BLUES in the charts?

Dr. Cornel West, in his book Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud, A Memoir, wrote:

“I'm a bluesman moving through a blues-soaked America, a blues-soaked world, a planet where catastrophe and celebration- joy and pain sit side by side. The blues started off in some field, some plantation, in some mind, in some imagination, in some heart. The blues blew over to the next plantation, and then the next state. The blues went south to north, got electrified and even sanctified. The blues got mixed up with jazz and gospel and rock and roll.”

Iconic blues singer B.B. King died recently. His passing prompted me to seek out a post about some blues singers, including B.B. King, that I wrote in 2008. I've taken parts of that old post, edited, updated them and re-posted below.

Blues music is such a well defined genre, I had wondered if some of its best known stars might have something in common astrologically. As Ed Kopp wrote in "A Brief History of the Blues" :

"When you think of the blues, you think about misfortune, betrayal and regret. You lose your job, you get the blues. Your mate falls out of love with you, you get the blues. Your dog dies, you get the blues.

While blues lyrics often deal with personal adversity, the music itself goes far beyond self-pity. The blues is also about overcoming hard luck, saying what you feel, ridding yourself of frustration, letting your hair down, and simply having fun. The best blues is visceral, cathartic, and starkly emotional. From unbridled joy to deep sadness, no form of music communicates more genuine emotion.

The blues has deep roots in American history, particularly African-American history. The blues originated on Southern plantations in the 19th Century. Its inventors were slaves, ex-slaves and the descendants of slaves - African-American sharecroppers who sang as they toiled in the cotton and vegetable fields. It's generally accepted that the music evolved from African spirituals, African chants, work songs, field hollers, rural fife and drum music, revivalist hymns, and country dance music."

What astrological factors spring to mind? Saturn aspects, mainly with Mercury (communication - which includes singing). Saturn says angst, difficult times, limits, barriers. Next, some emotional depth: Moon and its aspects, Water signs, perhaps a lot of negative (Yin) polarity.
(Wikipedia: "Yin - shady place, cloudy, overcast; the dark element: it is passive, dark, feminine, negative, downward-seeking, consuming and corresponds to the night.")

I picked the first three names my husband suggested as being quintessential blues singers: B.B. King, Robert Johnson, and Muddy Waters. No times of birth are available for any of them, which limits search for Moon aspects and house positions, so I looked at their natal charts mainly for Saturn aspects, Water, and polarity.

B.B. King, born 16 September 1925, Berclair, Mississippi.
astro.com has a rectified time of birth for him but I'll stick with a noon chart for this purpose.

Saturn sextiles Mercury and possibly Moon, (which could be anywhere from 1 to 12 Virgo). Jupiter trines Mercury. There's a loose Grand Trine in Water linking Pluto, Uranus and Saturn. Negative (Yin) polarity dominates 9 to 1!

Robert Johnson, born 8 May, 1911, Hazlehurst, Mississippi.


Saturn conjunct Mercury and 7 degrees from Sun, Saturn opposes Jupiter and sextiles Mars.Moon would be in Virgo and possibly in trine to Sun/Mercury/Saturn if born before 10pm.Grand Trine in Water, Jupiter/Mars/Neptune. Negative (Yin) polarity dominates 8 to 2.

Muddy Waters (birth name McKinley Morganfield) born 4 April in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, in either 1913 or 1915...or? (Note: Wikipedia and other websites have his birth year as 1913, some biographies state 1915, as does his gravestone.) From Wikipedia's page:

Although in his later years Muddy usually said that he was born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, in 1915, he was most likely born at Jug's Corner in neighboring Issaquena County in 1913. Recent research has uncovered documentation showing that in the 1930s and 1940s, before his rise to fame, he reported his birth year as 1913 on his marriage license, recording notes and musicians' union card. A 1955 interview in the Chicago Defender is the earliest claim of 1915 as his year of birth, which he continued to use in interviews from that point onward. The 1920 census lists him as five years old as of March 6, 1920, suggesting that his birth year may have been 1914. The Social Security Death Index, relying on the Social Security card application submitted after his move to Chicago in the mid-1940s, lists him as being born April 4, 1913. Muddy's gravestone gives his birth year as 1915.

