How The Blues Have Affected Modern Poetry

Essay, Research Paper

Never Get Outta

These Blues Alive

How the Blues Have Affected Modern Poetry

a term paper by: Bernard Dolan

1.

Blues Performers

&

What are the Blues?

Of all the varied and exotic foundations of today’s rock and roll music, none can be said to have had the

impact made by Blues music. Only recently has this influence been rightly recognized, however, leading

to the creation of such establishments as The House of Blues, a club owned by several actors, which

salutes the blues and offers a medium to get noticed for new blues performers. (House of Blues, p.1-2)

Blues performers have always been colorful and down-to-earth people, and their music has reflected it.

Perhaps the reason America loves the blues so much is it’s avoidance of fancy lyrics and colorful

metaphors. Rather, the blues prefers to get straight at

“Well you talk about the people that

the root of the problem, telling it like it is. you don’t know;

you yak, yak, yak,

yak all the time

ya head so hard

While other musicians sang of passionate love affairs you don’t pay me no mind

you just talk pretty baby

that the everyday person would never have, musicians talk all the time

Talk, talk, talk

like John Lee Hooker were complaining in colorful songs baby, ya talk too much

about how their woman “talk to much.” For this reason Ya talk, to your neighbor,

Stay on the phone,

the blues has a unique ability to make you smile, to make An hour or more;

All you do is talk about

you marvel and say-”I know exactly how he feels.” For People all the time.”

-John Lee Hooker; Hard-Headed Woman

this reason Americans everywhere connected to the Blues.

(Stark, p.120-124)

But make no mistake-the blues were not all fun and games, and they never were. From the depths of

African-American oppression and everyday problems came the Blue movement, and such topics as death,

debt, homelessness and economics were not uncommon. For this reason people everywhere could listen to

the Blues and know that things were hard, yes, but others were going through the same problems as they.

Someone once said that the Blues gave people hope, even though they seemed to accentuate the negative

at times. (Blackmore, p.220)