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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | A friend sent me this, I just thought it was funny and a good topic.
If you are new to Blues music, or like it but never really understood the whys and wherefores, here are some very fundamental rules:
1. Most Blues begin with: "Woke up this morning..."
2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, unless you stick something nasty in the next line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."
3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes - sort of:
"Got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher and she weigh 500 pound."
4. The Blues is not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch...ain't no way out.
5. Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the Blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.
6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.
7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or anywhere in Canada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinical depression. Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City are still the best places to have the Blues. You
cannot have the Blues in any place that don't get no rain.
8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the Blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg 'cause you were skiing is not the Blues. Breaking your leg 'cause a alligator
be chomping on it is.
9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.
10. Good places for the Blues:
a. highway
b. jailhouse
c. empty bed
d. bottom of a whiskey glass
11. Bad places for the Blues:
a. Nordstrom's
b. gallery openings
c. Ivy League institutions
d. golf courses
12. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be an old person, and you slept in it.
13. Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if:
a. you're older than dirt
b. you're blind
c. you shot a man in Memphis
d. you can't be satisfied
No, if:
a. you have all your teeth
b. you were once blind but now can see
c. the man in Memphis lived
d. you have a 401K or trust fund
14. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the Blues. Sonny Liston could have. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the Blues.
15. If you ask for water and your darlin' gives you gasoline, it's the Blues. Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. cheap wine
b. whiskey or bourbon
c. muddy water
d. black coffee
The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. Perrier
b. Chardonnay
c. Snapple
d. Slim Fast
16. If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So are the electric chair, substance abuse and dying lonely on a broken-down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or while getting liposuction.
17. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling
18. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie
19. Persons with names like Michelle, Amber, Jennifer, Debbie, and Heather can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
20. Blues Name Starter Kit:
a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Mute, Lame, etc.)
b. first name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime,
Kiwi, etc.)
c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore,
Clinton, etc.)
For example: Blind Lime Jefferson, Pegleg Lemon Johnson or Lame Kiwi Clinton, etc. (Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")
21. I don't care how tragic your life is: if you own a computer, you cannot sing the blues, period. Sorry! |
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Location: SoCal | Thanks, that's great. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | I've seen that list and it's great. They might add that you can't play the blues on the a brand new yuppie guitar of the month and definately not on one of those Mother Of turdBowls.
As for blues on the golf course, after you lip out your putt for the fourth time you will definately get the feeling that you musta done somebody wrong and the golf Gods be gettin even wit you. In moments like that you have the blues. |
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Location: blkyn usa | lol! |
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Location: Scotland | And of course if you inadvertantly play a Blues song backwards you get out of prison, your wife comes back, your dog comes back to life, your phonograph starts working again & the other mule kicking in your stall leaves. |
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Location: Central Oregon | Originally posted by Paul Templeman:
And of course if you inadvertantly play a Blues song backwards you get out of prison, your wife comes back, your dog comes back to life, your phonograph starts working again & the other mule kicking in your stall leaves.
I think you have the blues mixed up with country/western Paul :)
-I got everything I ever wanted...
'cept the blues-
/\/\/ |
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Location: Waurika OK | Thanks, man! I gotta pass that on. I was doin real good until number 21. If I throw my computer away, I can't get on the Ovation Fan Club. Hey, maybe there's a blues song in that!
"I woke up this mornin, and threw my computer away,
Then figured out I couldn't log on the fan club, no way,
Now I'm walking down the railroad track, with a tear in my eye,
Without the fan club, I'm fixin to die.
(play turnaround here) |
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Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | Xnoel,
Rule #3 above...repeat the first line.
Johnny |
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Location: Waurika OK | Johnny, you are right, I didn't follow the rules. I didn't have much time, but came back and wrote this song, tried to use all the rules.
It probably doesn't fit 12 bar blues, but maybe some "arranger" can fix it. When it becomes famous, we will split the royalties.
