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AMERICAN HISTORY THROUGH MUSIC
The Blues
Definition
The blues derived from a non-European musical scale which
recognized microtones, or notes between the standard European
notes. Shifts in pitch, rhythmic complexity, and multiple layers.
The blues has a raw and rhythmic sound and a raw emotionalism.
Origins of the Blues
Elements of African American music can be traced back to Africa.
These include the verbal traditions of signifying; microtones
and blues notes; and the complex rhythmic patterns of the music.
The blues also grew out of field hollers, spirituals, and
work songs from the era of slavery.
Apparently, the blues originated in the Mississippi delta
region in the 1890s and spread rapidly to create three distinct
traditions.
The blues emerged in reaction to the experiences of African
Americans in the South. They were a response to the failure of
African American dreams following Reconstruction:
o The consolidation of the sharecropping system;
o The Jim Crow system of segregation;
o And political disfranchisement.
The blues were originally recorded in the 1920s by female
blues queens.
Mamie Smith's Crazy Blues was the first recorded blues song.
Musical Form of the Blues
The blues takes on a variety of styles and forms.
There is the acoustic country blues and the electrified city
blues.
Three distinctive regional styles-Delta, Piedmont, and Texas
blues--evolved into three urban styles: Chicago, East Coast,
and West Coast.
The blues has two basic musical forms.
One form follows a basic A-A-B pattern. The performer sings
a verse and then repeats the first line, sometimes with some
variation. The third line completes the thought, often with a
rhyme.
A second form begins with the A-A-B pattern, but it also has
an additional four lines, followed by a two line refrain.
In the evening after the sun goes down
In the evening after the sun goes down
The women all tell me I'm the sweetest man in town.
Now I've got a little woman.
She's got money, marbles and chalk.
She bought me a fine Cadillac man
Now I don't have to walk.
In the evening after the sun goes down
The women all tell me I'm the sweetest man in town.
Rough and Respectable Cultures
The Mississippi delta had a rough masculine culture, with
a tendency toward violent behavior, excessive use of alcohol,
a preoccupation with sex, and a propensity for rowdiness and
carousing.
This culture contrasted sharply with the respectable culture
of the church. Spiritual and gospel music were associated with
the church: Baptist, Pentecostal, Holiness. The blues was the
music of the juke joint.
Hidden and Not-So-Hidden Transcripts
The blues are about more than being sad. They were also delivering
messages in musical code. There was the public transcript and
the hidden transcript. In the face of domination, subordinate
people must wear masks to conceal their true thoughts and identities.
After leaving the South, the hidden transcript became a more
public one.
Country and City Blues
Compare the lyrics of two songs by Muddy Waters:
I Be's Troubled (1941)
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/shc/MP3.htm
and I Can't Be Satisfied (1948)
http://www.blues.ru/mojobook/MM_CantBeSatisfied.rm
The Classic Blues
In the countryside, the performers were mainly men. But the
first recorded blues were sung by women in cities beginning in
the early 1920s
Crazy Blues
http://www.blues.ru/BlackCat/arch.htm
Ma Rainey, "Yonder Come the Blues" mp3 or RealAudio;
http://f99.middlebury.edu/AC200A/jazz_and_blues.htm
Jump Blues
In the late 1940s and 50s Big Joe turner and Amos Milburn
took Louis Jordan's jump blues and incorporated it into a rhythm
and blues.
Joe Turner
http://stage.vitaminic.fr/main/big_joe_turner/
Sharecropping
Sharecropping involved a mixture of illiteracy, law, contracts,
and violence. Illiteracy kept them from seeking jobs that required
more skill than plowing, hoeing, and picking.
Mississippi Delta Women
Memphis Minnie was the most famous delta woman to play the
guitar.
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