Week 13: Cocaine Blues



Luke Jordan

The Man

Luke Jordan was a singer, songwriter and guitarist of the Piedmont style of Virginia. There is hardly anything known about the man himself, and of all the little known bluesmen it would be hard to find one as complete a musician and guitarist as Jordan.

He was likely born in Bluefield, West Virginia, on January 28, 1892, and moved to Appomattox County, Virginia, when he was very young. In about 1916, he relocated to nearby Lynchburg where we lived for most of his life. He was drafted into the army during the First World War, but it is unknown if he served overseas or what his role was.

He had already started playing ragtime styled guitar before he arrived in Lynchburg 1916 – friends recall he was playing versions of ‘Cocaine Blues’ and ‘Pick Poor Robin Clean’ when he first came to town – and he quickly became involved in the local and quite lively music scene. Somewhat rare for the time, Jordan did not perform any religious songs and was likely not a religious man. He was very popular among both white and coloured audiences, playing at white only dances and for coloured people at country suppers, and quickly established himself as the best performer in town.

He also gained a reputation as a cocaine addict. The Harrison Act of 1914 had effectively outlawed cocaine, though through the black market and less than honest pharmacies it was still available. Despite his addiction, it is likely Jordan was such a popular performer that he was able to make a living solely through playing his music.

It is not known how Jordan came to the attention of the Vctor Talking Machine Company, but on August 16 1927 he recorded 4 sides in Charlotte, North Carolina. ‘Pick Poor Robin Clean’ with the not so politically correct ‘Travelling Coon’ on the B side was released the following year followed by ‘Cocaine Blues’ with ‘Church Bell Blues’ on the flip side. The records were successful – Cocaine Blues/Church Bell Blues sold over 10,000 copies – and Jordan was invited to New York to record more tracks in 1929.

On November 18 and 19, 1929 Jordan recorded another 6 tracks for Victor. Like a lot of artists, the onset of the Great Depression meant the records did not sell very well and Jordan never entered a recording studio again.

He continued to be a musical presence in Lynchburg in the 1930’s, but his cocaine use and increasing alcohol abuse took their toll. In the 1940’s he had ruined his voice, which was the primary weapon in his musical arsenal. In the late 40’s he moved to Philadelphia to live with his sister.

He returned Lynchburg in 1954, and died the same year.

The Song

‘Cocaine Blues’ was a popular theme in music of the day. The Memphis Jug Band recorded the very different “Cocaine Habit Blues” in 1930. Luke Jordan’s version was so popular that Dick Justice had success with an almost note for note cover only 2 years after Luke Jordan’s version. Gary Davis recorded a version much later that he says he learnt in 1905 – his version introduced “there’s cocaine all around my brain” to modern music.

Luke Jordan’s guitar style illustrates the development of the Piedmont style of blues from the traditional ragtime style. Ragtime guitar generally imitates what a piano would do, while Piedmont uses similar intricate finger picking but with the blues rhythms and melodies unique to the guitar. ‘Cocaine Blues’ is more ragtime than Piedmont, but it hints at what was to come with artists like the Reverend Gary Davis, Josh White and Blind Boy Fuller in the 1930’s. The use of lead in notes, some slides and different intonations by playing in different positions can just be discerned in Jordan’s playing.

Jordan’s version of the song is a bard like ode to the drug and its recent illegality; he sings from the perspective of a pimp. It recycles lyrics from songs common to street corner musicians of the time – the ‘gal working in the white folks’ yard’ is dated to at least 1890 minstrel shows, and the furniture man was a theme in Lonnie Johnson duets with Victoria Spivey from about the same time as Jordan recorded this.

The song follows a ragtime 8 bar progression in standard tuning in the key of C. Jordan’s voice and delivery really make the song what it is, he was a natural story teller with an almost crooner style of singing.

The progression uses a few different chords at different times and it has been suggested the changing chords was the result of two similar structured songs bang combined into one. The song features the thumb alternating bass notes on the beat that is a corner stone of Piedmont blues.



The Lyrics

Oh come on gal, don't you take me for no fool I'm not going to quit you pretty mama while the weather's cool Around your back door says honey I'm going to creep As long as you make your two and a half a week Now I got a girl, she works in the white folk's yard She brings me meal, I can swear she brings some lard She brings me meat, she brings me lard She brings everything I swear that she can steal Now Barnum Bailey Circus came to town They had a dancer looking good and brown They didn't know it was against the law But the monkey stopped at a Fine drugstore Stepped around the corner just a minute too late Another one sitting there at the big back gate I’m simply wild about my good cocaine I called my Cora, hey hey She come on sniffing with her nose all sore The doctor's gone going to sell no more Say run doctor, ring the bell The women in the alley I’m simply wild about my good cocaine Now the furniture man came to my house it was last Sunday morn He asked me was my wife at home and I told she has long been gone He backed his wagon up to my door, took everything I had He carried it back to the furniture store and I swear I did feel sad What in the world has anyone got dealing with the furniture man? If you've got no dough, to stand up for sure, he certainly will drag you back He will take everything from an earthly plant, from the skillet to a frying pan If there ever was a devil born without any horns, it must have been the furniture man. I called my Cora, hey hey She come on sniffing with her nose all sore Doctor swore gonna smell no more Saying coke's for horses not women or men The doctors say it'll kill you, but they didn't say when I’m simply wild about my good cocaine Now the baby's in the cradle in New Orleans it kept a-whipping till it got so mean It kept a-whipping had to fix it so The joke with laughter, fell on more Saying, run doctor, ring the bell The women in the alley I'm simply wild about my good cocaine I called my Cora, hey hey She come on sniffing with her nose all sore The doctor swore she's gonna smell no more Saying, run doctor, ring the bell The women in the alley I'm simply wild about my good cocaine

The Intro



$6.3 $4.0 $5.2 3 $4.0 1 $3.0 0.$2.3 | $6.3 $4.0 $5.1 0 $3.2.$2.2.$1.3 | $4.0 $3.2.$2.1.$1.2 $3.2.$2.1.$1.2 $5.4 $4.6.$3.4.$2.6 $4.6.$3.4.$2.6 | $5.3 $4.2.$3.0.$2.1.$1.0 $4.2.$3.0.$2.1.$1.0 $4.2.$3.0.$2.1.$1.0 $5.3 2 | The intro consists of some quick riffs in G leading into the C basis of the main progression.

The Progression