Doubt surrounding his year of birth is as muddy as his chosen name! An alternative place of birth, within a short distance, won't make much difference, but the year of birth will. I'll post charts for 1913, 1914 and 1915, maybe a clue will emerge.

4 April 1915
Saturn squares Mercury/Mars. Moon in Sagittarius (degree uncertain) might well be opposed by Saturn in Gemini. Stellium in Watery Pisces. Water predominates, negative (Yin) beats positive polarity 6 to 4.

Alternative chart #1
4 April 1913
Polarity is equally balanced negative with positive here (Yin/Yang), and elements are well balanced also.

Alternative chart #2
4 April 1914
Polarity favours positive (Yang) here, 6 to 4, and elementally Air and Water are balanced.

The chart for 1915 does best fit the pattern of the other two legendary blues singers, and one would expect his gravestone to be correct, but.... We'll never know why 1913 inexplicably changed to 1915 - or even whether either year was the correct year of birth.

Conclusion (if Muddy Waters' year of birth is taken as 1915): Saturn aspects Mercury in all three charts. Negative polarity dominates in all cases. The element of Water is a big factor in all three charts, via Grand Trine or stellium.


The blues these men sang, are traditional in style, blues singers from later years have expanded the range and flavour of the genre a little, but I think the three artists above illustrate the blues genre's very core.

Music Monday ~ Hugh Laurie

Hugh Laurie is perhaps a surprising choice to feature on Music Monday, he's not known primarily for musical talent - except perhaps among his most avid fans. Today is his birthday though - so Happy birthday to him!

I'm not an avid fan of his, I have to say. In interview he seems like a nice enough guy, witty, self-depracating, unaffected, but his acting roles have left me cold, especially Dr. House. I don't like Stephen Fry, so have avoided anything Laurie has done with him. Hugh Laurie's music is all I'll spotlight in today's post - and brief notes about his natal chart.

In an interview on NPR at the time of release of his debut CD album Let Them Talk Laurie explained how he came to fall in love with the musical genre he obviously adores: the blues.

"I was not born in Alabama in the 1890s. You may as well know this now. I’ve never eaten grits, cropped a share, or ridden a boxcar. No gypsy woman said anything to my mother when I was born and there’s no hellhound on my trail, as far as I can judge. Let this record show that I am a white, middle-class Englishman, openly trespassing on the music and myth of the American south.

If that weren’t bad enough, I’m also an actor: one of those pampered ninnies who hasn’t bought a loaf of bread in a decade and can’t find his way through an airport without a babysitter. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that I’ve got some Chinese characters tattooed on my arse. Or elbow. Same thing.................. If you care about provenance and genealogy, then you should try elsewhere, because I have nothing in your size. "

He goes on to tell of early piano lessons, from age 6, which he hated. But one day on the radio he heard something inspiring:

"I’m pretty sure it was I Can’t Quit You Baby by Willie Dixon – and my whole life changed. A wormhole opened between the minor and major third, and I stepped through into Wonderland. Since then, the blues have made me laugh, weep, dance… well, this is a family record, and I can’t tell you all the things the blues can make me do...............New Orleans was my Jerusalem. (The question of why a soft-handed English schoolboy should be touched by music born of slavery and oppression in another city, on another continent, in another century, is for a thousand others to answer before me: from Korner to Clapton, the Rolling Stones to the Joolsing Hollands. Let’s just say it happens.)"

He then for many years studied the work of the blues greats: pianists, guitarists, vocalists.
"I tended to favour the piano over the guitar because it stays in one place, which is what I like to do. Guitars appeal to the footloose, the restless. I like sitting a lot." Even so he plays guitar, drums, harmonica and saxophone as well as piano.

So that's how a rather posh English actor came to release an album of blues music. He says music is liberating. After a day of work — "shouting, limping and pulling faces" — he goes straight to the piano, where he can sit for "10 minutes or five hours."

Wikipedia states that
Laurie has struggled with severe clinical depression, and continues to receive regular treatment from a psychotherapist. Blues music perhaps proves helpful in trying to disperse his darknesses, as it did decades ago for its creators.

