Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Blues |
BluesNoun1. A type of folk song that originated among Black Americans at the beginning of the 20th century; has a melancholy sound from repeated use of blue notes. 2. An informal term for a state of depression; "he had a bad case of the blues". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "blues" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1608. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Food & Agriculture | Grade of Jamaica bananas. Source: European Union. (references) |
Literature | Blues (The), applied to troops. The Oxford Blues. The Royal Horse Guards were so called in 1690, from the Earl of Oxford their commander and the blue facings. Wellington, in one of his despatches, writes:- "I have been appointed colonel of the Blues." "It was also known as the `Blue Guards' during the campaign in Flanders (1742-1745)."- Trimen: Regiments of the British Army. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Blues is a vocal and instrumental musical form originally derived from African American work songs. A form of American roots music, blues has been a major influence on later American popular music, finding expression in jazz, big bands, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and country music as well as conventional pop songs and even modern classical music.
Early forms of the blues evolved in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, using simple instruments such as acoustic guitar, piano, and harmonica. Songs came with many different forms of structure, although the twelve or eight bar structure based on tonic, subdominant and dominant chords became predominant. Melodically, blues music is marked by the use of the lowered third and dominant seventh (so called blue notes) of the associated major scale. The blues scale is frequently used in non-blues musical forms.
What is now recognizable as the standard 12 bar blues form with A A1 B form is documented from oral history and sheet music as appearing in African-American communities throughout the region along the lower Mississippi River in the decade before 1910 (and performed by white bands in New Orleans at least since 1908).
W.C. Handy was one of the first trained musicians to take blues tunes and styles and present them in modern style with bands and singers. He also wrote some of the most important blues, notably the St. Louis Blues.
Lyrically, verses of early blues songs tended to consist a single line repeated two or three times before, such as:
The subject matter of the lyrics was often the hardships and injustices of life, giving the blues an undeserved reputation for misery, whereas blues lyrics are often joyous, raunchy and funny.
- Woke up this morning with the blues down in my soul
- Woke up this morning with the blues down in my soul
- My baby gone and left me, got a heart as black as coal
Jazz bands often recorded blues tunes from 1917 on. In the 1920s the blues became a major element of American popular music. With the rise of the recording industry there was increased popularity of country blues singers and guitarists like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Blake who recorded for Paramount Records and Lonnie Johnson who recorded for OKeh Records. These recordings came to be known as "race" records since they were targeted almost exclusively to an African American audience. In addition, women blues singers were extremely popular in the 20s, among them Mamie Smith, Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Victoria Spivey.
- Rebecca, Rebecca, get your big legs off of me,
- Rebecca, Rebecca, get your big legs off of me,
- It may be sending you baby, but it's worrying the hell out of me.
In the 1940s and 1950s, increased urbanization and the use of amplification led to electric blues music, popular in cities such as Chicago and best exemplified by such artists as Howling Wolf and Muddy Waters. Electric blues would eventually give rise to rock and roll.
In the 1960s and 1970s artists such as Eric Clapton, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix influenced by both early and electric blues musicians brought the blues to a new, younger audience. This was a development of the earlier folk & blues revival. Through these artists and others both earlier and later, Blues music has been strongly influential in the development of Rock and Roll.
In the 1980s the film The Blues Brothers helped increase awareness of mid-20th century style urban blues among a younger audience.
Since then blues has continued to thrive in both traditional and new forms through the work of Robert Cray, Bonnie Raitt and others.
Performers in the blues style appear virtually in almost every musical genre. See List of blues musicians for more information.
