Talk:Blues

"Blue laws" and origin of "the blues"

The assertion supported by a Huffington Post blog article that the term "the blues" is connected to blue laws strikes me as absurd. For one, blue laws were not aimed primarily at prohibiting alcohol sales but at banning all secular activities on Sundays: the sales of non-essentials, sporting events, working, etc. Debra Devi, who wrote the HuffPost piece, is also the author of the book Language of the Blues. But an etymologist she is not.

The use of the word "blue" meaning depressed or feeling "low" can be traced as far back as Chaucer, to the 1300's. Devi, on the other hand, settles on a 17th century term "blue devil", which describes severe alcohol withdrawal, also known as delirium tremors. She then goes on to mention an 18th century work where the term "blue laws" was first used, but since nobody knows why "blue" was attached to the laws, it's a stretch - a leap, actually - to use this as an explanation for the term "the blues".

I have no problem mentioning the "theory" set forth in the HuffPost article, ridiculous as it seems, but it should be clearly offset (refuted) by more widely accepted explanations, sources abound, that point to the term's more literal, and therefore more obvious, meaning. Allreet (talk) 21:16, 22 December 2021 (UTC)

Rather than placing a large template on the page, why not just amend the text yourself, based on reliable sources? Ghmyrtle (talk) 23:07, 22 December 2021 (UTC)

@Ghmyrtle: That's my usual approach, but since Blues is not my area of expertise and the article could have a closer "following", I wanted to get some feedback from editors more knowledgeable on the subject. Regarding the wide interest in the blues, I'm surprised an article of this importance would include such a speculative (and illogical) explanation at its core for such a long time - since 2015. So on that thought, I'll give it another day or so to see who else chimes in, then I'll tackle it myself.Allreet (talk) 15:13, 27 December 2021 (UTC)

I’m surprised that the history of “the Blues” does not credit the long proceeding folk traditions using a guitar to tell all kinds of tragic of mournful as well as joyful personal and moral stories Where Black story tellers took it is a marvel of poetic expression, but it also displayed the vitality of its European origins.

It’s speculative on my part, but that the first traces of the Blues seem to come with Black freedom, and contact with the North, it seems its origin might have been different from Black spirituals, apparently beginning during slavery. Mention of these connections would be important to have in the article to make it authoritative. JessieHenshaw (talk) 01:34, 2 February 2025 (UTC)

Origin

The idea that “the blues” comes from “blue laws” isn’t supported by evidence. “Blue” meaning “sad” or “melancholy” dates back to the 1300s, and the phrase “blue devils” was used in the 1600s to describe sadness or withdrawal. The term “the blues” likely came from this meaning, not from Sunday laws. The article should also note the music’s true roots in African American folk and spiritual traditions that expressed both pain and hope. Acorn202 (talk) 21:08, 19 October 2025 (UTC)

AI-generated content

Hi -- I have tagged this article as possibly containing AI-generated text, specifically the edits by NebulaNavigator77. They need thorough review and fact check, but I have not removed them as this is a suspicion, not proof. In this case the blast radius seems to be limited to captions. Gnomingstuff (talk) 17:44, 13 August 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for tagging this! I've gone through and either removed their changes or rewritten & verified the associated captions.

I kept the picture of 1980s Dan Aykroyd since it is vaguely topical to the nearby text, but I do think an actual screencap of The Blues Brothers or something would be more appropriate. I kept Koko Taylor too, since she is a good example of women in blues (even though her image does not really tie in with the associated text in any direct way). Altoids0 (talk) 12:24, 15 August 2025 (UTC)

It may be worth pointing out that User:NebulaNavigator77 was blocked from editing in January 2025, due to persistent editing without supporting references. - Derek R Bullamore (talk) 21:19, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

12 bar sequence in Form section

The "Form" section includes a table with this 12-bar sequence: CCCC-FFCC-GGCC, citing this source. The source isn't wrong, giving a couple of real-world examples following that sequence, in the embedded video. However, that sequence isn't typical for blues music. The turnaround is different (boldface indicates change): CCCC-FFCC-GFCC or even CCCC-FFCC-DGCC. Need to find a source that reflects more common usage, even if historically the one shown might more common in the past. ~Anachronist (who / me) (talk) 23:47, 28 June 2026 (UTC)