War Is Starting Again

Lightnin’ Hopkins was a Texas country bluesman of the highest order. Stylistically, he often sang in a talking blues style, but that is in spite of the fact that he had a tremendous, powerful singing voice. Lyrically, he would tackle themes that included black life in the segregated south as well as less political topics including having bad luck in love. His approach to the blues lent him a considerable palette with which to paint a picture of the personal effects of war on a human being. At the start of the song, the singer’s reaction to the beginning of a new war seems to be essentially negative. He considers the panic that mothers will feel and the losses that many wives will sustain as a cost. In addition, he claims he’s been to war before and opines that he definitely doesn’t want to go back. But by the end of the tune, he changes his basic attitude because his lover’s boyfriend is going off to war, leaving her available to the singer. This, he admits, “is a better break for me”.

Greatest Blues Songs About War