The "O" Fan Club Blues
Woke up this mo'nin' and threw my computer away
Woke up this mo'nin' and threw my computer away
Realized I couldn't log on the fan club, no way
Now I'm walking down the railroad track, with a tear in my eye
Without the fan club, life is over, I'm fixin to die
Goin to Kansas City, cause they know the blues
Yeah, goin to Kansas City, cause they know the blues
Be welcome there, cause I paid all my dues
I'm slow, but I'll get there sooner or later
Cause my left leg got chomped off by an alligator
Chorus
Got a hoochie mama woman, meanest woman in town
She's always yellin, go to work, put that guitar down
The kids are hongry and their clothes are all torn
You shore be the sorriest man ever born
Headed down this ol highway with a broken heart
Oh, headed down this highway with a broken heart
Hav'n to walk cause my ol chevy truck wouldn't start
Can't even ride The Greyhound bus, that's for sure
Stuck in this misery, cause I'm so broke and poor
I'm older than dirt and blind as a bat
Yeah, older than dirt and blind as a bat
Don't know where i'm goin or where I'm at
Everywhere I go they give me the boot
Slept the last 14 nights in this same old suit.
Chorus
Been drinkin muddy water from beside the road
Been drinkin muddy water from beside the road
So miserable I think I'll shuck this ol abode
But dyin aint too good a shape to be in
Cause I might have to answer for all my sin
O mercy mercy what ever can I do
O mercy mercy what ever can I do
Young folks I got a message for you
Don't end your life gettin stabbed in the back
Or in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack
Chorus
Listen to this message from gator leg Magee
Yeah, listen to this message from gator leg Magee
Don't come to your end as a sorry sot like me
Listen to your mama and respect your pa
Or you might wind up as a guitar playing outlaw. |
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Location: SoCal | Damn! You guys have got to go out and get jobs and a life (there's another verse for this blues tune), 'cause I'm spending all my time having so much fun reading what you're writing and it's keeping me from my work! |
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Location: NJ | zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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if i had a dollar for everytime that exact post was forwarded to me via e mail I would be rich. |
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Location: NJ | Sheee-itttt!!!
Dere's jez tooo menny o' dem GOTdam WHITE boyz tryin' t'sing dem Blues!!!
"When yo' married to d'Blues, boy
Y'gittar is yo' WIFE!
Jez like dat final woman
who yo' faithful to fo' Life!" |
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Location: Netherlands | Al, if I had a dollar for everytime it was posted to me I would have exactly one dollar. But then again, are Europeans fit to sing the blues?...
:)
Martin |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | Martin
Of course Europeans can sing the blues, you just have to trade your wooden shoes for walkin' shoes and tune that O down two notes so it growls like an alligator in heat (an anomoly as they are cold blooded) then start the song with:
Aint had no lovin since I stuck my finger in that dike
Aint had no lovin since I stuck my finger in that dike
My woman she done left me for with a Frenchy dog named Mike
You can finish it with references to Yugo's and deux chevaux, windmills, etc.
Bailey (I don't think I will be mistaken as an expert on Europe very soon)
:D |
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Location: NJ | I guess this is especially annonying to me since I have done a ton of blues gigs.
There are too many "bad" blues artists out there.
I think it is because that the music is conisdered simple and anyone alledgedly can play it.
That is the furthest from the truth, to play anything right you need to have a good knowledge of the music.
Just because the structure of the music is simple does not mean that everyone has the feel and the ear to do it right.
Are the lyrics sometimes stupid? sure just like lyrics are supposed to be. |
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Location: Waurika OK | Just a comment to Al. I couldn't figure out your comments. Then I re-read all the comments. I guess you thought we were making fun of the blues! Not so! I love the blues and as you said, good blues.
My "song" was just in the spirit of the thread, lets have a little fun.
No offense intended to any blues players or writers. |
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Location: NJ | xnoel;
I don't think Al took it that way.
(I don't wanna speak for him, but) I read it that he was referring to that IN GENERAL when you go to bars & clubs, there are just too many bad blues-wannabees. |
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Location: NJ | Cliff is correct.
I was speaking in general. You can make all the funny lyrics you want it does not bother me.
what does bother me is poor musicianship or people putting down a genre of music that takes talent to perform correctly.
Join me for open stage night at warm daddy's in philly and you will know what I am talking about |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I don't know if I'd call'em "bad" blues players, or just people that should be playing something else.
I have been working with a bluesman for a couple of years and we just finished his CD. He is one of the few bluesmen I know. He has taught me that "the blues" don't have to be sad, as in the Cajun and New Orleans, Atlanta blues. He also taught me that it's not just the music. Just like early country, the "act" and attitude is all part of the blues. You can play a new Hamer solidbody or an old Martin box, with the right attitude and presentation. I guess most importantly is the songs set a mood. The words are sometimes silly cause they just don't matter, they are just part of the sound and atmosphere.
