Deep ellum... long before that by  Lou Rawls

   I'm from the era where deep ellum was only the

scourge of the african american refuse, when people said, 'you gonna go down

nare with them Nigreres!? there were no whites to speak of, and the same

band conditions reigned though and it was the hot bed in dallas for black music,

that was called coon music, dog, devil music.

 

this is when people of other ethnicities summized that blacks were nothing

and jealously said that he had nothing to offer, but they stole all he had

in his music and claimed it as their own.

 

in old deep ellum (deep elm) down off oakland avenue where the streetcar

turned and lost its connection with the line above and the drivers who were

all white at the time, had to get out and go to the back, pull down on the

cable, to reaffix it to the linee, to regain electric - black players and singers

used to sing quartet style a cappela while waiting on the trolley.

 

there were not much drugs as the old (other agenda) stories told, there was

more alcohol gic, wine and beer. Wineo was the term then. Cheap and a buzz.

some historians tell the tell of deep ellum being all drugged out, which is

definitely untrue. musicians played for the fun of playing, and it was about the

only place where a fella could get a drink or a fight without asking for it.

 

there was some prostitution around there in the 1950's, and people got stabbed

with knives occasionally, but mostly it was a community of poor people, a

few jewish store owners, and blacks... as whites didn't like to be around there

although were a few who hung around wanting to be black or like blacks, or

wanting to learn their music of intrigue.

 

the police didn't even like to be in deep ellum. they were all white too as there was

not a black man that we 'knew' of on the force in dallas. black cars and black

uniforms with white painted writing on the cars. the law was also lop-sided, and

worked mostly for whites, not for all citizens, so when a disturbance or outbreak

occured in deep ellum, some black was going to jail, or to the hospital or morgue.

 

soon, he could not get a place to play in his own music, as the clubs turned

from cafes and lounges to white money and buying the musicians who used

to play for fun, and music, turned to playingi for bills and rent, the black music

scene on deep ellum was destroyed.

 

Now hardly any blacks have a night club because of the costs all around, and

creation of music is suspect. When you see this era ofmusic vanish, it is

a shame, because the influences of their music is from only facsimilies of

music from people who knew little about the realness of the soul, and have

no emotions in this... they just play pretty good or can read music.

 

inflexions from music that has no competition player sitting on the side of them

leaves black music gutted out and wanton.

 

Many blacks are trying to dodge the encroaching others by playing together

with themselves, and then much of the non-reading problems arise, but the

music is coming back to where it once was.

 

An old soul.