Blog Post #2: Sonny's Blues and Music

Ariana Green

Professor Anderson

ENL 10C, Spring Quarter

13 May 2018

Blog Post #2 (Prompt 3)

Despite not being able to physically hear the music Sonny plays, the reader can still “feel” the music on a deep, emotional, and personal level in the final scene in James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues. Many have questioned what makes music so moving and powerful and, in my opinion, it comes from the personal emotions one feels. Oddly, sad songs that address sorrow and pain are very moving, as well as uplifting and comforting songs. It is the extreme opposites, pain and comfort, that make people “feel” the most. Nonetheless, it is the song’s lyrics and the musician’s own emotional energy that he or she puts into the music makes the experience powerful and impactful for the listener.

The song that I feel is lyrically and musically powerful is “Undisclosed Desires” by the band Muse. It is not a jazz song, but a first person alternative rock song that talks to the audience by using a universal “you”. The song addresses the suffering and pain someone has gone through and sheds comfort by wanting to heal the person. This song utilizes both, pain and comfort, in the lyrics, therefore producing an overwhelming amount of personal emotions in the listener. The main chorus goes to a deep, and slightly dark place saying,

“I want to reconcile the violence in your heart

            I want to recognize your beauty is not just a mask

            I want to exorcise the demons from your past

            I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart” (Muse).

 The listener can make the lyrics have meaning they can only understand, just the same as the main character in Sonny’s Blues relating her family history to the song Sonny plays. Unlike, the story telling element in Sonny’s Blues, the song does not go into specifics of the demons from the past or the reasoning behind the violence in one’s heart, it simply gives the lyrics to the listener to fill it with their own demons and violence. Hence, when one listens to the song, they can cathartically submerge their own pain in the song, and in return be comforted to know they are not alone in the emotions they feel. The song forever becomes a time capsule for the person, and when the song is listened the memories will resurface, making the song as impactful for as long the listener choose to. The song Sonny plays is a time capsule for the main character. He remembers his mother’s face and his father’s dead brother and will forever hear this song as a reminder of these certain memories. Music and its lyrics are impactful due to the listener making the song their own personal time capsule of memories.

            Furthermore, the musician’s own emotional energy he or she pours into their instruments or microphone produces powerful sounds and words. Many people can play instruments or sing, but when one sees a musician get on their knees and puts their hand on their chest to sing the chorus from one their songs, the audience not only hears it, but feels the emotion behind their voice. The musician has control over the energy they want to give to the audience, and in return the audience is able to understand what they are trying to convey. Baldwin exemplary scene of when Sonny,

“has to fill it, this instrument, with the breath of life, his own…While there’s only so much you can do with it, the only way to find this out is to try; to try and make it do everything” (Baldwin, pg. 20).

The main character can see the torment and movement of emotions as Sonny plays, which leads our unnamed main character to understanding his own memories, rather than just remembering. Sonny’s own energy he gave off to the audience deepened the audience’s reactions, giving the experience meaning and worth. The energy a musician gives off also connects to every single person in a way that only speaks to them. The audience as a whole feel and understand what the musicians are trying to say, but the individual decides how they want the song to affect them. The main character hears the song Sonny plays and interprets it as rewritten memories of his family history that only he can now understand.

            As sated throughout, music can be interpreted in many ways that is personal to the listener. Their sadness and pain or their joy and happiness can be found in the music they listen to. When music is played it comes from the mind, heart, and soul. Within seconds, music can bring people together to listen, to understand, and most of all to feel.