearing train imitations played on the harmonica by blues
scale and the moans and cries of the field holler had been successfully reproduced on a
218
103