People have been brainwashed into believing that it's got to be down or it wouldn't be blues. But it's not so. It's got to be a fact or it wouldn't be blues.
Willie DixonRead
The whole of life itself expresses the blues. That's why I always say the blues are the true facts of life expressed in words and song, inspiration, feeling and understanding. The blues can be about anything pertaining to the facts of life. The blues call on God as much as a spiritual song do.
Interpretation
The blues reflect the realities of life, capturing its emotions and truths through music and lyrics.
In this quote, Willie Dixon emphasizes that the blues genre encapsulates the essence of human experience, articulating the joys, sorrows, and struggles we all face. He suggests that the blues not only convey profound feelings and insights about life but also connect to spiritual elements, similar to other forms of spiritual expression.
In practice
In a speech about music's power to heal, one could quote this.
People have been brainwashed into believing that it's got to be down or it wouldn't be blues. But it's not so. It's got to be a fact or it wouldn't be blues.
The blues is the roots, the rest is the fruits.
The blues will always be because the blues are the roots of all American music.
The blues has been the foundation of all other American music since the beginning.
The Blues are the true facts of life expressed in words and song, inspiration, feeling, and understanding.
So I asked him to play "Trav'lin' All Alone." That came closer than anything to the way I felt. And some part of it must have come across. The whole joint quieted down. If someone had dropped a pin, it would have sounded like a bomb. When I finished, everybody in the joint was crying in their beer, and I picked thirty-eight bucks up off the floor. . . . When I showed Mom the money for the rent and told her I had a regular job singing for eighteen dollars a week, she could hardly believe it.
This is what I want everyone to experience at the end of my concert... _x000D_ everyone has this sense of rejoicing. _x000D_ I don't want them to be blown away by what I do, _x000D_ I want them to have this sense of real, real joy _x000D_ from the depths of their being. _x000D_ Because I think when you take them to that place, _x000D_ then you open up a place where grace can come in.
This has not changed: always like the first time, very, very nervous. But when the music begins, you are in the music, it's a sort of transformation. Your feeling for the music is greater and has nothing to do with your nerves. You go out of yourself.
Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin. Now, they are so subtle, they can milk you with two notes. They can make you feel like they told you the whole universe. But I don't know that yet. All I got now is strength. Maybe if I keep singing, maybe I'll get it.
There's a lot of really inspiring music coming around the bend - we tend to believe that to sound classic or timeless is to sound vintage or retro. It's a little bit dangerous, because you'll really miss a chance to make your mark as a generation.
If anyone was the Fifth Beatle, it was Brian [Epstein].
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