The Birth Of The Blues

(album: Starring Sammy Davis Jr. - 1955)

Oh... they say my people long ago
Where looking for a different tune
One that we can croon
As only we can
We only had the rhythm
So, we started swinging to and fro
We didn't know just what to use
But this is how the blues
I said the blues really began
Oh yeah

We heard the breeze
Through the trees
Singing weird melodies
And we named that the start of the blues

Then from a jail
There came a whale
From a down-hearted frail
And we played that
To be a part of our blues

From a whippoorwill
High on a hill
They took a new note
Pushed it through a horn
Till it was worn into a blue note

You better believed me we nursed it
And we rehearsed it
Than we gave out the news
That the South Land, gave birth to the blues