I have no musical back ground at all, I just learned the word timbre so I am going to approach this from a listener points of view, as in a untrained ear so to speak. I listen to both songs three times while following the lyrics, and each time I notice something slightly different. The lyrics showed the content of the song in a social sense. But the timbre showed the emotional side that the lyrics alluded to. There is a progression of emotional that leads to a climax at the end that leaves the me the listener wondering what more about the culture and the tragic daily events that I have never known. On a final note, In a sense Ma Rainey is blurring the gender that is associated with female singers with her low voice at the start of the song.
