Poetry Wednesday 07/15/09: The Weary Blues

John Lee Hooker
by Ann deLorge

The Weary Blues
by Langston Hughes

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway ….
He did a lazy sway ….
To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
O Blues!
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
Sweet Blues!
Coming from a black man’s soul.
O Blues!
In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan–
“Ain’t got nobody in all this world,
Ain’t got nobody but ma self.
I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’
And put ma troubles on the shelf.”

Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
He played a few chords then he sang some more–
“I got the Weary Blues
And I can’t be satisfied.
Got the Weary Blues
And can’t be satisfied–
I ain’t happy no mo’
And I wish that I had died.”
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead.

Hello, and welcome back to Poetry Wednesday 7/15/09. You can sign in today and take the tour thru Thursday, so take your time.

I’ll be your hostess again this week. My sister, Sans Souci, has completed her poetry book, and is taking a break, but she will check in.

Before we get started, please make sure that your post has a link to get back to this page to make it easier to take the tour:

1) Copy and paste the following link that I have provided for you from this page to somewhere on your poetry post.

Link back to the Poetry Wednesday tour on Laurita’s page

2) Leave the link of your poetry post in the comments section below. This is the link guests will click on to read your poem.

Langston Hughes wrote a great deal about the genre of music known as jazz, and the blues, too.

There are a number of works in which the asscoiation is implicit with such works as Jazzonia, The Weary Blues and other poems. There are also those works which are written in the distinct style of the music.

Langston was known to frequent jazz clubs wherever he visited and expecailly enjoyed the Harlem scene. His appreciation of jazz emerges in his works as he sampled with using the distinct rhythms he heard by jazz artists and applying to the rhythm of his poetry.

One of the more blarring examples of this is present in his poem, “The Weary Blues”. This poem has a rhythm to it that is expressed by his word choice. The dialectic mixing of hard syllables and repetition of certain phrases are strategically placed so as to mimic a song. As he writes, “Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool/He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool./Sweet Blues!/Coming from a black man’s soul./Oh Blues!”. In these lines we see that he ties literal music to the performer on his stool but also completes the image with his own statement about how the music makes him feel as well.

This intertwining of musician and listener is important to the happenings in Harlem at the time. The Harlem Renaissance was as much a shared voice as it was a creative expression by individuals. The shared consciousness taps back into the notion of a shared racial consciousness. It is being tapped into and comes from the soul, the black man’s soul to be exact. Additionally, we see the way that Langston Hughes shares the limelight with jazz music. By writing about it as he has done, he has also legitimized its presence in the African-American identity.

Source: http://jazzagelitandmusic.pbworks.com/The+Weary+Blues+Langston+Hughes

In the poem, Po’ Boy Blues, we can see another example of how Langston’s poetry was influenced by music.

Po’ Boy Blues
By Langstan Hughes

When I was home de
Sunshine seemed like gold.
When I was home de
Sunshine seemed like gold.
Since I come up North de
Whole damn world’s turned cold.

I was a good boy,
Never done no wrong.
Yes, I was a good boy,
Never done no wrong,
But this world is weary
An’ de road is hard an’ long.

I fell in love with
A gal I thought was kind.
Fell in love with
A gal I thought was kind.
She made me lose ma money
An’ almost lose ma mind.

Weary, weary,
Weary early in de morn.
Weary, weary,
Early, early in de morn.
I’s so weary
I wish I’d never been born.

Eric Clapton and B.B. King starting the tour

[mp3j track=”spoonful.mp3″]

20 CommentsChronological Reverse Threaded

edit delete reply

lauritasita wrote on Jul 13, ’09, edited on Jul 13, ’09

Here’s my post for this week: http://lauritasita.multiply.com/journal/item/1386

Comment deleted at the request of the author.

delete reply

billatplay wrote on Jul 13, ’09

Yours was made for mine— http://billatplay.multiply.com/journal/item/168/Weary_Me

delete reply

billatplay wrote on Jul 13, ’09, edited on Jul 13, ’09

When visiting in 1967 the phrase, ‘Since I come up North de whole damn world’s turned cold.’ really had significance. In Houston everyone looked happier and a live glint in their eyes. In Detroit there was a dull resignation to the cold reality of life. Love the poems and naturally the Blues. Ma mammy done told me, when I was in knee-pants,——- Yup, it kept me on the straight and narrow. lol Blues in the Night.

edit delete reply

lauritasita wrote on Jul 13, ’09

billatplay said

Love the poems and naturally the Blues.

Thanks Bill, I’m so glad you enjoy it. I’m showing how blues and jass music influenced poetry.

delete reply

starfishred wrote on Jul 13, ’09

WONDERFUL LAURITA
http://starfishred.multiply.com/journal/item/1528/POETRY_WEDNESDAY-GIACOMO_LEOPARDI

delete reply

forgetmenot525 wrote on Jul 13, ’09

Ahhhhhhhhhhh John lee Hooker, another great blues man, I saw him many, many moons ago. I am working my way around the world with poetry wednesday, Japan last week, Russia this week
http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/journal/item/354/Poetry_Wednesday_Pushkin_with_art_work_by_Briullov