I think the most important thing I picked up on is that Blues are still being written today. Although it doesn't get a lot of airplay outside of the deep south if at all, not all blues was written 50 years ago.
Finally, for those blues players that "cover" blues songs for years gone by. That's great. But if you only play it, the way it was recorded that one time originally, you really missed the point in my opinion. Chances are the artist only played it that exact way once. To clarify, TABLATURE for the Blues, is just plain silly. |
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Location: Netherlands | Bailey, explain to me how you know about this frenchy dog named Mike that ran away with my girl. Was it yours???... :D
I agree many people don't seem to get the point of the musicstyle they are playing.
This is frustrating, just as it is when you like rockmusic, like I do and people consider you to be stupid or dumb or think it's easy music to play.
It didn't stop me from laughing though when I saw Spinal Tap.
Martin |
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Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | When it comes to certain music (especially blues and particular blues artists) I think it's a mortal sin to play a song out if you can't do it justice, and/or if youjust don't "get it". It was probably one of the extra 5 commandments on Moses' 3rd tablet that dropped (thus leaving us only 10).
Of course, there are always exceptions. If you are "jamming" on stage, fine...it's all in the spirit of jamming. But there are very few people who can seem to pull off Stevie Ray Vaughn well in a live situation. I wouldn't even consider playing a solo of his live, simply because I know I'm not that level a lead guitar player. And even if I was, it would still probably come of as a cheap synthetic copy, simply becuase it's just not Stevie. There is an unspoken thing called "feel" that certain songs require, even if all the notes are there.
IMHO some things should just be revered and never attempted (live) for fear of butchering them.
That's not to say that interpretation of a song isn't way cool...putting your own twist on it. |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | Peace Bros
I just finished taping 14 hours of the Ken Burns blues series because it had bluesmen on there that we seldom get to hear and generally all the styles of blues that are around. One of the elements of blues that I was fortunate or unfortunate to see was that they came from the segregated south and the semi segregated northern cities. In the 50's, many of society's ethnic groups were segregated in major cities. Jewish, Italian, Polish, Ukranian etc. , had their neighborhoods and bars where their dances were danced and their music was played. Black neighborhoods featured blues and R&B and jazz, definately no country. A white person could go into any of these enclaves and bars, and if you were polite and appreciative you were generally accepted and welcome, and could hear some great music. White musicians did jazz, but until the 60's almost no white player at all did blues music, it belonged to the blacks who invented it, and many white people went to hear it and enjoy it, but if you watch the history, the best of the blues musicians weren't welcome in a white hotel or restaurant or bar and that was part of the blues that they sang and played. A white person could go anywhere, a black person could go nowhere. It wasn't right, but that's the way it was.
Bailey |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | And unfortunatly in some places south of the manson/nixon line things haven't changed. |
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Location: Tennessee | Mark Knopler did a great song about the plight of black artists on his "Sailing to Philadelphia" album ... I think it is called "Baloney Again" (at least that's the hook line).
I also heard Knopler has a pretty serious crash on his motorcycle recently ... hope he's OK. |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | Miles
I will disagree with you there, race relations are probably much better in the south where the association is centuries old and black people are part of the society, than the north who see the blacks as interlopers. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Well I was born and raised in the North, and I only witnessed a kind of subtle racism. It wasn't really racist, just uncomfortable situations. Like when I went to Highschool, one year a Black family moved to town. No one disliked them, but as they were the only Black family in town, they obviously drew attention. However, as recently as 16 years ago, we had to get "premission" so that our black keyboard player could play a well known CLub in Anapolis, MD and as recently as 3 years ago, I was with two of my black co-workers in a resturant in Atlanta and we were not served because of it. This is not a guess, I asked and was told why I wasn't being served. Also about two years ago not far from Fort Polk in Louisianna, I was with a black co-worker and it seems he could find a hotel room at some hotels, or I could find a hotel room at some hotels, but for some reason NO hotels had TWO rooms available. And we're talking major chains, just in different neighborhoods.
