Original subtitles

What would we do, baby, without us?

And there

ain't no nothing we can't love each other through.

What would we do, baby, without us?

My stardust melody.

The memory of love's refrain.

Okay, that was a Hoagy Carmichael standard stardust sung by the great Mel

on the Master Seal label.

This is W .L .E .L., voice of Leland University, and you're listening to

Syncopated Money.

The only radio show that combines classic American music with in -depth

of the business scene.

I'm Alex Keaton.

Alex Keaton, how can you miss him? He's so cute!

Okay. Hey, we've got a guest here in the WLEL studio. This is Lauren Miller,

psychology student here at Leland University, lover of American music, and

hopelessly devoted girlfriend of yours truly, Alex Keaton.

Alex Keaton, he's so cute.

Alex, please, I don't want to go on the radio.

Help me out, help me out. Well, you can talk about anything you want. Just try

to tie it into music.

So, honey bunch, what you got in your mind?

Do you want to go to the movies tonight?

Bebop, bebop, doo -wah, doo -wah.

Okay, well, honey, actually, I'm going to be busy tonight. But, listen, I don't

think the listeners are interested in hearing about our personal life.

Oh, hey.

W -L -E -L, you're on the air.

Hi, this is Bill from Alpha Lambda Phi.

I'll go to the movies with you, Lauren.

In fact, our whole third floor will go with you.

Well, Bill, I think that's going to be a tough one for her to pass up, but I'll

let her handle it for herself.

What movie would you guys like to see?

Shade, time to spin a little wax with a blue tint as we get aboard the Keaton

Blues train and chug on up to a station marked Blues.

Okay, this is I Feel So Good by the late, great, legendary Eddie Dupree.

knows we miss him so.

I got a letter and it come to me by mail.

My baby said she's coming home and I hope that she don't.

Yeah, hello, W -L -E -L.

Is this Keaton?

Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Alex Keaton, the only DJ with a sound fiscal policy.

Do you have a request?

Yes, I have a request.

I'm Eddie Dupree.

My request is before you go around burying people, I wish you'd get their

permission first.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You're really Eddie Dupree?

That's right.

You're still alive?

and listen to you on the radio.

Mr. Dupree, I haven't seen your name on a record in, it's got to be, 15 years.

Close to 25.

Wow.

I'm sorry.

I apologize.

I'm a really big fan of yours. I had no idea that you weren't dead, you know,

that you were just washed up.

What I am is a bus dropper right here in Columbus.

Listen,

I'd love to talk to you sometime.

Maybe have you right here on the show.

We could discuss your views on music.

I have no views on music.

There is a fee involved.

Time and place, please.

Terraplane Blues, what year?

Terraplane Blues, 1928.

Who was on the session?

Okay, let me see. That'd be Robert Johnson, Random Knowings, and

Popcorn Ferguson on bass.

Very good.

Okay, okay. Keep them coming. Keep them coming.

Come on, Alex. Enough already. We've been at this for an hour.

Jen, come on. It's important we be knowledgeable here. Now, when Eddie

walks in that door, we got to show him we know a lot about the blues.

Alex, having you as a brother is all I need to know about the blues.

All right, Alex.

Here's all our old college stuff. Whatever old blues albums we have would

here. Thanks, Dan. This is great.

Oh, look at this old term paper.

Flower power, an alternative to hydroelectric power.

I remember that. That was the project to see if we could like the city of

Berkeley exclusively through geranium friction.

How'd that turn out?

At best, it's a backup.

I guess no Eddie Dupree album.

Eddie Dupree at the Monterey Blues Festival.

Perhaps the highlight of the festival was Dupree's classic rendition of Keys

the Highway, in which he showed why many consider him to be the king of the

Delta Blues.

It's hard to believe that such a great musician could just disappear from the

music scene.

None of these guys own the publishing rights to their song. They'd come in,

a record, get some lunch if they were lucky. Maybe 50 bucks for the day.

Somebody else got rich.

What about the videos? Didn't they own the rights to those?

Mel.

Mel, this is before videos.

Before videos? Then what'd they show on MTV?

The same thing that's in your head, Mel.

What's this?

Going to Berkeley Blues.

Living in Berkeley Blues.

Leaving Berkeley Blues. That's the Berkeley Blues trilogy.

I wrote this.

Lisa and I would perform in the local coffee houses.

Yeah, and seeing as Eddie Dupree is coming tonight, we thought maybe we'd

a little show. Oh, no, no, no, no. No, Mom.

No, no, don't you even think about it. I think Mr.

Dupree might enjoy hearing it.

Shh.

Gone to Berkeley.

Gone to Berkeley.

