Something Blues

Common method of naming things "The (Something) Blues". Very prevalent in Blues music, although there are also many, many non-blues songs with a title like this.

See also The Something Song and Ballad of X.

Examples of Something Blues include:

Anime

• Cowboy Bebop: The ending song "The Real Folk Blues" and the episode title "Asteroid Blues".
• The first Sailor Moon American dub had a large number of episodes titled "Something-or-other Blues".

Comic Books

• Judge Dredd story "Hell Street Blues".
• Comic strip Baby Blues.
• Spider-Man: Blue" by Jeph Loeb

Film

• Postman Blues
• Habana Blues
• Miami Blues
• Varsity Blues
• The French title of Analyze This was "Mafia Blues".
• Undercover Blues
• Biloxi Blues
• There have been three movies called St. Louis Blues. The first was a jazz short in the 20's that depicted the only film footage of W.C. Handy (see the Music entry below). The next one was made in the 30's. It was a musical comedy starring Dorothy Lamour. The third was a musical bio-pic about W.C.Handy made in the 50's with Nat King Cole as the lead. Because of this last film, the aforementioned 1930's St. Louis Blues was retitled to Best of the Blues for television.
• "The Weary Blues" from Summer Holiday.

Literature

• Spaceman Blues: A Love Song
• Clive Barker's Pig Blood Blues
• Bizarro author Jordan Krall's Squid Pulp Blues
• Derek Robinson did two, not related: Red Rag Blues and Kentucky Blues. Both could be puns, with "blues" in the first title contrasting with "reds" (i.e. Communists), and "blues" in the second one alluding to the American Civil War.

Live Action TV

• Hill Street Blues
• Family Matters episode Wedding Bell Blues, which was named after a hit song by The 5th Dimension.
• Bay City Blues