Actually the first place I saw any Racism was after I joined the Navy (age 18) and was in Pensacola Florida. I had not actually witnessed hostile racism before that. |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | In the late 50's racism went from blatant in the south and north to just being there. My brother returned from being stationed in Germany in the Army in late 50's, and told of NCO clubs over there being segregated de facto even though the Army did not permit it de jure. He was playing country music in the clubs and they only played to whites. He said there were actual fights when blacks tried to come in to the clubs known as white. I hadn't seen that in the Army in VA in the early 50's. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I guess it really just depends on where you go. I have seen it at different points all through my Navy career from 1977 till 1991, and as stated earlier as recently as a few years ago. On the bright side, most places where good music is involved, folks don't care if you are purple, which is very cool. I'm not exactly sure how we got off on this thread, (probably me) but I guess like anything else there are bad seeds here and there everywhere. When I see or hear about racism I just find it appauling mostly because it makes no sence to me. |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | Miles
It isn't off thread, the blues were the wail of the injustice. The best bluesmen, (and women), found themselves stars in Europe and GB, when they couldn't stay in an American hotel, and Elvis and Pat Boone were cleaning up playing their songs. Stones, Cream, Bluesbreakers, Tom Jones etc. all white, making fortunes off a form of music they were copying, while the originators were dying in poverty and degredation, Rock and Roll made dynasties and not one was black in the 70's. Ray Charles, BB King, Chuck Berry (went to jail), all the R&B players, Caddilacs, etc. made money but not the fortunes of the white players made. BUT, life is not fair, it is only time passing, carrying us all along for good or bad. The blues players enjoyed what they had and moved on. That is what I am going to do also.
Bailey |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Thanks for reeling me in back on thread there Bailey :) You mentioned artists going to the UK, and you know, that is STILL the case musically. I think PT might be able to shed some light on this, but ANY artist in the US can get distribution in across the pond. I met a couple of artists at a party in DC a few years back, and they weren't even looking at the US market. To hard to get into, and they weren't "online" yet (this was about '97), so they were doing distribution in Europe.
I know MTV Europe plays a lot of local groups and the US Hits are spread out over the day. I also don't just mean umh-pah music, I mean some really good Rock'Roll, and POP stuff.
I wonder why there isn't more blues being written today? Or maybe it is, and I just don't hear it? Or maybe "the blues" is just a label or a vibe and NOT syle of music. Some songs by groups like RadioHead, Disturbed, and Stone Temple Pilots, if you just read the words, are absolutely Blues songs. And what could be more indicitive of the blues than screaming your heart and emotions out at full volume? |
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Location: San Bernardino, California | For those of you that would like to get an introduction to the blues, a good place to start would be:
Blind Pig Anniversary CDs,
Alligator Records Anniversary CDs.
A lot of different performers and a lot of different styles of the blues are represented on the Cds. |
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Location: NJ | BB King tells a great story about playing the fillmore in san francisco to a mostly white audience, the first time ever for him and that he also got his first standing ovation ever.
It cannot be denied that many Black artists were ripped off but they also gained respect and recognition through the artists that played tribute to their music. |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | The blues are dead because all the great bluesmen are dead, what you see today is not the blues, and the same applies to country. The players that created these types of music came from the hard working farmers and field workers, the modern imitators come from kids whose only hardship was being asked to clean their room as their daddy made sure they had every luxury and indulgance so they didn't have to work in that field where the blues and country came from. I shoveled a lot of cowshit while I was listenening to the likes of Hank Snow and Earnest Tubb, and Hank Williams. My crowd only respected how many cows you could milk or how many wagons you could load with hay bales in a day, and I could load a bunch when I was 16 years old just like the blues players could drag that cotton sack. Blues were an escape from terrible hard labor. The modern blues player finds himself escaping from having to clean his bedroom, his groceries are gauranteed.
Bailey |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Interesting perspective, but I disagree. I think what you are saying applys to a lot of kids today, but not all. There are entirely too many kids that started out without homes at all, let alone someone to buy them stuff. And frankly, someone can start writing the blues at age 50 if they want.
Also, for the record, a LARGE number of the early blues players were NOT destitute at all. During the week they were doctors and lawyers and on the weekends dressed down, and travelled a few towns over to not be recognized. Why you ask? Well, they could actually afford a guitar, and the car to get to the other towns.
Blues seems to take many many forms. If you ask 3 people to pick a blues artists, you'll get some very different answers. SRV, Hendrix, Clapton, Hooker... all different, and all blues.
