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Article: The language of Blind Lemon Jefferson: the covert theme of blindness.
- Article from:
- Black Music Research Journal
- Article date:
- March 22, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Center For Black Music Research. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I am an invisible man.
(Ellison 1986, 17)
And it's tough to see a man go to the rack and almost starve and die.
--Blind Lemon Jefferson ("Tin Cup Blues," 1929)
I can't see ya, but I can smell ya!
--Blind Lemon Jefferson (quoted in James [1997, 14])
Because of his strong artistic influence and commercial impact on the newborn country blues race-records field, Blind Lemon Jefferson has often been considered by music critics as an archetypal figure. If it is true that "the blues are the true facts of life expressed in words and song, inspiration, feeling and understanding"--as bluesman Willie Dixon remarked (Dixon and ...