While reading Fences, the reader can hear the Blues influencing Troy's speech. Troy says, "I can laugh out loud...and it feels good. It reaches all the way down to the bottom of my shoes." (Act Two, Scene One) The blues is a musical form that was created in the African-American communities in the South at the end of the 19th century. It was created from sprituals, work songs, chants and narrative ballads. The Blues ranges from country to urban blues and after WWII, it transitioned from acoustic to electric; making the blues appealing to wider audiences. |
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My Babe by Little Walter. Lilttle Walter was a blues singer, harmonica player and guitarist who gained popualrity during the 1950s as an artist on Chess Records. |
 Click photo above to link to more information about the Blues music. |
The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway. . . .
He did a lazy sway. . . .
To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
O Blues!
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
Sweet Blues!
Coming from a black man’s soul.
O Blues!
In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan—
“Ain’t got nobody in all this world,
Ain’t got nobody but ma self.
I’s gwine to quit ma frownin’
And put ma troubles on the shelf.”
Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
He played a few chords then he sang some more—
“I got the Weary Blues
And I can’t be satisfied.
Got the Weary Blues
And can’t be satisfied—
I ain’t happy no mo’
And I wish that I had died.”
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man that’s dead. |
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