[Ads-l] Possible Antedating of "Blues" Referring to a Musical Genre

[Shapiro, Fred]

The OED has a first citation (sense 2.b.) dated 1915 for the word "blues" referring to  "A melancholic style of music."  This citation is from the same Chicago Tribune article that is the earliest known appearance of the word "jazz" referring to a musical genre.

Here is a citation I have found for "blues":

1914 The Freeman (Indianapolis) 7 Mar. 6/2 (Chronicling America)  Famous Writer of "Blues" Joins Richmond "Rest." ... Baby Franklin Seals, ... perhaps better known as the composer of "Baby Seals' Blues" and other song hits, was made an Elk while playing here some few nights ago.

This could be an antedating of the musical-genre sense of "blues."  Some leading blues scholars have taken it to have that meaning.  However, it could be that "Famous Writer of 'Blues'" merely denotes a famous writer of the specific song "Baby Seals Blues."

Fred Shapiro







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