Language of the Blues - Edmonton Blues Society

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rumors that he had made
a deal with the devil when he sang of opening the door to Satan one morning and saying,
couplets in the blues:
Me and the Devil was walking side by side
The question is, can one really make a deal with the devil to become a great guitarist?
156
: Get yourself a black cat
bone. Cut your nails to the quick and put the trimmings in a small bag with the black cat
bone. During a full moon, bring the bag and your instrument to a lonely crossroads a few
minutes before midnight. Kneel in the middle of the crossroads and chant six times:
Attibon Legba, open the gate for me."
Now sit cross-legged and play your best song. At the stroke of midnight, you will hear
footsteps. Do not look up until they stop in front of you and a hand reaches down to take
your guitar. Standing before you will be a tall man dressed in a sharp black suit. Do not
speak to him. He will take your guitar, tune it, and play a song. When he hands it back to
you, the deal is done and your soul belongs to him.
Songs:
- Skip James (Nehemiah Curtis James)
- Robert Johnson
- Robert Johnson
DI G
- to understand or appreciate it. The linguist David Dalby
deg or dega o understand, to
157
In Wolof they were often used to mark the
beginning of a sentence, as in dega nga olof, or "Do you understand Wolof?" 158
Songs:
- Albert Collins
- Louis Jordan and Bud Allen
D O G
In Southern Nigeria, to call someone a dog is an insult that implies that the person is
hopelessly oversexed. 159 By the 1920s and 1930s in the southern United States, the
middle finger was sometimes called the dog finger.
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