[MUSIC] The toast is a very important rhymed form of verse in black folklore in the South that really goes back to African roots. And the figure in Africa known as the Griot, the singer of tales. This is the figure to whom Alex Haley went in trying to trace his roots in the history of his ancestors, Kunta Kinte and Chicken George. The Griot sat Alex down, and over many hours, told him about the history of his family. And the same sort of verse is found in the toast. It's a form of verse that often flows out of conversation, as it did one day when I was on Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, in Lansky's haberdashery. Lansky's is where Elvis and B.B. King both bought their first suit of clothes as they were about to become the most famous rock and roll and blues musicians in the world. It was on Beale Street in Lansky's that I first met Robert Shaw. And as he was showing me clothes, he slipped into a toast about the blues, in which he reminded me that you don't have to be black to have the blues. [MUSIC] Everything here is blues, it goes back to feelings. And how you feel today. You know, blues has always been something that you don't have to be black to have the blues. You can have blues, wake up in the morning, and something is blue on you. You understand what I'm talking about? I ran and it will be here and you don't got blues. You understand? Your old lady just quit you, and you're blue. [LAUGH] So you understand what I'm talking about? See, everybody got the blues sometime or another. You understand what I'm talking about? I know you had the blues. Have you ever had the blues? I, I'm sure you've had the blues sometime though in your life. Like when your girlfriend quit you. You thought she was in love. That she was in love. And all of a sudden she's gone and you going to say, man I'm sad here, and I'm blue. You understand? It is what is. Uh-huh. Everybody get the blues [LAUGH]. Uh-huh, you sure enough have the blues. Know what I'm saying? If you wake up in the morning, don't have any money in your pocket and you can't get a loaf of bread, ain't you blue? [LAUGH] And the baby crying too. [LAUGH] Huh? Now, I'm going to tell you about life with the blues. And this is the blues. Living ain't easy and times are tough. Money's scarce, we all can't get enough. Now my insurance is lapsed and the food is low. And the landlord knocking my door. And last night I dreamed I died and the undertaker came to take me for a ride. I couldn't afford a casket and one was so high. I got up from my sick bed because I was too poor to die. Now aint that blue? [MUSIC] The Dozens are another rhymed form in black folklore that are quite powerful. They're very important among teenagers who exchange two-line rhymes about the other person's mother or sister or aunt or grandmother. It's a way of competing verbally, and the person who runs out of verses loses the competition. The Dirty Dozens.
