Editing Blues (section)

==Etymology==
The term 'Blues' may have originated from "blue devils", meaning melancholy and sadness. An early use of the term in this sense is in [[George Colman the Younger|George Colman]]'s one-act farce ''Blue Devils'' (1798).<ref>The "Trésor de la Langue Française informatisé" provides this etymology of ''blues'' and cites Colman's farce as the first appearance of the term in the English language; see {{cite web |url=http://atilf.atilf.fr/dendien/scripts/fast.exe?mot=blues |title=Blues |publisher=Centre Nationale de Ressources Textuelles et Lixicales |access-date=October 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120628163715/http://atilf.atilf.fr/dendien/scripts/fast.exe?mot=blues |archive-date=June 28, 2012 |url-status=dead |language=fr  }}</ref> The phrase 'blue devils' may also have been derived from a British usage of the 1600s referring to the "intense visual hallucinations that can accompany severe alcohol withdrawal".<ref name=huff>[http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/2399330 Devi, Debra (2013). "Why Is the Blues Called the 'Blues'?" ''Huffington Post'', 4 January 2013]. Retrieved November 15, 2015</ref> As time went on, the phrase lost the reference to devils and came to mean a state of agitation or depression. By the 1800s in the United States, the term "blues" was associated with drinking alcohol, a meaning which survives in the phrase '[[blue law]]', which prohibits the sale of alcohol on Sunday.<ref name=huff/>

In 1827, it was in the sense of a sad state of mind that [[John James Audubon]] wrote to [[Lucy Bakewell Audubon|his wife]] that he "had the blues".<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Random House|year=2006|first=Richard|last=Rhodes|title=John James Audubon: The Making of an American|page=302|isbn=9780375713934|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4j2FDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22+John+James+Audubon+%22+%22had+the+blues%22&pg=PA302}}</ref>

In [[Henry David Thoreau]]'s book ''[[Walden]]'', he mentions "the blues" in the chapter reflecting on his time in solitude. He wrote his account of his personal quest in 1845, although it was not published until 1854.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.waldenorlifeinwo00thor/?sp=5&st=pdf|title=Image 5 of Walden, or, Life in the woods|website=Loc.gov}}</ref>

The phrase "the blues" was written by [[Charlotte Forten Grimké|Charlotte Forten]], then aged 25, in her diary on December 14, 1862. She was a free-born black woman from Pennsylvania who was working as a schoolteacher in South Carolina, instructing both slaves and freedmen, and wrote that she "came home with the blues" because she felt lonesome and pitied herself. She overcame her depression and later noted a number of songs, such as "Poor Rosy", that were popular among the slaves. Although she admitted being unable to describe the manner of singing she heard, Forten wrote that the songs "can't be sung without a full heart and a troubled spirit", conditions that have inspired countless blues songs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oliver |first=Paul |url=http://archive.org/details/isbn_9781555533540 |title=The story of the blues |date=1998 |publisher=Boston, Mass. : Northeastern University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-55553-355-7}}</ref>

Though the use of the phrase in African-American music may be older, it has been attested to in print since 1912, when [[Hart Wand]]'s "[[Dallas Blues]]" became the first copyrighted blues composition.<ref>Davis, Francis (1995). ''The History of the Blues''. New York: Hyperion, {{ISBN|978-0786860524}}</ref><ref>Partridge, Eric (2002). ''A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English''. Routledge. {{ISBN|978-0-415-29189-7}}</ref> In lyrics, the phrase is often used to describe a depressed mood.<ref>Bolden, Tony (2004). ''Afro-Blue: Improvisations in African American Poetry and Culture''. [[University of Illinois Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-252-02874-8}}</ref>