Original subtitles

Hey.

Hey, what's up?

I thought I am late. That's right.

Justine's out of town and she called me long distance. I hadn't talked to her in

a couple of days.

Ah. Tailpipe Willie should be coming on any minute now.

Theo, are you ready for this? Because you are going to hear some authentic

music tonight. I don't think I'm going to be able to enjoy much of anything

tonight. Why not?

Justine just told me she decided to go to graduate school.

Yeah? That's great. Don't you get it?

She'd probably want to go away to graduate school.

I could lose her, man.

Elvin, when you started dating my sister, how did you know she was the one

were going to marry? I knew she was the one the first time I laid eyes on her.

I feel the same way about Justine. Yeah? Congratulations. But I also feel a lot

of other things, like I'm too young to go.

Elvin, there are tons of women out there that I have yet to meet. Ah, but

there's only one Justine.

And if she's really the one for you, then you won't care about those tons of

other women.

Right? Hi.

What are you gentlemen having?

Uh, decaf cappuccino for me. Deal?

Uh, I'll have the thing.

Thing.

See her? No. Now, I should be allowed to ask her out.

I'm 19 years old. I'm too young to be tied down to one woman.

I don't want to look in the mirror one day and see an old married man who's

wrinkled and bald.

Hey, what does getting married have to do with being bald? I'm married and I'm

not bald.

Not yet.

Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention, please? Due to circumstances

beyond our control, Tailpipe Willie will not be appearing this evening.

What? You're kidding me.

You're kidding me. I can't believe there's no tailpipe Willie. We came here

see tailpipe Willie. We want tailpipe Willie. We will give you your money back

if you don't find this replacement acceptable.

You are about to hear the king of the blue, Mr.

Riley Jackson.

The comfort on the telephone.

Went out and caught me.

Midnight flight.

Thought the love would make everything all right.

But the landlord said, you're going away.

Locked me with all your bills. Too bad, baby.

Mom, dad.

Glad you guys are home.

Money, food, or lunch?

Food, but I brought a gift.

Come in, sit down.

Want you to hear this? I know you guys are into the blues as it is, but I heard

some blues singing last night at this club.

Unbelievable. Who? He's got to be the greatest blues singer ever.

Who? Riley Jackson.

Riley?

Riley, I want you to meet our son, Theo.

Riley Jackson's in my house. I'm bugging.

You certainly are bugging because this is not your house.

Mr. Jackson, I saw you at the Steel Dog Cafe last night. You were fantastic.

How come you guys didn't tell me you knew Riley Jackson?

Riley is an old friend of your granddad's son. They used to play in the

clubs together.

We've got a long -standing agreement that whenever he's in town, he calls

and Russell goes over for a hot meal. But since they're out of town, he called

us. Well, you see, a hot meal is a beautiful thing to me because I've been

the road for three months, playing stadiums, small clubs, state fairs. In

I've been every place from Tokyo to Tennessee.

Well, being in college, I can appreciate missing a good home -cooked meal, too.

Neither one of you looks like you're starving.

a good seat tonight, you better be nice to me. Okay.

Okay. You guys are going to see Riley Jackson tonight. Can I come?

Of course you can. We're going to take the whole family down there to see Mr.

Jackson. And everybody will go down and have a good time and listen to Mr.

Jackson saying about hard times and heartbreak. I know about heartbreak

when I was in the service, I made up some of my own songs.

That's how heartbroken I was.

I was singing the blues, too.

Were you really? I was singing, what am I to do, surrounded by all these men?

My sailor man is at sea. Now, what's his name again?

See, now, a woman singing the blues like that will give you the blues.

And speaking of singing, sir, I think that we fed you very, very well, and it

might be... nice if you repaid us with a song.

I don't think I can help you there, Cliff. I think you can help me there,

I think I saw you carry your guitar in, didn't I?

Yes, because I didn't want to leave it in the car.

My amplifier is down at the club. I got an old amp that belongs to him that's up

in the attic. Well, I'll go up there and get it. All right, if it works, so will

I. Hey, I thought you'd never say anything.

Hey, listen, Riley's going to sing for us. Come into the living room. Oh, all

right. The blues, I'm ready.

All right, little one, time to get you ready for bed.

I can't stay down here.

No. Oh, man, now I'm getting the blues.

Vanessa,

aren't you coming?

No, Mom, I'm not in the mood.

Oh, what's wrong?

My personal life has been shambled.

Again? Yes.

I don't understand it, Mom. Last week, four guys were after me.

One guy kept following me down the hall, and another guy kept calling. And, Mom,

one guy met me at my locker every day with fresh flowers.

That sounds pretty good.

I know.

But then it all stopped suddenly.

I haven't even gotten a phone call this week.

Oh, Vanessa, I'm sorry you're down and out, honey, but that's another reason

you really should come into the living room.