Sources:
NPRand
hughlaurieblues.com

ASTROLOGY

I have a vague memory from long ago that skeptic James Randi (legend in his own lunchtime) had one of his frequent stabs at wounding astrology in an exhibition using two astrologers, Jonathan Cainer and A.T. Mann. I recall they were asked to describe Hugh Laurie's personality from his date of birth, while being unaware of his identity - I think that was how it went. There was then, and still is, no indication of what time of day Laurie was born. Therefore any interpretation of the natal chart would have to be fairly skimpy, due to the crucial missing ingredient. This happens often in the case of Brits; their times of birth are not routinely recorded. It's still possible to work from planetary positions in signs, and to hazard a guess at Moon's position. Which is all I can do here, and all that's really necessary to illuminate the two things predominant in the career of Hugh Laurie. Of course, it's easy for me because I know who I'm writing about - the two astrologers didn't.

Gemini Sun and Mercury = his versatility as an actor and musician,and his quick wit.

Leo Venus/Mars, Uranus and Moon (degree of Moon in Leo uncertain)= his draw to acting and show-biz.

Venus (planet of the arts) conjunct Mars(energy) can produce a charismatic individual who appeals equally to both males and females (not a terribly common trait by the way). Interestingly two other musician/actors have this conjunction in common: Kris Kristofferson and Sting, not necessarily in the same sign as Laurie, but Gemini and Leo are involved in all cases.

Saturn from early Capricorn is opposing Mercury in the last degree of Gemini - I wonder could this be a dampening factor reflecting his occasional depressions?

Music Monday ~ Leiber & Stoller, songwriters

It's a pity that songwriters are often forgotten by the general public. Some, of the legendary variety, have managed to embed themselves into our communal memory bank: Johnnie Mercer, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and others from past decades. Today Paul Simon, Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, Lennon & McCartney, Elton John& Bernie Taupin, and numerous others have their names already engraved as legends in their own lifetimes, because they perform as well as write most of their songs.

It's the names of "back-room" songwriters that tend to be forgotten. A good example of this: the songwriting duo of Leiber and Stoller (Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller). Even my music-soaked husband looked puzzled when I asked what he knew of them.




Time to give Leiber and Stoller a wee fanfare here! And to see whether there's any astrological connection to reflect their many years of collaboration.

They met in 1950, aged 17. A shared passion for the Blues drew them together and they began songwriting straight away. Eventually they created enduring classics in a variety of genres: Rhythm & Blues, Pop, Jazz, Cabaret and, of course, Rock & Roll. Most of their major hits came after Elvis put the duo on the map in 1956 with their song Hound Dog.

A reminder of some of their best-known songs, words by Leiber, music by Stoller: Jailhouse Rock; Hound Dog; Kansas City; Stand By Me; I'm a Woman W-O-M-A-N; Is That All There Is? Poison Ivy; Love Potion Number 9, and many others, recorded by some of the biggest names in the music business.

Jerry Leiber was born 25 April 1933 in Baltimore, MD.

Mike Stoller was born 13 March 1933 in Long Island, NY.

12 noon charts (no times of birth known)





As they were born 6 weeks apart, the outer planets lay in very similar positions, sign-wise and degree-wise for both men. Natal Suns differ: Taurus for Leiber, Pisces for Stoller, Earth and Water. Compatible enough. Both have Venus, planet of the arts, in the same sign as their Suns, both have Mercury in Aries at 7 or 8 degrees - so both are enthusiastic go-getters, sharp communicators in their chosen field. Both men have Mars, Neptune and Jupiter close together in Virgo (one of the Mercury-ruled signs linked to writing). This cluster translates to tell us that the two men share boundless and energetic creative ability, communicated to the masses with ease.

Without times of birth it's not possible to calculate their ascending sins or exact Moon degree, though because at noon Moon was mid-sign for both men we can be pretty certain that Leiber's natal Moon was in Taurus and Stoller's in Libra - two sharing a common ruler: Venus, planet of the arts.

From their natal charts it's very easy to recognise compatibility!

