Why I Sing the Blues

[jisbell00]

Why I Sing the Blues


If anybody asks you, B.B. King
has fetched Lucille and plans to play the blues.
Lucille arcs in. I’ve been around, he sings,
a long time. You may share his memories,
or may not – you may have rat-ridden homes,
you may have been around. Well, everybody
asks B.B. why he sings the blues, and he’s
come now to set the record straight for us.
It’s not that B.B.’s angry, though it seems
that all around him, folks have got the blues.
His own were not born yesterday. I ain’t
ashamed, says B.B. – he just loves his blues.

The power B.B. summons up, as his
immense voice booms, as Lucille plays her chords,
constricts the heart. He says he stood in line
to get some grits from welfare, and they said
he’d been around not long enough. The chance
that shapes our person – is it in our hands?
Or do we answer to a range of void
and empty factors, as a pinball leaps
at others’ whim? Does mastery suggest
that B.B.’s dues will carry weight for us?
Or should he greet the mirror as it speaks
of lost youth, of time rolling by in vain?
The song fades out. Lucille has said her piece,
and B.B. King has played the blues again.



And B.B. King:

[Macavity]

I went to see BB. He played the notes so softly the audience were hushed and spellbound. The mention of whips in the lyrics reminds me of the reasons for anger, but there is that gospel joy in his voice. He is in love with his guitar! You pose pertinent questions in your write. I guess, like BB, we just get on with living life.

best

Phil

[ray miller]

Enjoyed the read. An odd opening, I thought, those first two lines.

Or do we answer to a range of void
and empty factors, as a pinball leaps
at others’ whim?

Can factors be empty and void?

[jisbell00]

Hi Phil,

Wow, seeing BB play. In the last years, I heard he did a lot of sitting and chatting away in between the numbers, but it's all magic. To me, he's the most determined to be happy of the great Blues artists (except maybe Mississippi John Hurt). How ironic then that he's one of the few artists ever to make their mark performing in prison, along with Johnny Cash. Not an easy gig, unless you're one of those two singers.
I can picture him being soft - he sure did love Lucille! - but you're right, there is every opening for anger in what he sings, he knows it, we know it, he chooses not to go there. Wild. Until maybe the end when he goes to get the grits and stuff. Gospel joy - I like that. He is certainly old school.
All I've ever done is eat at his Blues Bar on Beale Street in Memphis, just by the Mississippi River. I had pulled pork and a beer after driving in from Indiana on our way to Texas, it was very nice. They were playing BB King, as I recall.

Cheers,
John

[jisbell00]

Hi Ray,

THank you for stopping by! You raise, to my mind, two very interesting points.
Yes, the opening is weird. I'm hoping it works - but am in doubt. I like it for its unexpectedness, and it feels kind of BB-ish to me.
I think I mean factors void and empty of meaning. They remain active factors, naturally, but they are inane.

CHeers,
John