The blues, honey. The blues can cleanse you of these feelings.

Mom, how is listening to some whiny music going to make me feel better?

Whiny music?

My man left me. My woman left me.

My dog left me. I have no money, no job, and now all I can do is whine.

kitchen and feel sorry for yourself.

Oh, I will.

Oh, it's just that I don't get it.

Why are boys like this? I mean, am I asking too much out of life? Just one

boyfriend. Vanessa, you have got it, honey.

You have got the blues.

You're in this kitchen crying the blues.

Mom, you're not listening.

Mom,

you're not listening.

I don't deserve this.

I don't deserve this.

He didn't want to spend the money for a new one. He figured I wouldn't stick

with the guitar.

Well, let's see what you'll do.

So when did you start playing and singing, Mr. Jackson?

In church, when I was a small boy back in Mississippi.

We used to play hymns in the church.

Something like this.

I'm working on the building.

True foundation.

I'm going up to heaven, getting my reward.

Then after church, we'd sneak over to Muddy Waters' house. We used to play

like this.

You act like you don't want to listen when I'm talking to you.

You think you ought to do it.

influenced you? I'd say T -Bone Walker.

You knew T -Bone Walker?

Not really, but I knew all of his songs.

When I first started out, I used to play all of his tunes.

I used to play this little play about the size of this table.

Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about.

And one night, in walked T -Bone Walker.

My big chance to show him some of my tunes.

Guess what happened?

I fainted.

No!

Yes, I did. And what happened when you came to?

T -Bone Walker was playing my song.

What was he playing?

Nobody loves me but my mother.

And she could be jiving, too.

Oh, that must be Kenny. He didn't believe me when I told him Mr. Riley

was over here.

Hello? Kitty?

This is Mr. Riley Jackson.

Mr. Riley Jackson, this is Kitty.

Hi. Hello, Mr.

Jackson.

My brother says guitars make you lucky with women.

Does he play guitar?

No, and he doesn't have any women either.

Mr. Jackson, I was born to sing the blues.

Yeah?

I gave you a...

But she said you want a Cadillac.

I bought you a $10 dinner.

And she said, thanks for the snack.

I'll let you live in my penthouse.

And you said it was a shack.

My pipes are a little dry.

Can I ask you a question?

Far away.

Are you married?

44 years to the same beautiful lady.

Well, that's a long time.

That's what my wife keep telling me.

When did you know that she was the one you were going to marry?

The very first moment I laid eyes on her. You too?

My brother -in -law, Elvin, said he knew the first time he saw my sister,

Sandra. My dad said he knew the first time he saw my mom.

Martin said he knew the first time he saw Denise.

I've been with my girlfriend Justine for two years, and I still don't know.

All I know is the first time I saw her, I knew that I wanted to see her again.

Well, Cupid has a lot of errors, and he dips them in a lot of different stuff.

One error hits you and knocks you right over. The others are delayed.

Something like a cold capsule.

You mean like they're time -released? They're in me, but they don't happen

later. That's it. They hit you when you don't expect it. I think I know what you

mean. Say I see a beautiful woman and I say to myself, oh, I'd love to go out

with her.

But my mind takes me back to Justine.

And I keep thinking she's the only one for me.

Then I end up all mixed up. I don't know which way to turn.

I'm kind of like a pig in a trap.

Pig in a trap. That sounds like a good blues song.

And that's why I know I can't have that bacon on the side.

Baby,

you done lost your good thing now.

If you change your -

Hey, Justine and I don't want any ice cream. It's getting late. I've got to

it back to the dorm. Good.

There'll be more for us.

You will be getting the same amount.

Oh, ho.

And did you cook and have big fun when Justine showed up?

Justine, Justine.

See you guys later. All right, home.

You might as well know I'm experiencing some emotional torment over Justine.

See, on one hand, I'm really in love with her. But on the other hand, I'm

too young to go.

Go where?

Down the aisle.

Who is going down the aisle?

Well, I'm sure Justine wants to.

What makes you think Justine wants to get married? And what makes you think

wants to marry you?

Well, Justine gets very jealous whenever she sees me with another girl. And you

know what?

Whenever we're away from each other, she calls me and tells me how much she

misses me.

Theo, did Justine tell you that she wants to be your wife?

No. Has Justine said that she wants to have children with you and live

Married?

Well, no. Has Justine even said that she wants to be engaged?

No. Well, then, son, what makes you think Justine wants to get married?

I'll tell you what this is all about.

Theo is afraid.

Afraid, I say, that what he thinks, Justine thinks, is what he really wants.

Oh, no way. I don't want to get married.

Justine? Yes?

Justine?

And I don't know why Well Said I'm going down for the last

time I don't know why Well

The Cosby Show was taped before a studio audience.