Why I Sing the Blues

Here is blues legend BB King singing " Why I Sing the Blues" in a superstar spectacular jam session with Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Albert King, Phil Collins, Dr John, Etta James, Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, Paul Butterfield and Billy Ocean.



Here is a recorded version:



Everybody wants to know
Why I sing the blues
Yes, I say everybody wanna know
Why I sing the blues
Well, I've been around a long time
I really have paid my dues

When I first got the blues
They brought me over on a ship
Men were standing over me
And a lot more with a whip
And everybody wanna know
Why I sing the blues
Well, I've been around a long time
Mm, I've really paid my dues

I've laid in a ghetto flat
Cold and numb
I heard the rats tell the bedbugs
To give the roaches some
Everybody wanna know
Why I'm singing the blues
Yes, I've been around a long time
People, I've paid my dues

I stood in line
Down at the County Hall
I heard a man say, "We're gonna build
Some new apartments for y'all"
And everybody wanna know
Yes, they wanna know
Why I'm singing the blues
Yes, I've been around a long, long time
Yes, I've really, really paid my dues

Now I'm gonna play Lucille.

My kid's gonna grow up
Gonna grow up to be a fool
'Cause they ain't got no more room
No more room for him in school
And everybody wanna know
Everybody wanna know
Why I'm singing the blues
I say I've been around a long time
Yes, I've really paid some dues

Yeah, you know the company told me
Guess you're born to lose
Everybody around me, people
It seems like everybody got the blues
But I had 'em a long time
I've really, really paid my dues
You know I ain't ashamed of it, people
I just love to sing my blues

I walk through the cities, people
On my bare feet
I had a fill of catfish and chitterlings
Up and down Beale Street
You know I'm singing the blues
Yes, I really
I just have to sing my blues
I've been around a long time
People, I've really, really paid my dues

Now Father Time is catching up with me
Gone is my youth
I look in the mirror everyday
And let it tell me the truth
I'm singing the blues
Mm, I just have to sing the blues
I've been around a long time
Yes, yes, I've really paid some dues

Yeah, they told me everything
Would be better out in the country
Everything was fine
I caught me a bus uptown, baby
And every people, all the people
Got the same trouble as mine
I got the blues, huh huh
I say I've been around a long time
I've really paid some dues

One more time, fellows!

Blind man on the corner
Begging for a dime
The rollers come and caught him
And throw him in the jail for a crime
I got the blues
Mm, I'm singing my blues
I've been around a long time
Mm, I've really paid some dues

Can we do just one more?

Oh I thought I'd go down to the welfare
To get myself some grits and stuff
But a lady stand up and she said
"You haven't been around long enough"
That's why I got the blues
Mm, the blues
I say, I've been around a long time
I've really, really paid my dues

Fellows, tell them one more time.

Ha, ha, ha. That's all right, fellows.
Yeah!

Oh Happy Day from Sister Act 2

This is a very inspiring Gospel song that was performed in the movie, Sister Act 2. It starred Whoopie Goldberg and Lauryn Hill. Parts of this movie were filmed at Civic Center Campus! Watch the movie, you will see the outside of our building!

Follow the Drinking Gourd

This is an example of a "Negro Spiritual" that was actually a road map to freedom. The song gives clear directions to slaves who wanted to escape.

Sweet Honey in the Rock - Wade in the Water

Here is a very well known Negro Spiritual - "Wade in the Water". The message for slaves was to walk in the river so that the dogs would not be able to follow their scent if they ran away. Slave owners did not understand the secret message.

Here is another version of "Wade in the Water" with a very nice slideshow showing some illustrations of slavery. Music was something that helped people ease the pain.



At the end of the slideshow is a quote by Frederick Douglass "The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion". What do you think he meant?

Swing Low Sweet Chariot

This version is sung by Etta James



Chorus:
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home;
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home.

1.
I looked over Jordan,
And what did I see,
Comin' for to carry me home,
A band of angels comin' after me,
Comin' for to carry me home.

(Chorus)

2.
If you get there before I do,
Comin' for to carry me home,
Tell all my friends I'm a comin' too,
Comin' for to carry me home.

(Chorus)

3.
I'm on the upward heavenly way,
Comin' for to carry me home,
Since Jesus washed my sins away,
Comin' for to carry me home.

(Chorus)

Repeat

Coming for to carry me....

Here is Beyonce from the film "The Fighting Temptations" singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot



Here are the Plantation Singers, an a capella group from South Carolina.

We Shall Overcome

This is an old song that has been sung in the United States since the beginning of the 20th Century. The artist singing this version, Pete Seeger, died at the age of 94 on January 27, 2014. He was a legendary folk singer. Many of the songs he sang were used in protests that moved the United States forward. "We Shall Overcome" became an anthem for the Civil Rights Movement. It is a beautiful song that expresses hope for a better future.

Lift Every Voice and Sing

This is the "Black National Anthem". It is a song that African-Americans know very well. I had never heard it until someone suggested it to me for Black History Month. I wish it were our National Anthem.

The video shows many of the struggles of African-Americans in the United States as well as unbelievable triumphs.



Lift Every Voice and sing till earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of liberty
Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea

Sing a song, full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song, full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sum of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won

Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod
felt in the days when hope unborn had died
yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet
come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come, over a way that which tears has been watered
We have come, treading out path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out of the gloomy past, till now we stand at last,
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast

GOD of our weary years, GOD of our silent tears
Thou Who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light
Keep us for-e-ver in the path we pray

Lest our feet, stray from the places our GOD where me met thee
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world we forget Thee
Shadowed beneath thy hand, may we forever stand
TRUE TO OUR GOD, TRUE TO OUR NATIVE LAND

You can learn more about the history and the meaning of this song here.