cry the blues

verb2

1. •
   To sing in the style of blues music.

   • "Young people have forgotten how to cry the blues," said Big Bill Broonzy as he lay dying in a dark room above the littered streets of Chicago's Negro South Side. — 1958
2. •
   To complain, especially in order to obtain sympathy for one's own purportedly sad situation.

   • "The average citizen gets an extreme emotional delight in ‘crying the blues’ to anyone who might lend an attentive ear." — 1934