Willie Brown, Future Blues Part Three

In the previous posts of this series (part one and part two), we saw that Willie Brown‘s Future Blues combined two themes, the anxiety about the future and the anxious love for a woman. In this post I’ll focus on the last two verses of the song.

I think I’m not wrong when saying that the fifth verse is the most subtle and complex in the entire song. First, let us give read it.

Girl, I know, you see dat picture now, Lordie, up, up on your mother’s, up on your mother’s, mama’s shelf?
I know, you see dat picture, Lord, up on your mother’s, mama’s shelf?
Lord, you know by dat I’m gittin’ tired of sleepin’ by myself.

Well, what about that? I bet you think it’s quite puzzeling (or even nonsensical). This verse is a perfect example of delta poetry; it could alsobe an argument for those who say that delta blues consists only in a set of juxtaposed formulae that would hardly make any sense at all.

The interpretative strategy which I’ll adopt is to clarify the verse’s elements and then construct a meaning from their respective interconnections.

The first element I’ll take into account is the picture. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the picture funtionned as a substitute for a person (das Bild als Ersatz, as Freud would put it). When someone was away, he left behind a photo to keep (a really mean keep) his place warm; it was a memento and an insurance that he wouldn’t be forgotten.

The second element I’d like to talk about is the shelf. In the pre-war times, the shelf was the family’s fridge. In a poor society, the shelf is a powerful symbol. When bluesmen want to show their miserable life, the first thing they think of is the shelf ith nothing on it; likewise, when they want to stress how much they miss their women, they say something like “I got apples on my table, i got food on my shelf” by I’m still dissatisfied. In a world where the suplies were an important capital, the shelf is undoubtly a symbol for the source of life.

The third essential element is the reference to the mother (wich is underlined by the lexical variety). In the Black pre-war community, the mother was the person who ensured the family’s stability and existence. Some of the most impressive blues ever written explore the being motherless theme (e.g. Barbecue Bob as a motherless chile).

The fact that Willie Brown’s baby keeps his picture on her mother’s shelf is a kind of promise she’s making. The verse express the bluesman’s hope for getting settled in a traditional way; he suggests that the woman’s intentions are serious (his picture – i.e. his persona – is on the mother’s -i.e. the family symbol – shelf – i.e. the symbol of welfare. OK, sorry for that .

The third line of the verse dramatically reminds the listener of the anxiety undergoing the bluesman’s love. Although the woman partially responds to his love, she wouldn’t go further. And this is her “low-down way” he mentionned in the second verse. Finally, one should take note that “sleeping by myself” is a very common trope in the Delta and Chicago blues.

The last verse is just as ambivalent as the fifth:

En it’s “T” for Texas, now, en it’s “T” fo’ Tennessee,
En it’s “T” for Texas, now, en it’s “T” fo’ Tennessee,
Lord bless dat woman dat put de thing on me.

The openning line is a quite frequently used formula, which suggests the mobile and uncertain life of a bluesman; it is indifferent where he goes, the fact is he’ll surely be going some day. The last line, though, brings back the other theme, the anxious hope of a fulfilled love. The “thing” Willie Brown referres to is actually a spell (just like in Screamin Jay Hopkins’ I put a spell on you). The woman’s spell is what stops him from going away and still hoping.
OK, I think that’s enough now. I hope you began hearing different the song. If you want listening to it one more time, you’ll find it on the Document Records website:

http://www.document-records.com/mp3/21663.mp3

Finally, speaking of Screamin Jay Hawkins (I probably won’t get to write to much about him)

PS Very soon hopefully I’ll write about the use of the word “blues” in a few Black journals during the 19th century. As you’ll see, this census could open some interesting insights… but i won’t spoil the surprise.