"Good music is good music, no matter the genre," says B. B. King, the famous Mississippi-born blues musician (1925-2015); A magnificent quote that beautifully puts into words the sentiment that transcends the boundaries of musical categorization; Regardless of the style or genre. As for Blues, B. B. King specifies "Blues is about embracing your pain and turning it into something beautiful." This poignant quote encapsulates the essence of blues music, shedding light on its transformative power. While pain often feels unbearable, the blues offers solace in embracing these struggles and allowing them to shape something beautiful. By channeling their anguish into music, blues musicians pour their emotions into melodies and heartfelt lyrics. In doing so, they not only release their own pain but also resonate with audiences who find solace in relating to the experiences shared. B.B. King's words remind us of the profound ability of blues music to provide catharsis, healing, and ultimately, the creation of something extraordinary from the depths of pain.
From: https://www.bookey.app/quote-author/bb-king
Illustration From:
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/05/09/arts/music/00king-bb-adv-obit-slide-VAPC/00king-bb-adv-obit-slide-VAPC-superJumbo.jpg
https://southernstudies.olemiss.edu/study-the-south/blues-expressiveness-and-the-blues-ethos/
"Contrary to prevailing ideas at the time, which held that African culture disappeared quickly under slavery and that black Americans had little group pride, history, or cohesiveness, Levine uncovered a cultural treasure trove, illuminating a rich and complex African American oral tradition, including songs, proverbs, jokes, folktales, and long narrative poems called toasts--work that dated from before and after emancipation.". Extract from the outstanding old book (4.3 k Citation) by Levine, "Black culture and black consciousness: Afro-American folk thought from slavery to freedom (Vol. 530). Oxford University Press, USA, 1978"
Presentation of Levine's book: ... The fact that these ideas and sources seem so commonplace now is in large part due this book and the scholarship that followed in its wake. A landmark work that was part of the "cultural turn" in American history, Black Culture and Black Consciousness profoundly influenced an entire generation of historians and continues to be read and taught. For this anniversary reissue, Levine wrote a new preface reflecting on the writing of the book and its place within intellectual trends in African American and American cultural history.
Consultable on:
https://books.google.tn/books?hl=fr&lr=&id=LegluCpGqaAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=%22slavery%22+%22consciousness%22&ots=lfbANtph18&sig=41Vr0rC4UcVLpev5NhS1n3OUZ2E&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22slavery%22%20%22consciousness%22&f=false
Sabastian Danchin in 1990 published a book titled 'Blues Boy' The life and music of B.B. King (see Link: https://books.google.it/books?id=A_MX7evt8M4C&printsec=frontcover&hl=it&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false)
Thank you Dear Martin Hilmi for the link to this Master-Volume on Blues & B. b. King. I am putting here the illustration of the book cover page from the link you mentioned. Thank you again.
Jamel Chahed thank you for introducing such an interesting discussion forum
Fascinating the way the BB became the icon of modern blues guitar players. Probably his biggest contribution to popular music was his big influence on the early Elvis Presley, which led to widened interest in and acceptance of R&B. Popular blues is mainly Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf, although I prefer Bessie Smith and Big Bill Broonzy myself. Great music is always great music!
Thank you Dear Jack Broughton for drawing attention to the influence of Blues on other forms of Music and in particular on Rock'n Roll as Johnny Halliday (French Singer) claims in his famous song "All the Music I love, It comes from there, It’s comes from Blues.” (Original: Toute la Musique que j'aime, Elle vient de là, Elle vient du Blues) To enjoy on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnG3ywEAK7s
As for the influence of the Blues on Presley's music, it is worth mentioning the article by Bertrand, M. T. (2007), "Elvis Presley and the politics of popular memory. Southern Cultures, 13(3), 62-86. " Available on: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26391065
There one may read: Presley’s ranking as a rhythm and blues artist from the previous paragraph can be found in Joel Whitburn, Top Rhythm and Blues Records, 1949–1971 (Record Research, 1973), 177–78. “Letters to the Editor,” Tan (March 1958): 5. Nat D. Williams to Margaret McKee and Fred Chisenhall, February 1973, Oral History Collection, Memphis-Shelby County Library. Howard Lucraft, “My First Love Is Jazz, Says Johnny Otis,” Melody Maker, February 22, 1958, 10.
Illustration From the paper: Elvis Presley, backstage at the WDIA Goodwill Revue, December 1956. Photograph © Ernest C. Withers, courtesy of Panopticon Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
Soul Power Film by Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Featuring James Brown, Bill Withers, B.B. King, The Spinners, Celia Cruz and the Fania All-Stars, Mohammad Ali, Don King, Stewart Levine …and many more. To watch on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koCIfTiqCsA
Listen to Brown's Soul Power Single Polydor., 1971 On:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaolx8ply7A
About the Film, See: http://cdn.filmtrackonline.com.s3.amazonaws.com/mongrelmedia/starcm_vault_root/images%2Ffiles%2Fe1%2Fe1eb1fdd-a1e9-4d1e-a302-77355897ed98.pdf.
There one may read: "In 1965, Brown's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" won a Grammy for best R&B recording, and in 1987, his "Living in America" single, which is heard in the movie ROCKY IV, received one for best male R&B vocal performance. To enjoy on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5BL4RNFr58
In 1992, he won a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement. He was one of the initial artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1986, along with Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino and Buddy Holly. In 2003, he was honored by the John F Kennedy Center of Performing Arts."
“.. [Louder than Bombs] is not only a testament to a life-long love of music, it also represents an indefatigable act of reportage into it.” From The Financial Times Review about the Book by Ed Vulliamy "Louder Than Bombs. A Life with Music, War, and Peace, The University of Chicago Press, 2020".
Presentation: Part memoir, part reportage, Louder Than Bombs is a story of music from the front lines. Ed Vulliamy, a decorated war correspondent and journalist, offers a testimony of his lifelong passion for music. Vulliamy’s reporting has taken him around the world to cover the Bosnian war, the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of Communism, the Iraq wars of 1991 and 2003 onward, narco violence in Mexico, and more, places where he confronted stories of violence, suffering, and injustice. Through it all, Vulliamy has turned to music not only as a reprieve but also as a means to understand and express the complicated emotions that follow.
Describing the artists, songs, and concerts that most influenced him, Vulliamy brings together the two largest threads of his life—music and war. Louder Than Bombs covers some of the most important musical milestones of the past fifty years, from Jimi Hendrix playing “Machine Gun” at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 to the Bataclan in Paris under siege in 2015. Vulliamy was present for many of these historic moments, and with him as our guide, we see them afresh, along the way meeting musicians like B. B. King, Graham Nash, Patti Smith, Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, and Bob Dylan. Vulliamy peppers the book with short vignettes—which he dubs 7” singles—recounting some of his happiest memories from a lifetime with music. Whether he’s working as an extra in the Vienna State Opera’s production of Aida, buying blues records in Chicago, or drinking coffee with Joan Baez, music is never far from his mind. As Vulliamy discovers, when horror is unspeakable, when words seem to fail us, we can turn to music for expression and comfort, or for rage and pain. Poignant and sensitively told, Louder Than Bombs is an unforgettable record of a life bursting with music.
Volume consultable on: https://books.google.tn/books?id=rIgmyQEACAAJ&printsec=copyright&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/War_Peace
Mound Bayou Blues: Music has been one of the many facets of African American culture proudly nurtured by the community of Mound Bayou, ranging from blues and R&B in cafes, lounges, and juke joints to musical programs in schools, studios, and churches. Mound Bayou’s cast of performers, both formally schooled and self-taught, has included the pioneer king of Delta blues, Charley Patton, fiddler Henry “Son” Simms, singers Nellie “Tiger” Travis and Sir Lattimore Brown, and guitarist Eddie El... From: https://msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/mound-bayou-blues
Charlie Patton: born Mississippi, April 1891 was an experienced performer of songs before he was twenty years old and was first recorded (Thankfully) in 1929. His influence is everywhere and was arguably the first of the greats. An influence on Son House, Tommy Johnson, Bukka White and without doubt Howlin' Wolf. We have to thank archivists, the likes of Harry Smith, that we can hear these inimitable songs today. To enjoy: Charley Patton - Spoonful Blues (Delta Blues 1929):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyIquE0izAg
Illustration from: https://www.last.fm/fr/music/Charley+Patton/+images/a7d2df00dc0bb121bd743683e8cfcd2a
On Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues "Though it has remained almost completely unrecognized by those outside of its immediate practitioners, Louisiana swamp pop was at the heart of much of the 1950s and 1960s rock and roll. Many swamp-pop tunes such as Phil Phillip's "Sea of Love," Joe Barry's "Fm a Fool to Care," Johnny Preston's "Runnin' Bear," and Bobby Charles's "Later Alligator" made a significant impact on the rock charts in their own right and were extremely influential on the styles of many other top acts of the day including Fats Domino, "The Big Bopper," Elvis, and even the Beatles." From the review of the book "Shane K. Bernard. Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues. American Made Music Series. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1996" by McLeod, K. (1998) "Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues. Intersections, 18(2), 124." Available on: https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/cumr/1998-v18-n2-cumr0484/1014665ar.pdf "https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/cumr/1998-v18-n2-cumr0484/1014665ar.pdf"
There one may read: "Bernard's goal in writing this book is to increase the general awareness and appreciation of the genre of swamp-pop music and to voice his concerns "about whether it could survive and about how it was perceived" (p. 5). Consequently the writing contains little in the way of detailed musical or cultural analysis or criticism but a wealth of first-hand descriptions and accounts of the music and its conception. Accordingly, Bernard treats his subject with the warmth and affection of someone born into the swamp-pop tradition. Indeed the largest part of his work is drawn from the author's own interviews with the original swamp-pop artists. His message regarding the importance of this regional popular music style and its impending demise is well taken and the book provides a comprehensive survey of the genre and its artists and nicely imparts the complex flavours of the swamp-pop experience. As such it represents a unique and long overdue study of an important yet overlooked musical genre. Indeed, if only for the obvious linguistic and cultural parallels, it is a work worth reading by anyone interested in the pop music history of our own French-Canadian heritage."
On Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues. "Sea of Love" is a song written by John Phillip Baptiste (aka Phil Phillips, 1926-2020). Phillips' 1959 recording of the song peaked at #1 on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Enjoy listening "Sea of Love" on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T8PHEAHOBs
Lyrics of "Sea of Love"
Come with me, my love
To the sea, the sea of love
I want to tell you
How much I love you
Do you remember when we met?
