Call me naive, but I always thought Curtis Lowe was about society not respecting bums who play good music for beer/wine money aka the starving artist. Even though the protagonist loved him as a mentor/entertainer.
Racism or the fact that he was black wasn’t the main factor in the issues the protagonist is singing about, just that he happened to be black… though I’m betting it didn’t help the way people/protagonist’s mom viewed the two of them spending so much time together
I always say him as an inspiration to Bleeding Gums Murphy and Lisa in the Simpsons.
Just my 2 cents. I agree with the rest of your list though.
The thing to keep in mind is that Curtis would have been an old black man in the early 60s so he had lived through quite a lot of the black experience to where the alcohol and music was an escape rather than being a starving artist’s expression
Right, I get that. I’m just thinking that the song isn’t about racism. Other than the fact that he’s black and has the black man’s blues. If the song was talking about his life as a black man or how he ended up a bum that would be different. But it’s the way a child sees a black guy with killer guitar playing skills. Very innocent
Call me naive, but I always thought Curtis Lowe was about society not respecting bums who play good music for beer/wine money aka the starving artist. Even though the protagonist loved him as a mentor/entertainer.
Racism or the fact that he was black wasn’t the main factor in the issues the protagonist is singing about, just that he happened to be black… though I’m betting it didn’t help the way people/protagonist’s mom viewed the two of them spending so much time together
I always say him as an inspiration to Bleeding Gums Murphy and Lisa in the Simpsons.
Just my 2 cents. I agree with the rest of your list though.
The thing to keep in mind is that Curtis would have been an old black man in the early 60s so he had lived through quite a lot of the black experience to where the alcohol and music was an escape rather than being a starving artist’s expression
Right, I get that. I’m just thinking that the song isn’t about racism. Other than the fact that he’s black and has the black man’s blues. If the song was talking about his life as a black man or how he ended up a bum that would be different. But it’s the way a child sees a black guy with killer guitar playing skills. Very innocent