Blues is also the name for an informal type of swing dancing with no fixed patterns and a heavy focus on connection, sensuality and improvisation, often with body contact. Although usually done to blues music, it can be done to any slow tempoed 4/4 music, including rock ballads and "club" music.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Blues."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
BLUES | English | Better Logic Using Expert Software | Computing |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonym: BluesSynonym: megrims (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Dejection | Melancholy; sadness; Adjective: il penseroso, melancholia, dismals, blues, lachrymals, mumps, dumps, blue devils, doldrums; vapors, megrims, spleen, horrors, hypochondriasis, pessimism; la maladie sans maladie; despondency, slough of Despond; disconsolateness; Adjective: hope deferred, blank despondency; voiceless woe. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Blues |
| English words defined with "blues": Antoine Domino ♦ B. B. King, Bessie Smith, boogie, boogie-woogie ♦ cool ♦ Domino ♦ Fats Domino, funky ♦ handy, hovea ♦ king ♦ low-down ♦ mods ♦ predominance, predomination, purple pea ♦ R and B, rhythm and blues, rhythm and blues musician, Riley B King, rockabilly ♦ Smith ♦ W. C. Handy, William Christopher Handy ♦ zydeco. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "blues": Blue Guards ♦ Greens of Constantinople ♦ Horse, ♦ nickel oxide ♦ Oxford Blues. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Blues" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Albanian (grinder), Czech (blues), German (blues), Hungarian (blues), Italian (blues), Portuguese (blues), Spanish (blues). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I started wailing the blues when the doctor whacked my bottom on the day I was born (Cowboy Bebop; writing credit: Akihiko Inari) I hate it! It's boil-in-the-bag perversion for sexually repressed accountants and first-year drama students with too many posters of Betty Blue, The Blues Brothers, Big Blue and Blue Velvet on their blue bloody walls (Spaced; writing credit: Simon Pegg; Jessica Stevenson) | |
Lyrics | So you lose, I won't let you go, there's nothing to show but more blues (Some of Shelley's Blues; performing artist: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) Call me Deacon Blues (Deacon Blues; performing artist: STEELY DAN) The blues they sent to meet me ("Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head"; performing artist: B.J. Thomas) With all these blues (Ghost Of You And Me; performing artist: BBMak) I'd rather hear some blues or funky old soul ("Old Time Rock & Roll"; performing artist: Bob Seger) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Varsity Blues (1999) Virgin Blues (1974) Le Blues entre les dents (1973) Bye Bye Blues (1973) Blue Racer Blues (1972) | |
Song Titles | Stream of Consciousness Blues (performing artist: Steven Brust) Basin Street Blues (performing artist: Henry Butler) Birth of the Blues, The (performing artist: Sammy Davis Jr.) Roadhouse Blues (performing artist: The Doors) Amish Country Blues (performing artist: The Electric Amish) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Periodicals | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
High Tech |
| ||
Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Fishing for blues in the bay - NOAA/NODC employees Melanie Hamilton and Chapman Hom watch as yet another Bluefish comes aboard. Credit: America's Coastlines. |  | Wagons outdoors near the NHOTIC, with Blues in the background. Credit: BLM Staff. |
 | Static display at the NHOTIC. Camp in sight of the Blues. Credit: Unknown. |  | Ship's Company in "Blues", circa 1952. Credit: NAVY. |
 | Portrait photograph, in "Blues", taken during the early 1950s. Credit: NAVY. |  | Blues / Covarrubias. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Singer Dorothy Dandridge makes her dramatic debut on TV as she joins Mark Richman in "Blues for a junkman," on Cain's Hundred, over NBC-TV ... Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Advertisement poster for rock concert featuring Buffalo Springfield and Steve Miller Blues Band] / Wes Wilson. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Grateful Dead, Junior Wells Chicago Blues Band, and the Doors. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Howard's sure cure for the blues in three prescriptions and 180 pleasant doses for direction see below : secure seats for The doctor's warm reception at the Opera House, office hours, 8-to-10:30 p.m. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Blues 1" by Nick Coyne Commentary: "Something in my garden." | "Fluffy blues 1" by K.C. Hohensee Commentary: "The clouds, like puffs of fluff were incredibly beautiful this particular afternoon." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Play | Caption | Play | Caption |
