Long before I learned how to tie my shoes I learned that New Orleans was the home of the blues Not long ago one mornin' the sun in the city The blues went rollin' and tumbin' ya'll up the Mississippi Up through the delta Up to memphis tennessee Where every people struggled ya'll Struggled to be free The blues is the music That fanned the flame That burned in the soul Little Walter and Elmore James The blues is a music That anyone can feel It comes from the crowds of the people that worked the cotton field The blues threw out a pain, but now it can heal And the more I sing it, the better I feel And nobody can give it away Nobody can take it away Nobody can throw it away And you can't even pray it away And the blues is a feel'in that will never die And the blues is a feel'in to stay What would this world be without BB King Without Bobby Blue Bland doin his thing Without T Bone Walker and Howl'in Wolf Without Bessie and Big Mama strutt'in thier stuff There'd be no Elvis no Jerry Lee A young Eric Clapton would have never crossed the sea Without old Light'in, Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters to grow up on Hey the Beatles and the Stones they'd of never left home, no no The blues is the gospel of the common man The story of a people in a hostile land Built on a foundation that will never fall Thanks to Robert Cray, Stevie Ray, and Taj Majal And nobody can give it away Nobody can take it away Nobody can throw it away And you can't even pray it away And the blues is a feel'in that will never die And the blues is a feel'in to stay