Get 26% off CuriosityStream and a free Nebula account: www.curiositystream.com/12tone and use promo code "12tone" Some additional thoughts/corrections: 1) As promised, here's the list! (Note: These aren't in any particular order. Taft didn't sort them by frequency.) x-formulas: -I have the blues -I come to some place -I go away from some place -I have a woman -I quit my woman -I love you -I tell you -I treat you good/bad -I woke up this morning -I am worried r-formulas: -I have the blues -I cry -What am I going to do -Everywhere I go -I will be gone -I’m going back home -It won’t be long -Some thing is on my mind -I treat you right -I’m leaving town 2) So… about the lyrics on Every Day I Have The Blues. If you know the song, they probably sounded wrong to you, because you're probably familiar with the B.B. King version, but I wanted to use the Sparks Brothers original because it fit better with the time period I was discussing. Problem is, Memphis Slim rewrote a lot of the lyrics in the 40s and most later performances used his version. I looked up the Sparks one but the recording quality wasn't quite good enough for me to be confident in my transcription. I'm sure it ends in "if I had you to lose", but I'm not entirely sure what he says in the clause before that. It could also be something like "forgive me, my love", although that doesn't make as much sense to me. 3) Lyric formulas exist in other genres too! In fact, one thing we can do with them is demonstrate that Blues formulas overlap significantly with classic Country formulas, giving us yet another piece of evidence for the already well-proven claim that the division between the two genres was much more about the race of the artists than the musical or cultural qualities of the music. 4) Taft's book goes into a lot more detail about the connective structures of these formulas so if you want to learn more, it's called The Blues Lyric Formula and I highly recommend it.
Great video, very impressed the analytical side was excellent and I'm really impressed you done research into Blues music and the earlier artists. I think Pinetop Sparks sings "And it would kill me kind lover, if I had you to lose". The line "Everyday I Have The Blues" first shows up in Elizabeth Washington's "Whiskey Blues" where in which Sparks accompanies her on piano.
When you sing the blues, you gotta sing the first line two times When you sing the blues, you gotta sing the first line two times And when you sing the last line, just makes sure that it rhymes
Oh and when you're blues singin', you better sing the first line twice! Oh and when you're blues singin', you better sing the first line twice. And when you get to the last line, you'd better make it rhyme real nice.
Woke up this morning, I forgot my blues refrain, Said I woke up this morning, I forgot my blues refrain, So I sang it twice then rhymed it, it all came back again!
Well I had to sing the refrain, and it didn't rhyme so good. Asked my Baby what do do about it; She told me that I should-- Make u-up some depressing shit, ma-aybe about my dog? I told Her I didn't didn't have one, And that rhyming was such a slog!
The second line of a blues song, is always the same as the first Said the second line of a blues song, is always the same as the first, The next lines are a vehicle for the sadness- driving it home like a hearse.
John Finnemore (English Radio comedian) 'I ain't got the blues, I got the pinks / I got the pinks real bad' 😅😅 Basically a sketch where a blues singer is trying to sing the blues but he can't because his life is pretty happy and lots of good things have been happening for him recently.
@Soy Orbison that is true, ask most fans of Rock and Metal if they listen to Blues or other forms of Black music, the most they'll say is Jazz (which is heavily dominated by them atm and sounds completely whitewashed). I've even seen a lot of musicians and fans call Blues "primitive" of "simplistic" when compared to the Classical side of Metal's roots.
@@murk4552 "Sounds" whitewashed? Lmao, you're delusional. Don't get me wrong, it *is* dominated by white people, but the sound is irrelevant in terms of race.
White guilt is getting pretty old. It doesn't earn you respect, it's just pathetic to be looking for ways to denigrate yourself based on your own race and culture, when historically speaking, white nations have the shortest and least brutal track record for slavery and racism.
Fun side note: "On" in Japanese literature is called a "Mora" in non-Japanese linguistic literature. All language have Morae, its just that most poetic forms play around with syllables, the unit above Morae. The same consonant can either count as a Mora or not depending on where in the syllable it falls (Onset/Nucleus/Coda) (Beginning/Middle/End). Its a hard line to walk between exoticizing Japanese by using their terms, and respecting the fact that the study of the Japanese language has its own history separate from Western™ linguistics. Great video my dude.
Great video. People forget that the Blues is not guitar music at its heart it is sung and accompanied by an instrument. Most early blues didnt have a guitar at all. What makes the blues what it is is how its song and why its sung that way.
I remember the first time I heard someone other than Johnny Cash sing Ghost Riders in the Sky (it was Scatman Crothers), and when I heard it in jazz style instead of country style, I suddenly realized it was a blues.
Around the 11 min mark regarding work songs. "It didn't matter if you hadn't done the thing yourself because it wasn't about you. It was about the community." Somehow I found that phrase very moving. Like, maybe the world would be a better place if we spent more time in "It's not about you, it's about the community"-mode.
i like how you compare this to music theory, but i still think what you did in this video is closer to poetry analysis than musical analysis. it is fascinating how blues uses lyrics though, it’s hard to think of any other genre that does something like that. excellent video as always
I like the point you made about the phrase "I woke up this morning" containing a symbolic reference to the process of coming to some sort of greater recognition. Especially the 3 eyed elephant ;) I know your discussion wasn't meant to be exhaustive but it's easy to see why that's one of the lines you chose to work on, since it's so rife with potential meaning. A way to read into it I think is fun and hope you might like too, (full of fun tangents I keep erasing like how ok sometimes when you wake up you still remember what you were just dreaming) is how for the first few seconds or fractions of a second after a person wakes up they're not really thinking anything (see overture to Swann's Way by Proust for a flowery description) and how great a thing that is to reference at the very beginning of a narrative structure, because it mimics the listener's being at the beginning of the narrative and similarly not having any information to build upon. And yet, the first things that cross one's mind in the morning (or, ok, afternoon :) ) are generally regarded as having great importance (citation needed.) So that by the use of only six syllables, a listener already feels caught up on the background of the narrative, and knows that the following line is going to be of great importance. Neat trick!
