cry the blues vs lament

cry the blues

verb
  • To complain, especially in order to obtain sympathy for one's own purportedly sad situation. 

  • To sing in the style of blues music. 

lament

verb
  • To feel great sorrow or regret; to bewail. 

  • To express grief; to weep or wail; to mourn. 

noun
  • A song expressing grief. 

  • An expression of grief, suffering, sadness or regret. 

How often have the words cry the blues and lament occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )