Music Review // Larry McCray "Bye Bye Blues"

 

When you listen to enough blues songs you begin to feel like the blues is about being sad.  While in some ways that is true, as much as you can hear a song about having the blues Larry McCray reminds us that sometimes songs are about what happens when the blues are gone.  It's that idea of what comes after the blues, when you start feeling happy, and as this song says in the chorus: "When I said hello to you / I said bye bye blues".

With the gospel organs, backup vocals and horns this song can feel like a full on celebration that you're bidding farewell to the blues.  But there is also a lot of guitar work in here, especially with some guitar solos, which just really help it to shine.   This song musically captures the same idea it does lyrically as, at heart, it is a blues song but it is more of an uplifting blues song than the type that tries to bring you down.

One thing anyone who really loves the blues will tell you is that no matter how much you might think that the blues is gone, it's never truly gone.   Larry McCray addresses this with the lines: "I'd be a fool to think / Won't be no trouble ahead", but then also notes that whatever life might bring they can face it together.  I feel like it is important to remember that just because you've found someone that makes you happy it doesn't mean it'll be happiness all the time, but you have to think of it as having someone there to help you when times get tough.

As much as this feels like an advanced state of the blues, you can listen to this song even when you're sad just to find comfort in knowing that you won't be sad forever. Musically this can follow the same tune, but lyrically it can have that idea of not just putting something positive into your life but helping you to see the things which make your life brighter.  This whole song just seems to really embrace the idea that if it wasn't for the sad times we wouldn't recognize the happy times.