Language of the Blues - Edmonton Blues Society

Recommendations

Info

` les my den Although harmless to humans, the kingsnake is definitely at the top of the reptile food chain. Adults grow to between thirty and eight-five inches long and are typically chocolate brown or black, with white-to-yellowish bands. There are a wide variety of subspecies, however, including the scarlet kingsnake and the speckled kingsnake; they all share a high resistance to snake venom. The Dahomey (Fon) people of Benin, West Africa practice the African religion Vodun, which includes in its mythology a snake named Dan that helped create the universe and supports it with 3500 coils above and 3500 coils below. 274 In Haitian Voudou and American Voodoo Vodun, Dan is worshipped as Damballah, the Grand Zombie. Songs: - Joe Williams - Bernard Bessman and John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker performing at Fat City in Pittsburgh, 1979 photo © Joseph A. Rosen 126
` L E M O N L As noted in the entries for cock, and rider, sexual references in the blues freely switch genders. Lemon is another gender-shifting term; in blues songs, it may refer to female or You done squeezed my lemon now you done broke and run In Cuba, where African ideograms called nsibidi developed into a rich sign-making tradition among black Cubans, the color yellow represents the life force. A cross may be drawn in yellow chalk on the forehead or the chest during an initiation rite to symbolize this, for example. 275 Shango, the Yoruba thunder god, is often depicted squeezing his life-giving lemon, while pointing with his other hand to the sky. When a devotee is possessed by Shango, he his eyes to abnormal width and sticks out his tongue, to symbolize a fiery belch of flames, and raises his thunder-axe on high and clamps his other hand upon his 276 (Now we know where Michael Jackson got that move!) The mythic third king of the Yoruba, Shango is the most energetic and powerfully sexual Yoruba deity. He is both warrior and lover, described in praise poems dedicated to him as 277 Like Obaluaiye, the smallpox god, Shango wreaks vengeance upon those who have committed moral transgressions (see dust my broom for more on Obaluaiye). He is Joe, embodied in the murderous rage of an enslaved man, expressed metaphorically in so many early blues songs about infidelity and revenge. Songs: - Memphis Minnie (Lizzie Douglas) - Robert Johnson - Charlie Pickett L E V E E A levee is a man-made embankment that keeps a river from flooding lowlands. The numerous levees built around southern rivers after the Civil War protected millions of 127
Page 2 and 3:
` Ebook published February 1, 2012
Page 4 and 5:
` Winner of the 2007 ASC AP Deems T
Page 6 and 7:
` Foreword John Lee Hooker, and
Page 8 and 9:
` To Son Seals, for inspiration vii
Page 10 and 11:
` Savannah Syncopators African Rhy
Page 12 and 13:
` English by Joseph Holloway and Wi
Page 14 and 15:
` nicked words and phrases from the
Page 16 and 17:
` List of Entries Please note that
Page 18 and 19:
` A L C O RUB A The drink of last r
Page 20 and 21:
` Tommy Johnson in his only known p
Page 22 and 23:
` Bad Axe (Alligator Records) befo
Page 24 and 25:
` some people do think that, but if
Page 26 and 27:
` Blues musicians also used bailing
Page 28 and 29:
` Songs: - Bessie Smith/H.Webman
Page 30 and 31:
` Songs: - Lovie Austin, performed
Page 32 and 33:
` Grab hold of a black cat, she tol
Page 34 and 35:
` Armstrong did for the trumpet. Wi
Page 36 and 37:
` exier the drunker the dancers b
Page 38 and 39:
` The singing and drumming of the n
Page 40 and 41:
` griots, who keep tribal historie
Page 42 and 43:
` Songs: - Big Bill Broonzy (Willi
Page 44 and 45:
` Williams explained. 77 deer hun
Page 46 and 47:
` The modern guitar is a direct des
Page 48 and 49:
` No matter what odd device the pla
Page 50 and 51:
