oh! they say some people long ago
were searching for a diff'rent tune,
one that they could croon
as only they can.

they only had the rhythm so
they started swaying to and fro.
they didn`t know just what they had
and that is how the blues really began:

they heard the breeze in the trees
singing weird melodies
and they made that
the start of the blues.

and from a jail came the wail
of a down hearted frail,
and they played that
as part of the blues.

from a whippoorwill out on a hill,
they took a new note,
pushed it through a horn
'til it was born into a blue note.

and then they nursed it, rehearsed it,
and gave out the news
that the southland
gave birth to the blues!