Читать книгу Blues Guitar For Dummies - Jon Chappell - Страница 17

Built into the blues is its own sense of irony and even humor. How else could you sing of such misfortune if you didn’t retain a sense of humor about the whole thing? It’s not uncommon to see performers smiling while singing about loss and heartache, yet they’re still totally sincere and convincing. It’s maintaining that objective perspective — along with the hope of retribution and revenge — that keeps the blues performer going while airing his life’s disappointments.

The blues isn’t above parody, either, and this often includes the blues’ strict sense of who’s “allowed to have the blues” and who isn’t. For example, you do not have a “right to sing the blues” if you live in Beverly Hills, make a killing in the futures market, or think that “my baby done me wrong” means losing your villa in Tuscany to your spouse in negotiation.

Among the early African American blues artists, the word baby was sometimes used as code for the boss man. This way the performer could complain or take a shot at the overseer on the farm or plantation without him being any the wiser. Of course, the African American audience understood.