My Favourite Blues Tracks – Muddy Waters – The Same Thing

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Raw an earthy – just like I like my blues. No moon in June romance. It’s the same thing that makes a tom cat stay out all night.

the blues was about real life for me – sex and death, life and love.

Why do men go crazy
When a woman wears her dress so tight?
Why do men go crazy
When a woman wears her dress so tight?
Well, it must be the same old thing
That makes a tomcat fight all night

Why do all of the men try to run
A big legged woman down?
Why do all of the men try to run
A big legged woman down?
Well, it must be the same old thing
That makes a bulldog love a hound

Well, it’s the same thing
Well, it’s the same old thing
Tell me who is to blame
The whole world is fighting all about that same thing

What makes you feel so good
When your baby gets down her evening gown?
What makes you feel so good
When your baby gets down her evening gown?
Well, it must be the same old thing
That makes a preacher man lay his Bible down

Well, it’s the same thing
Well, it’s the same old thing

My Favourite Blues Tracks – Spoonful – Howlin’ Wolf

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This is another one that Cream did a great version of.

When I first heard this by Howlin’ Wolf I was in Dick Brunnings bedroom. I was fifteen years old and it blew my mind. The guitar, the lyrics and that fabulous voice. The poetry of the emotions in love, death and life. Everything comes down to a mere spoonful. That’s what all the fighting’s about. Another Willie Dixon classic.

Howlin’ Wolf – Spoonful Lyrics

It could be a spoonsful of diamonds,
Could be a spoonful of gold,
Just a little spoon of your precious love,
Satisfies my soul.

Men lies about little,
Some of them cries about little,
Some of them dies about little,
Everything fight about little spoonful.

It could be a spoonful of coffee,
Could be a spoonful of tea,
But a little spoon of your precious love,
Good enough for me.

Men lies about that,
Some of them dies about that,
Some of them cries about that,
But everything fight about that spoonful.

That spoon, dat spoon, dat spoonful.

It could be a spoonsful of water,
Saved from the deserts sand,
But one spoon of them fortifies.
Save you from another man.

Men lies about that,
Some of them cries about that,
Some of them dies about that,
Everybody fightin’ about that spoonful.

That spoon, dat spoon, dat spoonful.

Songwriters: WILLIE DIXON

 

My Favourite Blues Tracks – Muddy Waters – Hoochie Coochie Man

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Nobody writes bragging lyrics quite like Willie Dixon. Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters both did great jobs with them. While us poor white guys were having to put up with Bing Crosby and Doris Day the lucky black guys were listening and dancing to the earthy, gritty, sexual boasting of Muddy Waters.

When I was a kid this sounded like another world – the world of sex, drink and seedy bars. I couldn’t wait. It was a million miles from the manicured lawns of suburbia. This is where life rocked. I wanted some of that real hoochie coochie.

“(I’m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man”

The gypsy woman told my mother
Before I was born
I got a boy child’s comin’
He’s gonna be a son of a gun
He gonna make pretty women’s
Jump and shout
Then the world wanna know
What this all about
But you know I’m him
Everybody knows I’m him
Well you know I’m the hoochie coochie man
Everybody knows I’m himI got a black cat bone
I got a mojo too
I got the Johnny Concheroo
I’m gonna mess with you
I’m gonna make you girls
Lead me by my hand
Then the world will know
The hoochie coochie man
But you know I’m him
Everybody knows I’m him
Oh you know I’m the hoochie coochie man
Everybody knows I’m him

On the seventh hours
On the seventh day
On the seventh month
The seven doctors say
He was born for good luck
And that you’ll see
I got seven hundred dollars
Don’t you mess with me
But you know I’m him
Everybody knows I’m him
Well you know I’m the hoochie coochie man
Everybody knows I’m him

My Favourite Blues Tracks – Sonny Boy Williamson – Bring it on Home

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Well Sony Boy was a real entertainer – dressed up in his city gent suit with top hat and spats and his goatee beard. He could sure play the harp. I once saw (unfortunately only on the box) playing the harp without hands, sucking it into his mouth.

I loved this track with it’s churning train beat. He nailed it. I heard this being played on a jukebox at the fairground. It rocked. It is kind of understated.

I found Sonny’s grave in Tutwiler Mississippi. It was adorned with whisky bottles and harps.

SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON II
“Bring It On Home”
(Willie Dixon)

Baby, baby,
I’m gonna bring it on home to you

I done bought my ticket, I got my load
Conductor done hollered, “All, aboard”
Take my seat and ride way back,
And watch this train move down the track

Baby, baby,
I’m gonna bring it on home to you

I think about the good times I once have had
Soul got happy now, my heart got glad
I think about the way you love me too
You can bet your life, I’m comin home to you

I’m goin home,
I’m gonna bring it on home, now
I’m gonna bring it on home, now
I’m gonna bring it on home, now
Gonna bring it on home,
Bring it on home to you

Favourite Blues Tracks – The Sky is Crying – Elmore James

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I was fourteen when I first heard Elmore James. I just fell in love with that fabulous slide guitar. Nobody else comes close. With all the studio innovations they can’t match Elmore. This was recorded live in the Chess studio. What a sound.

Elmore worked in a hi-fi shop and personalised his own amps to create that sound. Amazing.

