Unsuccessful Blues, the Consolation of Lightnin' Hopkins

“Unsuccessful Blues” Lightnin’ Hopkins, 1949 

To state the obvious, one facet of the blues is that it provides consolation for failure and rotten luck. We can all relate even if the particulars may be specific and personal to the musician. In the case of the short but poignant “Unsuccessful Blues” Lightnin’ Hopkins presents a man who has a bad relationship, a bad job and rotten fortune to boot. This song features some wonderful guitar-work and talk-singing setting up the problems at hand with a truly heart-breaking refrain that seems even more lilting as a result of the coarse setup. The protagonist has simple expectations: “I believe I will get lucky one day before I die.”

What appealed to me, when I first listened to Lightnin’ Hopkins, was his almost laconic sense of world-weary complaint. Hopkins did not come across and frustrated or depressed, but rather fed up in a shrugging manner. The tone is often: What else do you expect? Of course life disappoints; of course it is unjust. This is a brute fact–not something to necessarily underscore with gloom, as the Goth musicians might. It is what it is. “I can’t be successful no matter how hard I try.” Not for want of trying by Lightnin’, who cut thousands of tracks and numerous albums–perhaps more than any other blues musician. 

This song touches upon the theme of professional failure, though he doesn’t phrase it in such a stilted manner. This is one of the unheralded motifs of music. Many songs in musical history present braggadocio about money and success, but who wants to discuss the ways in which they fell short? The ways in which they were rejected? The ways in which they disappointed others? The ways in which they became unmanned or defeated? Yet, the listener’s sympathies lie with such a person, of course. More honest, truthful. We might like to root for a winner, but losers are the ones we want to hug. We embrace the spirit of the underdog, but also the universal appeal of one who ponders what could-have-been.

This Lightnin’ Hopkins track points to an obvious social media parallel. It is easy to become envious of the professional success of others when that is all we see on our screens–comparison and contrast. In “Unsuccessful Blues” the line for Mr. Bossman is jacked-up, and our guy is just another cog in the machine. Queuing up for day labor pay does not constitute “success” in this world. The compelling existential aspect of this song, however, resides in the fact that he cannot be successful no matter how hard he tries. Climb every mountain, swim every sea! We think of the will as able to overcome every obstacle, but the world often presents barriers that no person can transcend. Despite our efforts. “Unsuccessful Blues” does not mention the word “racism” or the phrase “glass ceiling,” however the reality for Lightnin’ was that he could only go so far in a segregated world. His audience was, for decades, limited to the narrow world of “race records”--the equivalent of the Negro Leagues for Major League Baseball. Lurking in the shadows of “mainstream” (white) acceptance. Pitched to African-American listeners. 

But Lightnin’ Hopkins worked and worked at his craft, despite (or perhaps because of) a stint in prison and years of menial labor. He recorded and toured tirelessly in pre-Civil Rights era, sans air-conditioned 1940’s Texas. He would ultimately become “successful,” as one of the great living blues musicians. However, not until the end of his life and with the caveat that his work was marketed as folk-adjacent. His life and legacy are a testament to grit and persistence–to never giving up. Lightnin’ Hopkins may never be a household name like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones–although he and many other blues legends 1000% should. But he will still go down as one of the great blues artists for everything he brought to the table. And it was a lot