Eddie had an ear for the blues, pretty good player too. That’s why he had enrolled at Camden Community College, because they offered classes on playing the blues. Strange thing was all the other cats were white, except Eddie. Twenty-one white cats, one white tutor and Eddie, the only black guy in the class.
Can white folk play the blues? This
white lady he’d been talking to – or she’d been talking to him – nice lady,
well-dressed, well-groomed, well-mannered, lives in Belsize Park. Why does she
want to play the blues? What has she got the blues about? Nobody’s hittin’ down
on her. Why then?
“I so looove the blues”
Eddie started thinking. He thought
she better have something to sing the
blues about, and he emphasised the word ‘better’ in his head. Then, he revised
that thought. Maybe she just likes the ‘sound’ of blues music. A lot of white
folk do. In fact, mostly white folk
do. Black folk don’t seem to bother with it. To be reminded of it. It is
redolent of booze, tragedy and virtual illiteracy. It’s borne of poverty and hard times. Why would you want reminding of
that? Its only champion was white folk. Some made money from it; others loved
it for another reason.
He asked the lady “Why?”
She answered “It’s soooo authentic”
It sure is.
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