The term you're looking for to describe the sound divisions of Japanese is "mora" (pl. "morae"). It's thought that Classical Latin used morae rather than syllables based off of patterns observed the the poetry of the day.
10:32 The blues using these stock story elements to weave stories reminds me of how Greek bards like Homer are thought to have done something similar to tell their epics, such as the Odyssey. I recommend OSP's video on Homer, as that's where I learned about this Greek tradition.
Coming from a background of literature and linguistics, with music as an important hobby, this was really interesting. A good and thought-provoking effort. I have been thinking for a long time about a feature you didn’t discuss in depth: the idea of ”floating stanzas”. Of course a short video cannot contain everything. 🙂 I think the folk tradition rewards some elaboration: for example, in Robert Johnson’s era, blues lyrics often consisted of ”floating” lines everybody used. I think the floating stanzas make improvisation easier: with ”I woke up this morning” you set a theme and at the same time give yourself some time to think about how you are going to formulate what you want to say regarding your theme. Reverting back to some floating lines again during the course of a song gives you some time to think about what’s going to happen next. You did touch upon these issues, but I thought I’d share the thought. 🙂 I think your effort in discussing the formulas of a still living folk is a heroic effort. 👏👏
"Loss" caught me completely off guard. I love it. I'm starting to try and write music and this kinda helps me think about lyrics more thoughtfully. Thank you for somehow always making videos that are relevant to me lol
It's funny that you say "You'd never hear a blues singer say 'I don't have the blues'". Captain Beefheart repeatedly sings the line "I ain't got the blues no more, I said" in his song "Ah Feel Like Ahcid". Now, whether you count Captain Beefheart as a bluesman or a blues-rock singer will determine whether that example "counts," but that song is from his earlier, more bluesy years before he really started getting experimental. Somewhat similarly, Muddy Waters opens "Mannish Boy" with the line "Everything's gonna be alright this mornin'". There seems to be a prominent category of feel-good blues songs from mid-century, at least in my limited experience.
"Just Can't Seem to Get the Blues" by Rev. Billy C. Wirtz might be a parody, but it is the blues. People, life can be frustratin' when you're just, just not born to lose.
Thank you for the interesting and thoughtful analysis. I've listened to a lot of Blues songs but never really thought of the lyrics like this. I'd be all about more Blues videos. Keep on rockin'!
Thanks for covering this topic. I translate tango lyrics and Taft’s study sounds intriguing. The formulae you mention sound like what are called commonplaces (topoi) in literary studies; treating them as interchangeable content cells is a really potent idea!
3:26 “Like, take the sonnet. This is a traditional form of European poetry originally from Italy which consists of fourteen lines in what’s called iambic pentameter.” This may have been intentionally simplified for the video, but sonnets vary a bit in stress and rhyme scheme. Most people only know them as ABAB CDCD EFEF GG in iambic pentameter because that’s what most of Shakespeare’s sonnets used (counterexample would be Sonnet 145, which is in iambic tetrameter) and was a popular form during the English Renaissance, but if anyone reading this is interested in learning about other types of sonnets like Petrarchan (ABBAABBA CDCCDC or ABBAABBA CDECDE in iambic pentameter), Spenserian (ABAB BCBC CDCD EE in iambic pentameter) Miltonic (same as Petrarchan but with heavy use of enjambment), Terza Rima (ABA BCB CDC DED AA in iambic pentameter), Curtal (ABC ABC DBCDC or ABC ABC DCBDC in something called sprung rhythm), or the many non-English forms that follow other rules (many Spanish sonnets use 11 syllables per line), I recommend starting with the Wikipedia page and reading a whole bunch of them. Sonnets are super fun! en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet
Woke up this morning, heard some real good news I woke up this morning, heard me some real good news Don't worry, you're damn right I don't have the blues
Blues is more felt than thought. There really isn't a set formula for the blues. Yes, there are alot of common themes and stylistic points, but there are also several different styles of blues.
My take on blues lyrics go to the need of the genre in the first place, healing, comforting, empathetic. The blues is about good people stuck in a bad situation, and yet, usually with optimism. In the 12-bar, three line form, the first line of usually about that bad situation. Blues, as developed from earlier forms and performed in its beginnings, is a communal 'call and response' form, so the second line repeats the first, sometimes for emphasis. Third line is often some sort of resolution, or optimism for the first, or sometimes something worse with implied dark sarcasm, so lessening the tragedy of the first line. If I were to compare this to say ... the more light 'sounding' melodies of traditional Irish ballads coupled with their own dark lyrics, it feels like in blues ... Things are serious, but never hopeless. In traditional Irish ballans, things are hopeless, but never serious.
Did not come here to learn more about Japanese, but knowing about On being a named thing make actually help with learning that language because I'm working on the pronunciation part. I guess I already know they did this but it having a name kinda helps address it. The whole pitch enthusis thing and watching On length to not accidentally say something I didn't mean is hard right now.
The thing about the (delta) blues is that the licks are all free use. They’re shared. Blues at its core is made up of the same licks. You make the poetry, though, and the performance, and that’s what’s unique
Dr. Adam Gussow...a 40-plus-year veteran Blues musician and Professor of Literature and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi...has written extensively on a phenomenon knows as Signifying in Blues lyrical tradition. Consider, within the context of Jim Crow, that the Devil (so often referenced throughout the Blues) is most often a _metaphor_ for White folks, and songs about domestic violence are often _actually_ about revenge for often-violent racial oppression. When considered in this light, Blues isn't "just" the most important and influential genre in music history; it is _also_ home to some of the most brilliantly subversive protest poetry ever written, telling _two_ (or more) stories simultaneously with just _one_ set of lyrics...the "surface" story White folks hear, _and_ the deeper story Black folks _understand!_ Sadly, many Blues songs (some of the very best, in fact) _are_ autobiographical, and because similar living conditions subjected so many Black folks to similar experiences, the art is _both_ individual _and_ collective. Your opening remarks about the importance of lyrics...especially in Blues...are _spot on!_ As a writer of lyrical _and_ non-lyrical music, I can confidently say that if a piece of music _has_ lyrics, they're usually the _reason_ for the song! With that in mind, the challenge many people don't appreciate is that, once the _structure_ of the first verse, chorus, etc. has be established, the _rest_ of the story must _also_ be told in a way that strictly _fits_ that structure...ideally while _also_ rhyming and telling the story _well enough_ to inspire an emotional response/connection in the listener(s). Referencing the above notion of songs that serve individual _and_ collective purposes, I intentionally _avoid_ using names, pop culture references, etc. specifically so _my_ usually autobiographical expressions remain just "generic" enough for _others_ to say, "Man, I know what that's guys goin' through,"...and, in so doing, help _others_ to feel understood. P.S. If you haven't heard Big Mama Thornton's _original_ recording of Hound Dog, you haven't _heard_ Hound Dog!
I know this has nothing to do with the blues but one part got me laughing. About going home or never going home. There is an Austrian hit song by a band called STS about taking a vacation in Greece and saying that one day he would stay there and never go back (probably meaning after retirement). Then there was an Austrian metal band called Alkbottle (you may guess as to their main theme) who took the same song and lyrically told the story of a nightmare-holiday, vowing never to go on vacation again...
I think it's interesting (as primarily a metalhead) how much the blues and metal are very much two sides of the same coin. I've always found it interesting when Mike Williams of EYEHATEGOD, definitely a solid part of the extreme metal sub-category described their music and "extreme blues." Then when you listen to the riffs, you really hear it.
The connection experienced between listener and performer with Blues lyrical content, IMO, is less about the actual experience, action, or plans to do something, go somewhere, or some interaction with significant other, like confrontation, or just going to see them, or there is lack of interaction or connection, it could be a purposeful avoidance of the interaction, "I ain't seen my baby since the night before last..." I could rattle off a half dozen examples of each of these but the blues lyric is less about the things sung about in the song in concrete terms, like the the actual plan to go somewhere, the actual interaction etc, it is far less about that then it is about the reason, or reasons, for the things being some about in fairly concrete terms. Generally, a significant reason, significant cause, for the singer, and the listener, to have this shared root motivation, the root of the story of the song is the commonality between the person singing the song and the audience listening (and singing along). While the listener and the singer may or may not have a shared/similar experience of the betrayal or betrayals, possibly having been cheated on by spouse, former spouse former lover and, or partner that lied constantly about spending money and hiding the purchases, or was lying about going out and drinking, the shared emotional baggage, the pain come in the mistrust the constant wondering persons cheating again, zooming a friendship with someone who wanted to be more than a friend on a long, at your apartment right about it that leaves you with a hurts that hurts is what is shared. Damage done, and the changes in our person chooses to have acts, how the person feels and response to certain things, what is inside the person now, or what is different inside the person now, because of how they are responding to the dishonesty, the lies, the deceit, the shared experience of feeling completely betrayed and heartbroken because somebody that you cared about,, that you love more than anybody you ever loved, not even knowing loving someone this much it's possible, only to have that ripped and tore up inside you by this deceit. That is what is shared between the person singing the blues lyrics being sung and listener.
With all the focus on syllables and metre you forgot to mention the turn or volta of sonnets. And haikus have a contrast between the first 2 and the last phrases too. The blues has these structures too, posing a question or painting a problem in the AA and then resolving in the B, after which there's room for instrumental improvisation (often in question-response forms) and then there's the turnaround to the next verse.
I literally heard something along those lines (can't remember exactly, but like "I'm so happy today, I don't have the blues") no longer than ten days ago on New Orleans' WWOZ :-D
I like the analysis so far. Blues is really underappreciated, despite being a base for a lot of musical styles as well as a quality genre itself. And the poetry analysis on top is even better. Random aside, recent random thought, but have you ever considered doing a video on Maroon 5. Like, as a concept. So few bands have thoroughly changed their identity and sound to the point of being so disparate from what they used to be, and, deoending on the person's outlook, it could be seen as a rise, a fall, or both. It's just interesting.
Thanks for the video. How much does this apply to the Chicago Blues style, or is this mainly about the Delta Blues? Also, it’s “Thou dost” not “Thou doth”
The songs studied were from the 20s and 30s, that's the Delta blues era. Chicago blues became a recognizable blues style in the 40s. But Chicago blues is sort of an electric extension of Delta blues, with more urbanized lyrics (and obviously they weren't singing about going north anymore), so most of this analysis also goes for Chicago blues.
I was listening to this trying to figure out how many of the things my bluesiest lyric did... Oh girl I miss you, I think I want to die Oh girl I miss you, I think I want to die You been out drinking baby, Messing round with another guy I've been down at the old bar room, Drinking whiskey-rye I've been down at the old bar room, Drinking whiskey-rye I've been down at the old bar room baby, Gonna find that other guy Gonna tell him he can have you Come by pick up your things Gonna tell him he can have you Come by pick up your things Only thing I want back baby Is my grandmama's diamond ring (break) I thought about acting badly When I thought about what you'd done But I ain't waistin' my time on you If you ain't the one If you ain't the one baby Hurry up, git, go on I could break the lines so it's AAB, but that misses the internal rhyme (well, okay, just the repeat of the words) and when I sing it I really do think it's six lines per verse, not three. My band only did one recording of it, and the rest of the guys had only had one chance to play it through before we recorded. It starts really strong but we went into a solo bit after the lyrics that probably should have been much shorter. As a 3 minute recording I think it's pretty good... at 5 1/2 in definitely feels too long. I guess now I need to write a 'I wish I had one good recording' blues. We had so many songs that felt like we nearly nailed them but never quite did. I was pretty happy with my harp work on it though. Filthy riff starting on the 2 blow... Oh well... that's life.
This was interesting, I had not fully understood this. I was, however, kind of disappointed; this video did what it said on the box, don't mean to say otherwise, but I've been hoping to see someone on youtube do song analysis that actually connects specific lyrical choices to specific musical choices. It's kind of an odd gap in musictube when you think about it; this is basically the backbone of professional songwriting, so in a world where we have 3 dozen guitartubers with over 100K subs, it's kind of shocking that all of them are teaching us how to play the solo, or how to understand the chords, but none of them are teaching how to select the chords or tell a story with the solo. Maybe those who could do this are busy being professional songwriters though.
