Blues in Stereo

The title, “Blues in Stereo” could refer to the overwhelming call for Blues, the plight, the poverty, the darkness. It could also be a play on the last lines, “I thought I heard the horn of plenty blowing. / But I got to get a new antenna.”

L01 - “Your Number’s Coming Out”. A play on “your number’s coming up?” or “numb” as in the numbness where there is no power to feel or move normally. Emancipation. I don’t know about this one. In Larry Scanlon’s article, he notes, “this is a general term signifying number, “especially in senses relating to money and perpty.”

L04 - “Horses shod with gold….” wealth as plentiful as slave traders/owners

“…the houses of some of the Great Folks will be adorned with ivory, and their horses shod with gold.” (Admiral Ellery speaking about the unlawful slave trade from New England. http://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg37497.html

L07 - “Triumphal Entry” Possibly in reference to Easter, resurrection, renewal.
“The latter, therefore, was the great formal entry of the Lord, called "the Triumphal Entry", which took place on what is called "Palm Sunday"”. (http://www.therain.org/appendixes/app153.html)

L12 - “barefoot” – escaped slave

L14 – “ancient river” - The River Jordan is mentioned in the poem “Ballad of the Seven Songs” so I took a bit of liberty with this. The first mention of the Jordan is when Abraham and Lot parted company: "And Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw that the Jordan valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of The Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar; this was before The Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah . So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan valley, and Lot journeyed east; thus they separated from each other." (Genesis 13:10-11 RSV)

Scanlon also mentions; Euphrates, the Congo, and the Nile. (p47 News From Heaven)

At the end of their Wilderness Journey, after Joshua succeeded Moses as the leader of the people, the Israelites entered the Promised Land by crossing the Jordan River that, like the Red Sea and, was miraculously divided for them (Joshua 3:15-17).

Literally probably the Missouri / Mississippi Rivers

L18 - “Mask of Whiteness” – racism possibly and ‘whiteness’ could be reference to European descendants and privilege.

L19 - “Night” = negro quarter / men / women

L22 – “Stanley” = Stanley, NC? I’m not sure of this one.

L27 – “LP” long playing phonograph record, grooved (Is this a reference to slaves since the LP is wondering.) LPs were grooved to play music….

L38 – “Horn of Plenty” = cornucopia , in Greek mythology, magnificent horn that filled itself with whatever meat or drink its owner requested. Some legends designate it as a horn of the river god Achelous, others as a horn of the goat Amalthaea. It is often represented as filled with fruits and flowers and has become the symbol of plenty.

L40 – “My TV Keeps on Snowing” maybe a reference to “whiteness” to racism.