Gaye Adegbalola
It is a rare performer who can pull off being funny with
blues music, even fewer who use the truth to supply the lyrics. Gaye Adegbalola has been writing blues songs since the
1980s, when she was a founding member of Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women. She
won a W.C. Handy award in 1990 for her song Middle
Age Blues Boogie.
Her songs have always spring from her actual life and
circumstances. In her words: “While I
try to maintain the BLUES FORM in all my compositions, I write about
contemporary content, contemporary problems (often in a humorous way). The
BLUES CONTENT thrives on double and triple entendre. It is poetically rich. My
song topics address ageism, sexism, domestic abuse, unemployment, education,
civil rights, health insurance, incest, i.e. contemporary problems.”
Richard Skelly, writing a biography of Gaye Adegbalola for
allmusic.com1. says it better that I ever could – “Gaye
Adegbalola is best-known to blues fans as the flamboyant,
flashy, very funny frontwoman for Saffire, The
Uppity Blues Women. But on her debut release as a solo artist for
Alligator Records, she's in fine voice, accompanied by some great players and,
true-to-form, pushing into new thematic ground in her lyrics. That's why Adegbalola is
a breath of fresh air on the contemporary blues scene…”
Yes, she is! I find it encouraging that an established blues
performer writes contemporary lyrics – this is the whole thrust of my blog. But
it is discouraging to realize that nobody else has recorded her fine
contemporary songs on their own albums. 2. I understand why an artist might not record a
song about wanting another girl in her jail cell (Jail House Blues) and many songs are too specifically autobiographical
for artists who are not black, lesbian, abused as a child or battered as an
adult. But songs like Blues in the House,
Tomorrow Ain’t Promised, Cold Pizza Warm Beer and Only One Truth could work for anyone.
It is sad that the song with the highest number of iTunes
purchases and Spotify plays is a cover tune -
It Hurts Me Too. Consolation -
Big Ovaries, Baby comes in at #2.
Adegbalola is primarily an acoustic artist. Musically, most
songs derive from musical forms of older “folk blues”, spirituals and blues
standards. Her melodies and chord structures are less adventurous than her
lyrics, which may be a result of her desire to preserve the Blues Form as she has
expressed. She could stretch out musically a little more, as shown by Images which takes the spiritual form
into an extra dimension.
Focusing on lyrics, let’s start with the Saffire songs. Middle Aged Blues Boogie helped them
find commercial success and this song epitomizes the humor and “uppityness” that
makes them popular. The humor is broad and tends to wear on me after a while
because it seems too obvious. Given that the songs have to come across live in
concert, maybe they have to be that obvious. Listening to Adegbalola singing
about her vagina is entertaining the first couple of times but after four or five
vagina-related songs, it feels like she is rubbing it in my face.3.
I find many Saffire humor songs just a little too
cutesy, even though they are honest and deal with life as it really happens in
the 21st century. Humor is balanced by songs about civil rights,
injustice, racism, child abuse and there a bunch of songs I’d just call fun
blues.
Continuing her career as a solo artist after Saffire disbanded, Gaye Adegbalola continued to be funny, entertaining, and also damn scary
honest. Who can you think of that could pull off a humorous tune and a
six-minute political speech on the same album?
I hope that Adegbalola inspires blues songwriters to write
about what is actually happening in their own lives, and what they truly feel
about these things.
Some of the topics she takes on -
Being a battered woman – You
Don’t Have to Take It Like I Did
Being abused as a child – Nightmare
Contraception - Bareback
Rider.
She shows her honesty when she addresses nuances and
contradictions in her life. For instance, she has a ton of songs that celebrate
being a lesbian, but she slips in a song like Hetero Twinges where she finds herself attracted to a man. My
favorite Adegbalola song is Step Parent
Blues - a great example of what modern blues could and should be. It is so
specific and focused that it expresses the universal – any step parent, whether
gay or straight, will empathize and identify with the singer. A lesbian wife
wants to be closer to her partner’s child. She has been “Stepping to the side,
And Steppin to the back, Steppin on eggshells, And taking too much flack. The
law won’t recognize me, And you pay me no respect. I know you want me to step
away, And step back. What am I supposed to do? I got those step parent blues.”
Then in the bridge – “There’s no loving her, Without loving you… I need your
help, To end my step parent blues.” This timeless song is so heart-felt, so
real, so honest, so Gaye Adegbalola.
Blues in all Flavors is an album of blues songs for children, with a mixture of novelty songs and advice. Topics range from vegetables (Blues for the Greens) to good manners (Please, Please, Please, Please and The Thank You Song.) Gaye Adegbalola was a junior high school teacher for many years (awarded Virginia State Teacher of the Year in 1982); most of these songs seem more aimed at elementary age kids. Comfort and ease going to Grandma and Grandpa’s House. She sings about bullying – using the melody of Wooly Bully in Stop That Bully. One sparkling gem is It Hurts (the Picked Last Song). A very nice touch is that Adegbalola provides lyrics and chord charts for all of these songs on her web site to make it easier for kids to learn the songs (I assume). Many local Blues Societies have Blues for Kids programs – Gaye’s “Blues in all Flavors” album would be an excellent resource. She has published her lyrics and essays here on her web site.
Good songwriters know that using the naked, unadorned truth can
be incredibly powerful. Gaye Adegbalola has that power under great artistic
control. Artists who have this many humorous songs are often regarded as
novelty acts. Is Gaye Adegbalola a novelty act? In a sense, yes, because she is
novel – totally her own category.
I listened to the Gaye Adegbalola albums Bitter Sweet Blues
(1999 Alligator Records), Gaye Without Shame (2008 Hot Toddy), and Blues in all
Flavors (2012 Hot Toddy). Also the 32 Saffire songs attributed to Adegbalola as
composer on allmusic.com.
2.
With the exception of Saffire members. If I am wrong about this, I’d really be
pleased, and eager to know who made the recordings.
3. OK, sorry.
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