Danke, this is great! For further in-depth studies i can highly recommend the book "Screening The Blues" by Paul Oliver. (btw, for the purpose of studying the tempo of the video really sucks and if i stream it to my TV i unfortunately cannot slow it down... )
This reminds me of the video you made analyzing rap. I have a very soft spot in my heart for rap, and would love if you analyzed some more. I appreciate your willingness to approach lyrics in general, and find your take insightful, educational and very enjoyable!
Hey 12tone, you might miss this question completely and I understand, but here’s for if you don’t: is there any way for me to sign up for and pay for Nebula without having to get an account with CuriosityStream? I want to support you and Adam Neely and Polyphonic and everyone else that put so much work into it but I just... don’t need the other service. Nothing against them, I just don’t need it lol But if I download the app it doesn’t give me the option to sign up or subscribe or anything, it just asks for a login. Thanks in advance! Love your channel. Have a great evening!
>I got me a -cravin', ta hear the >'pinionated -ravin', o' the >music theory -man... > - Oh yeah >I got me a -cravin' ta hear this >'pinionated -ravin', o' the >music theory -man... > - Aww >even though I'm all al-one... >I gotta hear that ol' 12 -tone... > then I'll be -doin' the >best I can... - (Slow 4/4 time. > is the downbeat, - is the upbeat)
OK kids, internalize these rules and patterns for composing blues lyrics, OR you could listen to a mess of Willie Dixon tunes + Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Memphis Minnie, Bessie Smith, Tampa Red, Lightning Hopkins, Roosevelt Sykes, B.B. King. Guess which journey is more fun?
Most of popular discourse on music is based on lyrics-way more than on music theory. Probably because talking about lyrics is more accessible to more people. Still enjoyed the video, tho.
As someone who sometimes sings the blues and is fast and loose with lyrics in cover songs, it's amazing how much of this I knew instinctively from just listening for so long! But I never thought to formalize it. This is why the universe made music theorists, I guess
My wife's a vegetarian, she make me eat tofu. I said My wife's a vegetarian, she make me eat tofu. But that stuff just leaves me hungry, I've got the chicken cordon bleus
You say the sonnet is from italy then define it through English? Even tho thats NOT how a sonnet is defined in latin languages? A sonnet is not about accent and NOT in iabic pentameter, it is about verse structure and rhyme and its written in endecasilabos
The fact that the sonnet comes from Italy is rather tangential given that English sonnets have come to take on their own forms over the past roughly 400 years. Tom Scott has, however, addressed your point in one of his videos.
who been here, baby since i been gone? little bitty boy derby on there is an *efficiency* in Blues lyrics, compressing massive amounts of information in a small time-space with a profound respect to rhythm; the lyrics above from "Smokestack Lightin" tell a story of how a jealous man finds out his woman is cheating on him by finding a certain kind and size of hat (a derby)
“You’ll never hear a blues singer say “I don’t have the blues”. That violates the spirit of the genre” - challenge accepted. I don’t have the blues, No, I’m feelin’ just fine. (2x) I just heard some bad news, but soon we’ll be ready to dine. I don’t have the blues, baby, you don’t have to hide. (2x) I just heard somebody died, but baby I got you by my side I don’t have the blues, I’m really happy we’re two. (2x) It’s just I’m looking at that photo, baby, the way she smiles to you. I don’t have the blues, and don’t you worry bout a thing. (2x) If you’ll just give me a minute, Daddy’s coming soon to push your swing.
Should I stay or should I go now, should I stay or should I go now If I go there will be trouble, and if I stay it will be double So come on and let me know, should I stay or should I go (my favourite example)
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Some additional thoughts/corrections:
1) As promised, here's the list! (Note: These aren't in any particular order. Taft didn't sort them by frequency.)
x-formulas:
-I have the blues
-I come to some place
-I go away from some place
-I have a woman
-I quit my woman
-I love you
-I tell you
-I treat you good/bad
-I woke up this morning
-I am worried
r-formulas:
-I have the blues
-I cry
-What am I going to do
-Everywhere I go
-I will be gone
-I’m going back home
-It won’t be long
-Some thing is on my mind
-I treat you right
-I’m leaving town
2) So… about the lyrics on Every Day I Have The Blues. If you know the song, they probably sounded wrong to you, because you're probably familiar with the B.B. King version, but I wanted to use the Sparks Brothers original because it fit better with the time period I was discussing. Problem is, Memphis Slim rewrote a lot of the lyrics in the 40s and most later performances used his version. I looked up the Sparks one but the recording quality wasn't quite good enough for me to be confident in my transcription. I'm sure it ends in "if I had you to lose", but I'm not entirely sure what he says in the clause before that. It could also be something like "forgive me, my love", although that doesn't make as much sense to me.
3) Lyric formulas exist in other genres too! In fact, one thing we can do with them is demonstrate that Blues formulas overlap significantly with classic Country formulas, giving us yet another piece of evidence for the already well-proven claim that the division between the two genres was much more about the race of the artists than the musical or cultural qualities of the music.
4) Taft's book goes into a lot more detail about the connective structures of these formulas so if you want to learn more, it's called The Blues Lyric Formula and I highly recommend it.
Great video, very impressed the analytical side was excellent and I'm really impressed you done research into Blues music and the earlier artists. I think Pinetop Sparks sings "And it would kill me kind lover, if I had you to lose". The line "Everyday I Have The Blues" first shows up in Elizabeth Washington's "Whiskey Blues" where in which Sparks accompanies her on piano.
When you sing the blues, you gotta sing the first line two times
When you sing the blues, you gotta sing the first line two times
And when you sing the last line, just makes sure that it rhymes
that was cool
Oh and when you're blues singin', you better sing the first line twice!
Oh and when you're blues singin', you better sing the first line twice.
And when you get to the last line, you'd better make it rhyme real nice.
my brain made up a melody while reading this based on the 12-bar blues
Woke up this morning, I forgot my blues refrain,
Said I woke up this morning, I forgot my blues refrain,
So I sang it twice then rhymed it, it all came back again!
Well I had to sing the refrain, and it didn't rhyme so good.
