"What Can I Do" — the blues man's helpless question. The limits of agency.
People say you love but one at time
For every woman there's a man
My baby say she wasn't put here forever
So she's gonna get as many as she can
What can i do
Yes, i just sing the blues
Well, i just sing the blues
'cause that's the only thing i know to do
Well, some people may be wrong sometimes
But they can't be wrong all the time
Like they say a cat has nine lives
Nine loves has the woman of mine
What can i do
Yes, i just sing the blues
Well, i just sing the blues
'cause that's the only thing i know to do
Well, the women are funny these days
They do wrong in so many ways
They'll have a man twiddling his fingers
Or either drinking his life away
What can i do
Yes, i just sing the blues
Well, i just sing the blues
'cause that's the only thing i know to do
Знаете ли вы, что...
- A B.B. King recording. The what-can-I-do — the situation that has no available action, where the blues man is genuinely powerless — is the tradition at its most honest about human limits.