That's the day I knew you were my pet
I want to tell you
How much I love you
Come with me
To the sea
Of love
Do you remember when we met?
That's the day I knew you were my pet
I want to tell you
How much I love you
Come with me
To the sea
Of love
Do you remember when we met?
That's the day I knew you were my pet
I want to tell you
How much I love you
Illustration from
https://open.spotify.com/intl-fr/album/6JT5vGaT9IEYmZMPc8Bx46
"Categorizing music as authentic or inauthentic is not based on any defined rules. The question to what is music authentic is often decided by the culture and the people belonging to it. People also have their personal opinions on the matter." This is from the conclusion of the article "What Makes Music Authentic: A Detailed Analysis of Thoughts and Opinions". This article provides ideas that help "to classify songs as authentic and inauthentic. But like other ideas and opinions, the factors for evaluating the authenticity of music may change with time."
Read on:
https://funk45.com/what-makes-music-authentic/
"Disenchanting Les Bons Temps Identity and Authenticity in Cajun Music and Dance" is a vibrant book by Charles J. Stivale Published November 2002, Duke University Press. "The expression laissez les bons temps rouler—"let the good times roll"—conveys the sense of exuberance and good times associated with southern Louisiana’s vibrant cultural milieu. Yet, for Cajuns, descendants of French settlers exiled from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the mid-eighteenth century, this sense of celebration has always been mixed with sorrow. By focusing on Cajun music and dance and the ways they convey the dual experiences of joy and pain, Disenchanting Les Bons Temps illuminates the complexities of Cajun culture. Charles J. Stivale shows how vexed issues of cultural identity and authenticity are negotiated through the rich expressions of emotion, sensation, sound, and movement in Cajun music and dance. Stivale combines his personal knowledge and love of Cajun music and dance with the theoretical insights of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari to consider representations of things Cajun. He examines the themes expressed within the lyrics of the Cajun musical repertoire and reflects on the ways Cajun cultural practices are portrayed in different genres including feature films, documentaries, and instructional dance videos. He analyzes the dynamic exchanges between musicians, dancers, and spectators at such venues as bars and music festivals. He also considers a number of thorny socio-political issues underlying Cajun culture, including racial tensions and linguistic isolation. At the same time, he describes various efforts by contemporary musicians and their fans to transcend the limitations of cultural stereotypes and social exclusion. Disenchanting Les Bons Temps will appeal to those interested in Cajun culture, issues of race and ethnicity, music and dance, and the intersection of French and Francophone studies with Anglo and American cultural studies." From: https://www.dukeupress.edu/Disenchanting-Les-Bons-Temps/
Book consultable on:
https://books.google.gg/books?id=TmAHLojPN64C&printsec=copyright#v=onepage&q&f=false
Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler-Let The Good Times Roll by Clifton Chenier Frenchin' The Boogie ℗ 1976 Decca Records France Released on: 2004-01-01. Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group.
Enjoy listening on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT2_-jV28GI
BB King version of "Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler Let The Good Times Roll" (From " Legends of Rock 'n' Roll" DVD). Enjoy watching on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYB5vLzEHvI
Let The Good Times Roll Lyrics
Hey, everybody, let's have some fun
You only live but once
And when you're dead you're done, so
Let the good times roll, let the good times roll
I don't care if you're young or old
Get together, let the good times roll
Don't sit there mumblin', talkin' trash
If you wanna have a ball
You gotta go out and spend some cash, and
Let the good times roll, let the good times roll
I don't care if you're young or old
Get together, let the good times roll
Hey Mr. Landlord, lock up all the doors
When the police comes around
Just tell 'em that the joint is closed
Let the good times roll, let the good times roll
I don't care if you're young or old
Get together, let the good times roll
Hey tell everybody
Mr. King's in town
I got a dollar and a quarter
Just rarin' to clown
But don't let nobody play me cheap
I got fifty cents more that I'm gonna keep, so
Let the good times roll, let the good times roll
I don't care if you're young or old
Get together, let the good times roll
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/ABC_Art_Blues_Culture_Forum_for_Lovers_of_Blues_Soul_and_other_Authentic_Music
The route that the blues music followed from the early days is fascinating in itself. Chicago blues separated from the southern states more country-blues. The influence on jazz is also fascinating. French Jazz evolved after the first world war into a very characteristic form more based on accordion and violin that USA jazz: I prefer the French form myself. A lot of modern music forms evolved from R&B, we are fortunate that so many talented musicians led the evolution and the history is well worth more exploration.
Another great rendition of "Let The Good Times Roll" by Sam Butera & The Witnesses Album: The Wildest Clan Year: 1960. Enjoy on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BTXbidjWrw
"Accommodating and fusing different voices and knowledge is a must for the reformation of equity, equality, and justice in AI technology creation. Art is for everyone, and the tools we use to make art, especially AI tools, should enable and empower just and equitable creation." From the conclusion of the just-published paper by Tatar, K., Ericson, P., Cotton, K., Del Prado, P. T. N., Batlle-Roca, R., Cabrero-Daniel, B., ... & Hussain, J. (2024), "A shift in artistic practices through artificial intelligence, Leonardo, 293-297."
Abstract: The explosion of content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) models has initiated a cultural shift in arts, music, and media, whereby roles are changing, values are shifting, and conventions are challenged. The vast, readily available dataset of the Internet has created an environment for AI models to be trained on any content on the Web. With AI models shared openly and used by many globally, how does this new paradigm shift challenge the status quo in artistic practices? What kind of changes will AI technology bring to music, arts, and new media?
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Science_Conscience
A self-described “song-hunter,” the folklorist Alan Lomax traveled the Mississippi Delta in the 1930s and ’40s, armed with primitive recording equipment and a keen love of the Delta’s music heritage. Crisscrossing the towns and hamlets where the blues began, Lomax gave voice to such greats as Leadbelly, Fred MacDowell, Muddy Waters, and many others, all of whom made their debut recordings with him. “Without Lomax it’s possible that there would have been no blues explosion, no R&B movement, no Beatles and no Stones and no Velvet Underground.” —Brian Eno
Winner of a National Book Critics Circle award, a rollicking and unforgettable memoir by the man who helped bring the music of the blues into the mainstream. His book The Land Where the Blues Began, Pantheon Books, 1993 "is both a fascinating recollection of a pivotal time in American music history and an intimate portrait of the struggles blues musicians faced in the Jim Crow South. The blues were an organic expression of Black humanity in a place where slavery had been outlawed but where segregation, violence, and racial inequality were still the law of the land. Lomax’s role as a liaison to white America, relating the emotion and musical virtuosity displayed by those musicians, would change American popular music forever. Through candid conversations with bluesmen and vivid, firsthand accounts of the landscape where their music was born, Lomax’s “discerning reconstructions . . . give life to a domain most of us can never know . . . one that summons us with an oddly familiar sensation of reverence and dread” (The New York Times Book Review)."... From: https://thenewpress.com/books/land-where-blues-began
Book consultable on:
https://fr.scribd.com/doc/239464147/Alan-Lomax-the-Land-Where-the-Blues-Began
On YouTube link Alan Lomax Archive: https://www.youtube.com/user/alanlomaxarchive
one may find pearls of authentic music collected by Alan Lomax. For instance, the Cajun Louisiana song by Canray Fontenot "Bonsoir Moreau (1983)": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYR2Ura9Vc4
Canray Fontenot performs "Bonsoir Moreau" at his home in Welsh, Louisiana. Shot by Alan Lomax and crew in August 1983. For more information about the American Patchwork filmwork, Alan Lomax, and his collections, visit http://culturalequity.org
"Regardless of the prominent place analysis holds in musical aesthetics and compositional theory, analysis, seen as a way of understanding music by reformulation, is an enjoyable process. This pleasure of analysis certainly accounts for a large part in the leading role of analysis in musical studies." From the chapter by Pachet, François. "Computer analysis of jazz chord sequence: is solar a blues? In: Readings in music and artificial intelligence. Routledge, 2013. 85-113.
About the book by ER Miranda "Readings in music and artificial intelligence": "The interplay between emotional and intellectual elements feature heavily in the research of a variety of scientific fields, including neuroscience, the cognitive sciences and artificial intelligence (AI). This collection of key introductory texts by top researchers worldwide is the first study which introduces the subject of artificial intelligence and music to beginners."
Volume readable on:
https://books.google.com/books?hl=fr&lr=&id=FWLYAQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=%22artificial+intelligence%22+%22music%22+%22Blues%22&ots=337GUvXy7a&sig=C8fTkwSL26CkxrMvdWrDv7vFldM
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Raphael_Enthoven_thinks_that_a_machine_will_never_be_a_philosopher_Do_you_think_so
"Songs referencing suicide – a generally taboo subject – are common in U.S. culture, appearing in every genre of music from country to hip hop, punk rock to blues. Suicide songs prompt concern among the lay public (e.g., lawmakers, parents) and also researchers.." From the just-published research by Parrott, S., & Park, H. "Suicide in Song: A Thematic Analysis of 674 Songs Referencing Suicide, Health Communication, 1–9, 2024". To be requested on:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378801954_Suicide_in_Song_A_Thematic_Analysis_of_674_Songs_Referencing_Suicide
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Could_Suicide_Death_Penalty_and_Euthanasia_be_Rational_and_Morally_Defensible
Captivant Stringbean when singing "Suicide Blues, 1963". Watch on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNIXtxZRGYM
Lyrics
I'm goin' to kill myself oh, Lordy me Going to kill myself, you wait and see Gonna whittle myself a little wooden gun To blow my brains out just for fun And kill myself oh, Lordy me My good gal, she's gone and done me wrong Yes, she walked right away with another man Well, she walked right away with another man And I'll get even with her if I can I'm gonna kill myself oh, Lordy me I'm goin' to hang myself, oh, Lordy me I'm goin' to hang myself, you wait and see Goin' get me a spoon and sewing thread Hang myself 'til I am dead And kill myself, oh, Lordy me I'm going to drown myself, oh Lordy me Going to drown myself, you wait and see Gonna to jump in the rivеr 'bout two inches deep A-Lay right down and go to sleep And drown myself, oh, Lordy me I'm going to lay with my hеad on the railroad track (on that cold steel) Going to lay with my head on the railroad track Going to lay with my head on the railroad track And a train come along I'm gonna jerk it back And kill myself, oh Lordy me
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Could_Suicide_Death_Penalty_and_Euthanasia_be_Rational_and_Morally_Defensible
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Science_Conscience
A very interesting video documentary on B.B. King
See Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMGJsb5jKCA
Note within the documentary B.B. King reveals the true story of the origins of 'Lucille'
Thank you Dear Martin Hilmi for this excellent documentary, peppered with B. B. King's breathtaking live interpretations. I enjoyed watching and listening.