Gone to Berkeley.

Now. You wrote that all by yourself, Dad?

I got it, I got it, I got it, I got it.

Hello, I'm Eddie Dupree.

Hi, I'm Alex Keaton. I'm Alex Keaton. Please come in. Can I take your coat?

Mr. Dupree, I can't tell you how meaningful it is to meet you after...

All these years, we are truly two of your biggest fans.

Wonderful of you to say that. But who are you?

This is my father, Stephen Keaton. This is my mother, Elise Keaton. Please come

in. This is my girlfriend, Lauren Miller.

My sisters, Mallory and Jennifer.

Mr. Dupree, there's something I don't understand.

That's the standard opening to any remark she's likely to make.

No, it's about these blues you keep referring to. What exactly are you blue

about?

Little lady, personally, I'm not blue about anything.

These blues are like a pain.

Pain that a man has when his woman leaves him.

Yeah, that's blues, all right.

Thank you, Lead Belly Keating.

Mr. Dupree, listen, I thought maybe when you came on the show, what I'd like to

do is talk a little bit about your roots, where you come from.

Do you remember what your first paying job was?

I was 12 years old down in Statesboro, Georgia, where I was living at when the

Fails Medicine Show come through the town, selling some medicine out of a

that said it was good for rheumatic pains, pneumonia, anything that ails

And they had a little show that drove the crowd around, and they hired me for

five cents a day and all the medicine I could use.

I sing a little song with a guitar.

I'll show you how I do it.

I want something like this.

Did you ever hear the blues?

Edie Dupree, it just struck me.

We can't just do one night. We have an Edie Dupree festival.

Four nights of interviews, and then on the fifth night, You perform live. Slow

down.

Just one interview.

That's it.

But, Eddie, Mr.

Dupree, it's just that, you know, I think this is a chance for you to get

to doing what you love.

You don't understand.

I talk on your show.

I'll answer your questions. But Eddie Dupree will not sing in public anymore.

Yes, yes, yes.

That was Blind... That was Blind Lemon.

That was Blind Lemon Jefferson.

Thinking, going to the country. Which was recorded in Mobile, Alabama, April

17th, 1936. Now, also on that date, April 17th, 1936, Xerox was first

offered over the counter.

That's $20 a share.

And hey, don't it give you the blues to know you didn't get in at that price.

Okay, it's 834 here on WLEL 87 .2 on your FM dial. I'm Alex Keaton. He's so

cute!

Your blues man and stock analyst for the night.

I want to remind you that the legendary blues guitarist, Eddie Dupree, will be

joining us right here in the studio. Now, I know I said he was dead.

But I was dead wrong.

Okay, now, here is Eddie Dupree singing one of his favorites, John Henry.

Hey,

Eddie, you're here.

Great. You didn't think I was going to show up? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Please, sit down.

Whoa, okay, great.

Uh, listen, can I get you something to drink? Black coffee, dude.

Black coffee? Black coffee.

beverage of the blues.

That ain't a heck of a tune, too, huh?

Mama get mad when Papa don't bring... If you go on a thing, I'm gonna leave.

Well, Eddie, normally I get a lot of requests for my fine vocal stylings, but

tonight is your night.

Don't worry.

Okay. All right, all right. Joining me now in the studio

is The Blues Great.

Eddie Dupree. So if you have any questions for Mr. Dupree, call us here

-W -L -E -L.

And why don't I get it started?

Eddie, can you tell us a little bit about the kind of music you make?

Music is not to be talked about. It's like talking to somebody about making

love. You don't talk about it, you just do it.

All right, okay.

It's going well.

Hello, WLAL, you're on the air.

Mr. Dupree, I'm Professor Webster from the music department here at Leland, and

I'm a very big fan of yours.

Thanks, I love you.

I've been trying to track you down forever. I'm staging a blues show at the

Note Cafe, and I really want you to be a part of it.

Thank you, but I'm not interested.

Hey, uh, Eddie, you know, that's a big chance.

Didn't I tell you I wasn't going to perform anymore?

Well, I'm very disappointed.

Because in my mind, you're the greatest blues man to ever hold a guitar.

Well, goodbye.

You know, I have to agree with Professor Webster.

I mean, Mr.

Dupree, it just seems to me that it's a big opportunity. I don't see why you

wouldn't grab it.

People don't want to hear a bus driver playing the blues.

Okay, well, we're going to play a song now that Mr. Dupree recorded in 1943.

It's called Cornbread and Peas.

I don't want no cornbread and peas and black molasses.

I don't want no cornbread and peas and black molasses. It's been a long time

since I heard that.

I made that out in Chicago in O .K.'s studio. It was so cold when I made that

record, my fingers froze to the core.