Asked my Baby what do do about it; She told me that I should--
Make u-up some depressing shit, ma-aybe about my dog?
I told Her I didn't didn't have one,
And that rhyming was such a slog!
The second line of a blues song, is always the same as the first
Said the second line of a blues song, is always the same as the first,
The next lines are a vehicle for the sadness- driving it home like a hearse.
I woke up this mornin'.
...Had them statesboro blues? ...Looked around for my shoes?
Poor Lightnin sure was please
Got some gaba gool
...Then I went back to Bed.
And I sat on a log. I opened up the menu, the menu said frog
John Finnemore (English Radio comedian) 'I ain't got the blues, I got the pinks / I got the pinks real bad' 😅😅
Basically a sketch where a blues singer is trying to sing the blues but he can't because his life is pretty happy and lots of good things have been happening for him recently.
“Rock and roll is just the blues marketed to white people”
As a white dude that plays the blues, this is perfect.
@Soy Orbison that is true, ask most fans of Rock and Metal if they listen to Blues or other forms of Black music, the most they'll say is Jazz (which is heavily dominated by them atm and sounds completely whitewashed). I've even seen a lot of musicians and fans call Blues "primitive" of "simplistic" when compared to the Classical side of Metal's roots.
@@murk4552 rock was invented by black people just FYI.
@@murk4552 "Sounds" whitewashed? Lmao, you're delusional. Don't get me wrong, it *is* dominated by white people, but the sound is irrelevant in terms of race.
White guilt is getting pretty old.
It doesn't earn you respect, it's just pathetic to be looking for ways to denigrate yourself based on your own race and culture, when historically speaking, white nations have the shortest and least brutal track record for slavery and racism.
@@FuelAirSparkTime hey big guy, no white guilt here. Thanks, but no one cares about your monologues.
Fun side note: "On" in Japanese literature is called a "Mora" in non-Japanese linguistic literature. All language have Morae, its just that most poetic forms play around with syllables, the unit above Morae. The same consonant can either count as a Mora or not depending on where in the syllable it falls (Onset/Nucleus/Coda) (Beginning/Middle/End). Its a hard line to walk between exoticizing Japanese by using their terms, and respecting the fact that the study of the Japanese language has its own history separate from Western™ linguistics. Great video my dude.
"When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie" - that's several morae
with no formal study of music, this exact topic has been a vested interest of mine. great to hear about it from someone more qualified than wikipedia
What's the wikipedia article?
That'd be a cool slogan:
12tone. More qualified than wikipedia.
Great video. People forget that the Blues is not guitar music at its heart it is sung and accompanied by an instrument. Most early blues didnt have a guitar at all. What makes the blues what it is is how its song and why its sung that way.
I remember the first time I heard someone other than Johnny Cash sing Ghost Riders in the Sky (it was Scatman Crothers), and when I heard it in jazz style instead of country style, I suddenly realized it was a blues.
Around the 11 min mark regarding work songs. "It didn't matter if you hadn't done the thing yourself because it wasn't about you. It was about the community." Somehow I found that phrase very moving. Like, maybe the world would be a better place if we spent more time in "It's not about you, it's about the community"-mode.
Also I love the Blues and it’s nice to to see a piece discussing such an important aspect of the Blues
i like how you compare this to music theory, but i still think what you did in this video is closer to poetry analysis than musical analysis. it is fascinating how blues uses lyrics though, it’s hard to think of any other genre that does something like that. excellent video as always
I like the point you made about the phrase "I woke up this morning" containing a symbolic reference to the process of coming to some sort of greater recognition. Especially the 3 eyed elephant ;) I know your discussion wasn't meant to be exhaustive but it's easy to see why that's one of the lines you chose to work on, since it's so rife with potential meaning.
A way to read into it I think is fun and hope you might like too, (full of fun tangents I keep erasing like how ok sometimes when you wake up you still remember what you were just dreaming) is how for the first few seconds or fractions of a second after a person wakes up they're not really thinking anything (see overture to Swann's Way by Proust for a flowery description) and how great a thing that is to reference at the very beginning of a narrative structure, because it mimics the listener's being at the beginning of the narrative and similarly not having any information to build upon. And yet, the first things that cross one's mind in the morning (or, ok, afternoon :) ) are generally regarded as having great importance (citation needed.) So that by the use of only six syllables, a listener already feels caught up on the background of the narrative, and knows that the following line is going to be of great importance. Neat trick!
The term you're looking for to describe the sound divisions of Japanese is "mora" (pl. "morae"). It's thought that Classical Latin used morae rather than syllables based off of patterns observed the the poetry of the day.
Oh, *that’s* amore
Hello 12tone, i am a fellow fan of your channel and since im here so fast id like to say i appreciate you and your videos. :)
I've been watching this man for years, and I didn't notice his fingernails till a few weeks ago, and I will never be able to un-see them.
10:36 Mirabel singing "I never meant this to get autobiographical"
10:32
The blues using these stock story elements to weave stories reminds me of how Greek bards like Homer are thought to have done something similar to tell their epics, such as the Odyssey. I recommend OSP's video on Homer, as that's where I learned about this Greek tradition.
D'oh!
"It could be anyone!" * Draws an Among Us character *
Well done, Cory. Well done.
15:27 when the guest sus
"I woke up on a morning"
the phrase that came up when i saw the title of this video
Coming from a background of literature and linguistics, with music as an important hobby, this was really interesting. A good and thought-provoking effort.
I have been thinking for a long time about a feature you didn’t discuss in depth: the idea of ”floating stanzas”.
Of course a short video cannot contain everything. 🙂
I think the folk tradition rewards some elaboration: for example, in Robert Johnson’s era, blues lyrics often consisted of ”floating” lines everybody used. I think the floating stanzas make improvisation easier: with ”I woke up this morning” you set a theme and at the same time give yourself some time to think about how you are going to formulate what you want to say regarding your theme. Reverting back to some floating lines again during the course of a song gives you some time to think about what’s going to happen next.
You did touch upon these issues, but I thought I’d share the thought. 🙂
I think your effort in discussing the formulas of a still living folk is a heroic effort. 👏👏
I wrote a song so bluesy, that it made me happy, and being happy gives me the blues.
