Black, Brown and White- Big Bill Broonzy (Vogue, 1951)
In Big Bill Broonzy’s lifetime it was rare or a Black artist to be as outspoken about topics such as job discrimination and Jim Crow as he was when he recorded “Black, Brown and White.” His theme of racial injustice, performed alone with his guitar, was so controversial in the 1950s that no American companies released any of his versions until after he died in 1958. His September 20, 1951 recording for the Vogue label in Paris was the first to publicly reveal the refrain: “If you was white, you’d be alright, If you was brown, stick around, But as you’s black, oh, brother, Get back, get back, get back.” In November he recorded the song in Chicago for Mercury, but the company withheld it until it came out on its Big Bill Broonzy Memorial LP in 1963, and even then, under the title “Get Back.” A 1956 rendition on Folkways was released in 1960. He had recorded it for folklorist Alan Lomax in 1947 at the historic Blues in the Mississippi Night session (on which his identity was disguised as “Natchez”) but the song remained buried until Rounder issued it on CD in 2003. Several live versions from European concerts in the 1950s are also now available.