Song Meaning

The narrator opens with a visceral dread of the setting sun, a potent image for the end of hope and the onset of loneliness. This isn't just a bad mood; it's a profound sadness tied directly to his lover's departure from town. The repetition of "Lord, Lord" amplifies the weight of his despair, making it feel like a prayer or a desperate plea against the encroaching darkness and his inescapable blues. The core tension lies in the narrator's conflicting desires: he feels utterly dejected by his partner's absence, yet simultaneously resolves to leave himself. This paradox fuels the central conflict, suggesting a cycle of heartbreak and escape. The phrase "Gon' pack my bags, make my getaway" is a direct response to the pain, a desperate attempt to outrun the sorrow that "St. Louis blues" seems to embody. The lyrics cleverly pinpoint the superficial reasons for his lover's departure, contrasting them with a deeper, perhaps unacknowledged, emotional void. The "diamond rings" and "store-bought hair" suggest a focus on material possessions and artificiality, implying that these external factors, rather than genuine affection, are what drive her away. The narrator laments that without these trappings, "That baby I love wouldn't go nowhere." This song hits hard because it grounds its profound sadness in specific, relatable images of loss and the desperate measures taken to cope. The relentless repetition of "I got them St. Louis Blues" isn't just a statement of fact; it’s an immersion into the feeling itself, a blues that becomes a physical, all-encompassing state of being. The narrator’s blues are so deep, they are "as blue Lord as I can be."