Bound No'th Blues
Bound No'th Blues - context Summary
Great Migration Echoes
This blues poem frames a traveler heading "on the no'thern road," expressing weariness, loneliness, and a search for companionship. It situates individual feeling within a larger movement: the speaker is leaving Mississippi towns seen as hostile or limiting. The repeated refrains and everyday diction echo oral blues traditions while pointing to the Great Migration and Jim Crow-era pressures that prompted many African Americans to journey north for safety and opportunity.
Read Complete AnalysesGoin' down the road, Lawd, Goin' down the road. Down the road, Lawd, Way, way down the road. Got to find somebody To help me carry this load. Road's in front o' me, Nothin' to do but walk. Road's in front of me, Walk. an' walk. an' walk. I'd like to meet a good friend To come along an' talk. Hates to be lonely, Lawd, I hates to be sad. Says I hates to be lonely, Hates to be lonely an' sad, But ever friend you finds seems Like they try to do you bad. Road, road, road, O! Road, road. road. road, road! Road, road, road, O! On the no'thern road. These Mississippi towns ain't Fit fer a hoppin' toad.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.