Imani Perry

Even if you don't have its formal definition or even if you can't describe it. And there's something to that as well in this story, right? There is a presence and a power that isn't necessarily fully articulated here. that comes through this particular history. So, you know, the music really does, it's not even just, it's not just metaphorical.

Even if you don't have its formal definition or even if you can't describe it. And there's something to that as well in this story, right? There is a presence and a power that isn't necessarily fully articulated here. that comes through this particular history. So, you know, the music really does, it's not even just, it's not just metaphorical.

Even if you don't have its formal definition or even if you can't describe it. And there's something to that as well in this story, right? There is a presence and a power that isn't necessarily fully articulated here. that comes through this particular history. So, you know, the music really does, it's not even just, it's not just metaphorical.

It functions as a kind of representation or an example of the fact of being black and particularly being black American.

It functions as a kind of representation or an example of the fact of being black and particularly being black American.

It functions as a kind of representation or an example of the fact of being black and particularly being black American.

Yeah, so the original version of the song actually took place in a black musical, and it was sung by a dark-skinned black woman who was actually talking about colorism in the black community and the kind of preference for lighter-skinned women. And the transition is beautiful, but what Armstrong does is it's this example of the sort of multi-layered references that exist in both black and blue.

Yeah, so the original version of the song actually took place in a black musical, and it was sung by a dark-skinned black woman who was actually talking about colorism in the black community and the kind of preference for lighter-skinned women. And the transition is beautiful, but what Armstrong does is it's this example of the sort of multi-layered references that exist in both black and blue.

Yeah, so the original version of the song actually took place in a black musical, and it was sung by a dark-skinned black woman who was actually talking about colorism in the black community and the kind of preference for lighter-skinned women. And the transition is beautiful, but what Armstrong does is it's this example of the sort of multi-layered references that exist in both black and blue.

So there's—and it's a song that bridges blues and jazz as well, so it has this blues phrasing and sensibility, but then with the horns and the scatting, you hear the kind of growing complexity of jazz. And we have black and blue in the sense of being bruised, and you have blues in the sense of melancholy, and of course, the general sense of sort of the blues that exist along with blackness.

So there's—and it's a song that bridges blues and jazz as well, so it has this blues phrasing and sensibility, but then with the horns and the scatting, you hear the kind of growing complexity of jazz. And we have black and blue in the sense of being bruised, and you have blues in the sense of melancholy, and of course, the general sense of sort of the blues that exist along with blackness.

So there's—and it's a song that bridges blues and jazz as well, so it has this blues phrasing and sensibility, but then with the horns and the scatting, you hear the kind of growing complexity of jazz. And we have black and blue in the sense of being bruised, and you have blues in the sense of melancholy, and of course, the general sense of sort of the blues that exist along with blackness.

And in Armstrong's personal life... You have this struggle around being a person who is actually sent into the world as an advocate of the United States in the context of the burgeoning Cold War and as a kind of figure that is supposed to be an example of the glory of the United States.

And in Armstrong's personal life... You have this struggle around being a person who is actually sent into the world as an advocate of the United States in the context of the burgeoning Cold War and as a kind of figure that is supposed to be an example of the glory of the United States.

And in Armstrong's personal life... You have this struggle around being a person who is actually sent into the world as an advocate of the United States in the context of the burgeoning Cold War and as a kind of figure that is supposed to be an example of the glory of the United States.

And yet, as was often the case, and we saw this in the context of World War I and World War II, even as black people served the nation valiantly, they were subject to deep inequality at home. And so the song actually is able to encapsulate all of those dimensions together. with these rather simple sentences, lyrics that are not directly about all of that, but absolutely are about all of that.

And yet, as was often the case, and we saw this in the context of World War I and World War II, even as black people served the nation valiantly, they were subject to deep inequality at home. And so the song actually is able to encapsulate all of those dimensions together. with these rather simple sentences, lyrics that are not directly about all of that, but absolutely are about all of that.

And yet, as was often the case, and we saw this in the context of World War I and World War II, even as black people served the nation valiantly, they were subject to deep inequality at home. And so the song actually is able to encapsulate all of those dimensions together. with these rather simple sentences, lyrics that are not directly about all of that, but absolutely are about all of that.

So you get the sense of innuendo, of multi-layered discourses. It's just so elegant and beautiful and profound.

So you get the sense of innuendo, of multi-layered discourses. It's just so elegant and beautiful and profound.