 | Chicago blues style piece with amplified harmonica as melody instrument. | | A slow blues style flute melody with a floating ambient texture. |
| Timpani and drone string accompanying a solo steal-string blues guitar. | | Prominent bass line in a medium rhythm and blues genre typical of the mid-1980's. |
| Latin-influenced excerpt with a blues tinge and gassy synthesized sounds. | | A slow blues style piece featuring a tenor saxophone. |
| Piano solo in a medium rhythm and blues genre typical of the mid-1980's. . | | Electric guitar solo in a blues typical of a Kansas City swing style. |
| Keyboard melody in a blues influenced early-1980's, post-disco genre. | | Uptempo walking bass and Harmon trumpet solo in an ominous blues texture. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Communist Manifesto | 1848 | Ultimately, when stubborn historical facts had dispersed all intoxicating effects of self-deception, this form of Socialism ended in a miserable fit of the blues. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | China | The main competitors for US wet blues are Italy, Canada, Taiwan and South Korea. (references) |
Panama | Lively salsa--a mixture of Latin American popular music, rhythm and blues, jazz, and rock--is a Panamanian specialty, and Ruben Blades its best-known performer. (references) | |
Travel | Australia | Air transport has become even more competitively priced with the operation of Virgin Blues on the major air routes. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Blues" is generally used as a noun (plural) -- approximately 99.63% of the time. "Blues" is used about 1,089 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (plural) | 99.63% | 1,085 | 6,947 |
| Lexical Verb (-s form) | 0.37% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,089 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "blues": be in the blues ♦ dress blues ♦ have the blues ♦ rhythm and blues ♦ rhythm and blues musician ♦ the blues ♦ the dark blues ♦ the light blues ♦ winter blues. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "blues": blues-band-gone-wrong, blues-based, blues-biased, blues-core, blues-derived, blues-lovers, blues-orientated, blues-player, blues-rock, blues-rockers, blues-spooked, blues-style, blues-tinged. | |
Ending with "blues": bar-blues, country-blues, dark-blues, ex-blues, grey-blues, Jazz-blues, light-blues, purple-blues, rhythm-and-blues, where's-my-baby-blues. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
blues clue | 4,580 | blues clue game | 148 |
house of blues | 2,731 | house of blues anaheim | 146 |
blues | 1,615 | blues harp | 127 |
moody blues | 1,378 | blues clues.com | 118 |
blues music | 967 | house of the blues | 113 |
blues brother | 659 | hill street blues | 110 |
blues traveler | 492 | monterey blues festival | 109 |
house of blues chicago | 387 | blues lyrics traveler | 108 |
varsity blues | 307 | blues tab | 104 |
st louis blues | 292 | ottawa blues festival | 104 |
blues festival | 269 | steve blues clue | 103 |
baby blues | 250 | moody blues lyrics | 101 |
house of blues myrtle beach | 234 | climax blues band | 100 |
house of blues orlando | 196 | blues radio | 97 |
blues lyrics | 196 | chicago blues | 92 |
house of blues new orleans | 184 | house of blues hotel | 92 |
blues clue picture | 175 | blues news | 92 |
blues guitar | 163 | blues clue coloring page | 92 |
rhythm blues | 154 | paris blues | 90 |
house of blues las vegas | 150 | house of blues hotel chicago | 87 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "blues"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | gjendje e dëshpëruar (distress). (various references) | |
Arabic | أغنية كئيبة زنجية الأصل, شجن (anxiety, sorrow). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | блуз. (various references) | |
Chinese | 蓝色 (Blue). (various references) | |
Czech | blues, melancholie (despondency, dumps, gloom, melancholy), deprese (depression, discouragement, low spirits, Slough). (various references) | |
Danish | blå sort (grade of Jamaica bananas, seconds), andenklasses (grade of Jamaica bananas, seconds). (various references) | |
Dutch | blues (grade of Jamaica bananas, seconds), tweede keus (grade of Jamaica bananas, seconds). (various references) | |
French | bleues, costumes pour les hommes de la flotte américaine, chanson noire triste. (various references) | |
German | verjubelt. (various references) | |
Greek | μπλουζ, χρίζω (cleat, rug), ακεφιά (poor spirits), τραγούδια των νέγρων, δυσθυμία (crossness, moroseness). (various references) | |
Hungarian | blues. (various references) | |
Indonesian | musik blus. (various references) | |