Another famous American Blues artist: McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 – April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters. Muddy Waters grew up on Stovall Plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi, becoming the 'father of modern Chicago blues'. This is Muddy Waters performing "Hoochie Coochie Man" (Live) on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_l6A7krjrQ
Hoochie Coochie Man is a blues standard written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Muddy Waters in 1954.
Lyrics:
Gypsy woman told my mother
Before I was born
You got a boy child's comin'
He's gonna be a son of a gun
He gonna make pretty women
Jump and shout
Then the world wanna know
What this all about
But you know I'm him
Everybody knows I'm him
Well you know I'm the hoochie coochie man
Everybody knows I'm him
I got a black cat bone
I got a mojo too
I got the Johnny Concheroo
I'm gonna mess with you
I'm gonna make you girls
Lead me by my hand
Then the world will know
That I'm the hoochie coochie man
You know I'm him
Everybody knows I'm him
Oh you know I'm the hoochie coochie man
Everybody knows I'm him
On the seventh hour
On the seventh day
On the seventh month
The seven doctors say
'He was born for good luck
And that you'll see
I got seven hundred dollars
Don't you mess with me'
But you know I'm him
Everybody knows I'm him
Well you know I'm the hoochie coochie man
The whole wide world knows him
Yes, I'm the hoochie coochie man
The whole wide world won't let you
Oh, I've been all 'round the world
And the whole wide world knows him
Yeah, I'm the hoochie coochie man
Everybody knows him
Yeah, I've gone all 'round the world
Yeah, everybody knows I'm him
Yeah, [Incomprehensible]
See https://mojim.com/usy120085x1x4.htm
“Perhaps there was never a philosopher who was a musician to the degree I am” (Friedrich Nietzsche, in Gillespie, 1988: 144)". It is with this quotation that Hawley Thomas starts his research paper “Dionysus in the mosh pit: Nietzschean reflections on the role of music in recovering the tragic disposition, Western Political Science Association, Annual Meeting Paper. 2020." Available on: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID1582625_code238096.pdf?abstractid=1580791&mirid=1
There one may read: "...With respect to specifically musical dissonance, it is integrated into the larger harmonic structure of the song. To banish it would be to ruin the song, while to overcome it would be to suggest that dissonance was somehow less than completely crucial to the nature of music itself. It is likewise with human suffering. life, by contrast, embraces and affirms suffering as the inescapable dimension of existence that it is, and treats it the way music does its “suffering,” i.e., as dissonance to be incorporated into a subsequent harmony. salutary effect of Attic tragedy. In the end, “The tragic poet can bear the contradiction of the passions because he is able to subordinate them as dissonances within a higher musical harmony...
... Moore’s blues guitar playing combines a high level of technical proficiency with an emotive fluency that borders on the poetic. “Still Got the Blues for You,” probably the song for which he is most well-known among American audiences, opens with a melancholic riff high up on the fret board and which forms the affective core of the song. The immediate effect is one of existential pain, and one can sense the direction of the lyrics well before they begin. Sure enough, as the title suggests, the song is about love gone awry. This, of course, is hardly a compelling theme by itself, and is indeed the subject of huge amounts of blues music. Hence the reason why the skill of the performer must be kept in mind. As often as not, this is what separates a Dionysiac blues song from any number of run-of-the-mill alternatives... "
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Raphael_Enthoven_thinks_that_a_machine_will_never_be_a_philosopher_Do_you_think_so
In the Same Vein. Within the previously mentioned essay [1] by Hawley Thomas, One may read about Moore's performance with "I Still Have the Blues for You” song: If you’re anywhere near a computer, betake yourself forthwith to YouTube and enter the song title followed by the word “live” in the search bar. Let's do That. The Clip is on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O_YMLDvvnw
Let's visualize it and continue reading the text by Hawley Thomas: It's breathtaking: "At approximately the four-minute mark of the song, Moore unleashes a solo of such agonizing emotional intensity that the listener is nearly overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of it. What saves the will at this precarious moment is the way the solo transforms subjective Apolline suffering into Dionysiac intoxication Watching the clip, it seems almost absurd to claim that “Gary Moore” is the one playing He is merely a means, a body whose. every individuating characteristic has been subtracted in the service of expressing the pain at the heart of Dionysiac universality. buoyant effect upon the soul. It's truly heart-rending and tremendously uplifting at the same time. Finally, and at the risk of repetition, it must be said that these are not moments of extirpation or redemption. Absent the agony at the heart of the song the guitar solo would have no meaning, while an effort to enlist that agony in service of a higher unity would be at best hackneyed and at worst a repudiation of suffering’s salutary effect. Phrased slightly differently, the music says infinitely more than could ever be captured by the lyrics. The introductory riff, but especially the solo at the end of the live performance, say virtually everything that needs to be said about love but in the tragic terms of love’s opposite, namely suffering, sadness, and disillusionment. This is hardly meant to discredit Moore’s lyrics or his ability to sing them. Rather, it is to point out just how enormously evocative his guitar playing is, and how the Dionysiac impulses of the song are amplified by the skill which he brings to their articulation."
[1] Hawley Thomas, Dionysus in the mosh pit: Nietzschean reflections on the role of music in recovering the tragic disposition, Western Political Science Association, Annual Meeting Paper. 2020."
See Also
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Raphael_Enthoven_thinks_that_a_machine_will_never_be_a_philosopher_Do_you_think_so
Jamel Chahed indeed the documentary on B.B. King is most inspiring and shows what a great person he was and how this reflected in his music. Here is another documentary. It is from 1978 and is called 'Good morning blues' and is narrated by B.B. King
See link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hUtazY5p0c
A most interesting documentary on the history of the blues recounted by the musicians who were part of it and who lived it.
See Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qq_qnLHf74
Jamel Chahed mentions the great work of Alan Lomax, his collection of folk and blues is an alternative American Songbook. Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie played a similar role in encouraging the blues singers like Huddy Leadbetter who played an amazing range of music. As Trad jazz became popular, Chris Barber's band brought many great USA blues singers to the UK as guests, when "foreign" musicians were effectively banned by the musicians' union.
Jerry McCain's album "Black & Blues is Back!", 1980, enchants us with humanly captivating music. Available on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhS0tvcatow
Editorial Reviews: Get ready to unleash the raw power and soulful intensity of Jerry McCain's electrifying album "Black & Blues is Back!". This timeless collection, originally released in 1980, puts front and center McCain's mastery of the blues; with his trademark vocal grit and blistering harmonica skills, he proves his undeniable ability to weave tales of love, heartache, and the everyday struggles of life into his music. From the moment the first note hits, you're transported to a smoke-filled juke joint, where the blues reign supreme and emotions run deep. With this carefully curated selection of tracks - from the sultry slow burners that send shivers down your spine to the high-octane boogie-woogie numbers that make you want to hit the dance floor - each song is a testament to McCain's versatility and authenticity as a blues artist and underlines his mastery of the craft, solidifying his status as one of the true greats. From: https://www.amazon.com/Black-Blues-Jerry-McCain-Boogie/dp/B0CBGCY75N
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/ABC_Art_Blues_Culture_Forum_for_Lovers_of_Blues_Soul_and_other_Authentic_Music
"Jimmy Anderson sang traditional and original songs. He rendered an excellent upbeat version of the murder ballad “Frankie and Johnny” and a laid-back version of Slim Harpo’s hit “I’m A King Bee,” and his song “Naggin’,” with its “wicked downbeat,” has been called “a minor masterpiece.” Jimmy Anderson, 2009, photographed by Vincent Joos." From the paper by Joos, V. (2010). "Jimmy Anderson: Natchez Swamp Blues. Southern Cultures, 16(3), 130-142."
To be requested on: Article Jimmy Anderson: Natchez Swamp Blues
There, one can read: "Linton Avenue in downtown Natchez, Mississippi, is dotted with large Victorian homes, surrounded by luxuriant vegetation. In the early twentieth century it was home to successful Jewish families. The maids, gardeners, and carpenters who took care of these homes and the people who resided there lived right behind Linton Avenue on Maple Street, where simple cypress cabins still stand adjacent to small pine shotgun houses. This area was, and remains, one of the only African American neighborhoods in downtown Natchez. The city was highly segregated during the Jim Crow era and today its built environment still recalls its complicated social and racial history. Jimmy Anderson was born in 1934 to Jennie Lee Risen, a sharecropper from Woodville, Mississippi, who gave him up for adoption a week and a half later to Leola Newell, who raised him in the Maple Street neighborhood in which he still lives today. In the late 1950s, Anderson moved from Natchez to Woodville, Mississippi, and then to Baton Rouge. He returned to his hometown in the late sixties and has remained there since. I met Anderson in 2006, when I moved into his neighborhood. While working on the terribly dilapidated house that my wife and I had bought, the music of Clarence Carter, Little Walter, and Johnny Cash would pour out from our then-windowless little property. Jimmy frequently stopped by, encouraging us with humor, always saying that we “played some good tapes.” Right away we began to talk about music, about any kind of music. Jimmy has extensive knowledge of the subject. We gladly put our tools aside to sit and talk with him. After we became friends and swapped records, Jimmy began to tell us his life story. His first revelation was that he was a blues singer during the 1960s, recording about twenty songs in that era. We then began to work together, releasing the recordings that he made in Louisiana and organizing events around his music. We also recorded his memories. Although our talks always began with music, our conversations took many paths: Jimmy talked about his family, his childhood, the hardships finding employment for African Americans in the Deep South, the beauty and pains of love, fishing parties along the old river, and his loneliness as an older person. This essay takes into account only a small part of Jimmy’s memories. His powerful words are not simply beautiful stories. His career as a Baton Rouge bluesman during the heyday of the Louisiana Swamp Blues draws us back to the segregated South where this music was born, back where working-class black men and women created the sound in the bars and clubs of the Chemical City. In the 1930s, Natchez was a hotspot for African American music: fife and drum during Sunday picnics in the country, gospel singing in church, and the blues of the clubs. A decade later, in October 1940, John and Ruby Lomax would record these beautiful blues with three men, Lucious Curtis, George Boldwin, and Willie Ford, whose hypnotic blues evoked the hardships endured by African Americans in the Jim Crow South. These men were eager to sing secular songs at a time when black secular music was scarce in Adams County. Ruby Lomax observed in a letter to family in October 1940 that “[a]ny songs besides spirituals are hard to get here; for that terrible dance hall fire of several months ago has sent the Negro population to the mourners’ bench, and they will not sing ‘reels’ or ‘worl’ly’ songs.”