Add in the anguished voice and those great poetic lyrics. The sky is crying look at the tears roll down the street.

The sky is crying, look at the tears roll down the street
The sky is crying, look at the tears roll down the street
I’m waiting in tears looking for my baby, and I wonder where can she be?

I saw my baby one morning, and she was walking on down the street
I saw my baby one morning, yes she walking on down the street
Made me feel so good until my poor heart would skip a beat

I got a bad feeling, my baby, my baby don’t love me no more
I got a bad feeling, my baby don’t love me no more
Now the sky’s been crying, the tears rolling down my door

Favourite Blues Tracks – Wang Dang Doodle – Howlin’ Wolf.

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Well the Blues does many things. Some think it’s all about feeling Blue. That ain’t so. This is an example of a Rockin’ Number by Howlin’ Wolf. Willie Dixon sure did a job with those lyrics. There was plenty of humour in there. Willie was the greatest writer of Blues lyrics ever. He could do mean and nasty, down and dirty or fun. This is very tongue in cheek with a smattering of sexuality.

The blues could be fun, dance orientated, good time music or sad reflective themes.

 

 

Howlin’ Wolf – Wang Dang Doodle Lyrics

Tell Automatic Slim , tell Razor Totin’ Jim
Tell Butcher Knife Totin’ Annie, tell Fast Talking Fanny
A we gonna pitch a ball, a down to that union hall
We gonna romp and tromp till midnight
We gonna fuss and fight till daylight
We gonna pitch a wang dang doodle all night long
All night long
All night long
All night long
Tell Kudu-Crawlin’ Red, tell Abyssinian Ned
Tell ol’ Pistol Pete, everybody gonna meet
Tonight we need no rest, we really gonna throw a mess
We gonna to break out all of the windows, we gonna kick down all the doors
We gonna pitch a wang dang doodle all night long
All night long
All night long
All night long
Tell Fats and Washboard Sam, that everybody gonna to jam
Tell Shaky and Boxcar Joe, we got sawdust on the floor
Tell Peg and Caroline Dye, we gonna have a time.
When the fish scent fill the air, there’ll be snuff juice everywhere
We gonna pitch a wang dang doodle all night long
All night long
All night long
All night long
All night long
All night long
All night long
All night long
Songwriters: WILLIE DIXON

Favourite Blues Tracks – Bourgeois Blues – Leadbelly

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It was very rare for a Black singer to sing anything political or socially sensitive back in the thirties, forties or fifties. This was the time of segregation and white suppression. You could get yourself beaten or lynched for speaking out.

Leadbelly was one of the few who dared.

This song tells of the terrible racism that existed back then. See – we have got a lot better! Still a way to go.

Lord, in a bourgeois town
It’s a bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

Home of the brave, land of the free
I don’t wanna be mistreated by no bourgeoisie
Lord, in a bourgeois town
Uhm, the bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

We heard the white man say “I don’t want no niggers up there”
Lord, in a bourgeois town
Uhm, bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

Well, them white folks in Washington they know how
To call a colored man a nigger just to see him bow
Lord, it’s a bourgeois town
Uhm, the bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

I tell all the colored folks to listen to me
Don’t try to find you no home in Washington, DC
‘Cause it’s a bourgeois town
Uhm, the bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

Home of the Brave – Jody Miller

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I heard this song when I was a young kid with long hair in around 1965. It seemed to sum up what I felt. All those people who spout about freedom really are the most conforming of all. They did everything they could to beat anything different into the shape they thought it should be.

I never knew who wrote it or recorded it. It is a thing of its time but it resonated with my fifteen year old mind and seemed to sum up a bit of what I was going through.

Home Of The Brave
Jody Miller
(B. Mann-C. Weil)

The school board says “he can’t come to school, no more”
Unless he wears his hair like he wore it before
The PTA and all the mothers, say he ought to look like the others
Home of the brave, land of the free
Why won’t you let him be what he wants to be
The kids all laugh at his hair and funny clothes
And more than once he’s gone home with a bloody nose
He’s not like them and they can’t ignore it. So they all hate him for it
Home of the brave, land of the free
Why won’t you let him be what he wants to be
It really burns me up, when they put him down
He’s the only one whose saying something in this whole town
Instead of those the trouble they hand him, why don’t they try to understand him
Home of the brave, land of the free
Why won’t you let him be what he wants to be
He never hurt nobody
Why won’t you let him be what he wants to be
He just a little bit different
Why won’t you let him be what he wants to be
You got to understand him
Why won’t you let him be what he wants to be
And are for personal use and research interest only

Magic Band – Eric Klerk Photo – Leeds Farewell Tour

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Well I really liked this photo of Eric doing his thing. He was loving every minute of it and playing to the crowd – awesome.

Thanks Eric.

Now isn’t that amazing. Right place, right time.

The Magic Band – Leeds Farewell Tour – Photos

Posted on by Opher

It is hard to think that I might not see the Magic Band perform again. That is as sad as when Arthur Lee died and put an end to Love’s wonderful resurgence a few years back.

But I have the memories, the photos and I have the music. I’m playing it now – Moonlight on Vermont.

Here’s a few more photos from that last gig (if only I’d had a camera at that first one in 1967!!):

Eric was well on form, showboating with the crowd and John and Max. He was full of it.                            

Goodbye guys – thanks for the brilliance!!