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How to Sing the Blues |
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John Lee Hooker |
B.B. King |
Note: this isn't my material. It was e-mailed to me. Great stuff, though.
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:
| I got a good woman | ||
| With the meanest dog in town. |
3. The Blues are simple. After you have the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes ... sort of.
| I got a good woman | ||
| With the meanest dog in town. | ||
| He has teeth like Margaret Thatcher | ||
| and he weighs 500 pounds. |
4. The blues are not about limitless choice.
5. Blues cars are Chevys and Cadillacs. Other acceptable forms of Blues transportation is a Greyhound Bus or a southbound train. Walkin' plays a major part in the Blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.
6. Teenagers can't sing the blues. Adults sing the blues. Blues adulthood means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.
7. You can have the blues in New York City, but not Brooklyn or Queens. Hard times in Vermont or North Dakota is depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are still the best places to have the blues.
8. The following colors do not belong in the blues:
9. You can't have the blues in an office or a shopping mall -- the lighting is not right.
10. Good places for the blues:
Bad places:
11. No one will believe it's the
blues if you wear a suit -- unless you happen to be an old black man.

Robert Johnson
12. Do you have a right to sing the blues?
Yes if:
No, if:
13. Neither Julio Iglesias nor Barbara Streisand can sing the blues.
14. If you ask for water and baby gives you gasoline, it's the blues. Other blues beverages are:
The following are not blues beverages:
15. If it 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 is the
electric chair, substance abuse, or being denied treatment in an emergency room. It
is not a blues death to die during a liposuction treatment.
16. Some blues names for women:
17. Some blues names for men:
18. Persons with names like Sierra, Sequoia, or Rainbow will NOT be permitted to sing the blues, no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
19. Other blues names (starter kit): (note, look at the picture below)

Blind Lemon Jefferson