The Weary Blues

The word "croon" appears twice in “The Weary Blues.” A literal reading finds nothing amiss with the word. The speaker is “rocking back and forth to a mellow croon” (Line 2), and the musician “crooned that tune” (Line 31) because “croon” means to sing softly and gently. Thus, “croon” represents music and the musician’s type of singer.

Yet “croon” sounds similar to a racial slur. In “The Coon Caricature” (2000) the sociologist David Pilgrim says the epithet is "one of the most insulting of all anti-black caricatures.” An abbreviation of “raccoon,” the term dehumanizes Black people, and ‘portrays them as a lazy, easily frightened, chronically idle, inarticulate, and buffoon.” In "The Weary Blues," the speaker labels the sway of the blues performer “lazy” (Lines 6 and 7) and describes him as “a music fool” (Line 13), which, in this interpretation, is not a compliment.

The description of the musician links to this pejorative term, so the word “croon” suggests a double-edged meaning, calling forth both the soothing, musical connotations of the word, as well as the underlying racism and prejudice that reduces complex humans to simple stereotypes and roles, like the soulful blues singer. Hughes’ words emphasize the weariness of someone who feels like an object—“like a rock” (Line 35)—which can drive them to the grave.