The Standard Blues

The Standard Blues

n.
the dispiriting awareness that the twists and turns of your life feel new and profound but are not unique—marked by the same coming-of-age struggles as millions of others, the same career setbacks, the same family strife, the same learning curve of parenting—which makes even your toughest challenges feel harmless and predictable, just another remake of the same old story.

A riff on blues standards, the catalog of the most popular songs in the blues genre, which is itself famous for chord progressions that cycle through variations on a theme.

Deep Gut

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Nighthawk

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Proluctance

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Candling

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Symptomania

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Sayfish

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Rubatosis

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The Giltwrights

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Addleworth

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Vicarous

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Leidenfreude

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Endzoned

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Povism

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Fool’s Guilt

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Agnosthesia

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Lyssamania

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Wellium

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Hiddled

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Elsing

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Thwit

close-up of a person with forehead wrinkled and holding their head

Watashiato

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Anthrodynia

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Vaucasy

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Ioia

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Chrysalism

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Adronitis

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Kenaway

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