hen Ma begins the song she says "I'm so sad and worried, got no time to spread the news," and it seems as though she is yearning to let everyone know that she is not who they perceive her to be. It seems as though she wants to take this burden of having a female lover and tell everyone she can get to listen to her. Homosexuality was something that was not looked at as being natural, and even now in the year 2004, homosexuality is looked down upon.
             If Ma Rainey had a female lover, she was trying to be as open as she could have been about it. Ma, through this song, was looking to blame her love for this other woman on someone else, and yet she doesn't seem to come to any conclusions. In my opinion she was leaning towards blaming her husband. The only line she states about her husband is "Can't blame my husband, can't blame my man," which leaves a lot to be said about her relationship with him. It was almost as if she was looking to blame him, her husband, because he wasn't being the man she wanted
             ...