The Hidden Transcripts of the Blues: Subaltern Voices in Blues Music and Lyrics

Abstract

Musicians are social actors whose lyrics had real consequences. Their lyrics were not confined to rural regions or musical genres. The blues were mobile. The blues followed the same paths that people did, from which the “migration narrative emerges as one of the twentieth century’s dominant forms of African-American cultural production.” Through migration narratives “African-American artists came to terms with the massive dislocation of black peoples following migration. Just as people migrated throughout the country so too did their music. Neighborhoods in New York City became a destination for many black migrants. The residents of Harlem are well known for the contributions of American culture, but their ideas defied geographical and racial boundaries as they traveled across the country. 

This project reveals the relationships between songs, performances, society and their history. Music can, and often does, function as a method of protest. But just as often, music reveals the daily lives of musicians and their audiences. Music can foster social movements - reimaginings of original and traditional songs can provide spaces for cultural growth, conversation, experimentation, and audience participation. The songs of blind blues singers exist in multiple forms and contexts and this study will, in-part, rely on elements of James Scott’s “everyday resistance,” and “hidden transcripts,” along with disability studies concepts of otherness, passing, and masquerade. Together, a complex reading of blind blues musicians’ life and lyrics offers a way to analyze both protest songs and leisure songs revealing the radical black imagination as a countercultural moment.