One of my all time favorite songs is St. Louis Blues. A Wall Street Journal columnist wrote this weekend it is the “most significant and successful blues of all time.”

A St. Louis native, my approval is a given. But I also love the song a lot.

It became a natural for the St. Louis Blues hockey team.

A version by Dave Brubeck is on my Amazon playlist.

But my favorite memory of the W.C. Handy classic involves three young men going to New Orleans for a fun getaway.

We were bombed in a Bourbon Street music bar when one of my amigos started screaming for “St. Louis Blues.”

He wouldn’t let up. Finally the band hit that opening “ba da da da da…….”.

My friend was unaffected and continued to scream for it.

I started shaking him and said “Dan, they are playing it”, over and over.

Finally, with glazed over eyes he looked at me as we enjoyed the rest of the song.