SON HOUSE ON THE BLUES

The blues are a direct form of emotion turned into poetry and song. Most poetry comes from the same place as the blues, it’s a condition of being human, all-too-human in this glorious and troubling world.

Son House

“The real old blues don’t call for no jumpin’. You go to jumpin’ that ain’t the blues. They can name it the blues, but it ain’t the blues. The blues is just by itself. That’s the blues. When you done got lonesome and worried, don’t know what to do, thinking bout your loved ones, the people that you want to be nice to you. You’ve been nice to them, but they ain’t and you’re deceived by ‘em. Now you got the blues. Now you don’t know what to do. You wants to see ‘em, wonder where they at, wonder where they going, wonder why they see me. I trust ‘em with everything I had, I done everything, I turned my heart to ‘em with faith and belief in ‘em and then they get up and deceive me. Now you don’t know whether to cut their throat or to cry again. That’s the blues.”

See this video of Son House and Michael Bloomfield talking about the blues - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIrx3M5aLL0

SON HOUSE