"Loss" caught me completely off guard. I love it.
I'm starting to try and write music and this kinda helps me think about lyrics more thoughtfully. Thank you for somehow always making videos that are relevant to me lol
I was not expecting that. I'm surprised I don't see any other comments talking about it, and I'm fine with that.
It's funny that you say "You'd never hear a blues singer say 'I don't have the blues'". Captain Beefheart repeatedly sings the line "I ain't got the blues no more, I said" in his song "Ah Feel Like Ahcid".
Now, whether you count Captain Beefheart as a bluesman or a blues-rock singer will determine whether that example "counts," but that song is from his earlier, more bluesy years before he really started getting experimental.
Somewhat similarly, Muddy Waters opens "Mannish Boy" with the line "Everything's gonna be alright this mornin'". There seems to be a prominent category of feel-good blues songs from mid-century, at least in my limited experience.
Definitely more videos about blues
"Just Can't Seem to Get the Blues" by Rev. Billy C. Wirtz might be a parody, but it is the blues.
People, life can be frustratin' when you're just, just not born to lose.
Wasn't expecting a haiku reference in a music theory video. That was TIGHT.
Thank you for the interesting and thoughtful analysis. I've listened to a lot of Blues songs but never really thought of the lyrics like this. I'd be all about more Blues videos. Keep on rockin'!
Just found this channel and as a blues musician this really made me feel appreciated :)
Thanks for covering this topic. I translate tango lyrics and Taft’s study sounds intriguing. The formulae you mention sound like what are called commonplaces (topoi) in literary studies; treating them as interchangeable content cells is a really potent idea!
3:26 “Like, take the sonnet. This is a traditional form of European poetry originally from Italy which consists of fourteen lines in what’s called iambic pentameter.”
This may have been intentionally simplified for the video, but sonnets vary a bit in stress and rhyme scheme. Most people only know them as ABAB CDCD EFEF GG in iambic pentameter because that’s what most of Shakespeare’s sonnets used (counterexample would be Sonnet 145, which is in iambic tetrameter) and was a popular form during the English Renaissance, but if anyone reading this is interested in learning about other types of sonnets like Petrarchan (ABBAABBA CDCCDC or ABBAABBA CDECDE in iambic pentameter), Spenserian (ABAB BCBC CDCD EE in iambic pentameter) Miltonic (same as Petrarchan but with heavy use of enjambment), Terza Rima (ABA BCB CDC DED AA in iambic pentameter), Curtal (ABC ABC DBCDC or ABC ABC DCBDC in something called sprung rhythm), or the many non-English forms that follow other rules (many Spanish sonnets use 11 syllables per line), I recommend starting with the Wikipedia page and reading a whole bunch of them. Sonnets are super fun! en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet
I just started learning how to play blues guitar and this pops up in my feed. Made my day. Thank you!!!
This reminds me about how wrong Billie Eilish was about rap/hip hop lyrics.
Utterly fascinating! I loved this video.
Lyrics are very underrated. Thank you for the video.
Woke up this morning, heard some real good news
I woke up this morning, heard me some real good news
Don't worry, you're damn right I don't have the blues
Brilliant. I wonder why no one on youtube (that I'm aware of) came with this before.
Bro, I love this topic, but I lost my s#i+ at the *Loss* drawing.
Blues is more felt than thought. There really isn't a set formula for the blues. Yes, there are alot of common themes and stylistic points, but there are also several different styles of blues.
My take on blues lyrics go to the need of the genre in the first place, healing, comforting, empathetic. The blues is about good people stuck in a bad situation, and yet, usually with optimism. In the 12-bar, three line form, the first line of usually about that bad situation. Blues, as developed from earlier forms and performed in its beginnings, is a communal 'call and response' form, so the second line repeats the first, sometimes for emphasis. Third line is often some sort of resolution, or optimism for the first, or sometimes something worse with implied dark sarcasm, so lessening the tragedy of the first line. If I were to compare this to say ... the more light 'sounding' melodies of traditional Irish ballads coupled with their own dark lyrics, it feels like in blues ... Things are serious, but never hopeless. In traditional Irish ballans, things are hopeless, but never serious.
Did not come here to learn more about Japanese, but knowing about On being a named thing make actually help with learning that language because I'm working on the pronunciation part. I guess I already know they did this but it having a name kinda helps address it. The whole pitch enthusis thing and watching On length to not accidentally say something I didn't mean is hard right now.
The thing about the (delta) blues is that the licks are all free use. They’re shared. Blues at its core is made up of the same licks. You make the poetry, though, and the performance, and that’s what’s unique
Dr. Adam Gussow...a 40-plus-year veteran Blues musician and Professor of Literature and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi...has written extensively on a phenomenon knows as Signifying in Blues lyrical tradition. Consider, within the context of Jim Crow, that the Devil (so often referenced throughout the Blues) is most often a _metaphor_ for White folks, and songs about domestic violence are often _actually_ about revenge for often-violent racial oppression. When considered in this light, Blues isn't "just" the most important and influential genre in music history; it is _also_ home to some of the most brilliantly subversive protest poetry ever written, telling _two_ (or more) stories simultaneously with just _one_ set of lyrics...the "surface" story White folks hear, _and_ the deeper story Black folks _understand!_ Sadly, many Blues songs (some of the very best, in fact) _are_ autobiographical, and because similar living conditions subjected so many Black folks to similar experiences, the art is _both_ individual _and_ collective.
Your opening remarks about the importance of lyrics...especially in Blues...are _spot on!_ As a writer of lyrical _and_ non-lyrical music, I can confidently say that if a piece of music _has_ lyrics, they're usually the _reason_ for the song! With that in mind, the challenge many people don't appreciate is that, once the _structure_ of the first verse, chorus, etc. has be established, the _rest_ of the story must _also_ be told in a way that strictly _fits_ that structure...ideally while _also_ rhyming and telling the story _well enough_ to inspire an emotional response/connection in the listener(s). Referencing the above notion of songs that serve individual _and_ collective purposes, I intentionally _avoid_ using names, pop culture references, etc. specifically so _my_ usually autobiographical expressions remain just "generic" enough for _others_ to say, "Man, I know what that's guys goin' through,"...and, in so doing, help _others_ to feel understood.
