Truthfully, the only way to know why Langston Hughes
titled his famous poem "The Weary Blues" would be to ask him. Given that we no longer
have that option, your opinion is as good as mine. However, as you noted in the
question, there might have been good social reasons to include the word "weary" in this
particular poem. The writers of the Harlem Renaissance, of which Hughes was a part, had
good reason to be weary. They were fighting an uphill battle, both as Americans of color
and members of a cultural movement to be taken seriously as practitioners of their
common craft. Hughes' emphasis on weary also applies well to a blues musician, a piano
player working in a bar for a living had to play long hours for people who often did not
appreciate that fact. One would indeed be weary by the end of the
night.
But I don't think Hughes was only being literal. I
think his use of the term "weary" is specifically meant to point out the body and soul
weariness of trying to be accepted as equals after so many generations of slavery and
maltreatment. Plus, playing for whites, as so many of the jazz musicians of the time
did, would add another element of weariness to people who were already carrying a heavy
burden.
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