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/ABC_Art_Blues_Culture_Forum_for_Lovers_of_Blues_Soul_and_other_Authentic_Music
In line with the previous post. This is the record of Frankie & Johnny song by Jimmy Anderson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6g44n6K1kw
Lyrics of "Frankie and Johnny (or You'll miss me in the days to come"
(Written by the Leighton Bros. and Ren Shields) - 1912: From: https://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/f/frankieandjohnnyenglishlyrics.html
Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts
They had a quarrel one day
Johnny he vowed he would leave her
Said he was goin' away
He's never comin' home
He's goin' away to roam
Frankie she begged and pleaded
Cried "Oh Johnny, please stay"
She says, "My honey I have done you wrong
But please don't go away"
Then Johnny sighed
And to his Frankie cried:
"Oh I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come"
Frankie says, "Listen now Johnny
To prove my love is true
Every dollar I can save, dear
I'm goin' to give to you
So I think now, dear
That ought to keep you here"
Johnny says, "Listen now Frankie
Don't want to tell you no lie
I've lost my heart to another queen
Her name is Nellie Bly"
Then Frankie groaned
As her Johnny moaned:
"Oh, I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come
Frankie then said to her Johnny
"Say man, your hour has come"
From underneath her silk kimono
She drew a forty-four gun
Oh, it was bear, 'twas quite a large affair
Johnny he dashed down the stairway
Cryin' "Oh Frankie, don't shoot"
Frankie took aim with her forty-four
Five times with a rooty-toot-toot
As Johnny fell, then miss Frankie yelled:
"Oh, you're a goin' away and you're a goin' to stay
You're never coming home
I'm goin' to miss you hon', in the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
I'll think of thee and I will wish to be
Back with my lovin' man
I'm goin' to miss you hon'
In the days, days, days to come
"Send for your rubber-tired hearses
Go get your rubber-tired hacks
Take lovin' Johnny to the graveyard
I shot him in the back
With my great big gun
Just as he went to run
Send for a thousand policemen
Detectives right away
Lock me way down in the dungeon cell
And throw the keys away
My Johnny's dead, just because he said:
"Oh, I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon' in the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come
In line with the previous post. This is another record of Frankie & Johnny song by Louis Armstrong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2CRwtrko0I
Lyrics of "Frankie and Johnny (or You'll miss me in the days to come"
(Written by the Leighton Bros. and Ren Shields) - 1912: From: https://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/f/frankieandjohnnyenglishlyrics.html
Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts
They had a quarrel one day
Johnny he vowed he would leave her
Said he was goin' away
He's never comin' home
He's goin' away to roam
Frankie she begged and pleaded
Cried "Oh Johnny, please stay"
She says, "My honey I have done you wrong
But please don't go away"
Then Johnny sighed
And to his Frankie cried:
"Oh I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come"
Frankie says, "Listen now Johnny
To prove my love is true
Every dollar I can save, dear
I'm goin' to give to you
So I think now, dear
That ought to keep you here"
Johnny says, "Listen now Frankie
Don't want to tell you no lie
I've lost my heart to another queen
Her name is Nellie Bly"
Then Frankie groaned
As her Johnny moaned:
"Oh, I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come
Frankie then said to her Johnny
"Say man, your hour has come"
From underneath her silk kimono
She drew a forty-four gun
Oh, it was bear, 'twas quite a large affair
Johnny he dashed down the stairway
Cryin' "Oh Frankie, don't shoot"
Frankie took aim with her forty-four
Five times with a rooty-toot-toot
As Johnny fell, then miss Frankie yelled:
"Oh, you're a goin' away and you're a goin' to stay
You're never coming home
I'm goin' to miss you hon', in the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
I'll think of thee and I will wish to be
Back with my lovin' man
I'm goin' to miss you hon'
In the days, days, days to come
"Send for your rubber-tired hearses
Go get your rubber-tired hacks
Take lovin' Johnny to the graveyard
I shot him in the back
With my great big gun
Just as he went to run
Send for a thousand policemen
Detectives right away
Lock me way down in the dungeon cell
And throw the keys away
My Johnny's dead, just because he said:
"Oh, I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon' in the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come
In line with the previous post. This is another famous record of Frankie & Johnny song by Elvis Presley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM7Nx9bFHfc
Lyrics of "Frankie and Johnny (or You'll miss me in the days to come"
(Written by the Leighton Bros. and Ren Shields) - 1912: From: https://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/f/frankieandjohnnyenglishlyrics.html
Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts
They had a quarrel one day
Johnny he vowed he would leave her
Said he was goin' away
He's never comin' home
He's goin' away to roam
Frankie she begged and pleaded
Cried "Oh Johnny, please stay"
She says, "My honey I have done you wrong
But please don't go away"
Then Johnny sighed
And to his Frankie cried:
"Oh I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come"
Frankie says, "Listen now Johnny
To prove my love is true
Every dollar I can save, dear
I'm goin' to give to you
So I think now, dear
That ought to keep you here"
Johnny says, "Listen now Frankie
Don't want to tell you no lie
I've lost my heart to another queen
Her name is Nellie Bly"
Then Frankie groaned
As her Johnny moaned:
"Oh, I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come
Frankie then said to her Johnny
"Say man, your hour has come"
From underneath her silk kimono
She drew a forty-four gun
Oh, it was bear, 'twas quite a large affair
Johnny he dashed down the stairway
Cryin' "Oh Frankie, don't shoot"
Frankie took aim with her forty-four
Five times with a rooty-toot-toot
As Johnny fell, then miss Frankie yelled:
"Oh, you're a goin' away and you're a goin' to stay
You're never coming home
I'm goin' to miss you hon', in the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
I'll think of thee and I will wish to be
Back with my lovin' man
I'm goin' to miss you hon'
In the days, days, days to come
"Send for your rubber-tired hearses
Go get your rubber-tired hacks
Take lovin' Johnny to the graveyard
I shot him in the back
With my great big gun
Just as he went to run
Send for a thousand policemen
Detectives right away
Lock me way down in the dungeon cell
And throw the keys away
My Johnny's dead, just because he said:
"Oh, I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon' in the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/ABC_Art_Blues_Culture_Forum_for_Lovers_of_Blues_Soul_and_other_Authentic_MusicIn line with the previous post. This is another famous record of Frankie & Johnny song by Elvis Presley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM7Nx9bFHfc
Lyrics of "Frankie and Johnny (or You'll miss me in the days to come"
(Written by the Leighton Bros. and Ren Shields) - 1912: From: https://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/f/frankieandjohnnyenglishlyrics.html
Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts
They had a quarrel one day
Johnny he vowed he would leave her
Said he was goin' away
He's never comin' home
He's goin' away to roam
Frankie she begged and pleaded
Cried "Oh Johnny, please stay"
She says, "My honey I have done you wrong
But please don't go away"
Then Johnny sighed
And to his Frankie cried:
"Oh I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come"
Frankie says, "Listen now Johnny
To prove my love is true
Every dollar I can save, dear
I'm goin' to give to you
So I think now, dear
That ought to keep you here"
Johnny says, "Listen now Frankie
Don't want to tell you no lie
I've lost my heart to another queen
Her name is Nellie Bly"
Then Frankie groaned
As her Johnny moaned:
"Oh, I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come
Frankie then said to her Johnny
"Say man, your hour has come"
From underneath her silk kimono
She drew a forty-four gun
Oh, it was bear, 'twas quite a large affair
Johnny he dashed down the stairway
Cryin' "Oh Frankie, don't shoot"
Frankie took aim with her forty-four
Five times with a rooty-toot-toot
As Johnny fell, then miss Frankie yelled:
"Oh, you're a goin' away and you're a goin' to stay
You're never coming home
I'm goin' to miss you hon', in the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
I'll think of thee and I will wish to be
Back with my lovin' man
I'm goin' to miss you hon'
In the days, days, days to come
"Send for your rubber-tired hearses
Go get your rubber-tired hacks
Take lovin' Johnny to the graveyard
I shot him in the back
With my great big gun
Just as he went to run
Send for a thousand policemen
Detectives right away
Lock me way down in the dungeon cell
And throw the keys away
My Johnny's dead, just because he said:
"Oh, I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon' in the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come
A touching review of the book by Nichols, Stephen J., "Getting the blues: what blues music teaches us about suffering and salvation. Brazos Press, 2008". Review by W. Edgar, Available on: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/review/getting-the-blues-what-blues-music-teaches-us-about-suffering-and-salvation/
There one may read: "The blues has been called many things. Notoriously, some have called it “the devil’s music” or simply “sinful tunes.” Its critics are both white and black...The black church had become the principal institution giving meaning and hope to the enslaved African people...Even after emancipation, the Christian faith was the deepest consolation for black people, still enduring oppression and racial prejudice. But there was a parallel world... that the blues are sung... that world has grown and taken on a life of its own... blues allowed people to articulate feelings and evoke subjects not always directly addressed by the church. .. Race and lost love are coupled together in African-American folklore.
Eeh, when my mother died, my dad give po’ me away,
When my mother died, my dad gave me away,
Lord, I’m just a bum baby, that’s why I got no place to stay
Sometimes I wonder why my dad gives po’ me away,
Sometimes I wonder why my dad gives po’ me away,
Lord, because I was dark-complexioned, Lord they threw me away.
(Originally issued by Bluebird [B6III], 1935)"
In line with the previous reply. This is "I’m Just a Bum," sang bythe great Big Bill Broonzy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuFqtw8xJTo
Eeh, when my mother died, my dad give po’ me away,
When my mother died, my dad gave me away,
Lord, I’m just a bum baby, that’s why I got no place to stay
Sometimes I wonder why my dad gives po’ me away,
Sometimes I wonder why my dad gives po’ me away,
Lord, because I was dark-complexioned, Lord they threw me away.
(Originally issued by Bluebird [B6III], 1935)"
Jamel Chahed Thanks for the link, Big Bill is probably my favourite of the old blues singers. He was a great protest singer at a time when protesting was barely allowed in the USA. My favourite track is "Get back", it captures the dreadful "Jim Crow" years in the USA so well.
