The First Time I Met The Blues

The chronological details are a blur. I know for a fact that the first ever guitar-based song I ever heard that stuck to my head was Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" (although I can't remember whether I heard the original first or Marty McFly's) which led to my love of 50's rock n' roll.

But that's rock n' roll. I'm talking about the blues. I'm sure I had heard blues before, but never really understood it or fell in love with it. Not till I had the blues. And that moment I do remember.

I was in Geneva, visiting family friends (Ahmad's parents, for those who know who Ahmad is). My love for movies had kicked in and we were renting shit-loads of vids from the local video store run by a really cute 16 year old (I was around the same age at the time) and her over-bearing mother who probably thought we were trying to steal her daughter away. What can I say? Mountains, clocks and delicious chocolates aren't the only thing they make well. They also produce fine booty.

But back to the blues.

Casino had recently come out, and I was already a fan of Scorcese. So when we were in Geneva, shopping around, I came across the Casino soundtrack: a sprawling two-disc set covering music over three decades. Bought it, loved it.

On that disc was one song that will forever stay with me: B.B. King's 'The Thrill Is Gone'.

A couple of months later, I broke up with my then girlfriend. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling too good and was doing my best to forget about it. The Casino soundtrack was on and I was going about my business in my room when that song hit. And by God it hit.

I remember stopping everything I was doing and just listening. That hauntingly painful guitar solo, B.B.'s voice full of sorrow, the strings tugging at your heart.

I'm almost a 100% certain I started crying.

For the next few days I had that song on repeat. Why? Because it was exactly how I felt. It tapped into the exact emotion I was feeling and fucking clutched my heart with every note.

I remember reading somewhere, someone describing the blues as an expression of a single, specific emotion concised into two simple lines and a 12 bar chord progression.

That song got me through most of my heat-ache and opened up a whole new world to me: the blues. And it ain't just sad. The blues can be anything, but it's specific. A moment, a feeling, captured in two simple lines that say exactly what it's all about.

That's what I love so much about the blues. The chord progressions, the music, the kick-ass solo's, those are all great, but secondary. True blues taps into you, it says what you want to say or what you're thinking or feeling. So much of the music I hear on the radio these days tap into a general, broad emotion: happy, sad, angry, melancholy, etc. But they don't pinpoint specifics. Not as much as the blues does.

That's why I love the blues.




 

(And, in case you're wondering, I bring this all up because I've been spending a shit-load of time trying to write a solo for a blues song Henry wrote for Triple6Poser and it's driving me fucking insane.)