Walter Lee Younger- Point of View

March 18, 1948

Today. Today is the day. Today is the day that I break free from the shackles of poverty; today is the day that Benny, and Mama, and Travis, and Ruth and I say goodbye to the life we live.  The feeling of coming back, smile on my face, liquor license in my hand is going to be sweeter than never holding the car door for a white man again!  Hot dog, I can't wait to "change our lives" (108).  But now I got this money I can.  Today is our day. Today is my day. Today...

March 19, 1948

'How' is the only question I have to ask.  How can God be so cruel? How can Willy do that when "I put my life in [his] hands" (128)?  How can I ever look into the eyes of Mama again?  How can I ever look at the tombstone of my dad again?  How can I look at Beneatha knowing that I'm the reason she can't be a doctor? I don't know what to do anymore.  I tried my best and I messed everything up so much more.  Yesterday may have been my day, but today--the day that really mattered-- wasn't.

While others might say ; outer space Jimi Hendrix however -- -- the fates Jeanette Walls fire

       "The Weary Blues" explores the dark side of the blues, one of the building blocks of modern music.  Langston Hughes writes about something that seems as far away as outer space, however the nature of the topics relevance can be seen.  Music ranging from the Hip-Hop of Kanye West to the psychedelic rock of Jimi Hendrix can all be traced back to these lyrics, melodies, and chord progressions.  Hughes's description of the man on "Lenox Avenue" "crooning" the tune offers a different point of view; instead of the fast-paced, euphoric music it has evolved into, the lonely man sits at his piano.  While others might say that music has has evolved so far that the blues is unidentifiable --they are not completely incorrect-- the melodies of jazz greats will never be lost.  Both forms of musical expression follow many of the same rules of melody, just as Jeanette Walls uses many of the same words that Shakespeare did.   Motifs, snippets of recognizable melody fragment in music, are no different than Walls's motifs of fire.  As if the Fates control the course of time, the blues will continue to influence music.

One of the greatest Blues standards off of one of the greatest records.  Miles Davis --"So What"