I'm sticking with my earliers comment... Blues is an attitude, a mood and a state of mind. The music is how you get there. |
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Location: NJ | Bailey
Your wisdom is infinite.
all blues players must be and stay poor.
All jazz players must boot heroin.
All rock players must smoke reefer.
All country players must be drunks and cheat on their wives.
All folk musicians must ride the rails.
All classical musicians are snobs.
Where did I leave my works and bong?????? |
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Location: North Carolina | I guess that means people like me who play a blend of the above styles are awash in multiple vices and destined to an early exit ;)
Franklin |
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Location: Scotland | Bailey, where is your evidence that blues is dead? True, there may be a lot of third-rate blues played by white boys wearing Armani whose introduction to the genre was MTV unplugged, but there is plenty of contemporary material by black & white artists which is true to the legacy of the greats. To name a handful: Carey Bell, Kelly Joe Phelps, Rory Block, Steve James, Bob Brozman, Catfish Keith, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Eric Bibb, Ben Harper. There has never been as much good blues material around if you know where to look.
And while Blues may have sprung from oppression it's no longer a prerequisite that you are African-American, poor and/or crippled in order to play blues. You can wear a cotton shirt even if you didn't pick cotton.
As for Blues players being destitute, Miles is dead on, Robert Johnson for example played relatively expensive instruments (Gibson, not Harmony, Regal or Stella) he wore tailored suits & owned a car. That's hardly destitute. The guys who were making records did pretty well.
While I aggree that a lot of current mainsteam country music sucks, there are a number of great acts who can't get arrested in Nashville because, bizarrely, they're "too country" You want real country music that Hank & Buck would be proud of? Try Dale Watson or Wayne Hancock.
To quote Webb Wilder: "Real music is out there and real people are making it" |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Al. your steriotype is disturbing. It's only the GOOD jazz musicians that are heroine addicts. |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | I love the diversity of opinion on this board. I'm reminded of the recent PBS special on the Blues. Let me say, that despite what the directors did, the music shone thru. On an artistic level some of the episondes were too artistic, like the end of the Vim Vimmers (I know i misspelled it) episode it ended with the bluesman singing in outerspace. What was that man! Others were too referential like Clint Eastwood's (though I think Clint is an intellectual and respect him very much as an artist) episode. Others were too historico-politically-victimhood correct for my taste. I know I'll get blasted for that one. However, the best episode was the one with the English rockers who heard the blues and loved it. My feeling is that the blues is as authentic as your passion and how you express your thoughts about the problems in your life.
On the tape I made of the english rockers, I was able to fit Kaki King's performance from Late Nite. That's a keeper for my library. I'd sure love to see King perform with someone of equal ability and watch them trade licks. I'm gonna look out for that concert. |
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Location: NJ | Originally posted by cwk2:
Al. your steriotype is disturbing. It's only the GOOD jazz musicians that are heroine addicts.
CWK II
I stand corrected. |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | an4340
That is a very good and concise review of the series, it had it's flaws but it was a good, entertaining 14 hours.
Al and Paul
My remarks were in regard to where the blues came from, and not where they have went. Many successful musicians dress well and drive good cars, that is the incentive to play well and succeed. To make a record in the 20's and 30's was the equivalent of playing on TV today. I don't think of musicians as stereotypes, but would you say that Jimmy Rogers is the bluesman from the 1930's to be the example for all to emulate, he dressed well and drove good cars, and he certainly played the blues format. He sold many records so I guess he was the real blues man and not all those who were limited to "race" records and didn't do as well. Did Roger's success improve the blues, or even really expose people to the blues as he carefully avoided any hint of syncopation in his music. My comments were about the status of blues in the prewar years prior to their adoption by rock and roll. They were considered to be playing a working man's music and only fit to be heard in the dives and dance halls as was early country. Music was relegated to parts of society and your social status was determined by what you listened to, black people had proper society as did whites and the blues were not part of it as hillbilly was not to be heard in proper white households, but the underclass packed the Ryman when that trash music became available on anybody's radio, and the dives in Memphis and Chicago were packed every night with the "lower class".
Bailey |
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Location: NJ | Bailey
In the spirit of your blanket statmenets I will continue.
Blues died with Robert Johnson.
Country died with Mother Mabelle carter
Jazz died with Charlie Parker.
