I usually tend to stay away from blues songs on Mondays: I spend so much time with "Stagger Lee", and so many blues songs have been recorded by literally hundreds of people. But apparently people loved the post with
Janis covering Etta James, so I thought I'd let Etta return the favor, and while we're at it you can all learn about Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (
Wiki).
Those of you who are rock geeks will already know that she recorded
"Hound Dog" three years before Elvis, and you may even know that she helped write it (though she got no credit, and one royalty check for $500 in total). There is an excellent biography
here though, sadly, I can't find a decent discography anywhere. (Even the usually-reliable
AMG doesn't have any of her singles listed, not even "Hound Dog.") This wouldn't matter much, except there's a dearth of info online about how many times she recorded "Ball and Chain." Most places agree she wrote it in 1961 or so, but a few sites also claim she first recorded it then. The
best discography I could find, with the most complete-appearing info, says she didn't record it till 1968. So until I get my hands on better info, I'm going to assume this version I'm giving you is the first studio recording she did. (The album this appeared on is mostly rerecordings of her earlier hits for another label. Boo hiss for rerecordings.)
Then, we'll hear from Ms. Janis Joplin (with Big Brother...), who
heard Big Mama perform the song live in California in the mid-to-late 60's. (I chose the
Cheap Thrills version solely for my own convenience, as I already have it here on the computer in digital form.)
Next, Etta James covers Janis's version, from an excellent 1997
blues tribute album to Janis. (
This whole series, with collections of songs by Dylan, The Stones, etc, is extraordinarily good.)
Finally, we have Big Mama Thornton's final live performance of "Ball and Chain," recorded about three months before her death. (I ripped this MP3 from the
video here.)
Theodis Ealey (Official MySpace AMG) is a Mississippi native now living in my old hometown of Stone Mountain, GA. He likes to do covers: this album also has covers of Dylan, Ivory Joe Hunter, and Willie Nelson, among others. Here's his bluesy 1998 take on Stag.
Alan Lomax is legendary in the field of American music -- he and his father John were largely responsible for preserving a whole musical tradition: chain gang songs and work songs written and passed along by African-Americans for decades. This is what folk music is about: people hear a song from someone, then make it their own and pass it on to others, who change it some more. If you look at the wide variety of lyrics and tunes we've heard about Stag, you'll notice that (until Lloyd Price's 1959 recording, at least) each version is different in some way from all the others.
The more observant of you may have noticed that my bandwidth is frequently unavailable this month -- somehow, some way, I'm using about three times as much as I'm alotted (which is about ten times what I was using before December). As with the previous time this happened, I can't find any links here that weren't here this time last month -- I guess all the self-promotion I did in December has paid off. Paid off for my webhoster, that is.
I usually tend to stay away from blues songs on Mondays: I spend so much time with "Stagger Lee", and so many blues songs have been recorded by literally hundreds of people. But apparently people loved the post with Janis covering Etta James, so I thought I'd let Etta return the favor, and while we're at it you can all learn about Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (Wiki).
Former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman (official MySpace Wiki AMG) started a band in 1997 with a lot of his friends. Called Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, the band has at times played with George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Odetta (RIP). Wyman almost never sings, so the lead vocals on this take on Stag are from Procol Harum's Gary Brooker.
Everybody's all, Oh Mark, have you seen Cadillac Records yet? And I must reply, nope, heard it wasn't that good. I'll catch the DVD.
Here, as promised, is The Clash's (Official Wiki MySpace AMG) 1979 take on Stag, a blazing ska version, with a lot bigger instrumentation (love those horns!) than The Rulers' original, which you can find immediately beneath this post.
Happy New Year, everyone!
