By Zahara Zephyr

By Zahara Zephyr

Zahara Zephyr

FIQWS English Research Paper

TOPIC: The Influence of the Blues on Rock and Roll

        Rock and Roll, the electrifying and eccentric genre, didn’t appear out of thin air; it was built directly upon the foundation of the Blues. This older, also very powerful form of music, created by African Americans, gave rock music its essential ingredients, including the basic three-chord structure, its characteristic rhythms, and its style. When early rock pioneers heard these sounds, they took the fundamental patterns and intensified them, using electric guitars and faster tempos to create a new, exciting genre. This influence is clear in the music of every major early rock artist. In this essay, my thesis argues that the Blues have a major influence on Rock and Roll; it is the fundamental blueprint for Rock and Roll, providing the musical structure and emotional depth that allowed the later genre to emerge and thrive.

     The blues is a music style created in the late 1860s. The genre developed from African musical traditions and the experiences of African Americans; it can be traced to its roots in the Mississippi Delta region, where it originated from African slave work songs and field hollers (Big Daddy Dupree). The Blues served as an emotional purpose to express deep, raw feelings related to hardship, loneliness, and survival. It is defined by key characteristics that became instantly recognisable and infinitely repeatable, most notably the twelve-bar chord progression and the use of call-and-response, or antiphonic textures, that evoke the communal nature of its origins. As the genre expanded to urban centres like Chicago and Dallas in the mid-20th century, it incorporated amplified instruments, but its core roots of raw, emotion-driven rhythms and lyrics remained intact, establishing the necessary musical and spiritual framework for all genres that followed, including rock and roll. Figures like Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, who were initially inspired by the raw performances of acoustic artists like Robert Johnson and electric pioneers like Muddy Waters, sought to translate that core emotional intensity into their own amplified style (Cincy Blues Society). This tradition of emotional honesty, delivered through a repeating, identifiable musical structure, established the necessary framework for rock and roll.

The blues gave rock and roll its emotional foundation. Both genres are about music made with “raw emotion,” whose focus is often on solitude, hardship, or simply a bold expression of self (Big Daddy Dupree). Rock music embraced more themes of love, heartbreak, rebellion, and freedom. The blues provided rock with its emotional intensity for a new audience. The Rolling Stones, for instance, borrowed their name from Muddy Waters’ song, “Rollin’ Stone,” and they began playing the blues, only to combine the heavy blues melody with their electric rock sound.

The blues is a genre of music that has various lyric formulas; these formulas are prevalent in Rock and Roll.  There is a formula that opens a line and has no obligation to rhyme called X-formula, example of this lyric formula would be “ I’m going away now,  don’t you want to go” from Blind Lemon Jefferson, “ struck sorrow Blues” and “ I’m gonna leave here running, cause walking is most too Slow” by Jazz Gillum,” key to the highway. The second formula is the R-formula which closes a line and has a strong obligation to rhyme. Examples of this would be “ swear the time aint long, If you don’t believe I’m leaving, daddy, count them days I’m gone” by Louise Johnson- All Night Long Blues. (Stoia, N. (n.d.)) MTO 26.4 examples: Stoia, blues lyric formulas in early … https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.20.26.4/stoia_examples.pdf

      It is without a doubt that many music companies, usually Mainly Major Rock and Roll White artists, have covered African American Blues artists’ songs and marketed them to their young white audience, especially in the 1950s. Rock and Roll Artists like Elvis Presley and Pat Boone have been seen taking songs from black blues artists and transforming the songs to be enjoyed by their audience. (Dreyer, B. (n.d.). The African American legacy on Rock and Roll. Examples of these two artists using songs from Black blues artists are Pat Boone covering Little Richard’s a popular blues artist Song titled Tutti Frutti, and Fats Domino – Ain’t That a Shame, both were popular song covers. For Elvis Presley, a Black blues artist song that he has covered would be “Hound Dog” by Big Mama Thornton. “Elvis had excluded the sexual innuendos in an attempt to aim the song at the younger conservative audience”. (Dreyer, B. (n.d.). The African American legacy on Rock and Roll. American Artists were not the only musical artists who had benefited from Rhythm and Blues. British bands like The Animals have been found to have a sound that is deeply rooted in Rhythm and Blues. Specifically, the singer, Eric Burdon, emphasized the influence of African American Blues artists on his own style of music. (Dreyer, B. (n.d.). The African American legacy on Rock and Roll.

