What is “the blues”?

Blues Pianist Memphis Slim had this to say:

It originated from slavery. That’s my opinion. It came from slavery. When a guy who was a slave wanted to say something that they really couldn’t say that would get them in trouble and they wanted to get back at their boss, they would sing.

The blues ain’t nothin’ but a botheration on your mind.

Blues bass/guitar/harmonica/piano player, singer, writer, and first black producer has this to say:

Well, frankly, the blues is nothing but the feeling when you got a good girl on your mind or something like that. But music has a good way of relaxing your mind against that feeling.

The blues is the roots and other music is the fruits

What is "the blues?"

Blues legend Howlin’ Wolf answered the question this way:

Howlin’ Wolf, a legendary bluesman, is seen in this picture pointing at Son House and getting angry at Son House for getting drunk and interruping Wolf’s performance. Talking about Son House, Howlin’ Wolf said:

See. This man got the blues. That’s where the blues comes from. He done drunk up all of his. I’m telling you like it is, now. You see. You had a chance with your life. But you ain’t done nothing with it! See. You got to have the blues.

We ain’t talking about the women. We’re talking about the life of a human being. Talking about how they live. See. You don’t love but only one thing, and that’s some whisky. You see. This is the blues here. When a man gets scared.

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About the blues in general, Wolf went on to say:

You see. A lot of people are wondering, "what is the blues?" I hear a lot of people saying, "the blues…the blues." But I’m going to tell you what the blues is.

When you ain’t got no money, you got the blues. When you ain’t got no money to pay the house rent, you still got the blues. A lot of people holler and say, "I don’t like the blues," but when you ain’t got no money and you can’t pay your house rent, and you can’t buy you no food, you damn sure got the blues.

If you ain’t got no money, you got the blues, because your are thinking evil. Any time you are thinking evil, you are thinking about the blues.

If your getting everything your possess and you don’t need nothing, you don’t have the right to worry about nothing. But when you got nothing, you have got to worry about something. And that’s where the blues come in. You say, "You know, I don’t have this, and I don’t have that." And you look at other people and they’ve got this and that. In your heart you feel like you are nobody. You got the blues.

What is "the blues?"

One of the original bluesmen, Son House, answered the question this way:

"This thing that people call “the blues”… The Blues… B.L.U.E.S. Now you take a youngster, when they first wanted to learn to play the blues, they didn’t know yet what the real blues is. Now, it’s according to what you have in your heart. You can have the blues about your fellow man, your fellow lady, or somebody. You can have it from the heart. Now the blues come according to what you mean.

You know, some people can have the blues so hard they go to the river and jump in and drown themselves. Some kill one another, cut each other’s throat and shoot them. You can do anything with the blues. That’s their trouble. They got the blues! They say, “That woman told me she loved me. Now she’s gone. I’m gonna find her and kill her! Something has got to happen.”