Thursday, May 14, 2009

Someone Else's Blues

Long ago and far away David Bromberg once wrote and then sang many times after, a song called "Someone Else's Blues" . About waking up with no good reason for or in fact any reason to feel blue, yet when he woke up that morning, he woke up with someone else's blues. Everything was going great. All pistons, firing in sequence. He had more dope than he could smoke and it was almost a perfect day. He couldn't enjoy his good fortune, revel in all his grand luck. Cuz, gawdammit, when he cracked his eyes that AM, he had already rolled out on the wrong side.

And as David makes his guitar whine, a sax moans and a piano chimes in with perfection, it's as if the whole band woke up with the blues. Somewhere out there in the real world, some undeserving slob has hijacked poor Dave's good vibes. Some flounder who should be crying is out having himself a fine ole happy time.

I think most of us can relate. At some point in time, a specific moment in the grand walk, we all have felt down when there was no good reason to live under a cloud. We weren't fielding curves, our monthly bills were caught up, and it was not raining. Yet sometimes we act as if we wished we weren't caught up, all Life had was curves and some rain would justify the way we feel. We wouldn't feel so damn guilty about being out of sorts, pissed off, or just having our nose out of joint.

Being contrary "just because" fills a valuable slot in my tool bag of moods I use to get through the shit that flows all around me. I figure some overload switch has been tripped if I wake up a tad off, a tad mean. Small doses of moodiness sure beat the Hell out of the full blown Monty malevolent Mike I can become if small irritants are not purged on a semi regular basis. Being in a funk with no excuse I think is just my subconscious doing some needed maintenance.

I surely learned many years ago to not fight a mood too hard. Nothing sucks worse than trying to keep a stiff upper lip when tripping over that lip is what I really want to do. Being unhappy can be it's own reward. Just can't let myself wallow in it. Get a taste and then perk up.

Looks like this is night to rip some Blues into the Library. A Bromberg Album first, now the Don Brewer Blues Project is twisting my brain and all the while Stevie Ray Vaughan is hanging cool waiting his turn.



Not sure why I left Stevie Ray until last tonight. It could be argued that I saved the best for last. Certainly his version of "The Sky is Crying" is second to no other artists efforts. But calling him the best just doesn't cut it. Too many other great Blues guitarists out there. Each one with their own style, tone, and shtick. Each one "the greatest" in his/her own way.

Well I blew it. I went into You Tube and now it is an hour later and all I have to show for it is an hour of wasting time on one excellent video or another. Caught 4 versions of "Sky is Crying". One had Stevie Ray, Albert King and BB King together all on stage doing their thing. Absolutely cool.

And then I ran into this - David Bromberg doing an acoustic version of "The Sky is Crying". Damn.......... the Internet can be a real hoot some nights.



See Ya ..................

(608 / 3114)

7 comments:

Demeur said...

Can't you smell that funk that has premeated the subconsious of the country. Even those with stable positions and no reason to worry have doubts. Not to worry though Big Pharma has a pill just for that. Ignore the fine print but should you experience side effects consult your physician immediately and he will prescribe additional scripts that counteract the initial side effects while causing others. But don't worry about that either because there are drugs to counteract those effects as well.
Or maybe we could just go to the front door open it wide and shout at the top of our lungs. See now don't you feel better and it didn't cost a thing?

Gary ("Old Dude") said...

I myself being a died in the wool Optimist, get right upset with myself if I allow a down mood to control my day------but yeah, I know what your alluding to----kinda like earthquakes, a whole bunch of little ones, is a hell of lot better than one big one!!

BBC said...

I have no idea who David Bromberg is.

But I don't do drugs so I handle downs in one of two ways. Humor or getting pissed and kicking the shit out of it.

I can't say that I have ever been really down.

Snave said...

I don't know that I would call myself a huge blues fan, but I do like Stevie Ray Vaughan quite a lot. Our band does a cool song called "Empty Promises" by an excellent blues guy named Michael Burks. We also do a tune called "Tore Down", a Freddie King tune as done by the late and great Jeff Healey. A recent discovery is Jimmy Thackery, a guy with all kinds of great blues licks in his repertoire.

But I wanted to say I saw David Bromberg in 1979 in Eugene, OR in an old church, with his band. It was a GREAT show! I don't remember much about it except that Bromberg was a wonderfully good musician.

I will have to check into his stuff again. Thanks for jogging my memory!

Bill said...

I worry when I'm not in the mood for the blues. It happens sometimes.

Middle Ditch said...

Nice post. Great music

PipeTobacco said...

MrMaCrum:

I hope all is ok sir, it is unusual for you to not post in such a length of time as this.

PipeTobacco

http://frumpyprofessor.blogspot.com