Outlandish Blues

Don’t Know What Love Is

Don't Know What Love Is My mother can't recall the exact infamous year but Mama does know that she and her friends were teenagers when they sneaked out to an official joint in the middle of the woods to listen to Dinah Washington sing their favorite love song. They wanted to dance together so close they'd be standing behind each other but Mama says, Dinahshowed up late and acted u^jy and on top of that she didn't want to sing the song. This is supposed to be the story of Mama's blues and how she threw good money after bad but this is South Georgia and Dinah's standing in high heels on aJim Crow stage two feet off the ground. She's sniffing the perfume of homemade cigarettes, chitlin plates, hair grease one grade above Vaseline, and the premature funk wafting up from the rowdy kids with no home training. Can't even pee straight much less recognize a silverlame dress. All they know to do is demand one song because they risked a certain butt whipping to be in this joint,in these woods. Dinah won't sing it, though. She just won't sing the song. I'm anevilgal, she hollers out instead. Don'tyou botherwith me! ii ...