Samples of their works ~~~~~


Ben E. King & STAND BY ME



Fats Domino & KANSAS CITY



Elvis & JAILHOUSE ROCK




Peggy Lee & IS THAT ALL THERE IS?

Astrology & The Healing Blues

On Saturday evening I was introduced to a genre of music of which I'd not previously taken much heed - The Blues. Janiva Magness was the featured performer at our local theatre. She has a wonderful, strong voice and is a great performer - she reminded me a little of Tina Turner, with shades of Janis Joplin. Her birth data is elusive, it's a pity, for her story is interesting. She has had much sadness and many obstacles in her life, and found refuge in singing the blues at an early age. She mentioned several times during the evening that she holds a deep belief that music is healing - especially blues music.

There's a YouTube interview with Janiva with some details of her lifestory HERE.

Here she sings a heart-wrenching song "You Were Never Mine" .
Not all blues are as melancholy as this - they can also be bitchy, sexy and downright naughty!

Blues music is such a well defined genre, I wondered if some of its best known stars might have something in common astrologically. As Ed Kopp wrote in "A Brief History of the Blues" :

"When you think of the blues, you think about misfortune, betrayal and regret. You lose your job, you get the blues. Your mate falls out of love with you, you get the blues. Your dog dies, you get the blues.

While blues lyrics often deal with personal adversity, the music itself goes far beyond self-pity. The blues is also about overcoming hard luck, saying what you feel, ridding yourself of frustration, letting your hair down, and simply having fun. The best blues is visceral, cathartic, and starkly emotional. From unbridled joy to deep sadness, no form of music communicates more genuine emotion.

The blues has deep roots in American history, particularly African-American history. The blues originated on Southern plantations in the 19th Century. Its inventors were slaves, ex-slaves and the descendants of slaves - African-American sharecroppers who sang as they toiled in the cotton and vegetable fields. It's generally accepted that the music evolved from African spirituals, African chants, work songs, field hollers, rural fife and drum music, revivalist hymns, and country dance music."

What astrological factors does that bring to mind? Saturn aspects, mainly with Mercury (communication - which includes singing). Saturn says angst, difficult times, barriers.... next, some emotional depth - Moon and its aspects, Water signs, perhaps a lot of negative (Yin) polarity.(Wikipedia: "Yin "shady place, cloudy, overcast; the dark element: it is passive, dark, feminine, negative, downward-seeking, consuming and corresponds to the night.")

I picked the first three names HWK (my husband) suggested as quintessential blues singers - B.B. King, Robert Johnson, and Muddy Waters, and looked at their natal charts. No times of birth are available for any of them, which severely limits any search for Moon aspects and house positions, so I looked mainly for Saturn aspects, Water, and polarity in their charts.

B.B. King, born 16 September 1925, Itta Bena, Mississippi.





Saturn sextiles Mercury and possibly Moon, (which could be anywhere from 1 to 12 Virgo). Jupiter trines Mercury. There's a loose Grand Trine in Water linking Pluto, Uranus and Saturn. Negative polarity dominates positive 9 to 1!


Robert Johnson, born 8 May, 1911, Hazlehurst, Mississippi.





Saturn conjunct Mercury and 7 degrees from Sun, Saturn opposes Jupiter and sextiles Mars.Moon would be in Virgo and possibly in trine to Sun/Mercury/Saturn if born before 10pm.Grand Trine in Water, Jupiter/Mars/Neptune. Negative polarity dominates positive 8 to 2.

Muddy Waters born 4 April 1915 , Rolling Fork, Mississippi. (Note: Wikipedia's stated birth year, 1913, for Muddy Waters should be 1915 according to the above linked bio.)






Saturn squares Mercury/Mars. Moon in Sagittarius (degree uncertain) might well oppose Saturn in Gemini.
Water predominates, negative beats positive polarity 6 to 4. Stellium in Watery Pisces.

Conclusion: Saturn aspects Mercury in all three charts. Negative (Yin) polarity dominates in all cases. The element of Water is a big factor in all three charts, via Grand Trine or stellium.

The blues these men sing, or sang, are traditional in style, Janiva Magness' blues are a more contemporary version, but still with the same key ingredients.

One of my husband's photographs from Saturday night (click to enlarge):