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Language of the Blues - Edmonton Blues Society

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`<br />

DR Y L O N G SO<br />

<br />

food straight out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> can, uncooked and unseasoned. It also means to be without<br />

<br />

n out by poverty to <strong>the</strong><br />

<br />

<br />

Songs:<br />

Hear me tell you people, just before I go<br />

These hard times will kill you just dry long so<br />

Come on in M - Robert Johnson<br />

<br />

- Skip James (Nehemiah Curtis James)<br />

DUST M Y BR O O M<br />

Sweeping <strong>the</strong> house after dark is still considered impolite in some African American<br />

families. This tradition comes from <strong>the</strong> West African belief that one should be careful not<br />

to accidentally sweep out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> house any benevolent gods or ancestral spirits who have<br />

come in for <strong>the</strong> night to watch over a sleeping family and protect it from evil spirits. 169<br />

On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, when you do have evil spirits in <strong>the</strong> house, sweeping <strong>the</strong>m out can be<br />

<br />

magic powder will sweep a house free <strong>of</strong> unwanted supernatural<br />

(and embodied!) houseguests.<br />

Perhaps this was what Robert Johns<br />

<br />

<br />

The black man you been loving, girlfriend, can get my room<br />

Was Johnson threatening to leave while actually preparing a hoodoo ritual to get rid <strong>of</strong><br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

no broom/I might get put<br />

<br />

In Yoruba culture, <strong>the</strong> god <strong>of</strong> terror and moral retribution, Obaluaiye, walks <strong>the</strong> earth<br />

ready to strike <strong>the</strong> arrogant and <strong>the</strong> immoral with disease. He carries a broom that he can<br />

use to conjure up smallpox (shoponnon). When his morals are <strong>of</strong>fended, he takes a<br />

whiskbroom with long fibers sprinkled with camwood paste and spreads sesame seeds<br />

(yamoti<br />

87

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