I'm not a musician but I know my music. In Chicago the blues is in our blood, it is the heartbeat of the city. From the rattle of the train to the sidewalk performers playing sax deep into the night. The blues has morphed over the decades into something a lot happier. At its root though the blues is essentially about exactly that: depression, loss and sadness. So what is the attraction?
For me it's the twang of the guitar. Anyone who has ever lost someone they loved be it to death or simply a really bad breakup you can feel it in every note of a good blues song. The way the chord of an electric guitar just draws out to its end screeching and scratching all along the way. It speaks to the soul. No other instrument reflects the torment of the soul quite like the slide guitar.
Lyrics play a part too but not nearly as much as the instruments themselves. The true sorrows of the soul are written uttering a single word. The greats like Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson knew this. Legend has it that Johnson met the devil at a crossroads and sold his eternal soul so he could play better guitar. Johnson's work revolutionized the blues genre and found a way to translate the inner torment of an entire time period into raw, revealing music.
It may sound strange but the soul needs the blues for the same reason it needs gospel music. Without it we'd go crazy desperately trying to translate that which cannot be spoken.
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I read your most recent blog but was drawn to this one as well. St. Louis, where I'm from, has it's history and love of Blues as well. This says some of what I feel; it maybe a universal love for Blues but ultimately, it's about my love affair with it, isn't it? It's how BB King, Clapton or Santana can be there for me just when I need to be cradled by that certain sound, that says, this is how my heart feels right now or simply that life is so much better with music in it.
ReplyDeleteI remember this feeling in New Orleans. Walking the French Quarter and pouring out into the street was the most amazing Jazz you could hear anywhere. The city has a soundtrack, just like your city does.