thinking about the blues.
"the blues isn't about making you feel better,
it's about making other people feel worse!"
~ bleeding gums murphy
i woke up late and it was cold in my apartment. it's that big living room window: the natural light is great, but the winter cold keeps creeping in.
i'm listening to blues, watching the snow fall, thinking about a particular maths problem and drawing all sorts of diagrams. it already feels like an aimless day: neutral and forgettable. i already know that in another week, i'll have forgotten all about this unremarkable day.
"every day i have the blues,
nobody loves me, nobody seems to care .." (b.b.king)
for a blues man, b.b.king always sounds happy to me. nothing against him, but it just doesn't quite strike me as blues anymore: i don't hear pain or loss or frustration from the song.
i imagine it's genuine delight. the man gets to do what he wants to do; in doing so he can make other people happy. so the message just feels incongruous at first.
when the album ends, i press play again. it's still not really clear to me, these blues. i just don't understand .. not at first.
maybe blues is some kind of commiseration,
distilled into the form of music.
it's like trading complaints and sad stories with friends: you'd think that recollecting miseries will only make it worse, but often the opposite happens. my life never seems as bad as i thought, once i hear it from someone else.
sometimes we just need to be told, to be acknowledged that
yes: life is painful, luck runs out,
and sometimes there is nothing you can do.
i hear b.b.king laughing, though,
recollecting in spoken word while strumming his guitar:
i've been there,
again and again,
but here i am,
laughing now ..
i imagine him smiling, and i can't help but smile back.
it's about making other people feel worse!"
~ bleeding gums murphy
i woke up late and it was cold in my apartment. it's that big living room window: the natural light is great, but the winter cold keeps creeping in.
i'm listening to blues, watching the snow fall, thinking about a particular maths problem and drawing all sorts of diagrams. it already feels like an aimless day: neutral and forgettable. i already know that in another week, i'll have forgotten all about this unremarkable day.
"every day i have the blues,
nobody loves me, nobody seems to care .." (b.b.king)
for a blues man, b.b.king always sounds happy to me. nothing against him, but it just doesn't quite strike me as blues anymore: i don't hear pain or loss or frustration from the song.
i imagine it's genuine delight. the man gets to do what he wants to do; in doing so he can make other people happy. so the message just feels incongruous at first.
when the album ends, i press play again. it's still not really clear to me, these blues. i just don't understand .. not at first.
maybe blues is some kind of commiseration,
distilled into the form of music.
it's like trading complaints and sad stories with friends: you'd think that recollecting miseries will only make it worse, but often the opposite happens. my life never seems as bad as i thought, once i hear it from someone else.
sometimes we just need to be told, to be acknowledged that
yes: life is painful, luck runs out,
and sometimes there is nothing you can do.
i hear b.b.king laughing, though,
recollecting in spoken word while strumming his guitar:
i've been there,
again and again,
but here i am,
laughing now ..
i imagine him smiling, and i can't help but smile back.