The Blues Lyric Formula

By Michael Taft

Book Overview

This book is the first rigourous and detailed exploration of exactly how blues singers used formulas to create songs, and it more than amply fills the gap in the the study of the blues, where the structure and content of the lyrics have been less fully explored than the musical form.

Focusing on the songs recorded by African-American singers for pre-World War Two commercial recording companies, this is an excellent structural analysis of the formulaic composistion of blues lyrics.

This book gives a step-by-step description of the rules implicit in this formulaic structure and inspires new discussion of lyric structures.

A wide array of readers will find this insightful and informative: from students of African-American music, cultural studies, history and linguistics, to Blues fans fascinated by exactly how the lyrics of this influential music style are written.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415974992
• ISBN13: 9780415974998
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 376 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.0"