Careless Love

{{Short description|Song}}

{{other uses}}

"Careless Love" is a traditional song, with several popular blues versions. It has been called a "nineteenth-century ballad and Dixieland standard".{{cite book |last1=Palmer |first1=Robert |title=A Tale of Two Cities: Memphis Rock and New Orleans Roll |date=1979 |publisher=Institute for Studies in American Music, Department of Music, School of Performing Arts, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York |isbn=978-0-914678-12-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3zfaAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}

The death referenced in an old version was the son of a Kentucky governor.{{cite web|last1=Scarborough|first1=Dorothy|title=Coffee in the Gourd: The Blues As Folk-Songs, by Dorothy Scarborough|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/ame/cig/cig12.htm|website=Sacred Texts|access-date=30 June 2013}} Although published accounts have cited 1926 as the copyright date,{{Cite book |title=From my people: 400 years of African American folklore |date=2002 |publisher=Norton |editor=Dance, Daryl Cumber |isbn=0393047989 |edition=1st |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/frommypeople400y00danc/page/116 116] |oclc=47922828 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/frommypeople400y00danc/page/116 }} W. C. Handy copyrighted "Loveless Love" in 1921 under Pace & Handy Music Co.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/catalogofcopyri161libr|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries 1921|date=1921|publisher=United States Copyright Office|edition=1|page=[https://archive.org/details/catalogofcopyri161libr/page/204 204]}}

A recording by Bessie Smith titled "Careless Love Blues" was very popular in 1925.{{cite book |last1=Whitburn |first1=Joel |title=Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954 |date=1986 |publisher=Record Research Inc. |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |isbn=0-89820-083-0 |page=396}} The same year it was recorded by Papa Celestin and his Tuxedo Dixieland Jazz Band and released as a single by OKeh.{{cite book |last1=Newhart |first1=Sally |title=The Original Tuxedo Jazz Band: More Than a Century of a New Orleans Icon |date=2013 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-1-62584-085-1 |page=149 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wrF2CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT149 |language=en}} New Orleans cornetist Chris Kelly was famous for his emotional rendition of the piece.{{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Henry |last2=Waters |first2=Keith |title=Jazz: The First 100 Years |date=2011 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-1-4390-8333-8 |page=70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QcewFVEyG6oC&pg=PA70 |language=en}}