<P> On January 15, 1929, influential boogie - woogie pianist Pinetop Smith recorded "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" in Chicago . In it the lyrics are spoken rather than sung to Smith's piano accompaniment . The song is one of 11 known recordings by Smith, who died two months after he recorded it . </P> <P> Bessie Smith recorded the song on May 15, 1929, in New York . Unlike the earlier versions, Bessie Smith recorded the song with instrumental accompaniment, including a small trumpet section . When Smith's record was released on September 13, 1929 (a Friday), the lyrics turned out to be oddly prophetic . The New York stock market had reached an all - time high less than two weeks earlier, only to go into its biggest decline two weeks later in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which signaled the beginning of the ten - year Great Depression . </P> <P> Bessie Smith's "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" became one of her biggest hits, but was released before "race records" were tracked by record industry publications, such as Billboard magazine . Today, it "more than any other, is the song that most people associate with Bessie Smith". </P> <P> Due to the popularity of Bessie Smith's recording, numerous musicians began interpreting the song in recordings of their own . The song became an early standard with jazz and blues artists, such as the Count Basie Orchestra, Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five, Sidney Bechet, Scrapper Blackwell, Eddie Condon, Josh White, Julia Lee, and Lead Belly . In the late 1950s--early 1960s, it again became popular with the American folk music revival, with recordings by Eric Von Schmidt, Odetta, Chad Mitchell Trio, Dave Van Ronk, and an early demo by Janis Joplin with Jorma Kaukonen . In 1960, a version by Nina Simone reached number 23 in the Billboard R&B chart as well as number 93 in the Hot 100 pop chart . In the mid-1960s, soul versions were recorded by Sam Cooke and Otis Redding; rock versions by the Spencer Davis Group, pre-Allman Brothers Band Duane Allman and Gregg Allman, and Them; and a French version by Nino Ferrer (as "Le Millionnaire"). </P>

Eric clapton nobody loves you when you're down and out