CC Rider: A Song History
Gertrude “Ma” Rainey (1886–1939), born in Columbus, Georgia, and remembered as the “mother of the blues,” is recognized as the earliest great professional blues singer.[1] She recorded “See See Rider Blues” in New York on October 16, 1924, with her Georgia Jazz Band, whose members included Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson on piano, Charlie Green on trombone and Buster Bailey on clarinet; the side was issued on Paramount 12252.[2] The song is credited to Rainey and Lena Arant (the name is also spelled Arrant), and Paramount first advertised it in 1925 as the flip side of “Jealous Hearted Blues.”[3][2] The Library of Congress added the recording to the National Recording Registry in 2004, and the Blues Foundation honored it as a classic blues recording in 2018.[4][3]
Moriz Jung, O, Caruso!, color lithograph, 1911. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). Shown for its gramophone; it has no connection to the song.
Artists across blues, soul, jazz, pop, country and rock went on to record the song, and versions by Wee Bea Booze, Chuck Willis (whose Atlantic single charted in 1957), LaVern Baker, Bobby Powell, the Animals, and Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels (in a medley with “Jenny Take a Ride”) all reached the Billboard charts, some under the title “C.C. Rider”; the covers generally dropped Rainey's opening verse.[3] What the “rider” of the title means is a long-running debate, with suggestions that include an unfaithful lover, a sexual partner, and a traveling preacher or judge.[3] When Willis's single charted, the African-American press reported that some radio stations had banned it after being told the term referred to a pimp.[3]
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