Nothing Wrong With the Blues
0724blog
There are certainly a lot of good reasons to have the blues these days.
In non-pandemic times, so many months ago that I almost can’t remember, I had to deal with my own personal issues, just like everyone else has dealt with their problems. Now in addition to the normal daily disappointments and losses in life, pile on a fear of a potentially, deadly virus along with the greatest sustained assault on our personal liberties that has ever struck the nation.
I don’t know about you but today I don’t feel funny or hopeful. I feel fearful and sad and I don’t have any good answers or ways to beat the blues. Mostly I feel angry that my children have to go through this nightmare and angry at those who could make things better but are too busy making things worse.
Being 70 offers its own strangeness about the blues. Yes, there is the feeling that it’s not my battle anymore, leave it to the younger ones. And yes, I know I won’t be expected to be in the front lines or have to put my 70-year-old body on the line. And even if I never return to work, I can always count on Social Security, maybe.
But I am not dead, I have a lot of living to do and I don’t want this part of my life to be a constant battle with forces over which I have no control or a time when I have to wonder if the country might suddenly come crashing down all around me. And part of me is embarrassed and ashamed that I have no answers, after seven decades on the earth.
I am expected to be over the blues by now.
I don’t know how I am supposed to feel. Old standard replies don’t help. No, it doesn’t comfort me to know there are people with much, much more difficult and painful lives than I have. No, it doesn’t comfort me to exercise, eat or drink my way out of the blues. And no, it really doesn’t help to think of all the wonderful things I have and in many ways, the rich life I lead.
Nope, sorry, when you have the blues you have the blues and everybody gets them, always have, always will. The blues don’t necessarily make sense.
I do get comfort in realizing that the blues are a passing thing and not a permanent state of mind. I don’t understand why they come and go or why certain things affect me one day but don’t on the next day. But it doesn’t really matter because having the blues is about as human and normal as being happy from time to time.
I suppose that’s why so much of music deals with heartbreak, loss and yes, the blues. Everybody can identify with it and just knowing that there is nothing sick about having the blues can help. When I close my eyes and listen to an old blues singer I can feel my emotions venting and being somehow caressed by somebody who knows the blues. Yes, misery does love company.
But don’t just listen to the words, listen to the music, the way the chords emphasize and highlight the lyrics.
Memphis Slim wrote “Every Day I Have the Blues,” a song that has become synonymous with the blues.
“Every day
Every day I have the blues
Every day
Every day I have the blues
When you see me worried, baby
Because it’s you I hate to lose
[Verse 2]
Nobody loves me
Nobody seems to care
Nobody loves me
Nobody seems to care
Speaking of bad luck and trouble
Well, you know I’ve had my share
[Verse 3]
I’m gonna pack my suitcase
Move on down the line
Oh, I’m gonna pack my suitcase
Move on down the line
Where there ain’t nobody worried
And there ain’t nobody crying
[Verse 1]
Every day, every day
Every day, I have the blues
Every day, every day, every day
Every day I have the blues
You see me worried, baby
’Cause it’s you I hate to lose
[Verse 2]
Nobody loves me
Nobody seems to care
Nobody loves me
Nobody seems to care
Speaking of bad luck and trouble
You know I’ve done had my
[Verse 3]
I’m gonna pack my suitcase
I’m moving down the line
Where there ain’t nobody worried
And there ain’t nobody crying
[Outro]
Every day
I have the blues
I have the blues
Every day
I have the blues
I have the blues
Every day
See me worried, baby
’Cause it’s you I hate to lose
Every day, every day, every day
Every day, I have the blues
Every day.”
And another classic is “First Time I Met The Blues” by Little Brother Montgomery.
“The first time I met the blues
People, you know I was walkin’, I was walkin’ down through the woods
Yes, the first time, the first time I met you, blues
Blues you know I was walkin’, I was walkin’ down through the woods
Yes, I’ve watched my house burnin’ blues
Blues, you know you done me, you done me all the harm that you could
The blues got after me
People, you know they ran me from tree to tree
Yes, the blues got after me
Blues, you know you ran me, ran me from tree to tree
Yes, you should-a heard me beg ya, blues
Ah, blues, don’t murder me
Yes, good mornin’, blues
Blues, I wonder, I wonder what you’re doin’ here so soon
Yes, good mornin’, good mornin’, good mornin’, mister blues
Blues, I wonder, I keep wonderin’ what you’re doin’ here so soon
Yes, you know you’ll be with me every mornin’, blues
Every night and every noon
Oh, yeah.”
I’ll leave you with another signature blues tune, “Stormy Monday,” by T-Bone Walker.
“They call it stormy Monday, yes but Tuesday’s just as bad.
They call it stormy Monday, yes but Tuesday’s just as bad.
Wednesday’s even worse; Thursday’s awful sad.
The eagle flies on Friday, Saturday I go out to play.
The eagle flies on Friday, but Saturday I go out to play.
Sunday I go to church where I kneel down and pray.
And I say, “Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy on me.
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy on me.
Just trying to find my baby, won’t you please send her on back to me.”
The eagle flies on Friday, on Saturday I go out to play.
The eagle flies on Friday, on Saturday I go out to play.
Sunday I go to church, where I kneel down, Lord and I pray.
Then I say, “Lord have mercy, won’t you please have mercy on me.
Lord, oh Lord have mercy, yeah, won’t you please, please have mercy on me.
I’m just a-lookin’ for my sweet babe, so won’t you please send him home, send him on home to me.”