These are the blues, nothin' but blues   Oh, they say some people long ago   Were searching for a diff'rent tune   One, that they could croon as only they can      They only had the rhythm   So they started swayin' to and fro   They didn't know just what to use   This is how the blues really began      They heard the breeze in the trees   Singin' weird melodies   And they made that, the start of the blues   And from a jail came the wail of a down-hearted frail   And they played that as a part of the blues      From a whippoorwill way upon a hill   They took a new note   Pushed it through a horn   Until it was worn into a blue note      And then they nursed it   They rehearsed it   And then sent out that news   That the Southland gave birth to the blues      They nursed it   Then they rehearsed it   And they sent out that news   That the Southland, they gave birth to the blues