W.C. Handy Said It

"Then the depression came, and white people suffered the pinch along with their darker brothers. With us, of course, being broke and low-down is an old story. With us there has never been anything else but depression. We have known for years how to laugh under trying circumstances, how to go on living with nothing but song to sustain us. But it took a woeful depression to teach this trick to white America.

"Now there seems to be a much greater appreciation for  the little things of life, including music. Indeed, according to one university man, only steel and oil were larger industries than music during the worst of the depression. Proof again, if more were needed, that in times of suffering and uncertainty America must sing." [Photo of Handy in 1941 by Hansel Mieth for Life]

—W.C. Handy in Father of the Blues: An Autobiography (1941)

Comments

[Ian Carey]

Inspiring words... let's hope they hold true in the era of high-speed internet and XBox.

[W. Whitman Jr.]

Do I hear America singing all those varied carols? Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else? Well, as night follows the day, it's pretty dark out now. The new day hasn't dawned yet, and the roosters ain't crowin'; it's just the chickens come home to roost. But, hey, I'm all for melodious songs and musicians still to come... for new hope and some happier songs of ourselves. All will be fine in Ought-Bama Nine.