Blues references needed....

Aaron Cheney

Aaron Cheney

Favorite Chord: C 6/9
Hey guys,
I'm in the midst of a song, and I need some blues references. When you think of blues lore, what do you think of? Here's what I've got so far:

The crossroads
Selling your soul
Hell-hounds
The Mississippi
New Orleans
Voodoo Chile
Texas Flood
The delta
Picking cotton
Muddy Waters

What else can you name that typifies the blues or is a blues cliche?

A
www.aaroncheney.com
 
vestast said:
Lucille ?
Click to expand...


That one crossed my mind too, but doesn't really work in the song. Here... let me give you part of the lyrics so you can see where I'm going:

Blues Found Me
by Aaron Cheney

Ain't never seen the crossroads
Ain't never owed the devil pay
Ain't never heard his Hell-hounds howl
Blues found me anyway.


What I'm looking for here are more "ain't nevers"...

Sorry to be so cryptic guys. I've recently had a very bad experience that has made me leary of sharing my lyrics w/ people until they are copyrighted.

A
www.aaroncheney.com
 
Ain't never had no fine car
Ain't never had no home
But I can give you good lovin'
And then I gots to roam.
 
Ain't never been a boozer
Ain't never beat my wife
Ain't done a thing to earn these blues
That haunt me all my life
 
Ain't never chased the ladies
Ain't never robbed a bank
Ain't never found the reason why
I have to walk this plank
 
I always live a good life
Work hard and do things right
But when I tried to get some rest
Blues found me late last night



I'll stop now:rolleyes:
 
Aaron Cheney said:
That one crossed my mind too, but doesn't really work in the song. Here... let me give you part of the lyrics so you can see where I'm going:

Blues Found Me
by Aaron Cheney

Ain't never seen the crossroads
Ain't never owed the devil pay
Ain't never heard his Hell-hounds howl
Blues found me anyway.


What I'm looking for here are more "ain't nevers"...

Sorry to be so cryptic guys. I've recently had a very bad experience that has made me leary of sharing my lyrics w/ people until they are copyrighted.

A
www.aaroncheney.com
Click to expand...

Ya aint nevers been edacated neither huh? Though you usta coulda maybees?
Ain't never not been arrested?
Ain't never paid my dues?
Ain't never slept in a barn?
Ains't never ate crawdads nor alligata?

I can tell you aint nevers been thar!

heh heh...

SoMm
 
however the song resolves, someone has to get stabbed w/ a pen knife before it's all over. :D

and of course, bluesmen were generally "makin' they way up Chicago/St. Louueey/Kaay Citeee bound."
 
So... anyway.....

so far the ones that might work are:

crawdads
alligators
thrill is gone
haunt me all my life
getting stabbed/ poisoned
hobo - ing


The others were good too, but I'm looking for images or ideas that are specifically linked to the blues. Things like "chasing the ladies" are too general.

I also thought of:

Willie Brown
Collared greens (sp?)



Do you think the average person would have any idea who Willie Brown is?

There are lots of other phrases/words from Robert Johnson tunes that might work, but I'm not sure if the average person would get them:

come on in my kitchen
stones in my passway
terraplane
fell down on my knees
dust my broom
last fair deal gone down
etc...


A
www.aaroncheney.com
 
Aaron Cheney said:


There are lots of other phrases/words from Robert Johnson tunes that might work, but I'm not sure if the average person would get them:

www.aaroncheney.com
Click to expand...
The average Joe probably wont have a clue as to who wrote the phrases/words.The average Joe thinks that LedZep wrote all of
the tunes that they stoled from great bluesmen.
Anyway man I'm not trying to be harsh here,just want you to understand that the blues aint something that you cut and paste.
If you aint lived them they dont sound authentic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
SHEPPARDB. said:
The average Joe probably wont have a clue as to who wrote the phrases/words.The average Joe thinks that LedZep wrote all of the tunes that they stoled from great bluesmen.
Anyway man I'm not trying to be harsh here,just want you to understand that the blues aint something that you cut and paste.
If you aint lived them they dont sound authentic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Yes, I suppose the fact that I even had to ask if anyone would get those references was answering my own question. And your Led Zep point is sadly funny and true.

However, phrases like "If you aint lived them they dont sound authentic!", or "If you need others to tell you what the blues feel like, you should most likely be writing a pop song." are just cliche.

I wasn't asking what the blues feels like anyway. I was simply asking for a list of blues lore references for a lyric I'm working on; similar to looking through a rhyming dictionary for possible rhyme ideas. I'm sure even Robert Johnson himself had to sit and think out his lyrics, gather ideas, work out rhymes and such. I mean, c'mon.... no one believes all that crossroads stuff is real.... do they....??


A
www.aaroncheney.com
 
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