Psychedelic music died with Jimi Hendrix.
Rockabilly died with Eddie Cochran.
Rock and roll died with Valens, the big bopper and buddy holly.
Folk died with Wooody Guthrie
Classical died with Mozart.
Slide died with elmo james.
Glam Rock died with Marc Bolan and again with Mick ronson.
To says blues does not exist because the people that made it do not is a serious mistake.
The who said it the best "the music must change". Must we like it no, but it is a fact. To refer back to your comments on blues, I can listen to a player and know if he/she/it has "it". It is all in the way the person plays not in their background. Did the background have something to do with it sure. My parents listened to polkas and I can't play one. I can play the blues though....mnaybe that is how i suffered????????? |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | I have to say: Polka Lives! Jimmy Stir uber alles!
I remember in high school and college summers, going up to Bear Mountain for the outdoor square dances under the stars, and during the interludes they'd play a polka. We thought it was the funniest thing (This was back in the late 70's early 80's. Disco, though fun, didn't speak to me). But in hindsight it really was the funnest thing. Wednesday nights we'd go see the Bear Brother's band do covers of the Band, the Dead, Joni Mitchell, NRPS, ... Is it a contradiction to like the polka and the blues? Maybe it explains how I turned out this way. |
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Location: Scotland | A lot of Texas border music is heavily Polka influenced. I did a bunch of gigs with Flaco Jiminez & Oscar Telez years ago & they always opened their set with a Polka version of "roll out the barrell" which kinda freaked-out some of the UK audiences. Flaco was always far too tequila'd-up to care. |
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Location: NJ | That would be Jimmy Sturr. my mom has t shirts tapes etc. mom and my deceased father saw them countless times. My mom has not missed a "polka motion by the ocean" in ocean city maryland for 20+ years/ this was the first time she missed due to health issues.
Paul zydeco is what I think you are thinking about. |
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Location: Scotland | Absolutely not. Zydeco, coming from Louisiana, has a French influence, not Polish. There's tons of European settlers in Texas border towns and the Cojunto & Norteno bands absorbed & assimilated dozens of European dance styles. The "Tex-Mex Polka" is a classic of the region and Flaco is one of the masters. |
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Location: NJ | My mom (of Russian/Polish descent) was also a huge polka fan. Growing up (before I was tall enough - and brazen enough - to reach the radio knob) the music was either Polka or Country (probably why to this day I have great disdain for both genres). My ex-wife was Polish and her aunt was personal friends of Jimmy Sturr's, so needless to say a "fixture" at weddings and such.
The name of the musical style Paul's referring to escapes me, but it's not Zydeco.
Zydeco draws from more French/Arcadian influence and uses an altogether different "squeezie-thing". |
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Location: Scotland | Cliff you can hear the Polka & other European influences in varying degrees in Cojunto, Tejano & Norteno music. The Germanic "oompah" thing is very apparent in Tex-Mex music. The type of squeezebox varies with region & style. The Zydeco players like Queen Ida & Clifton Chenier generally prefer piano accordions, Cajun musicians use Diatonic accordions (strictly speaking they're melodeons) usually in C. Texas guys like Ponty Bone use piano accordions while the Mexican guys like Flaco Jiminez & Steve Jordan tend to go for 3-row button boxes |
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Location: San Bernardino, California | http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=F0BLUES |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | Brudev
Good site, added to my favorites
Cliff
Now I'm really in trouble, I grew up on a farm in Ohio surrounded by Polish, Ukranians, and other european immigrants. Every dance required polkas and waltzes and square dances, so my brother got a 120 bass accordian, learned to play it and call square dances, and that's what we played at the local dances we played for. She's too Fat, Cleveland, Beer Barrel, Just Because, Tick Tock, etc. Frankie Yankovic was the most popular radio star in that area. When we both joined the Army a few years apart, we abandoned the accordian as my brother took up steel guitar and eventually the fiddle, and I got married and had to make an honest living.
I was going too mention Ranchera as a similar evolving music as the blues. I have a neighbor who speaks only spanish and is a good mason/bricklayer, he works in his yard on weekends with his pickup radio on full blast with Mexican Ranchero music, and frequently throws large barbacoas for his friends and relatives and has a live band sometimes, I love the music so I don't complain. The music he listens to and Conjunto is the basis for much of the Latin Rock, just as blues provided a framework for 60's rock. Flaco Jiminez is the master of the style, and driver of the transition from country dances to stadium concerts.
