life with the blues

The blues is a style and sound of music and singing that is like no other. The Blues is a feeling that can only be shared, correctly, by those who have lived it. You can play a harmonica or guitar and you can try to make someone feel sad or feel bad for you.

I love to hear The Blues. I can’t play an instrument. I don’t know why some people were treated in a manner that convinced them to share this feeling. They were and they did, that much I know. Black people from the 1920’s through the 1950’s were known for some of the best Blues ever heard. They lived it. Both men and women had to endure situations that had to be shared in their music, and yes, enjoyed. They were not allowed in most eating establishments, had to use different restrooms than White people, were not allowed to own certain things, were cheated out of wages, were forced into slave labor on the land and placed in many, many other, less than desirable situations.

The music they played and the music they sang was nothing more than their life, the way they lived, although times were somewhat different. Who else would have the ability with their broken down guitars, their borrowed harmonicas and raw voices to produce some of the greatest music known to man? The Black men and women from that time lived it, only that type of knowledge could convey the sensitivity, the sadness and the pain, and yet, some were upbeat and humorous. No one could express their feelings or life like these Blues people did.

Country singers sing tearjerkers because of losing their women, their truck, or their job. They do a good job making you feel their pain, and no country star does it better than George Jones—still, it is different because he is losing an object or person, while they are losing their faith, their honor, and their dignity. That is their life and that is why they express it so well.

White people sing the Blues, some like George Thorogood and John Mayall even have a distinctive style. They try to entertain and they most likely do. I also enjoy some of the Blues sung by White people. When I hear the Blues from the Black singers, though, it makes me feel their pain, the hardship, the sensitivity and the turmoil they endured. There is nothing like it. People like Lightning Hopkins, Big Bill Broonzy, Mississippi John Hurt, Ida Cox, and Ma Rainey share their life with us in their music.

Enjoy it and treasure it.

It will not be reborn.