HOUND DOG

COVER- ELVIS PRESLEY	ORIGINAL- BIG MAMA THORNTON’S
https://youtu.be/-eHJ12Vhpyc?si=RACzTWib0gxq3Gnj	https://youtu.be/yoHDrzw-RPg?si=ogT6ErC7Y5otUa0Q

  In Conclusion, the blues, a genre made by African Americans through times of labour and times of Celebration, is not only one of the foundations of many music genres, especially rock and Roll, but it is also a testament to the impact and influence of African American artists in music and the recognition that they are owed.

Works Cited

• Dreyer, B. (n.d.). The African American legacy on Rock and Roll.)
• Stoia, N. (n.d.). MTO 26.4 examples: Stoia, blues lyric formulas in early … https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.20.26.4/stoia_examples.pdf
• (Big Daddy Dupree). https://www.bigdaddydupree.com/how-the-blues-influanced-rock-roll/
• (Cincy Blues Society) https://cincyblues.org/education/how-was-classic-rock-was-influenced-by-blues-music/
• Elvis Presley Hound Dog picture Cover- https://www.discogs.com/release/1285152-Elvis-Presley-Hound-Dog-Dont-Be-Cruel/image/SW1hZ2U6MTc5NjA0OA==
• Big Mama Thornton Hound Dog picture cover-https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71evYvtckKL._SX466_.jpg
• Elvis Hound Dog cover-.https://youtu.be/-eHJ12Vhpyc?si=RACzTWib0gxq3Gnj

Big Mama Thornton Hound Dog Original- https://youtu.be/yoHDrzw-RPg?si=ogT6ErC7Y5otUa0Q

By Zahara Zephyr

It is also in my Media

Zahara Zephyr
Analysis Paper
Topic: Rent The Musical

Musicals are show’s that can tell a story whether fictional or non fictional through dance or song.
There are many elements of a musical from Outfits, lyrics, choreography etc, but which element
can stand out to an audience member and how does the element Play a role in the musical . The
musical Rent made by Jonathan Larson follows a group of impoverished young artists in New
York City’s East Village during the early 1990s, struggling with poverty, illness (primarily
HIV/AIDS), and social injustice, while celebrating love, community, and living life to the fullest
despite their hardships. In this musical the element that I choose to write about in this paper is
the music/ rhythm of the song in the musical.

Rent is song number 2# in Act I in the 2005 Broadway musical titled “Rent”. It is performed by
Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Jesse Martin and Taye Diggs. This song ultimately introduces one
of the bigger parts of the plot, describing how a group of friends who share an apartment now
find themselves in a predicament of finding enough money to pay the whole of last year rent.
One of the two main characters are Mark, a filmmaker, and Roger, a rock musician. This musical
has a lot of themes related the LGBTQ and HIV/Aids epidemic that happened during the
1980s-90s in New York City.

The song titled Rent contributes to the Narrative of the musical by establishing the
characters’ immediate struggles and fueling the conflict. It does this by introducing the dilemma
and the emotions and feelings of the characters in the Song article with lyrics in the first prechorus like “How do you document real life When real life’s getting more Like fiction each
day” “And now this deadline “Eviction—or pay” Rent”; The first part of the pre-chorus shows
the emotions of filmmaker character Mark while also starting to introduce the dilemma Of
suddenly getting the deadline of Paying the rent or face homelessness. While in the second prechorus it explores the emotions of Roger the musician with the lyrics of “How do you write a
song When the chords sound wrong Though they once sounded right and rare”. The chorus of
the song firmly accentuates one of the issues that the two character’s of the musical faces with
both characters joining in to sing “How we gonna pay , How we gonna pay , How we gonna pay
Last year’s rent”. I believe that this union of singing further solidifies how the two characters
(roger and mark) are facing the same issue as both are struggling artists.

The song Rent contributes to the emotional impact of the musical by showing the frustration and
defiance of the characters with lyrics like “We’re not gonna pay, We’re not gonna pay, We’re not
gonna pay” and “Last year’s rent ,This year’s rent,Next year’s rent, Rent rent rent rent rent,
We’re not gonna pay rent”. The song selection also shows the solidarity and community as most
of the lyrics in the song are sung with an ensemble, this shows how the characters are in this
dilemma together and that they are not facing it alone.

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