Anyone hear like blues?

A very old clip of Brownie and Sonny (with Pete Seeger looking on) doing the old tune C. C. Rider (which they call "Easy Rider"). If you just keep listening, they next do Big Bill Broonzy's classic "Key to the Highway" after a few comments by Seeger.

Brownie McGhee, Dissatisfied Blues:

When a woman....get dissatisfied
She hangs her head and cries...
When a man gets dissatisfied...
He flags a train, and rides

Big Bill Broonzy singing "John Henry:"

John Henry, he said to his captain....
Well, a man aint nuthin but a man....
But before I let that steam drill beat me down...
I'm gunna die with my hammer in my hand, good Lord..
Die with my hammer in my hand.

Poor Memphis Minnie. Here all she was doin was makin friends, and she ends up "caught wrong again."



You may notice that the melody and timing of this tune is virtually identical to Robert Johnson's classic, "Stop Breaking Down," which he recorded a year later (1937). Of course the lyrics themselves are entirely different.

Talking about Johnson's "Stop Breaking Down" brings to mind the tune of the same title that the original Sonny Boy Williamson (on harp), Blind John Davis (on piano), and Big Bill Broonzy (on guitar) cut in 1945. This is done is a "Chicago blues" vein, with some differences in lyrics from Johnson, but still recognizable as the same basic tune.

I don't know if anyone else here likes, or even cares about, the tunes I'm posting here anymore. Not that it really matters. I kinda use this thread as my juke-box and come listen to a few tunes when I'm bored here.

But, that said, how about this?: If you don't like a song, give it a thumbs down, and if you do, a thumbs up. If you're indifferent to it, just don't do nuthin.

Kinda like a "poll," ya know?

If you're waiting for a "Hurray for Layman" you'll be disappointed.
People don't do that around here much.
But rest assured that there are some blues aficionados that are enjoying this thread; even if they're not vocal about it.
It's your passion so keep posting.Just don't expect a lot of sugar.

Fair enough, Panz, and thanks for the info. I wasn't looking for praise, although I had thought that perhaps a few people would like to make comments about songs or artists that they like (whether posted by me, or not).

But, the suggestion still goes. If you like a tune (or not) it doesn't take any effort to "say so" by clicking a button. It would be interesting to me to see which songs/artists seem to be best/worst received.

A while back I posted a number called "Fannie Mae," performed by Buster Brown. This tune also mentions Fanny Mae, and it's probably the same one, I figure.

This one is performed by the 2nd Sonny Boy Williamson aka Rice Miller.

Don't start me to talkin.....
I'll tell everything I know....
I'm gunna break up this signifyin....
Cause somebody's got to go

Here's a long-ass clip of one my faves, Chuck Berry, and his beautiful daughter, Ingrid, having some fun with an "updated" version of one of Chuck's early hits from the '50's (and with the crowd).

Chuck must be about 90 now, and Ingrid in her 60's, but, until just recently, anyway, they were playing live (with Chuck's son, Chuck Jr.), regularly in a basement room (capacity about 200, max) of a club in Saint Louis called "Blueberry Hill." Chuck just liked the intimate setting, I think.

As in this clip, near the end of the show, the whole crowd was invited up on stage to dance while they were playing. When it was over, Chuck sat in a chair, a line formed, and everyone who felt like it could talk to him for a few minutes. An all-time great performer.

Powerful tune

Yeah, I agree, as you can guess, Panz. Sonny Boy (II) is often very powerful in both his vocals and his harp style. He means business! He spent most of his life in the delta and knew (and learned from) all the great delta bluesmen. Howlin Wolf was his brother in law.

Hubert Sumlin told a story about Wolf and Sonny Boy. They had been playing together on some Mississippi street corner all day and when Wolf went to the john, Sonny Boy ran off with all the money in the hat. He didn't come back for over a year and, according to Hubert, Wolf was determined to kill Sonny Boy on sight for much the better part of that time. But by the time he ran into him again, that determination had faded some. Wolf told Sonny Boy: "If I had seen you two months ago you would be dead right now."

Sonny Boy said he didn't know what got into him. He just got greedy. There is no report that he paid Wolf back, and it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't (as long as Wolf wouldn't kill him, anyway).

Speaking of Wolf, here's an uptempo version of Robert Johnson's classic "Dust My Broom," with Hubert (in rear) playing Elmo James-style riffs. This is from the same session as was "How Many More Years," which I posted a while back. Son House is at the bar, getting a little animated.



You can get the sense from this video that Wolf really aint the kinda guy that Sonny Boy should be messin with, eh?

The sound quality of this vid isn't great, and Chuck plays out of key in places, but that aint the point. Point is that my little girl, Ingrid, blows a decent harp and can really belt out a blues tune. Chuck Jr. here on guitar, too.

Bo Carter the Pigmeat Papa

Bo Carter is the stage name of Armenter Chatmon (One of Sam's brothers, if you remember the posts that feature him here) and one of the great Mississippi Sheiks, some whose recordings I have also posted.

Well, you can straighten your hair....
wear your dresses up....
But you's a old hog...
I know you by your walk....
You can gimme pigmeat...I mean I love pigmeat...
Pigmeat is what I crave!

Here's the Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis, along with some limey boys over in London, doin a cover of a tune written by Brownie McGhee's brother, Sticks, who originally recorded it, with a distinctive early rock and roll "feel," back in 1947. I'm including that, if you want to compare.

Sticks got his nickname when he was a child. His brother, Brownie had polio, and couldn't walk, so Sticks would take him around by putting Brownie in a wagon and pushing it along with a stick. Sticks wrote this tune when he was in the army, during WWII. When it was recorded, he had to clean it up. What is now "spo-dee-o-dee" is a four syllable substitution for the original "************."

I forgot to add that the "bop bop" and "hoy hoy" (in Sticks' recording) were also substitutions--for the "God damn" in Sticks' original version

Putting it all together, the original lyrcis were:

Drinkin wine, ************, drinkin wine
God damn!

These recent posts reminded me that Keith Richards and Jerry Lee have something in common: They were both punched out by Chuck Berry.

Chuck was convicted of armed robbery when he was 18 or 19, and was a boxer in prison, so it was best not to piss him off.

According to Jerry Lee, the confrontation was over who was the king of rock and roll. According to Jerry Lee, it was himself. According to Chuck, it was, naturally, Chuck. Jerry Lee said that, after it came to blows: "I didn't argue with him no more."

In Richards' case, when they were playing a gig together, Keith started playing some licks on Chuck's guitar, while Chuck was gone. Chuck came in, saw him with the guitar, and decked him, saying, "nobody messes with my guitar."

Keith's comment was: "It was Chuck's greatest hit, ever."

And that makes me think of this clip from the movie made about Jerry Lee, "Great Balls of Fire." It documents the rivalry between Jerry and Chuck. Few, if any, would actually have a chance at upstaging Chuck Berry, as the Killer does here. A fun clip!:



Only fair to include a clip of Chuck, in his prime, doing Jonny B. Goode, I figure:

A simple blues from the great Bo Diddley, later covered by Creedence, Clapton, Eric Burdon, and others.

I called yo Mama
Bout three-four nights ago
Well, your Mama said, Son...
Don't call my daughter no mo