P.S. If you haven't heard Big Mama Thornton's _original_ recording of Hound Dog, you haven't _heard_ Hound Dog!
I think it's also common for the "B" line to start with the same phrase as the "A" line.
14:14 The Blues, the original "I'm gonna get out of this small town" music.
Blues: You took everything from me
Pop Punk: I don’t even know who you are
It'd be Adam shame to miss that next episode.
I’ve watched many of your videos and this is the first time I realized that you’re a fellow lefty. Southpaws, unite! ✊
I know this has nothing to do with the blues but one part got me laughing. About going home or never going home. There is an Austrian hit song by a band called STS about taking a vacation in Greece and saying that one day he would stay there and never go back (probably meaning after retirement). Then there was an Austrian metal band called Alkbottle (you may guess as to their main theme) who took the same song and lyrically told the story of a nightmare-holiday, vowing never to go on vacation again...
What I forgot to say, Alkbottle made their version in such a way that it rhymes with the original...
I think it's interesting (as primarily a metalhead) how much the blues and metal are very much two sides of the same coin. I've always found it interesting when Mike Williams of EYEHATEGOD, definitely a solid part of the extreme metal sub-category described their music and "extreme blues." Then when you listen to the riffs, you really hear it.
The connection experienced between listener and performer with Blues lyrical content, IMO, is less about the actual experience, action, or plans to do something, go somewhere, or some interaction with significant other, like confrontation, or just going to see them, or there is lack of interaction or connection, it could be a purposeful avoidance of the interaction, "I ain't seen my baby since the night before last..."
I could rattle off a half dozen examples of each of these but the blues lyric is less about the things sung about in the song in concrete terms, like the the actual plan to go somewhere, the actual interaction etc, it is far less about that then it is about the reason, or reasons, for the things being some about in fairly concrete terms. Generally, a significant reason, significant cause, for the singer, and the listener, to have this shared root motivation, the root of the story of the song is the commonality between the person singing the song and the audience listening (and singing along). While the listener and the singer may or may not have a shared/similar experience of the betrayal or betrayals, possibly having been cheated on by spouse, former spouse former lover and, or partner that lied constantly about spending money and hiding the purchases, or was lying about going out and drinking, the shared emotional baggage, the pain come in the mistrust the constant wondering persons cheating again, zooming a friendship with someone who wanted to be more than a friend on a long, at your apartment right about it that leaves you with a hurts that hurts is what is shared. Damage done, and the changes in our person chooses to have acts, how the person feels and response to certain things, what is inside the person now, or what is different inside the person now, because of how they are responding to the dishonesty, the lies, the deceit, the shared experience of feeling completely betrayed and heartbroken because somebody that you cared about,, that you love more than anybody you ever loved, not even knowing loving someone this much it's possible, only to have that ripped and tore up inside you by this deceit. That is what is shared between the person singing the blues lyrics being sung and listener.
With all the focus on syllables and metre you forgot to mention the turn or volta of sonnets. And haikus have a contrast between the first 2 and the last phrases too.
The blues has these structures too, posing a question or painting a problem in the AA and then resolving in the B, after which there's room for instrumental improvisation (often in question-response forms) and then there's the turnaround to the next verse.
Please tell me someone wrote a Blues titled "I do not have the Blues."
I literally heard something along those lines (can't remember exactly, but like "I'm so happy today, I don't have the blues") no longer than ten days ago on New Orleans' WWOZ :-D
I like the analysis so far. Blues is really underappreciated, despite being a base for a lot of musical styles as well as a quality genre itself. And the poetry analysis on top is even better.
Random aside, recent random thought, but have you ever considered doing a video on Maroon 5. Like, as a concept. So few bands have thoroughly changed their identity and sound to the point of being so disparate from what they used to be, and, deoending on the person's outlook, it could be seen as a rise, a fall, or both. It's just interesting.
This is (i mean kind of) related, so I'd like to hear a teardown of a ragtime song, maybe like the Easy Winner or Maple Leaf Rag. Thanks man!
The doodle images are perfectly edited, only handful depict what he’s actually saying.
Thanks for the video. How much does this apply to the Chicago Blues style, or is this mainly about the Delta Blues?
Also, it’s “Thou dost” not “Thou doth”
The songs studied were from the 20s and 30s, that's the Delta blues era. Chicago blues became a recognizable blues style in the 40s.
But Chicago blues is sort of an electric extension of Delta blues, with more urbanized lyrics (and obviously they weren't singing about going north anymore), so most of this analysis also goes for Chicago blues.
I was listening to this trying to figure out how many of the things my bluesiest lyric did...
Oh girl I miss you,
I think I want to die
Oh girl I miss you,
I think I want to die
You been out drinking baby,
Messing round with another guy
I've been down at the old bar room,
Drinking whiskey-rye
I've been down at the old bar room,
Drinking whiskey-rye
I've been down at the old bar room baby,
Gonna find that other guy
Gonna tell him he can have you
Come by pick up your things
Gonna tell him he can have you
Come by pick up your things
Only thing I want back baby
Is my grandmama's diamond ring
(break)
I thought about acting badly
When I thought about what you'd done
But I ain't waistin' my time on you
If you ain't the one
If you ain't the one baby
Hurry up, git, go on
I could break the lines so it's AAB, but that misses the internal rhyme (well, okay, just the repeat of the words) and when I sing it I really do think it's six lines per verse, not three. My band only did one recording of it, and the rest of the guys had only had one chance to play it through before we recorded. It starts really strong but we went into a solo bit after the lyrics that probably should have been much shorter. As a 3 minute recording I think it's pretty good... at 5 1/2 in definitely feels too long.
I guess now I need to write a 'I wish I had one good recording' blues. We had so many songs that felt like we nearly nailed them but never quite did. I was pretty happy with my harp work on it though. Filthy riff starting on the 2 blow... Oh well... that's life.
