"Blue Melody" is a short story by J. D. Salinger, first published in the September 1948 issue of Cosmopolitan. The tragic tale of an African-American jazz singer, the story was inspired by the life of Bessie Smith and was originally titled "Scratchy Needle on a Phonograph Record." Cosmopolitan changed the title to "Blue Melody" without Salinger's consent, a "slick" magazine tactic that was one of the reasons the author decided, in the late forties, that "he wanted to publish only in The New Yorker."
Famous quotes containing the words blue and/or melody:
“Oh, Scott, for people like you and me the world can be a wonderful place. The sky’s as blue as it is for the giants, the friends are as warm.”
—Richard Matheson (b. 1926)
“Hetty [Burney’s sister] set down to the harpsichord and sung ... we departed this life of anguish and misery, and rested our weary souls in the Elysian field—my papa’s study—there, freed from the noise and bustle of the world enjoyed the harmony of chattering—and the melody of music!”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)