So I concede that Al is playing as relevent a form of blues as anybody, I had a book that I loved back in the late 60's called, I believe "Black and Blues", that chronicled the interaction and cross influences of country and blues artists in the prewar years. Many of the artists in the book played at the San Diego folk festivals that were put on by Mike Seeger in the 70's. and I sat with one of the well known women country artists for 45 minutes at the festival showing her the book and having her discuss many of the artists mentioned that she had met, she liked it so much I gave it to her and I haven't found a copy of it since. The theme of the book was that there was much interaction between blues and country players and each influenced the other but the blues more so influenced country. Sam Phillips recorded blues like Ike Turner in one session and Johnny Cash in another.
All of that interaction and cross contamination has given us a lot of styles to choose from, now that the stigma of "The Devil's Music" applied to blues in the 40's and rock and roll in the 60's has proven to be a false alarm. I believe more musicians were seduced into sin than fair maidens. Of course country, which I play, was never accused of seducing anyone which I can prove as I never got any as all the good ones were taken by the time we got our stuff packed up and then my back seat was full of guitars and amps leaving no room for the despoiling of virgins.
Bailey (That's probably why I've been married for 46 years) |
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Location: NJ | Originally posted by Bailey:
Brudev
So I concede that Al is playing as relevent a form of blues as anybody, )
I must correct you. I don't play anything relevant or competent. Most will concede that I am a horrible musician. |
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Location: SoCal | This discussion ties in perfectily with another on the board about learning to play an instrument when you are older.
A disucssion like this one can only take place when you've got some age and perspective (well, with Al, age). You may be the hot player when you're 25, but you haven't grown up yet and can't have either attribute. Older musicians (with all due respect to the younger OFCer's) usually make the best musicians. |
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Location: Yucaipa, California | I'm a Short, Fat, Bald White guy.... doesn't that qualify me for some version of the Blues?...
Really though, It is life's experiences transcribed into music that make the best blues... cannot a man (or woman) feel the blues when they helplessly watch a loved one get ill, worsen, suffer and die?
I make good money, have never "wanted" for food nor clothing, but there are some experiences that stab the heart just as much as "shoveling cow shit" for hours...the Blues is the natural outpouring of a bruised/broken heart/spirit... let it flow!
The Blues is just as legitimate for me to play as it is for a "woe-is-me" cotton picker...
tim ... 'po 'po pitiful me! |
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Location: Scotland | It's a myth that all blues subject matter is about hardship. There's a whole sub-genre of blues known as "Hokum" which is very up-beat. Hardly surprising as the majority of Hokum Blues is about snorting coke or having sex (or both) A lot of Hokum was banned when it was released in the '30s because of the drug references & sexual innuendo. Classics include "What's that smells Like Fish" "Let Me Put My Banana In your Fruit Basket" & "Keep On Churning Till The Butter Comes"
Cole Porter eat your heart out. |
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Location: NJ | Paul;
I've got a CD compilation of that very stuff.
It's called "Hot Nuts and . . . " - I forget the rest of the title. Some pretty wild stuff.
Lotta "meat cuttin' " references. ;) |
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Location: Scotland | Cliff, I've seen that one, I think it's called "Hot Nuts & Lollipops" I have a similar compilation called "Please Warm My Weiner"
Intereseting to note that a lot of the real filthy stuff was by female acts like Memphis Minnie & Lucille Bogan. |
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Location: NJ | "Hot Nuts & Lollipops". That's it. |
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Location: Las Cruces, NM | Tim
You are absolutely right, economics, possessions, nothing matters more than a loss of a loved one. I hope this board provides some help to those who have lost somebody. I am still blessed, my wife and children are here and regardless of our differences they are alive. Not muchelse matters. |
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Location: Yucaipa, California | Bailey,
That helpless feeling is one of the most difficult things to endure... but The Lord and friends AND MUSIC help us get through it all!
Seems like I heard a "Blues" song a long time a go that told about "My wife is faithful, My Boss gave me a raise, my dog came back home and everyone who owed me money paid me back with interest"! Perhaps a whole new form of music is in order: "Happy Blues"... seems rather an oxymoron doesn't it!
tim |
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Blues 101