Anyone hear like blues?

A slow blues from the great Elmore James here, "It Hurts Me Too." As Frank Zappa said once, when Elmore sang a tune, by God, he meant it!

One thing I really like about that last Elmore tune, and older blues in general, for that matter, is that no one "overplays" their instrument. The piano, bass, and Elmore's slide are all used rather sparingly by today's standards, and each "contributes to," rather than dominates, the overall effect. These guys are not trying to "impress" by playing a million notes a minute.

Here's another Elmore tune that starts out as vocals, with accompaniment, that just turns into an instrumental after the lyrical start doesn't go well. The tune was recorded in Canton Mississippi, and, because of that "breakdown" it is called "Canton, Mississippi Breakdown." It's typical Elmore, but here each main instrument (sax, piano, slide) takes turns being "featured" in successive choruses.

Faber Smith, playing Jimmy Yancy style piano, with his classic "East St. Louis Blues:"

I walked all the way...
to old East Saint Louis Town....
I was hopin to the good Lord...
that I would never be found....
before I let my Baby....
treat me like a clown....
I will take her life....
and be penitentiary bound

Together with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell stand at the top amongst the greatest duos in blues history. Here's their classic "How Long Blues," since covered many times by both traditional and modern artists.

Here an extra at the station....
watchin my Baby leavin town...
feelin disgusted...
nowhere could peace be found....
I can hear the whistle blowin...
can't see no train...
and it's deep down in my heart, Baby...
there lies an achin pain....

Speakin of good old Brownie and Sonny

Ya know, the world is too wide....
the highways are too long....
aint no need of us bein together....
if we can't even get along
I'm gunna walk on

Sonny Terry used to partner up with the great Blind Blake in North Carolina. After Blake died, Brownie and Sonny formed a new team. They played together beginning in the late 30's. Here's another tune, "Born with the Blues" from the same concert as the last one, performed in 1974.

You don't think I'm sinkin?
Just look what a hole I'm in...
You don't think I love you?
Just look what a fool I've been...
But I'm not ashamed...
Aint that news....
I was born with the blues.

Speaking of Jimmy Yancy, here's an old tune, sung by his wife "Mama" Yancy, with him on piano. This tune is called "How Long Blues," but it is a completely different song than the one made popular by Leroy and Scrapper.

I've been down, down in the delta....
Down in the delta where I done been tried....
I can't take no more trouble....
than any little woman my size

Have you heard Lou Rawls version, his was the first artist to release a version of the original when I was teeny tiny young kid.

Big Joe Turner (with the great Pete Johnson on piano) with a tune from 1954 that became the "rock and roll anthem" when covered by a white boy (Bill Haley).

Get outta that bed...
wash your face and hands...
git into that kitchen.....
start rattlin them pots and pans...
I said, shake, rattle, and roll...
Well, ya won't do right...
to save your doggone soul.

Kansas Joe McCoy, with his talented wife, Memphis Minnie, on guitar, with the classic tune from 1929, "When the Levee Breaks." Here Minnie's guitar evokes the sound and image of a relentless, driving rain:

Cryin won't help ya...
Prayin won't do no good...
When that levee breaks...
Mama, you got to move...
It's a mean old levee...
cause me weep and moan...
cause me to leave my Baby....
and my happy home

The inimitable Buster Brown, doin his classic tune from 1959, "Fannie Mae:"

Love me some Buster Brown

Here's early Fleetwood Mac combining some Elmore James style slide guitar, and (on rhythm guitar) Buster Brown's classic riff with the lyrics from an old John Lee ("Sonny Boy") Williamson tune (which he called "million years blues"). They just call it "My Heart Beat Like a Hammer."

My heart beat like a hammer...
my eyes plumb fulla tears....
She's been gone about an hour....
but it seems like a thousand years...



What goes around comes around.

Yeah, Buster's great, eh? Dr. Brown...Is you is, or is you ain't , my Baby, etc.

Muddy Waters, doing a Big Bill Broonzy tune, back in 1960.

Ya been goin round braggin
bout cashin my check
I find out what I''m thinkin, Darlin
I just might break your neck
Aww, when I get to thinkin...
Well, yeah, ya know, it makes my poor heart ache...
I ain't doin nuthin round here....
Oooo, ooo , well now, but fattin frogs for snakes.

Here's an uptempo version of Howlin Wolf's classic "How Many More Years." This was recorded in 1951 at Sun Studios in Memphis. Ike Turner (Tina's Turner's husband, who cut "Rocket 88") is on piano. It ROCKS!

How many more years...
Do I hafta letcha dog me around?
I would more soon rather be dead....
Sleepin six feet in the ground.

Same tune, at a slower pace, performed at a small club in Chicago. Wolf's powerful personality comes through here. The legendary Son House is in it (standing at bar with straw hat). And, as always, Hubert Sumlin, the envy of many a british blues boy, is playing guitar for Wolf.

Lightnin Hopkins again with a simple, but heartfelt tune, "Mojo Hand." He left out a line or two in this rendition, including this one:

Well, don't a woman act funny...
When she got herself another man (laughs)
She won't never look straight at ya....
And she always raisin sand.