Talkin' Blues

Someone asked me what was the meaning of the name "Talkin' Blues", so here's an explanation of how the name came about.

To begin with, the term refers to a style of blues music where the lyrics are spoken rather than sung. Presumably this was invented by some great guitarist who couldn't sing to save his life. Blues music is one of the popular genres at the Friday night club I go to; I'd never consider myself an expert at either performing blues, or even identifying the "greats" I've never even heard of them most of the time. But I do like to listen to it, especially late on in the evening when everyone's relaxed (and slightly stoned).

The next step along the way was one that came from the lyrics of a Dire Straits song "Walk of Life". While this wasn't ever my favourite song of theirs (that honour goes to "Your Latest Trick") the lyrics are about just exactly what this blog is about; a walk through life.

Here comes Johnny, gonna tell you the story
Hand me down my walking shoes
Here comes Johnny with the power and the glory
Backbeat, the talking blues

The flipside to "Blues" of course is that it's not just about music. Blues is about life, it's what makes you blue (and about what makes you not-blue too) and that's what all those old blues singers were preaching eighty years ago. So Talkin' Blues is me (not Johnny) talking about my Walk of Life, about my own blues.

And that's the story behind the title of my blog.

What's the story behind yours?