Oh they say some people long agoWere searching for a different tuneOne that they could croon as only they canThey heard the breeze in the treesSinging weird melodiesAnd they made that the start of the bluesAnd from a jail came the wailOf a down-hearted frailAnd they played that as part of the bluesFrom a whippoorwill out on a hillThey took a new notePushed it through a horn till it was worn into a blue noteAnd then they nursed it, rehearsed itand gave out the newsThat the Southland gave birth to the blues