Music

• "Cross Road Blues" by Robert Johnson
  • Of course, that's not taking into account more than half of the songs he recorded.
• "Subterranean Homesick Blues" by Bob Dylan
  • Along with Tombstone Blues and Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
  • As well as "Talkin' World War III Blues," "Bob Dylan's Blues," "North Country Blues," "Black Crow Blues," "Outlaw Blues," and dozens of others. Bob Dylan used Something Blues titles a lot, especially on his earlier, folkier albums.
• "Dallas Blues" by Hart A. Wand.
• "St Louis Blues" by W.C. Handy.
• Both Utah Phillips and Grandpa Jones have a song called "Cannonball Blues".
• There are numerous songs called "Freight Train Blues".
• "D.B. Blues" by WASP.
• "Nursing Home Blues" by D.R.I.
• "Whorehouse Blues" by Motorhead
• "Stepped in Cow Shit Blues" by Anal Blast.
• Just "The Blues" by Switchfoot.
• "Roadhouse Blues" and "Shaman Blues" by The Doors.
• "Wolverine Blues" by Entombed.
• "Melancholy Blues" by Queen
• "A Junkie's Blues" by Queensryche.
• "Nodding Donkey Blues" and "Black Bart Blues" by Iron Maiden.
• "Slow Lane Blues" by Saxon.
• "Wedding Bell Blues" by Laura Nyro, most famously recorded by The 5th Dimension.
• The comical "PMS Blues" by Dolly Parton.
• "Brooklyn Blues" by Barry Manilow.
• "Slow Blues" by Thin Lizzy.
• "Down Payment Blues" and "Satellite Blues" by ACDC.
• "Buckingham Blues" and "Generic Blues" by "Weird Al" Yankovic, the latter ofwhich is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
• "Bell Bottom Blues" by Derek and the Dominos.
• "Yer Blues" by The Beatles. "For You Blue" could count.
  • George Harrison's solo career has produced "P2 Vatican Blues" and "Marwa Blues".
• "Birmingham Blues" by Electric Light Orchestra.
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus.
  • From Cave's Grinderman side project, No Pussy Blues.
• Jimi Hendrix: "Earth Blues", "Country Blues", "Catfish Blues", "Slow Blues"
• "Red Army Blues" by the Waterboys.
• "Blues For Baby And Me" and "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" by Elton John.
• "More Blues" and "Jugband Blues" by Pink Floyd
• "Deacon Blues" by Steely Dan
• "Shotgun Blues" by Kenny Wayne Shepherd
  • Also Shotgun Blues by Guns N' Roses
• "City Boy Blues" by Motley Crue.
• "Can't Even Get the Blues" by Reba McEntire
• St. James Infirmary Blues, a traditional number with varying versions of lyrics.
• "Zombie Apocalypse Blues" and "SYSTEM ERROR Blues" by Rock, Paper, Cynic.
• Running Gun Blues by David Bowie.
• Long Island Blues by Julian Casablancas.
• "Sanguinary Blues" by The Black League.
• The White Stripes have "300 M.P.H Torrential Outpour Blues", "Catch Hell Blues" and "Instinct Blues".
• "Scumbag Blues" by Them Crooked Vultures.
• "Some of Shelly's Blues" by Michael Nesmith, also recorded by Linda Ronstadt and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
• About a dozen songs by The Grateful Dead fall into this trope
• "The Dead Flag Blues" by Godspeed You! Black Emperor, one of the occasional non-Blues songs with such a title.
• Johnny Cash had several throughout his career, including his hit, "Folsom Prison Blues."
• "Travelling Riverside Blues" by Led Zeppelin.
  • Also the separate but related, "Traveling Riverside Blues" by Robert Johnson.
• "Dachau Blues" by Captain Beefheart on Trout Mask Replica
• The Rolling Stones' unreleased "Cocksucker Blues"
• Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues by Todd Snider.
• A subversion: a blues from Chicago Transit Authority titled "South California Purples".
• "Blues for Alice", by Charlie Parker.
• "The Cape Verdean Blues", Horace Silver.
• Blues for the Red Sun, Kyuss
• "ProzaKc Blues", King Crimson
• "Rich Kid Blues", The Raconteurs.
• Helplessness Blues by the Fleet Foxes.
• "Summertime Blues", originally performed by Eddie Cochran, later covered by many acts, including Blue Cheer, The Who, and Rush.
• "Short White Blues" by Eric Bogle.
• "Fighting Man Blues" by THE BACK HORN.

Radio

• One game in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue was to improvise a Blues song. The title would always be in this form (eg, "The Trichologist's Blues" or "The Kerry Packer Blues"). In one case the song was called "The West Indies Blues", but was sung as a calypso.

Theatre

• "Women's Club Blues" from Love Life.
• "Homesick Blues" from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
• "The Red Blues" from Silk Stockings.
• "Buddy's Blues" (also known as "The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me Blues") from Follies.
• "L.A. Blues" from City of Angels.
• "Papa's Blues" from Starlight Express.
• "The Fatherhood Blues" from Baby.
• "'The Half Of It, Dearie' Blues" from Lady, Be Good!.
• "The Where-Has-My-Hubby-Gone Blues" from No No Nanette.

Video Games

• Little unrelated, but Proto Man's japanese name is Blues.

Web Comics

• Afterlife Blues
• The Order of the Stick' book No Cure for the Paladin Blues
• Sordid City Blues
• Fall City Blues

Web Original

• "Blood Gulch Blues", theme of Red vs. Blue.
  • Alpha Outpost Blues.
• Metropolitan Blues
• The Thinking Ape Blues

Western Animation

• Metalocalypse pokes fun at this in one episode, with an old man telling bizarre circumstances in which various songs with these kind of title, which are often massively convoluted, were made, including one that a person apparently composed as they were being killed by a train.
• Reporter Blues, a 52-episode animated series from the '90s of Italian/Japanese origin. As it was co-produced by TMS Entertainment and had a Japanese broadcast, it's sometimes considered an anime as well.

Tropes

• Cloning Blues
• Something Blues