Language of the Blues - Edmonton Blues Society

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The African American tales of the signifying monkey are all about signifying as a form
of indirect taunting and manipulation. These tales always include three stock characters:
the monkey, the lion, and the elephant. The monkey gets the lion riled up by telling him
that their pal the elephant has been insulting the
behind his back. The outraged lion demands an apology from the elephant, who refuses
and soundly trounces the duped lion while the monkey chortles in the trees.
an example folklorist Roger
Abrahams recorded in Deep Down in the Jungle: Negro Narrative Folklore from the
Streets of Philadelphia: 351
Deep down in the jungle so they say
jungle for quite a bit,
For up jumped the monkey in the tree one day and laughed,
Now the lion come through the jungle one peaceful day,
When the signifying monkey stopped him and this is what he started to say.
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(a
expressed his distaste for some lying and cheating going on in his neighborhood:
Songs:
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- Romeo Nelson
- Smokey Joe (Joseph E. Baugh)
- B.B. King (Riley King)
SL O W DR A G
In The Land Where the Blues Began, musicologist and producer Alan Lomax described
being taken to a party in the Delta countryside late one sultry summer night. The party
were beating a huge drum yonder i
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