Truth in the Blues

In the song Poor Boy Blues, performed by Lazy Bill Lucas, a child is represented as being poor, parentless, illiterate, and dumb. It goes on to say things like, “Santa Claus never left one toy”, yet these specific anecdotes are not from Bill Lucas’ personal life. Bill knew his mom and dad, could spell (although his eyesight was fairly bad), got a guitar and Piano on various Christmases and was provided for. So how can his song be the truth? The truth is in the sentiment of the lyrics, not the specifics, and the Blues is a cathartic expression of our ailments, eventually leading us to reality. Not unlike Buddhist teachings in which peace is attained through suffering. To demonstrate what I mean, I, a middle aged, middle class white man, will relate to the truth in Poor Boy Blues’ lyrics.

The first stanza states, “I’m just a poor boy; people, I can’t even write my name - Every letter in the alphabet to me they look the same.” I could read and write since kindergarten, yet I relate to these lyrics whenever I feel as though I don’t measure up in intelligence or eloquence in various situations. This happens every time my car breaks down and I try to explain to my mechanic what happened, and he tries to explain to me what he needs to do. The conversation is so far beyond me that I feel like a poor boy who can’t even spell his name.

The second stanza states, “Mother died when I was a baby; father I never seen – When I think how dumb I am, you know it makes me want to scream.” Both my parents are still alive, but there have been many times in life where I felt alone, where they were not there. Using the car example from earlier, the first time my car broke down (and there were no cell phones) my parents were not there to help me out. I felt helpless and ‘dumb’ in the ways of figuring out this experience. ‘Dumb’ in this instance is likened to a frustration that is so intense that I wanted to scream.

“Ever since I was the age around eleven or twelve - I just been a poor boy; ain’t caught nothing but hell, is the message of the third stanza. Well, I may have caught a little hell at this age, but doesn’t everybody feel a bit oppressed as they enter puberty? Life changes, new experiences are encountered, some are handled poorly and we are called out on them, or ‘catch hell’. It is almost a certainty that I will remember a bad experience more clearly than a good one.

Finally, the last stanza, “When I was a child Santa Claus never left one toy – If you have any mercy, pleace have mercy on poor boy.” Hyperbole is the name of the game here. I never went one Christmas without a gift, but In certainly never got everything I wanted. In my disappointment I play this off as being mistreated, and the gifts I received were not ‘real’ gifts. Man, if you had a life like mine, you’d feel a bit entitled to a hand out too.

While none of the specifics marry up to my true life experience, I am able to relate to each and every line. During this cathartic experience, as I cry for help because my life sucks, I move forward though an uplifting, forward moving rhythm and harmonic progression. It is through reflection of the specifics of these lyrics compared to my own personal life that I find my life isn’t so bad. And, while I can relate, I understand that tough times are common to everybody and I’m currently just feeling sorry for myself. Again, the rhythm and harmonic progression provide the answer to cure my blues, the peaceful, easy forward motion lifts me out of my seat and lets me dance through my ‘strife’.