Thank you Dear Jack Broughton for speaking of Jim Crow Racial Erea and Jim Crow Blues. In this regard, I would like to mention the article "The New Jim Crow" adapted from two speeches delivered by Professor Michelle Alexander, one at the Zocolo Public Square in Los Angeles on March 17, 2010, and another at an authors symposium sponsored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Open Society Institute on October 6, 2010. Available on: https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/73367/OSJCL_V9N1_007.pdf?sequence=1%26isAllowed=y
There one may Read within the introduction: "..Media pundits and more than a few politicians insist that we, as a nation, have finally "moved beyond race." We have entered into the era of "post-racialism," it is said, the promised land of colorblindness. Not just in America, but around the world, President Obama's election has been touted as the final nail in the coffin of Jim Crow, the bookend placed on the history of racial caste in America. This triumphant notion of post-racialism is, in my view, nothing more than fiction-a type of Orwellian doublespeak made no less sinister by virtue of the fact that the people saying it may actually believe it. Racial caste is not dead; it is alive and well in America. The mass incarceration of poor people of color in the United States amounts to a new caste system-one specifically tailored to the political, economic, and social challenges of our time. It is the moral equivalent of Jim Crow. I am well aware that this kind of claim may be hard for many people to swallow..."
Further on we can read: "...I state my basic thesis in the introduction to my book, The New Jim Crow: 'What has changed since the collapse of Jim Crow has less to do with the basic structure of our society than the language we use to justify it. In the era of colorblindness, it is no longer socially permissible to use race, explicitly, as a justification for discrimination, exclusion, and social contempt. So we don't. Rather than rely on race, we use our criminal justice system to label people of color "criminals" and then engage in all the practices we supposedly left behind. Today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against criminals in nearly all the ways it was once legal to discriminate against African Americans. Once you're labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination-employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, and exclusion from jury service-are suddenly legal. As a criminal, you have scarcely more rights, and arguably less respect, than a black man living in Alabama at the height of Jim Crow. We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.' I reached this conclusion reluctantly. Like many civil rights lawyers, I was inspired to attend law school by the civil rights victories of the 1950s and 1960s.."
Speaking of Big Bill and Jim Crow Blues, I would like to mention the article by Kenneth Kapp, in Shepherd Express, Dec. 08, 2021, "Get Back and Give Back, Big Bill Broonzy’s Song as Relevant Today as Ever." To read at: https://shepherdexpress.com/music/music-feature/get-back-and-give-back/
Listen to Get Back song by Big Bill at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhO1X4l7KDQ
Lyrics (note that "Jim Crow" is mentioned toward the end of the song)
This little song that I'm singin' about
People you all know is true
If you black and gotta work for a livin' now
This is what they been sayin' to you
They said if you white, you's alright
If you is brown, stick around
But if you's black, oh brother
Get back, get back, get back...
I was in a place one night
They was all havin' fun
They was all buyin' beer and wine
But they would not sell me none
They said if you white, you's alright
If you is brown, you can stick around
But if you's black, mm mm brother
Get back, get back, get back...
I went to an employment office
I got a number and I got in line
They called everybody's number
But they never did call mine
They said if you white, you's alright
If you is brown, you can stick around
But if you's black, mm mm brother
Get back, get back, get back...
Me and a man was working side by side
And this is what it meant
They was payin' him a dollar an hour
But they was payin' me fifty cent
They said if you was white, you'd be alright
If you is brown, you could stick around
But if you's black, whoa brother
Get back, get back, get back...
I helped win sweet victories
With my plow and hoe
Now, I want you to tell me, brother
Whatchu gonna do about the ol' Jim Crow
Now, if you's white, you's alright
If you is brown, stick around
But if you black, whoa brother
Get back, get back, get back...
Interesting insights on the Jim Crow Era are provided within the paper by Pimentel, D. (2022), Blues and the Rule of Law, Revista Forumul Judecatorilor, 19. Available on: https://ushist2112honors.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/liwack-jim-crow-blues.pdf
Excerpts: "What the white South lost on the battlefields of the Civil War and during Reconstruction, it would largely retake in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In what has been called the Nadir of African American history,... The most intense years were between 1890 and the first Great Migration in the 1910s, but the seeds had been planted in the forcible overthrow of Reconstruction in the 1870s, and the Age of Jim Crow would span more than half a century. The term "Jim Crow," as a way of characterizing black people, had its origins in minstrelsy in the early nine tenth century. Thomas "Daddy" Rice, a white minstrel, popularized the term. Using burnt cork to blacken his face, attired in the ill-fitting, tattered garment of a beggar, and grinning broadly, Rice imitated the dancing, singing, and demeanor generally ascribed to Negro character... Calling it "Jump Jim Crow," ... The public responded with enthusiasm to Rice's caricature of black life. By the 1830s, minstrelsy had become one of the most popular forms of mass entertainment, "Jim Crow" had entered the American vocabulary,... Abolitionist newspapers employed the term in the 1840s to describe separate railroad cars for blacks and whites in the North. But by the 1890s, "Jim Crow" took on additional force and meaning to denote the subordination and separation of black people in the South, much of it codified and much of it still enforced by custom, habit, and violence.... the white South constructed an imposing and extensive system of legal and extra-legal mechanisms between 1890 and 1915 designed to institutionalize the already familiar and customary subordination of black men and women. State after state denied blacks a political voice through disfranchisement, imposed rigid patterns of racial segregation? Nicknamed "Jim Crow".."
Illustration from the paper
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Science_and_history_serving_political_and_ideological_narratives
Jamel Chahed It is interesting to theorise about good music. Good music is difficult to define: it is largely governed by consensus as there is no formula that makes a lot of people like a given piece. Good music could possibly be defined as music that survives a generation gap and remains popular. Authentic music is possibly a music genre that is still played, copied and developed many years after the music originated.
So, consensus rules, except that personal taste remains outside of this consensus.
Thank you Dear Jack Broughton for the insight. Speaking of "Good Music", it is interesting to mention the thesis by Surles, E. K., " "I been to hear the highest kind of opera grand": blues," good music," and the performance of race on record, 1920-1921, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2010." There on may read: "In the first few decades of the twentieth century, the recorded music industry marketed the cultural value of “good music” and emphasized a democratic musical edification, as “every home” could now potentially access what was considered to be “good music” through the “instrument” of the talking machine. Early record companies frequently used the designation “good music” as a catch-all category to describe serious art music selections understood to be “high-class” and “music of the better sort,” while record players became “musical instruments” in sales parlance. Despite the opposition of what Harris terms “cheap ragtime, jazz, and the like” to “good music,” Harris maintains “that the public at large demands even in its popular records a higher degree of musicianship than would satisfy it ten, even five, years ago.”
The thesis dissertation is available on:
https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/items/16544/bitstreams/59573/data.pdf
I invite readers to taste this terrific Chicago Blues album "All for Business" from Jimmy Dawkins (stunning!) on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjujXTi7ip8
The just-published article by Handayani et al. "Philosophy of Al-Farabi In Developing A Digital Music Notation Training Model for High School Art and Culture Teachers Based on CSCL, Ekspresi Seni: Jurnal Ilmu Pengetahuan dan Karya Seni 25.2 (2024): 229-244" explores "the philosophical aspects of Al-Farabi in the development of a music art training model, aimed at assisting high school Art and Culture teachers in understanding and teaching digital music notation. Al-Farabi, a great philosopher from the Classical Islamic period, offers valuable insights into education and learning, which are applicable in the context of music art teaching. The article elucidates how Al-Farabi's views, particularly on ethics, morality, and happiness, can be integrated into a training model based on Computer Support Collaborative Learning (CSCL) to enrich the art teachers' learning experience. Furthermore, it provides an overview of how digital music notation can be implemented in high school cultural arts education and why this approach is relevant in the rapidly evolving context of music education. This article is expected to serve as a guide for developing a holistic and philosophical training model in music art education, focusing on understanding digital music notation and applying Al-Farabi's philosophical principles in the learning process. Additionally, this research highlights the importance of integrating technology in art education, demonstrating how digital approaches can broaden the horizons of music art learning. Moreover, the article seeks to prove how teaching methods inspired by Al-Farabi's thoughts can enhance students' creativity and conceptual understanding in music art."
Available in the Indonesian Language at: https://journal.isi-padangpanjang.ac.id/index.php/Ekspresi/article/download/4096/1654
Illustration (in_Liber_Chronicarum_1493_AD): Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi (Arabic: أبو نصر محمد الفارابي, romanized: Abū Naṣr Muḥammad al-Fārābī; c. 870[1][H]— 14 December 950–12 January 951),known in the Latin West as Alpharabius, has been designated as "Father of Islamic Neoplatonism", and the "Founder of Islamic Political Philosophy". From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Farabi
John Lee Hooker in world famous live version from the blues brothers film
See Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUUyFrHERpU
Etta James live version of Something’s got a hold on me
See link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OueyaMoUUt4
Koko Talyor with Little Walter in the Wang Dang Doodle
See Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyUHkY0K8HE
Koko Taylor with the song I’ m a woman
See Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_fygyQiHoA
Nin Simone playing love in London with her song Ain’ t got no, I got no life
See Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5jI9I03q8E
Blind Lemon Jefferson and his song Match box blues
See Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXC1jjRCXtg
Muddy waters and his song Got my mojo workin’
See Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hEYwk0bypY
Amanda Ventura and her song The way
See Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9YpIiShbQU
Sonny Boy Williamson in his song live Keep it to your self
See Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuAat82uCCM
Thanks for the great links, Martin Hilmi and Jamel Chahed , A few new artists to me and it is always great to find what one has missed. "Ars longa vita brevis" is a real truism.
About Michelle Alexander's Famous Book "The New Jim Crow" (more than 17 k citations). This is a paper by Moore, R. (2017), "An analysis of Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. taylorfrancis.com". Available on: https://frederickuu.org/sermons/NewJimCrow.pdf
Abstract: Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness is an unflinching dissection of the racial biases built into the American prison system. Named after the laws that enforced racial segregation in the southern United States until the mid-1960s, The New Jim Crow argues that while America is now legally a colorblind society – treating all races equally under the law – many factors combine to build profound racial weighting into the legal system. The US now has the world’s highest rate of incarceration, and a disproportionate percentage of the prison population is comprised of African-American men. Alexander’s argument is that different legal factors have combined to mean both that African-Americans are more likely to be targeted by police, and to receive long jail sentences for their crimes. While many of Alexander’s arguments and statistics are to be found in other books and authors’ work, The New Jim Crow is a masterful example of the reasoning skills that communicate arguments persuasively. Alexander’s skills are those fundamental to critical thinking reasoning: organizing evidence, examining other sides of the question, and synthesizing points to create an overall argument that is as watertight as it is persuasive.