Listen, that's Lightning Fats on a rhythm guitar.

That's a little Willie on the bay.

Well,

they don't make music like that anymore,

do they, ladies and gentlemen?

Hi, W -L -E -L, Alex Keaton.

He's so cute!

I'd like to say something to Mr. Dupree.

I just want to say that I would walk 15 miles in the snow to hear you play.

20 miles in good weather.

So I got to disappoint you like that.

W -L -E -L, you're on the air. This is Bill from Alpha Lambda Phi, and our

fraternity is hoping you'll play.

And if not, we're wondering if Lauren is still available.

You're off the air.

Oh, you're on the air.

Well,

Mr. Dupree, looks like a lot of people would rather see you play the blues than

drive a bus.

So good!

Baby!

So good!

I don't mean maybe. You make me feel so good.

So good, so good, so good.

Well, I feel so good.

Feel like falling asleep.

Hey!

So good.

Hey, hey, hey. All right, Andy. Okay, buddy.

Whatever I sing, you sing, okay?

Baby,

please don't go.

Baby, please don't go.

Baby, please don't go.

Baby, please don't go.

Baby, please don't go down to New Orleans. Baby, please don't go down to

Orleans. Because I love you so.

Because I love you so. Baby, please don't go.

You are a natural born booze man, Andy. You are too, bro.

Very good.

Very good indeed. I had no idea we had two such down -home funky hep cats in

Keaton family.

You're right, Dad. We're cool.

Professor Webster? In my view, your pawn shop blues has overtones of the Aeolian

cadences in Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde.

That's the way I think, too.

You see, Mr. Dupree, you are the absolute epitome of the American spirit.

Professor Webster, you're going to get on my nerves.

Mr. Dupree, you're a living legend. Mr.

Dupree, you're a daddy to the blues. Mr.

Dupree, you're a national treasure.

You caused all this.

Yeah, I'm proud of that.

I just happen to believe that the blues of Eddie Dupree are every bit as

important a contribution to American culture as Huckleberry Finn.

Why don't you go find Huckleberry Finn and hassle him, too?

Hi. Hi, girls. Hi. Hi, Mr. Dupree. We just wanted to let you know that over

past few days, we've really become big blues fans. Yeah, so we made this for

you. Thank you. What is it? Oh, it's a scarf with all the shades of blue in it,

like the blues.

Do you know your girls are becoming sweethearts of the blues?

Yeah.

All right, we'll see you later. Have a good show. Thank you, buddy.

Have a good one. All right, so, nervous?

I've got the two coldest feet in history.

The last time I played before the Oscars was 1965.

You wasn't born then.

And I don't know what Xerox was selling.

I got a good note and just jumped right out that door.

Eddie, listen to me. If you don't sing tonight, I will.

Eating you fried dirty.

Good evening. We have a very special treat for you tonight. A legendary blues

artist. We haven't heard nearly enough of him in a long, long time.

He's come a long way to be here tonight.

Listen, there's nothing I can say about this guy.

That he can't say himself with his music. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Eddie

Dupree.

Guess I'm supposed to play you some blues.

So here I go.

Well, I'm tired of running around.

Think I'll get married and settle down.

This old sporting life, it is a mean life.

And it's killing me.

Yes, it is.

I got a letter from my home.

All my schoolmates, they are dead and gone.

It'll make you worry.

It'll make you wonder about days to come.

Next song is for a special friend of mine.

Lose your money.

Please don't you lose your mind.

Don't you lose your mind.

If you lose your money, please don't lose your mind.

Well, if you lose your woman, please, please don't fool with mine.

Let it come rain, come sunshine.

From the skies, from the skies above.

Blue, blue skies.

Let it come rain, come sunshine.

From the sky, lonely skies above, blue, blue skies above.

You know I'm a fool. I'm a fool about the woman I love. Yes, I am.

Walk on.

Walk on.

Walk on.

Walk on.

Walk on.

Walk on.

Walk on.

Walk on.

People, I'm going to keep on walking until I find my way back home.

Tell me something.

My mind gets worried when my shoes get thin.

Don't know where I'm going, but I do know where I've been. I'm going to walk

walk on.

I'm going to walk on and on and on and on and on and on.

I'm going to keep on walking until I find my way back home. Let me tell you

something.

I've got to be on my way.

I'm going to leave tomorrow, but I'm coming back someday.

I've got to walk on.

Walk on.

Walk on. On and on and on and on.

I'm going to keep on walking till I find my way back home.

I'm going to keep on walking till I find my way back home. Hey, hey, hey.

Walk on.

Sit, Ubu, sit.

Good dog.