Blog #2

Kayla Leland

Professor Santos

ENG 003

February 5^th, 2016

Blog Entry #2

The Blues

This week in class we discussed the history of the blues and the impact the lyrics can have to tell a story in one’s life. One particular reading that stood out to me was a chapter from Angela Y. Davis’s book, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday called, “Blame it on The Blues”. My first thought when reading this chapter was how African Americans used such allusive lyrics to tell a story and express their emotions during those tough times. Although the blues during this time period was meant to be about political protest they were mainly about the personal experiences one has gone through. They know by singing they will not fix all the problems so they have to accept to live with them. As a result, they use their lyrics as a means to try to communicate and unite others on the issues.

 

One particular song that stood out to me was the song “Ma and Pa Poorhouse Blues” recorded by Ma Rainey and Papa Charlie which talks about the struggles faced with poverty. The song uses humor in an interesting aspect as to tell the story of poverty but still continue to remain serious about the subject. As a result by using humor this makes the idea of poverty and the poorhouse seem more approachable along with allowing people to come together because “the key is togetherness and solidarity”. An interesting thing I found was how black people learned to use the strategy of humor in order to keep people from crying during the slave era.

 

             Similarly to the other readings we have discussed in class is that Billie holiday had to deal with the music industry as they had a big say in the decisions made based off of the song “Strange Fruit”. Most record producers at the time were white and as a result many songs about the harshness of African Americans that may leave negative thoughts or distress about whites would be rejected. Many would argue that most songs during this time period were meant to be a means of protest but in reality it all depends on how you interpret the song. The song “Washwoman’s Blues” which was seen as a protest song about the work poor black women were forced into can portray alternate meanings. In this particular song like many others she is just expressing her emotions toward the topic as a way to communicate with one another.