Michelle Alexander's Book consultable on:
https://www.google.tn/books/edition/The_New_Jim_Crow/reDzBZ3pXqsC?hl=fr&gbpv=1&dq=Michelle+Alexander%27s+The+New+Jim+Crow:+Mass+incarceration+in+the+age+of+colorblindness&pg=PR10&printsec=frontcover
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/ABC_Art_Blues_Culture_Forum_for_Lovers_of_Blues_Soul_and_other_Authentic_Music
As mentioned before, "Jim Crow Blues" is a protest song from the 1930's written and preformed by the great blues musician Leadbelly. A reference song for many blues musicians and civil rights activists. Listen & see the superb interpretation by Odetta (2005) of this legendary song, on: https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2737c8735e37f63be3f98720d8b
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/ABC_Art_Blues_Culture_Forum_for_Lovers_of_Blues_Soul_and_other_Authentic_Music
"The paradox of negative emotions in art is the problem of reconciling the aversion to negative emotions in real life with the widespread attraction to artworks that elicit these emotions." From the forthcoming paper by Attie-Picker, Mario, et al. "On the value of sad music, Journal of Aesthetic Education 58.1 (2024): 46-65." Available on: https://philpapers.org/archive/ATTOTV.pdf?utm_source=prince%20george%20citizen&utm_campaign=prince%20george%20citizen%3A%20outbound&utm_medium=referral
The author continues writing: "The problem is often understood in motivational terms: why in the world do we seek out art that makes us feel sad or fearful or disgusted? The reply—arising from the confines of philosophy but also from good common sense—is that we seek it because we enjoy it (or because we value it). And then the problem is to account for this “unaccountable pleasure”: how come we enjoy this kind of painful art?"
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Sciences_Paradoxes
Guitarist and music historian Joey Leone presents “The History of Blues in America” a 90 minute concert program covering the history, influence and social impact of American blues music through songs, stories and historical facts. Joey highlights the influence of blues on virtually all styles of contemporary music over the past 7 decades playing a variety of songs on multiple guitars from his personal collection. In addition to the live music segments, he touches on recurring themes of how the blues transcended racial boundaries, brought people together in times of celebration and times of healing, and how the blues followed the migration from the rural south to the urban north. A lifelong career musician, he has toured and recorded as a guitar player for many high profile artists including Etta James, The Coasters, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, Chaka Khan, and many more. Joey truly believes in the unifying and healing power of music, which comes through during this inspiring and delightful program. He is joined on stage by touring veterans Darro Sparky Sandler on Drums, and Earl Irving on Bass."
Event Sponsors: Northeastern University, Office of the Provost Northeastern University, College of Social Sciences and Humanities: Humanities Center Northeastern University, College of Social Sciences and Humanities: History The John D. O'Bryant African American Institute, Northeastern University.
Interesting and very instructive. Available on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FOTTm4GjtA
Applying the historical concept of “romantic racialism” as introduced by George Fredrickson in The Black Image in the White Mind, the paper by Garabedian, S. P., The Blues Image in the White Mind: Blues Historiography and White Romantic Racialism, Popular Music and Society, 37(4), 476-494, 2014", highlights "the paradoxical continuum of racialism running through opposing schools of dominant blues historiography in the United States. From right, center, and left, white researchers on African-American blues music and people approached their work with competing political outlooks, and yet they shared an underlying collective investment in the blues that was always more than musical. Whether derogatory or sympathetic, the blues image in the white mind was one of certain contradiction, but also surprising continuity."
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Sciences_Paradoxes
Moving slices of Life and Blues in this video "Racism & the Blues" accompany this presentation on Blues History. Video of average technical quality but impressively true. Discover it on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoKG7seJy2E
About the book by Beth Fowler "Rock and Roll, Desegregation Movements, and Racism in the Post-civil Rights Era: An" integrated Effort", Rowman & Littlefield, 2022".... "Beth Fowler's detailed study of race relations in the United States between 1946 and 1964 vis-à-vis the emergence and stratification of rock and roll music offers an important, if somewhat undertheorized, account that challenges simplistic desegregation narratives. Drawing on forty-five interviews of Black and white Americans born between 1934 and 1956 who listened to rock and roll (a sample that is, the author admits, disproportionately middle class), as well as archival sources, Fowler problematizes the common assumption that “rock and roll music helped white people to appreciate Black culture, leading to support for the desegregation movements that civil rights activists were staging at the same time” (p. 3). Rather, as Fowler points out, there were divergent interpretations of rock and roll and racial politics among Black and white teenagers. Fowler contrasts the “color-blind” approach of white people with the embrace by Black people of the mainstream success of African American artists as a means to achieve full citizenship, an vision that decidedly went beyond voting rights and the desegregation of public spaces."
From the Just published book review by Ulrich Adelt, Adelt, U. (2024). Rock and Roll, Desegregation Movements, and Racism in the Post–Civil Rights Era: An “Integrated Effort”, Journal of American History, Volume 110, Issue 4, March 2024, Pages 816–817
Book consultable on:
https://books.google.tn/books?id=NNtsEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=rock+and+roll,+desegregation+movements,+and+racism+in+the+post-civil+rights+era:+an+%22integrated+effort%22&source=bl&ots=aF-my5o92Z&sig=ACfU3U3tUSImRMESfZrMWWPejv37zcS7gQ&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjz8OX4h-qFAxWxdqQEHd-mBqI4FBDoAXoECAIQAw#v=onepage&q=rock%20and%20roll%2C%20desegregation%20movements%2C%20and%20racism%20in%20the%20post-civil%20rights%20era%3A%20an%20%22integrated%20effort%22&f=false
Speaking of Rock & Roll. The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock & Roll, said Muddy Waters. Listen to his amazing Song on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4NNyZmmI3U
Lyrics
All you people out there, you know the blues have soul
Well, this is the story, a story that ain't never been told
Well, the blues got pregnant
And they named the baby Rock 'n' Roll
Muddy Waters said, "You know the blues got soul"
Robert Johnson said, "You know the blues got soul"
Well, the blues had a baby
And they named the baby Rock 'n' Roll
B. B. King said, "You know the blues got soul"
Howlin' Wolf said, "You know the blues got soul"
Well, then the blues had a baby
And they named the baby Rock 'n' Roll
Blind Lemon said, "You know the blues got soul"
His daddy said, "You know the blues got soul"
Well, the blues had a baby
And they named it Rock 'n' Roll
Yeah
When music frees itself from borders, it transports being and transcends reality. Magical Albert King & Stevie Ray Vaughan in this breathtaking song "Don't lie To Me". Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1spzWH8qhuc
Lyrics
There's two kinds of people
I just can't stand
Evil hearted woman
And a lyin' man
Don't you lie to me
Now don't you lie to me
Because it makes me mad
Evil as a man can be
When you told me
That you loved me long time ago
The fellow that you got
You don't want him no more
Don't you lie to me
Now don't you lie to me
Because it makes me mad
I get evil as a man can be
You told me
That you loved me long time ago
The fellow that you have
You don't want him no more
Don't you lie to me
Now don't you lie to me
Because it makes me mad
I get evil as a man can be
Don't you lie to me
Don't you lie to me
No, don't lie to me
Now don't you lie to me
Because it makes me mad
I get evil as a man can be
This is another version of "Don't Lie To Me" by The Rolling Stones:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=2B1JU2OTLBQ
Lyrics:
Well, let's talk it over baby before we start
I heard about the way you used to do your part
Don't lie to me, don't you lie to me
'Cause you make me mad
And I get evil as a man can be
Well, all kinds of people that I just can't stand
That's a lying woman and a cheatin’ man
Don't lie to me, don't you lie to me
'Cause you make me mad
And I get evil as a man can be
Well, I could love you baby and it ain't no lie
I swear be with ya ‘til the well run dry
Don't lie to me, don't you lie to me
'Cause you make me mad
And I get shook up as a man can be
Well, let's talk it over baby before we start
I heard about the way you used to do your part
Don't lie to me, don't you lie to me
'Cause you make me mad
And I get shook up as a man can be
Well, well, well let's talk it over baby before we start
I heard about the way you used to do your part
Don't lie to me, don't you lie to me
'Cause it make me mad
And I get evil as a man can be
"Angels are a popular image in black American art. They appear in Spencer Williams' "Go Down Death" and "The Blood of Jesus." Many black Americans laughed at the low-key portrayal of the angel Gabriel by Oscar Polk in the film version of "Green Pastures," while Eddie "Rochester" Anderson was tormented by angels as he slept in a comical scene of the film "Cabin in the Sky.” The blues often picture the angel as a heavenly image of the singer's earthly lover. For example, B. B. King sings these double entender lyrics in "Sweet Little Angel:"
I've got a sweet little angel.
I love the way she spreads her wings.
Ooooh, I've got a sweet little angel.
I say I love the way she spreads her wings.
When she puts her arms around me,
I find joy in everything."
From Wiggins, William H. "In The Rapture: The Black Aesthetic and Folk Drama." Callaloo, no. 2, 1978, pp. 103-111." Available on: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2930793?read-now=1&seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents
Watch the intensity with which BB King performs this song in this video: it's artistically surreal!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNr_eIgP0tI
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/ABC_Art_Blues_Culture_Forum_for_Lovers_of_Blues_Soul_and_other_Authentic_Music
On AI & Art. "Artistic design works, whether created or appreciated, are based on people's subjective initiative, creative thinking and association. No matter how artificial intelligence develops itself in the field of artistic creation, it can't get around its origin: artificial intelligence is defined by human beings." From the conclusion of the article "Li, M. (2024, January). Research on Cross-media Art Design Based on Artificial Intelligence Digital Service Platform. In ADDT 2023: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Art Design and Digital Technology, ADDT 2023, September 15–17, 2023, Xi’an, China (p. 384). European Alliance for Innovation. Available on: https://eudl.eu/pdf/10.4108/eai.15-9-2023.2340831
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Raphael_Enthoven_thinks_that_a_machine_will_never_be_a_philosopher_Do_you_think_so
"Ultimately, my paper demonstrates that Williams’ work are acts of witnessing, giving a positive answer to Giyartri Spivak’s question, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” For African American women poets of the Black Arts Movement such as Williams, the answer is clearly yes." From the paper by Jasmine Marshall Armstrong, "A Subaltern Black Woman Sings the Blues: A Blues Aesthetic Analysis Sherley Anne Williams’ Poetry, Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol.11, no.6, April 2018". Available on:
https://www.jpanafrican.org/docs/vol11no6/final-Kim-17-Armstrong.pdf
Later in the article, one may read: "William's poem “Blues is Something to Think About,” from The Peacock Poems (1975), is a powerful evocation of a subaltern, proletariat African-American woman using poetry to embrace the legacy the Blues, as poetics and philosophy.
