MUSIC LITERACY FACT SHEET
TITLE
1. Worried Man Blues
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------STYLE PERIOD/GENRE 1. Traditional Folk Song/pop music 2. Choral Music
3. With a rock beat
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------COMPOSER/ARRANGER/EDITOR 1. Composer unknown 2. Adapted and
Arranged by Roger Emerson
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------COMPOSER INFO 1. Folk music has no known composer, but instead are
categories or types of traditions, ways of saying or doing that are recognizable within
a culture as distinct from other ways. The general categories are oral traditions,
music, dance, material culture, beliefs, customs, and body communications
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TEXT 1. Unknown source
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SOUND 1. TB Choir
2. piano
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------HARMONY 1. Major 2. Basic rock harmonies of three chord structures, I, IV, V
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------MELODY
1. The melody alternates between verse and refrain, both of which
share the same melody
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------RHYTHM
1. Driving
2. Rock music – with the emphasis on beat 2 and 4
(rather than 1 and 3 like most other music genres)
3. syncopation
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------GROWTH/FORM 1. One melody, repeated in verse form
2. Coda
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------TIME SIGNATURE
1. 4/4 (four beats in each measure, the quarter note
equals one beat
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------KEY SIGNATURE 1. Bb Major (2 flats) 2. C Major (no # or b’s) 3. Key changes
heighten the intensity of the composition.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------IMPORTANT TERMS/SYMBOLS/SIGNS
f (forte) – loud
mf (mezzo-forte) – medium loud
cresc. (crescendo) – gradually get louder
‘ = indicates a breath mark
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NOTEWORTHY
"Worried Man Blues" is a folk song in the roots music repertoire. Like
many folks songs passed by oral tradition, the lyrics vary from version to
version, but generally all contain the chorus "It takes a worried man to sing a
worried song/It takes a worried man to sing a worried song/I'm worried now,
but I won't be worried long." The verses tell the story of a man imprisoned for
unknown reasons "I went across the river, and I lay down to sleep/When I
woke up, had shackles on my feet", who pines for his lost love, who is "on the
train and gone."