` Bessie Smith beaming in a publici
Page 52 and 53:
` dates back even further, to the C
Page 54 and 55:
` The wardens at country prison far
Page 56 and 57:
` C H I C K The Wolof word jigen de
Page 58 and 59:
` The word chitterling comes from O
Page 60 and 61:
` cock. It 104 Muddy Waters, a.k.
Page 62 and 63:
` Bob M argolin and M uddy Waters,
Page 64 and 65:
` Songs: - Bukka White (Booker
Page 66 and 67:
` C O NJUR E To conjure is to cast
Page 68 and 69:
` 119 the force that character Ult
Page 70 and 71:
` always had this sly smile going
Page 72 and 73:
` C R OSS N O T E Tuning the guitar
Page 74 and 75:
` Johnson was believed by some to h
Page 76 and 77: ` 144 Robert Lockwood became know
Page 78 and 79: ` Songs: - Will Day - Robert John
Page 80 and 81: ` Charlie Patton began recording fo
Page 82 and 83: ` good came out of leaving the pla
Page 84 and 85: ` In blues songs, a person who has
Page 86 and 87: ` Memphis M innie flashes her gold
Page 88 and 89: ` touch the dust and the dust begin
Page 90 and 91: ` which he declared: Songs: Big
Page 92 and 93: ` toenail clippings, or skin from
Page 94 and 95: ` around- brothers were called Wid
Page 96 and 97: ` she went out one morning and foun
Page 98 and 99: ` men feared losing their women to
Page 100 and 101: ` When the Europeans came, when the
Page 102 and 103: ` Songs: Gris- - Dr. John (Mac Rebe
Page 104 and 105: ` H E L L H O UND (see also B L A C
Page 106 and 107: ` H O B O C O C K T A I L When you
Page 108 and 109: ` New Orleans boogie- Songs: -
Page 110 and 111: ` for Jewish. He noted that there a
Page 112 and 113: ` Songs: - Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbe
Page 114 and 115: ` Songs: I drink so much of Jake,
Page 116 and 117: ` Bluebird Records in 1941], I star
Page 118 and 119: ` he flame of a black candle, or p
Page 120 and 121: ` African American charms made with
Page 122 and 123: ` In From Juba to Jive: A Dictionar
Page 124 and 125: ` He said he had friends still in A
Page 128 and 129: ` acres of rich farmland that would
Page 130 and 131: ` , Elmore performances in Chicag
Page 132 and 133: ` Ace set the template that Elvis
Page 134 and 135: ` Three factors determine what a mo
Page 136 and 137: ` produced today in Appalachia, mos
Page 138 and 139: ` The connection between prostitute
Page 140 and 141: ` own. The first state lottery was
Page 142 and 143: ` Meanwhile, thousands of hoe-boys
Page 144 and 145: ` back in the early 1900s, Simmons
Page 146 and 147: ` unregulated entertainment, such a
Page 148 and 149: ` 320 Texas stuff and some Chicago
Page 150 and 151: ` Songs: - Bukka White (Booker T.
Page 152 and 153: ` to play on metal or a box with t
Page 154 and 155: ` Shankings, or stabbings, were fai
Page 156 and 157: ` Some plantation owners were fair,
Page 158 and 159: ` SH I M M Y The shimmy is a dance
Page 160 and 161: ` SH U F F L E The famous blues shu
Page 162 and 163: ` 350 The African American tales
Page 164 and 165: ` to many songs that Dixon wrote ex
Page 166 and 167: ` Songs: Mmm, where my Third Street
Page 168 and 169: ` the far more popular blues artist
Page 170 and 171: ` Songs: - Peetie Wheatstraw - Ha
Page 172 and 173: ` Blues players sometimes also call
Page 174 and 175: ` Songs in Vestapol: Many fine exam
Page 176 and 177:
` True vibrato requires significant
Page 178 and 179:
` On August 22, 1791, Haitian slave
Page 180 and 181:
` W H O OPI E, W H O OPIN G phemis
Page 182 and 183:
` Songs: - Blind Boy Fuller (Fulto
Page 184 and 185:
` Zombie horror imagery figured pro
Page 186 and 187:
` 39 The Life and Selected Writings
Page 188 and 189:
` 131 132 Chernoff, p. 143. 133 A
Page 190 and 191:
` 225 -jungle.html. 226 The Dictio
Page 192 and 193:
` 315 Louisiana Folklore Miscellan
Page 194:
` Selected Bibliography Charters, S
show all

Language of the Blues - Edmonton Blues Society

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?