Damn this is good
@@joesinclair8910 Thanks. :)
This was interesting, I had not fully understood this. I was, however, kind of disappointed; this video did what it said on the box, don't mean to say otherwise, but I've been hoping to see someone on youtube do song analysis that actually connects specific lyrical choices to specific musical choices. It's kind of an odd gap in musictube when you think about it; this is basically the backbone of professional songwriting, so in a world where we have 3 dozen guitartubers with over 100K subs, it's kind of shocking that all of them are teaching us how to play the solo, or how to understand the chords, but none of them are teaching how to select the chords or tell a story with the solo. Maybe those who could do this are busy being professional songwriters though.
Danke, this is great! For further in-depth studies i can highly recommend the book "Screening The Blues" by Paul Oliver. (btw, for the purpose of studying the tempo of the video really sucks and if i stream it to my TV i unfortunately cannot slow it down... )
That was absolutely fascinating
Adam Neely is 100% NOT the mystery guess
I was reminded a little of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg which is pretty much about popular song-writing, and maintaining an AAB form.
This video at regular speak speed would last like 30 minutes 😆
I'd love to see a video on a song like Gehenna by Slipknot that gets down to how to really make a song dark, hollow, and creepy.
I agree that considering lyrics as separate from the music is ridiculous. Lyrics are the main thing most people hear and think about.
I didn't expect an existential crisis targeting my morning routine
The captions at 2:00: 🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️
What a Haiku makes
Season Reference, Verse Cut
This is a Haikai
This reminds me of the video you made analyzing rap. I have a very soft spot in my heart for rap, and would love if you analyzed some more. I appreciate your willingness to approach lyrics in general, and find your take insightful, educational and very enjoyable!
What’s your podcast called?
Nice
"Rock and Roll is just the Blues marketed to white people"
that line shouldn't have made me laugh as much as it did
HOORAY for the Allie Brosh reference!
do you always speak at 420bpm?
Hey 12tone, you might miss this question completely and I understand, but here’s for if you don’t: is there any way for me to sign up for and pay for Nebula without having to get an account with CuriosityStream? I want to support you and Adam Neely and Polyphonic and everyone else that put so much work into it but I just... don’t need the other service. Nothing against them, I just don’t need it lol But if I download the app it doesn’t give me the option to sign up or subscribe or anything, it just asks for a login. Thanks in advance! Love your channel. Have a great evening!
About not having the blues, you gotta listen to David Bromberg's "Someone else's blues." Funny!
can you please make a video on how you make your videos
woah is the thumbnail a reference to "crossroads blues"?
Really nice video, I wish you could understand Brasil portuguese and make a vid like this one, but about bossa nova and samba lyrics
Knowing your videos I rly think you might like studiyng this
Also that's not haiku, real haiku is about specific nature themes.
Well, yes and no. Haikus are indeed about nature traditionally, but they don't need to be. Nothing about them structurally requires such.
Timely Dr. Seuss reference. Nice reference to Animal Farm. And which Riddler is your elephant? (I am a Frank Gorshin fan, myself.)
Can you do a video on Tyler Childers and colter wall and how the sound work in their songs?
Great googly moogly!
>I got me a -cravin', ta hear the >'pinionated -ravin', o' the >music theory -man... > -
Oh yeah >I got me a -cravin' ta hear this >'pinionated -ravin', o' the >music theory -man... > -
Aww >even though I'm all al-one... >I gotta hear that ol' 12 -tone... > then I'll be -doin' the >best I can... -
(Slow 4/4 time. > is the downbeat, - is the upbeat)
2:25 Chuck Berry has entered the chat
OK kids, internalize these rules and patterns for composing blues lyrics, OR you could listen to a mess of Willie Dixon tunes + Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Memphis Minnie, Bessie Smith, Tampa Red, Lightning Hopkins, Roosevelt Sykes, B.B. King. Guess which journey is more fun?
Most of popular discourse on music is based on lyrics-way more than on music theory. Probably because talking about lyrics is more accessible to more people. Still enjoyed the video, tho.
As someone who sometimes sings the blues and is fast and loose with lyrics in cover songs, it's amazing how much of this I knew instinctively from just listening for so long! But I never thought to formalize it. This is why the universe made music theorists, I guess
Here's a curious observation: a lot of rap is the blues set to different music
This dude kills trees like they murdered his momma
My wife's a vegetarian, she make me eat tofu.
I said My wife's a vegetarian, she make me eat tofu.
But that stuff just leaves me hungry, I've got the chicken cordon bleus
Nice subtle Animal Farm reference.
You say the sonnet is from italy then define it through English? Even tho thats NOT how a sonnet is defined in latin languages? A sonnet is not about accent and NOT in iabic pentameter, it is about verse structure and rhyme and its written in endecasilabos
The fact that the sonnet comes from Italy is rather tangential given that English sonnets have come to take on their own forms over the past roughly 400 years. Tom Scott has, however, addressed your point in one of his videos.
who been here, baby since
i been gone?
little bitty boy
derby on
there is an *efficiency* in Blues lyrics, compressing massive amounts of information in a small time-space with a profound respect to rhythm; the lyrics above from "Smokestack Lightin" tell a story of how a jealous man finds out his woman is cheating on him by finding a certain kind and size of hat (a derby)
“You’ll never hear a blues singer say “I don’t have the blues”. That violates the spirit of the genre” - challenge accepted.
I don’t have the blues, No, I’m feelin’ just fine. (2x)
I just heard some bad news, but soon we’ll be ready to dine.
I don’t have the blues, baby, you don’t have to hide. (2x)
I just heard somebody died, but baby I got you by my side
I don’t have the blues, I’m really happy we’re two. (2x)
It’s just I’m looking at that photo, baby, the way she smiles to you.
I don’t have the blues, and don’t you worry bout a thing. (2x)
If you’ll just give me a minute, Daddy’s coming soon to push your swing.
So are you just going to hit the origin of every song on hugh laurie's album?
Should I stay or should I go now, should I stay or should I go now
If I go there will be trouble, and if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know, should I stay or should I go
(my favourite example)
You hear the one about the blues player who died?
...
...
...
He didn't wake up this mornin'
Can you please do an analysis on Take Me To Church by Hozier?