Hesitation Blues

Because the tune is traditional, many artists have taken credit as writer, frequently adapting the lyrics of one of the two published versions.

A dispute over the credits was resolved a few years later when Gillham and Smythe began writing other songs as a team with the sheet music stating "by the writers of Hesitation Blues".

One of the first popular recordings of this song was an instrumental version by the Victor Military Band, with authorship attributed solely to Smythe.

It was made on September 15, 1916 at the Victor Talking Machine Company in a Camden, New Jersey factory.

[6] On February 22, 1935, The San Antonio Light's page 1 column, Around The Plaza told the story of Smythe-Middleton-Gillham's Hesitation Blues.

[7] On February 6, 1941 the paper also had an article on page 1 "Getting In Swing Of Hit Tunes" about the writing of Hesitation Blues.

Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers recorded an incredible number of songs that are personal favorites of mine."

The verse, however, is substantially different, telling a story of separated lovers unable to reach each other by phone.

There are many recorded versions of the Handy song, including ones by Prince's Band, James Reese Europe's 369th U.S. Infantry "Hell Fighters" Marching Band, Esther Bigeou, Eartha Kitt, Lena Horne, and Louis Armstrong.

[10] Robert Winslow Gordon recorded Bascom Lamar Lunsford and a man named John G. Woody singing Hesitation Blues in the 1920s in North Carolina.