Italian | blues. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | ブリッジ回路 (bloomers, blue, blue backs, Blue Bird, blue book, blue boy, blue chip, blue day, blue film, Blue Impulse, blue Monday, Blue Ribbon, blue sex, blue train, blueberry, blue-black, blue-collar worker, blueglass, bourgeois, bourgeoisie, bridge circuit, brilliant, brilliant cut, British Airways, British Columbia, broom, Brussels, Bulgaria, bull, Burkina Faso, childpornography), homosexual, shops where girls' uniforms and underwear are resold to dirty old men, sleeping train). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ブルース . (various references) | |
Korean | 파랑. (various references) | |
Manx | groamid (cheerlessness, dejection, disagreeableness, gloom, gloominess, glumness, grimness, ill temper, joylessness, moodiness, moping, moroseness, sombreness, sternness, sullenness). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | uesblay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | blues, Barbitúricos ou outros hipnóticos ou tranquilizantes (barbs, blue birds, blue bullets, blue devils, blue dolls, blue heaven, blue tips, red devils, yellow jackets), drunfos (barbs, blue birds, blue bullets, blue devils, blue dolls, blue heaven, blue tips, red devils, sleepers, softballs, yellow jackets). (various references) | |
Romanian | splin (dumps), depresiune (basin, bottom, cave, cavity, dejection, delve, depression, despondency, draw, hollow, melancholia, notch, pan, sag, scoop). (various references) | |
Russian | хандра;блюз, блюз. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | bluz, melanholija (melancholia, melancholy). (various references) | |
Spanish | blues, barbituratos (barbs, blue birds, blue bullets, blue devils, blue dolls, blue heaven, blue tips, red devils, yellow jackets), segunda clase (grade of Jamaica bananas, seconds), murria (depression), melancolía (blue devils, gloom, gloominess, melancholia, melancholy, moodiness), azules (grade of Jamaica bananas, seconds). (various references) | |
Swedish | blå sort (grade of Jamaica bananas, seconds), nedstämdhet (depression, malaise, mood), andra sortering (grade of Jamaica bananas, seconds), 2:a sortering (grade of Jamaica bananas, seconds). (various references) | |
Turkish | bunalım (crisis, depression, dismay, down, megrims, melancholy, Moody, shock, the megrims), hüzün (doldrums, dole, dolefulness, dreariness, gloom, gloominess, melancholy, ruefulness, sadness, shadow, somberness, sombreness, spleen), caz (jazz, jive). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | блюз. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "blues": blueshift, blueshifted, blueshifts, bluesier, bluesiest, bluesman, bluesmen, bluest, bluestem, bluestems, bluestocking, bluestockings, bluestone, bluestones, bluesy. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "blues": trueblues. (additional references) | |
| |
"Blues" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Belhus, belus, blees, bles, bleue, Bleuel, bleuet, blews, blewz, Bliecq, blmes, bloes, blos, blose, Blpes, blubs, Bluecol, bluet, bluo, boluis, Bouez, bouis, bouse, Buess, bulaz, Bulben, Bulnes, buls, Ebulfez. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "blues" (pronounced bluw"z) |
| 3 | -l uw" z | Clews, clues, flus, glues, loos, lose. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: lubes. | |
| Words within the letters "b-e-l-s-u" | |
-1 letter: bels, blue, lube, lues, slub, slue. | |
-2 letters: bel, bus, els, leu, sel, sub, sue, use. | |
-3 letters: be, el, es, us. | |
| Words containing the letters "b-e-l-s-u" | |
+1 letter: blouse, bluest, bluesy, bluets, blueys, blumes, boules, bugles, bulges, bushel, bustle, butles, obelus, rubles, suable, sublet, subtle, umbels, umbles, usable. | |
+2 letters: bascule, baubles, befouls, begulfs, belauds, belugas, bloused, blouses, blueish, blunges, blushed, blusher, blushes, bluster, boletus, boluses, boucles, boulles, bubales, bubbles, buckles, buddles, budless, buglers, bulbels, bulgers, bullets, bullies, bumbles, bundles, bungles, burbles, burgles, burlers, burlesk, burleys, bushels, bustled, bustles, butlers, doubles, embolus, fumbles, fusible, humbles, jubiles, jumbles, lobules, lubbers, lumbers, mumbles, nebulas, nubbles, numbles, pueblos, roubles, rubbles, rumbles, scumble, slubbed, slubber, slumber, soluble, stubble, stumble, subcell, subfile, sublate, sublets, sublime, subline, subrule, subsale, subtile, subtler, sunbelt, tubules, tumbles, unbelts, unblest, useable, useably. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Sounds 10. Quotations: Historic 11. Quotations: Non-fiction 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Abbreviations | 17. Acronyms 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