A traditional statement about
a traditional situation
with a new response..."
And, to conclude, the author writes: "Sherley Anne Williams continues, even after her death, to be the sweet Blues singer of California—whose poems echo over the landscape of the working people, raising a voice to their struggles, transcending suffering with her amazing art. Nearly 15 years after her death, Sherley Anne Williams' words continue to sing the Blues, and tell the truth about the subaltern people of California.
I believe that this piece of musical art cannot leave anyone indifferent. Guitar Heroes B.B. King, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins performing "Sweet Little Angel" in Apollo Theater N.Y. 1993. See the video on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwKdClxuNjA
Amazing video with an outstanding performance by Muddy Waters masterfully performing "Baby Please Don't Go" with sweet interventions from the Artist and a stunning Guitar/Harmonica dialogue. This happened at Checkerboard Lounge, on Jan. 1, 1981; And the Roling Stones arrived! All this gives this: To Watch, See and Listen on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3Or7huOK7o
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/ABC_Art_Blues_Culture_Forum_for_Lovers_of_Blues_Soul_and_other_Authentic_Music
In Line with the previous Post. A more rudimentary, yet no less graceful 1960s interpretation of "Baby Please Don'Go" is brought to us by Lightnin' Hopkins From his Vestapol DVD collection Rare Performances 1960-1979. See:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK5zYI86wIw
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/ABC_Art_Blues_Culture_Forum_for_Lovers_of_Blues_Soul_and_other_Authentic_Music
In Line with the previous Post. This is, in a sober and intimate rhythm, an equally captivating guitar interpretation by John Lee Hooker of the legendary song "Baby, Please Don't Go (1959)": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_rL8vLkxjM
In Line with the previous Post. In another Style (the British way and precisely the Beatles one, nevertheless still Blues), an interpretation by Them feat (Van Morrison), of the famous song "Baby Please Don't Go". This is how Blues music conquered and fascinated the European audience. And that’s good for Europe and for Blues music. See this old video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wah7MqEHFg
In Line with the previous Post. I believe you will appreciate this Afro-Cuban-influenced rendition of the Blues reference song "Baby Please Don't Go" by Rose Mitchell (1954): It's exquisite and original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkHze8KUBeE
In Line With Previous Posts. "... "Them" are undoubtedly the most important beat group to emerge from Belfast in the mid-1960s, but one needs to be clearer as to why. Some of this, rather obviously, resides in being the one to 'make it ', a version of 'our boys made good', and to have that all-important commercially successful UK hit single – 'Baby Please Don't Go' - ...". From: "McLaughlin, Noel, and Joanna Braniff. “‘How Belfast got the blues’: Towards an alternative history.” Popular Music History 10.3 (2015): 207-240.” Available on: https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/33254/1/%27How%20Belfast%20Got%20The%20Blues%27%20final%20draft%20to%20PMH%20-%20Noel%20McLaughlin %20and%20Joanna%20Braniff.pdf
And, the authors to continuing further: "...Them's 'Baby Please Don't Go', as a sonic experience, introduces a rockabilly sensitivity into the mix, and is consistent with Harrison's - pre-Them - love of Carl Perkins and Chuck Berry. 'Baby Please Don't Go', therefore, stands as a hybrid. The rockabilly/early rock 'n' roll intro, and underpinning riff, rub against the vocalist's more 'authentic' blues growl..."
In the wake of "Them" Beat Group, the "Amboy Dukes" Rock Group (From Detroit) recorded in 1967 a new "Baby Please Don't Go" version, totally twisted according to their style, within their album of the same title. Released as a single In 1969, the "Baby Please Don't Go" record reached number 106 on Billboard's extended "Bubbling Under the Hot 100" chart. Listen: It's like a prelude to hard rock and heavy metal waves! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdUMRLUNRlM
In the same vein. The Forest Rangers (a roots rock band) created original songs for the TV series 'Sons of Anarchy", 3 times nominated for Emmy Awards. This is their cover of the Blues Song "Baby Please Don't Go"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcJZuUX8mho
Extract from the Book Review: "Middleton, R.H. (1988). From Blues to Rock: an Analytical History of Pop Music . By David Hatch and Stephen Millward. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987. (Music and Society) 217 pp. Popular Music, 7, 229 - 230."
"This is an interesting and welcome book but also a frustrating one. It's interesting because, while we have all too many histories of pop music, this sets out to be an 'analytical history', of which we have all too few; its authors' ambition is to combine 'the comparative analysis of musical structures within their evolutionary context with the more compatible, and useful techniques from recent sociology, social psychology and linguistics', for 'like any sociomusical tradition, pop music owes its coherence as a tradition to the musical elements and structures which provide its musical parameters, thus distinguishing it from other traditions' (pp. 20, 180). This stress on musical analysis and on the continuities within pop which such analysis reveals is quite rare and entirely welcome. However, the book is ultimately frustrating because it pursues this approach only a little way: after an initial and impressive burst of analytical esprit, it runs out of steam and falls back on more conventional modes of pop history. Rock'n'roll, its black and white precursors, and the early sixties pop interregnum get lively treatment, but from then on we find too much cultural and historical cliche, too many catalogues of songs..."
The volume is consultable on: https://books.google.com/books?hl=fr&lr=&id=FyO8AAAAIAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP9&dq=%22book%22+%22From+blues+to+rock:+An+analytical+history+of+pop+music%22&ots=wN1JUfH1-M&sig=Sw6BZQcLFhEvTbo8fk-lNA1QU8A
Tony Spinner (born June 9, 1963) an American rock star and guitarist gives us his interpretation of "Baby please don't go" in a live performance at Blues Moose café recorded for Bluesmoose radio October 5, 2011 in cafe bar de comm, Groesbeek (Netherlands). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E--caYRQXJs
In a particular remastering, this is the version of the song "Baby Please Don't Go" by Gary Glitter (true name Paul Francis Gadd, born 8 May 1944). See the live on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2-1gOGMxQo
Gary Glitter, a British "Glam Rock" Star, achieved a successful career during the 1970s and 1980s. This was followed by legal trials for child pornography in 1999, child sexual abuse in 2006, and a rape attempt in 2015; which earned him passage through the prison box
Forest Rangers, Tony Spinner, Gary Glitter, and other Rock Stars, each in their way, performed the legendary song "Baby Please Don't Go". Ted Nugent, a Hard Rock icon, for his immense talent as a guitarist and for his political activism, also took on the song in an interpretation worthy of his fame. Listen to his performance Live at Taylor County Coliseum, Abilene, TX, November 1977. on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j85_yH0gPlQ
It is fascinating to observe how great songs travel, as Jamel Chahed shows with "Baby Please don't Go". This was an old 1930s blues song that has been covered many many times as a rock, R&B and jazz number. My favourite version is Muddy Waters, singing with the Chris Barber band (1958), it is on You Tube still, as "The Blues Legacy". Chris was a father figure for blues in Europe and brought many, then unknown, artists to Europe. He also introduced skiffle-music which led to groups like the Beatles a few years later, and the Stones, who later actually performed Baby Please don't Go with Muddy Waters: he was truly a great musical innovator. Another great version is Ottilie Patterson singing with Sonny Boy Williamson.
Thank you Dear Jack Broughton for your comment. I also love both wonderful "Baby Please Don't Go" versions you mentioned you mentioned. As you noted these are on YouTube:
- Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, The Chris Barber Band - Baby Please Don't Go (Recorded live at the Manchester Free Trade Hall - 26th October 1958).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InuLSsIStJE
- Ottilie Patterson accomp. by Sonny Boy Williamson - Baby Please Don't Go (Columbia, 1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2R09LhtONo
Here is the interpretation of "Baby, Please Don't Go" by the legendary Bob Dylan, in his incomparable style. Bob Dylan produced this breathtaking rendition during The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan sessions on April 25, 1962 (released in 1993 on the album The Freewheelin' Outtakes: The Columbia Sessions, NYC, 1962). Listen on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ3s3zeeW-Y
"Baby, Please Don't Go" was popularized by Delta blues musician Big Joe Williams in 1935. One can admire him, with his modest guitar, performing the mythic song on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88f3D1xZOIM
A moment of authentic music. The rhythm produced by his left foot, obsessively, tapping the floor is disconcertingly true.
We find the rhythm with the left foot on the floor (better resituated here, as on Wooden Floor) in this superb interpretation of "Baby Please Don't Go" by the Great John Lee Hooker accompanied on the Harmonica by the talented Van Morrison. Captivating performance from an exceptional duo of artists. Enjoy on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw7MqRcMmUA
Julian James and the Moonshine State gratify us with another rendition of "Baby Please Don't Go" where the Harmonica is in the spotlight suitably accompanied by soft and discreet violoncello, with this rhythm by the left foot on a silent floor, this time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XufJmyPZZrI
Listening to one of the low tempo versions of Baby Please Don't Go, I was reminded of Jacques Brel's fantastic blues song "Ne me quitte pas". I had previously thought that it was ultimate blues poetry, but wonder if it is a derivative of BPDG (maybe in my imagination only, and really part of the great Chanson era)? Good music travels and evolves into more good music.
Dear Jack Broughton you wrote "...I was reminded of Jacques Brel's fantastic blues song "Ne me quitte pas"..." This is another exceptional song. I love Brel and all his poetic track record, fundamentally poetic. Like "Baby Please Don't Go", "Ne me Quittes Pas" is a song that expresses "suffering" associated with "separation" but in poetry whose cultural source is different: While the "Blues' poetry" is embodied in a basic, instinctive "suffering", therefore true, almost innately, the poetry of Brel's register finds its origins in Parisian Bohemia, claimed by the left-wing "BoBo" of Paris Saint-Germain. It is therefore a fundamentally intellectual, sophisticated Poetry, therefore true of conviction. Here is Brel singing “Ne me Quittes Pas”: Watch’n Listen it’s striking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_bq5mStroM
INA, By Florence Dartois, Published on 04.21.202 “Ne me quittes pas”, the song by Jacques Brel which made Nina Simone famous in France "On April 21, 2003, Nina Simone died. The singer embodied, in the eyes of black Americans, an icon of the fight for equal civil rights But she was also one of the greatest voices of American jazz. A lover of France and its culture, she became famous in the country thanks to her sublime cover. a desperate love song by Jacques Brel “Ne moi pas” made her cry..." (Own translation from French)
Read on (in French) on: https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/nina-simone-chanson-ne-me-quitte-pas-jacques-brel-reprise-francais
There you can activate the link to Whatch' Listen to the Nina Simons' interpretation of “Ne me quittes pas”, it's astonishingly true!
