Blues Lesson 404

Most blues begins 'woke up this morning.''

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''.

Blues are simple. After you have the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes. Sort of: ''Got a good woman with the meanest dog in town. He got teeth like Margaret Thatcher and he weighs about 500 pounds.''

The blues are not about limitless choice. Blues cars are Chevies and Cadillacs. Other acceptable blues transportation is Greyhound bus or a southbound train.

Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.

Teenagers can't sing the blues.

Adults sing the blues.

Blues adulthood means old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis. You can have the blues in New York City, but not in Brooklyn or Queens. Hard times in Vermont or North Dakota are just a depression. Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City are still the best places to have the blues.


The following colors do not belong in the blues: violet, beige, and mauve.

You can't have the blues in an office or a shopping mall; the lighting is all wrong.

Good places for the Blues: the highway, the jailhouse, the empty bed.

Bad places: Ashrams Gallery opening weekend in the Hamptons. No one will believe it's the blues if you wear a suit, unless you happen to be an old black man.

Do you have the right to sing the blues?

Yes, if: your first name is a southern state--like Georgia..or..you're blind you shot a man in Memphis....or you can't be satisfied.

No, if: you were once blind but now can see; You're deaf but you have a trust fund.


Neither Julio Iglesias nor Barbra Streisand can sing the blues.

If you ask for water and baby gives you gasoline, it's the blues.

Other blues beverages are: wine, Irish whiskey, muddy water.

Blues beverages are NOT: Any mixed drink and any wine kosher for Passover.

If it occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it is a blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is a 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, if you die during a liposuction treatment.

Some Blues names for Women: Sadie, Big Mama, Bessie.

Some Blues Names for Men: Joe, Willie, Little Willie, Lightning.

Persons with names like Sierra or Sequoia will not be permitted to sing the blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.

Other Blues Names: Name of Physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Asthmatic); First name (see above) or name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Kiwi); Last Name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.


...so does that about answer your question, Shambles?






TTCM
--the other clique on Mudcat--