When I die, they'll bury the blues with me. But the blues will never die.
John Lee HookerRead
You can go to Europe, and there's no turnin' back - any parts of Europe. Wherever you are, there is no stop and go for the blues. The blues go but it don't stop.
Interpretation
The blues are an enduring part of life, and once you experience them, there's no returning to ignorance.
In this quote, John Lee Hooker reflects on the profound nature of the blues as a genre and an emotional experience. He implies that immersing oneself in the blues is a journey that irrevocably alters one's perspective and that the essence of the blues is a constant presence in life, representing struggles and emotions that persist regardless of one's physical location or circumstances.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about the significance of music in expressing human emotions.
When I die, they'll bury the blues with me. But the blues will never die.
The blues tells a story. Every line of the blues has a meaning.
Like you and your woman ain't gettin' along and you're in love. You can't sleep at nights. Your mind is on her - on whatever. You know, that's the blues. You can't hug that money at night. You can't kiss it.
I don't play a lot of fancy guitar. I don't want to play it. The kind of guitar I want to play is mean, mean licks.
They wasn't gonna give you nothin'. I didn't care as long as they let me play my music. Cash on the spot... You cheat me and I'm gonna get me some money, too.
I don't think about time. You're here when you're here. I think about today, staying in tune.
You start out playing rock 'n' roll so you can have sex and do drugs, but you end up doing drugs so you can still play rock 'n' roll and have sex.
Pop music often tells you everything is OK, while rock music tells you that it's not OK, but you can change it.
With the lights out, It's less dangerous. Here we are now, Entertain us. I feel stupid, And contagious. Here we are now. Entertain us.
We'd like to think that our music will always be bigger than any one of our individual personalities.
I always felt rock and roll was very, very wholesome music.
Of emotions, of love, of breakup, of love and hate and death and dying, mama, apple pie, and the whole thing. It covers a lot of territory, country music does.
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