You sing the blues but...

Once I saw the movie Cadillac Records, I can answer to the meaning the quote “You sing the blues, but you don’t live them” says. I think it never is the same to sing one singer’s song when I like it and the fact I

see the singer singing the song than understand why the song was written and the feelings the singer feels when he or she is recording it. I was really impressed when Etta James was singing in the record studio and in the same time she was crying because she really felt what she was singing; when I saw that part I was really rousing. That’s not the only example I found in the movie, I also realized what the memories influence hardly the way the singer sings. In the last part when one of the main characters remembered his beginnings in the south at the countryside singing only with his guitar and realized in the social position he was in the moment he went down from the airplane, obviously he never imagined it. I think one of the more special things the singers feel when they are singing is to bring to the mind all those flashbacks and feel them as if they were happening in the moment to show and communicate to the audience the strongest feelings they could.

I knew some things about the blues; one of the most important is that the proliferation of that musical genre helped to low in some level the racial discrimination in the USA. That the blues in some way “make happy” all the social classes, it doesn’t matter if you were black or white as Michal Jackson said. I proved that the blues was born in an improvisation way. And the tempos are the same for all the instruments, but one of the most beautiful things I saw in the movie was the form in which the musicians joined to the main musician and they don’t need to stop, they just had or felt the rhythm in their veins. It was like the blues was part of their lives, like something that was born with them; it was really amazing. Despite things couldn’t be perfect, the blues situation was pretty hard some singers or musicians lived difficult situations. They were also touched by the fame effect, in which alcohol, women, cigarettes and vices played role. One of the most important musicians’ addictions was the Cadillacs, maybe that’s the reason why the movie has its name. 

According to the lyrics of America’s current #1 song I could say that it’s very racist. One of the things the author hardly criticized is the African Americans’ life. One line that kept my attention was: “We don't care,

we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams”. I think it has a narrow relation with the situation or history of African Americans in the 50’s, time when they were fascinated with the Cadillacs. I think it’s a kind of hateful reference to the African Americans, not only they wanted to have those cars; that was the Cadillacs’ age. It was obvious that if you have money and you want to buy a car, you should buy the one you want; more if it’s a desire that exists in a long period and you wonder that. Another thing is that African Americans didn’t have the opportunity to buy even a home or other basic things, and if they have the money to buy a car obviously it’s going to be the Cadillac. Even Lorde doesn’t live the life “blacks” live, she refers to other people in that way but without context and for Americans that was offensive.