Birth Of The Blues (Performed live on The Ed Sullivan Show 12/26/54)

Oh! they say some people long ago

Were searching for a different 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!