For those of you who are not keen listeners to Blues music, I’ll begin with a quick reminder concerning its historical background, as well as a little bit of musical theory, before dealing with the core of my subject-matter – that is, what I think the Blues is really all about.
Blues music, in its modern form (recognizable by us as 'the Blues'), emerged in the Mississippi Delta in the early 20th century, in the African-American community. It originated from a combination of African sonorities – a legacy kept alive through work-songs and dances – and the European music that was used in churches. Son House and Robert Johnson, for instance, were great Delta Blues musicians. Since then, the Blues has never stopped evolving. One of the greatest changes occurred in the 1930’s with the birth of the Chicago Blues. Pioneers like Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf started using rhythm sections and, little by little, playing electric instruments. There are also other kinds of Blues: for instance, you have Texas Blues (with Stevie Ray Vaughan) and B.B. King’s Memphis Blues, to whom we owe the distinction between lead- and rhythm-guitars. What you may want to bear in mind is that, even though you may not have the habit of listening to blues music on a regular basis, it may be more familiar to you than you think. Most contemporary popular music – be it rock, soul, jazz, country – owes a lot to the influence of the Blues.
From a musical point of view, the Blues is easily
recognizable because of its use of specific patterns of
harmonies. In other words, for those who are interested in
musical theory, the basic tonality (the tonic) is generally
played along with the chords which are 5 and 7 half notes above
(also called the subdominant and the dominant), within a
particular 12- or 8-bar pattern (e.g. the most basic one: T/T/T/T7 - SD7/SD7/T7/T7 - D7/SD7/T/T). I think an example might be
useful here. By the way, in the two songs below, the relation
between the harmonies is perfectly compatible with a song like
Bob Dylan’s Knocking On Heaven's door (yes,
even the Guns n' Roses version...). However, the pattern is
different.
- Example one: Walkin'
Blues* - Robert Johnson
- Example two: How
Blue can you get* - B.B. King
*These links may not function. It's possible to find free extracts from the mentionned songs on Amazon, though...
In most respects, people have quite different tastes. Music is no exception, so some will be drawn towards the Blues because of its sheer beauty, while others will not be sensible at all to this kind of music. This brings me to the idea that music has to do with the expression of moods and feelings – as opposed to absolute truth – and that different kinds of music are good at expressing different kinds of feelings . A true musical experience does, in other words, something to your emotional life.
As you may have noticed in the examples you just heard, both the text and the music convey feelings that most of us would like to be without. Indeed, in life there are two kinds of problems. There are those that you can do something about, and then there is the kind of trouble you don’t seem to be able to get out of – be it poverty, relations with the opposite sex, or dentists. If you happen to feel depressed, melancholic, miserable, low-down or sad when you are in this last case, you have the Blues. Playing, singing and listening to Blues music is supposed to be good for us in those cases. This is the core of what the Blues is all about: dealing with things we’d otherwise have a hard time handling. Generally, it is wise to exteriorize what is eating us. If Freud and his followers taught us anything, it is that talking about our problems makes their load easier to bear (of this we can be reasonably sure, even though their views are rather disputed these days). The Blues is based upon the same wisdom, although it is more instinctive, like parents who know that sometimes a good cry helps. The Blues has a multidimensional character: there is the music – through which unhappiness can be partially transcended into beauty, like when a sense of loss becomes bittersweet nostalgia. There is also the text, through which it is possible to address the problem, express one’s feelings and, maybe, look upon it all from a different perspective – for instance through resignation and humour .
In order to conclude, I make mine the great Elwood's (Dan Ackroyd's) advice: 'Buy as many Blues-albums as you can!'. Indeed, the Blues must be kept alive - it is beautiful, sexy, wise, fun and timeless. It is about enjoying life, even when it sucks!