Jamel Chahed Thanks for the Nina Simone link: not previously known to me: it is wonderful to use the internet to disseminate magic.
Following up on Jacques Brel, I wondered if the Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the Devil" originated from his Le Diable (or Ca Va) during their time in France as "tax-exiles". Good music will always survive and travel.
Sorry, Dear Jack Broughton. I don’t know how to comment (with expertise) your words: "I wondered if the Rolling Stones's "Sympathy for the Devil" originated from his Le Diable (or Ca Va).." But I can give my personal impression. I don't believe that we could establish a relationship (at least direct) between the two songs, except that both evoke the "Devil": They are not within the same register: I would place the text by Mike Jagger in the philosophical reflection of what? (Who?) is the "Devil", or "Sant" in beliefs and life. While Brel's poem derives directly from the anarchic thought to the left-wing intellectuals of his era whose slogan is to "Shock the Bourgeois".
For readers, below are the lines to the song by Brel "Le Diable (Ca Va)" and the Roling Stones "Sympathy For The Devil", both with lyrics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydYTr-DwnJo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgnClrx8N2k
Comments are welcome.
Thanks, Jamel Chahed for your views, it is the concept of the devil coming to earth and describing what he sees that I see as the common theme. Both songs bring the current Palestine situation to mind. The rhythms are different, but have the same hypnotic power. It was probably an idle flight of fancy caused by thinking about some music forms!
This is an excellent authentic old text on Blues by Hughes, L. (1941). "Songs Called the Blues. Phylon (1940-1956), 2(2), 143-145." Excerpts: "The blues are folk-songs born out of heartache. They are songs of the black South, particularly the city South. Songs of the poor streets and back alleys of Memphis and Birmingham, Atlanta and Galveston, out of black, beaten, but unbeatable throats, from the strings of pawn-shop guitars, and the chords of pianos with no ivory on the keys.
The Blues and the Spirituals are two great Negro gifts to American music. The Spirituals are group songs, but the Blues are songs you sing alone. The Spirituals are religious songs, born in camp meetings and remote plantation districts. But the Blues are city songs rising from the crowded streets of big towns, or beating against the lonely walls of hall bed-rooms where you can't sleep at night. The Spirituals are escape songs, looking toward heaven, tomorrow, and God. But the Blues are today songs, here and now, broke and broken-hearted, when you're troubled in mind and don't know what to do, and nobody cares. There are many kinds of Blues. There are the family Blues, when a man and woman have quarreled, and the quarrel can't be patched up.There's the loveless Blues, when you haven't even got anybody to quarrel with. And there's the left-lonesome Blues, when the one you care for's gone away...
Blues are still being made. One of the newest authentic Blues to come up out of the South, by way of the colored boys in the government work camps, is the DuPree Blues, that sad story of a man who wanted to give his girl a diamond ring, but had none to give her, so he took his gun and went to the jewelry store where, instead of getting the diamond ring, he got the jewelry man, jail, and the noose.
The real Negro Blues are as fine as any folk music we have, and I'm hoping that the day will come when famous concert singers like Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson will include a group of Blues on their programs as well as the Spirituals which they now sing so effectively..."
Text Available on: https://omeka.flo.org/instances/fsu-1.3.0/files/original/349d78e4caae439e36df486b525076e7837001fa.pdf
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Art_Science-Aesthetics_Philosophy_ASAP
A slice of life of this urban Blues described above by Hughes can be experienced through the live performance of Sister Rosetta Tharpe singing "Didn't It Rain?" Live 1964 (Reelin' In The Years Archive). Watch'n See:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9a49oFalZE
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Art_Science-Aesthetics_Philosophy_ASAP
https://www.researchgate.net/post/ABC_Art_Blues_Culture_Forum_for_Lovers_of_Blues_Soul_and_other_Authentic_Music/9
According to the documentary "Shout, Sister, Shout! Sister Rosetta Tharpe" (link below), on Sister Rosetta Tharpe (born Rosetta Nubin in 1915), the founding father of rock ‘n’ roll wasn’t a father at all – that distinction belongs to Sister Rosetta. A gospel-trained force of nature that broke barriers, stereotypes, and norms with astonishing regularity, her electrifying music predates the work of like-minded guitar legends including Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, and Elvis. Sister Rosetta Tharpe unequivocally remains the textbook definition of an iconoclast – The Godmother of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Watch 'n Listen on:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii06ABCd9ww
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Art_Science-Aesthetics_Philosophy_ASAP
We enjoy blues (delta and Chicago), most rock, some folk, some Jazz; but when I was a child, my mother tried to make me concentrate on classical music, so apart from one or two pieces, she completely put me off.
I love to chat about music socially.
Mary C R Wilson Nice to meet you. Great music is the music that you love. I think that we often become self-limited in rejecting music for the wrong reason. This site is freewheeling around blues and jazz up to now, and I've learned a lot from the contributors: hope you enjoy it too.
Thank you Dear Mary C R Wilson and Jack Broughton for your nice words. It is my pleasure to chat with you about Good and Great Music. “Good music is good no matter what kind of music it is” says Miles Davis. and "Great music is the music that you love." Dixit Jack Broughton
"..the founding father of rock ‘n’ roll wasn’t a father at all – that distinction belongs to Sister Rosetta.." In performing the Gospel song "Up Above My Head" she is definitively playing Rock'n Roll. Watch'n See her on the show TV Gospel Time with the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church Choir (unknown performance date: appox. around the 1960's):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeaBNAXfHfQ
The Chapter by Garofalo, R. (2002) with the well-inspired title, ''Crossing over: From black rhythm & blues to white rock ‘n’ roll. In. Rhythm and business: The political economy of black music, 112-137," investigates the phenomenon of “crossover,” with an analysis of the social forces that gave rise to rhythm & blues. It explains how black popular music, on its creative course and against all odds, exerted a disproportionate influence on popular music in general. Then the musical market made possible by radio, a number of these traditions converged with some country influence to become Rock and Roll. The Author writes within the conclusion: "Were it not for the artificial separation of the races, popular-music history might read surprisingly differently. According to Jimmy Witherspoon, “Chuck Berry is a country singer. People put everyone in categories, black, white, this. Now if Chuck Berry was white, with the lyrics he writes, he would be the top country star in the world.” Just as an artist need not be limited to a single performance style, so pieces of music do not automatically have a genre; they can be performed in many idioms. There have been any number of country & western covers of Chuck Berry songs, including Hoyt Axton's “Maybelline,” Freddy Weller's “Too Much Monkey Business” and “Promised Land,” Waylon Jennings's “Brown-Eyed Handsome Man,” Buck Owens's “Johnny B. Goode,” Linda Rondstadt’s “Back in the USA,” Emmy Lou Harris’s “You Never Can Tell,” and Johnny Rivers’s “Memphis"
About the Book "Rhythm and business: The political economy of black music"
Hot stuff for politically and economically astute pop-music collections. "Booklist"
A great primer on how poorly the music industry tends to treat its artists. "New York Press"
Courtney Love and Public Enemy s Chuck D join Kelley and other journalists to examine how black music has been developed, marketed and distributed within the structure of American capitalism.
See Also:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Art_Science-Aesthetics_Philosophy_ASAP
During a production hiatus of the popular TV show "Gunsmoke", the film crew performed a Blues revue across the country. They ended up in Eugene, OR filming Muddy Waters, Big Mama Thornton, Big Joe Turner and George "Harmonica" Smith as they performed in a music hall. Date: October 20, 1971. The result was a barnstorming part-show, part-documentary film: An hour and a quarter of real Blues spectacle, slices of life from the Blues scene half a century ago. Watch'n listen, I think you will enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCZ241eK_1k
If Sister Rosetta Tharpe is the Godmother of Rock'n Roll, Rythm'n Blues Singer Chuck Berry would undoubtedly be the Godfather. "People put everyone in categories, black, white, this. Now if Chuck Berry was white, with the lyrics he writes, he would be the top country star in the world" wrote Garofalo, R. (See Previous Post). And for good reason: watch this memorable film showing Chuck Berry singing the spectacular title; “Johnny B. Goode” (1958). All the archetypes of Rock'n Roll are there: the Rhythm, the Show, the dance, the Gestures, the Guitar, and even a sketch of clothing. Elvis Presley (rock 'n' roll icon; "The King") didn't invent anything. Watch'n Litsen, it is fascinating:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKCt8ssC7cs
I saw Chuck "crazy legs" Berry perform a few times, he was a truly amazing performer, but not a happy man: the photo catches him really well. He had been cheated and mistreated all through his career, as a black man from the southern states. Elvis Presley tried a version of Maybelline (in his early days) that was a bit of a disaster, even Scotty Moore struggled with the Berry style of playing.
The Legends of Rock' n Roll was a concert which was first performed live in Rome, Italy, back in 1989. The legends were Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, James Brown, Fats Domino and B.B.King.
See Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFYKbMLvGIM
Jack Broughton Thank you for your post. "I saw Chuck "crazy legs" Berry perform a few times," That's Great! "One day John Lennon said: "If we had to give a name to rock'n'roll, it would be called Chuck Berry." Indeed, the singer, guitarist and composer Chuck Berry embodies with Elvis Presley the first steps of history of rock'n'roll Nicknamed "Crazy Legs" and famous for his duck walk, we remember the character above all for his numerous global hits and his typical guitar playing, both lively and sharp. ." (Own translation) From "Chuck Berry, Biographie en Forme de Portrait," https://www.cadenceinfo.com/chuck-berry-biographie-portrait-du-guitariste-heros.htm"
“Duck Walk”, “Crazy Legs” suit him very well. As proof, one can see them in action in this old clip as he is performing "You Can't Catch Me" in "Rock, Rock, Rock!", the 1956 black-and-white film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jKrHzps0XM
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