The main purpose of the current assignment is to consider one of the most popular music genres of the 20th century and discuss its meaning and significance in terms of describing and discussing the issues of casual life in America of those years. Particularly, the following paragraphs will analyze four blues songs that are somehow related to the realities of American life in the 20th century. These songs tend to discuss life experiences of the poor Americans in a radically explicit and honest way; in addition, this is highlighted by the rawness and emotionality of the performers’ vocals.
The first song to discuss is the famous and the most popular work-song performed by the African Americans in the first half of the 20th century; moreover, it has also become one of the fundamental songs to shape the blues genre. “Black Betty” composed and performed by James Baker, with the song’s earliest recording made by John and Alan Lomax in Texas in 1933. However, the overall meaning of the song remains disputable due to the fact that the song can represent reference to a musket, a whisky bottle or a whip. Still, the classic and the first interpretation of the song has been addressed towards the concept of a musket described in the lyrics. Still, the authors of the song insisted that their “Black Betty” was a whip, with which the inmates were punished by the guards. Therefore, this song has become a way to laugh at the guards and their punishments imposed on the workers (Smallwood).
The second blues song is the “Alabama Blues” composed and performed by JB Lenoir in 1965, representing protest against the racism prevalent in the American society then. In particular, in September 1963, 4 young black girls were killed by an explosion in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham Alabama. Needless to say that it was a prepared and planned action against the black people attending that church. This event has become negatively famous among the cultural and political elite of the time; thus, John Coltrane composed a song describing this event and Martin Luther King has identified Birmingham as the worst place to conduct equal racial relations. Furthermore, the social movements supporting black people have been radically and sharply attacked by the state troops of the city. Thus, JB Lenoir repeats the line “I never will go back to Alabama” multiple times in order to highlight his anger against the people living in this city (SongMeanings).
Another song that has been popularized due to the enormous amount of covers throughout the musical scene, is “Where did you sleep last night”, which is also famous under the name “In the Pines”. The origin of the song is unknown, still, one of the first records offered to masses was released by Lead Belly. Afterwards, it has been performed by various artists in various genres, with Nirvana’s version of the song bringing the widest recognition to the song. The lyrics of the song describe the poor and miserable life of a young girl that has no place to live and nowhere to go, that’s why she has to sleep in the dark and cold, “in the pines” and in the woods across the railroads. Her only purpose of live is to find her husband regardless of the fact that he has been killed. Thus, she keeps on wandering and searching for his body (Azlyrics.com).
Finally, there is a song that does not require any additional introduction for the lovers of blues. It’s the “Hellhound on my trail” by Robert Johnson. In fact, it has traditionally been told that Johnson has sold his soul to the devil for him to have such musical talent. Therefore, the overall song creates and develops such mystery about the personality of the author, as it discusses a man being in direct contact with the evil, making the devil a part of the mass culture, and music in particular. However, once analyzing the song from the realistic and more cultural point of view, it is necessary stating that it represents and adaptation of the song by Skip James, “Devil Got My Woman” of 1931. It is so due to the fact that the same guitar tuning, emotional appeal of the song and the strained vocals are dominating both songs (Blues.org). What is also necessary to remind that apart the mystical and demonic image of hellhounds, more casual representation of hellhounds in the first half of the 20th century was found with the specially bred and trained to effectively track and catch the escaped prisoners.
Therefore, the historical meaning of the blues is more than tragic and sad due to the fact that it generally has been the music for the desperate and depressed, for the ones being the hungry, the cold and angry of it. Still, all these people could do is to play music and sing because it was one of the rare actions, for which they could not be directly put to jail.
Works Cited
Azlyrics.com,. "NIRVANA LYRICS - Where Did You Sleep Last Night?". N.p., 2016. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
Blues.org,. "Hall Of Fame Inductees | The Blues Foundation". N.p., 2016. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
Smallwood, Karl. "No One Really Knows What "Black Betty" Actually Refers To - Fact Fiend". Fact Fiend. N.p., 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
SongMeanings,. "J.B. Lenoir - Alabama Blues Lyrics | Songmeanings". N.p., 2016. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.
