The+Blues

The Blues [|Ms. Falk's Google Presentation]

Bessie Smith wrote and recorded this song in 1928.

[|Here's a link to the audio]

//Thinking Blues//
Bessie Smith wrote this blues song and recorded it in 1928. Did you ever sit thinking with a thousand things on your mind? Did you ever sit thinking with a thousand things on your mind? Thinking about someone who has treated you so nice and kind You'll get an old letter and you begin to read You'll get an old letter and you begin to read Got the blues so bad tell that man of mine I wanna be Don't you hear me baby, knocking on your door? Don't you hear me baby, knocking on your door? Have you got the nerve to drive me from your door? Have you got the nerve to say that you don't want me no more? Have you got the nerve to say that you don't want me no more? The good book said you got to reap what you sow Take me back baby, try me one more time Take me back baby, try me one more time That's the only way I can get these thinking blues off my mind

The Blues
 * Tell a story
 * Express some kind of emotion, mostly sadness
 * Is sometimes directed toward a specific person
 * Has a specific rhyme scheme: aab

Your assignment: Write a blues song from one //Color Purple// character to another.

Possible pairs:


 * Shug/Celie
 * Mister/Shug
 * Sofia/Harpo
 * Squeak/Harpo
 * Mister/Harpo
 * Harpo/Celie
 * Squeak/Sofia

<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 170%; text-align: center;"> Think of these songs as dialogue: how would each character "holler back"?