*Has He Got His Mojo Workin'? - The Blues Harmonica Of The Late James Cotton

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of James Cotton Doing "Slow Blues". Yes, now you know why he played with Muddy Waters.

Has He Got His Mojo Workin'? - The Blues Harmonica Of James Cotton

CD REVIEW

Got My Mojo Workin’, James Cotton and his band, Blu Mountain Records, 2003

I have, over the past year or so, spent some time tracing the roots of the blues from its southern country home, mainly on the plantations, farms and small towns that surround them, through its transition into the larger cities of the South where the crowds and hence the lyrics got more sophisticated and, ultimately, to the blues Mecca, Chicago, and other Northern cities where blacks migrated en masse between the two world wars and in the immediate post World War II period. As part of that exposition I have discussed not only the differences in the lyrics reflecting the changeover from the moaning and groaning of the plantation life to the hyper-intensity of city life. I have also mentioned the key change in the guitar going from some old acoustic instrument to the electric guitar of the cities.

Along the way I have failed to mention, or not mentioned enough, some of the other changes in instrumentation. For one, and this is relevant here, the harmonica. This instrument, as an accompanying sound, has a long history beyond its key place in the blues saga. However, with the citification of the blues its role in a blues band as back up to those electric guitars and drums became more central. In short, a strong harmonica player became necessary to fill in the spaces left by the reverberating guitar. Correspondingly, virtuosity on the harmonica brought its own rewards. I would argue that Sonny Boy Williamson's role in this change was key in the 1920's and 1930's followed by Lil' Walter of the early Muddy Waters Band. And who followed Walter - well, the artist under review here, James Cotton.

Like all talented musicians with any sense of leadership James Cotton, after serving his long apprenticeship with Muddy Waters, went on to form his own band. This CD is one of the results of those efforts. James, as always, plays the bejesus out of the harmonica. His backup band is a little more than adequate. The gruff-voiced Cotton does so-so a job on the vocals. However, this album left me drifting in and out. Some tracks are very fine like "Fanny Mae", "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" and the title track "Got My Mojo Workin'". However, such numbers as "Goodbye My Lady", "Teenie Weenie Bit" and Help Me" seemed forced. I confess this is the only CD of Cotton's that I have reviewed but off of this performance I sure wish he had been back with Muddy wailing out on something like "Hootchie Gootchie Man".
Got My Mojo Working

by Preston Foster / McKinley Morganfield a.k.a. Muddy Waters

Got my mojo working, but it just won't work on you
Got my mojo working, but it just won't work on you
I wanna love you so bad till I don't know what to do

I'm going down to Louisiana to get me a mojo hand
I'm going down to Louisiana to get me a mojo hand
I'm gonna have all you women right here at my command

Got my mojo working
Got my mojo working
Got my mojo working
Got my mojo working
Got my mojo working, but it just won't work on you

Play on!

Got my mojo working
Got my mojo working
Got my mojo working
Got my mojo working
Got my mojo working, but it - uh uh - just won't work on you

__________
Note: the original version of Got My Mojo Working was sung in a jump blues style by Ann Cole. She performed the song on stage in 1956, which was how Muddy Waters found the song!. Muddy Waters adapted it to his style but the bassline is still the same. The song can be found on the 1999 Rhino Records anthology album Jump, Jive & Swing. These are the lyrics to the original version as sung by Ann Cole and written by Preston Foster:

FANNIE MAE

Well I want somebody to tell me what's wrong with me
I want somebody to tell me what's wrong with me
Oh I ain't in any trouble and so much misery
Now Fannie Mae, baby won't you please come home
Fannie Mae ae ae, baby won't you please come home
Yeah I ain't been in debt baby since you been gone
I can hear your name a ringin on down the line
I can hear your name a ringin on down the line
I want to know pretty love how do I win my time

MUSICAL INTERLUDE

I no o o o for me, I no-o-o-o for me
Well I ain't been in trouble and so much misery

Song Lyrics: Good Morning Little School Girl

Written and Recorded by: Sonny Boy Williamson II (1937)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good mornin' 'lil school girl,
can I go home, can I go home with you?
Tell your mother and your father,
I'm a little school boy too

Woke up this mornin',
woke up this mornin',
I didn't know what to,
I didn't know what to do
I didn't have no blues,
baby, bit I couldn't be satisfied

I'm gettin' me an airplane,
I'm gettin' me an airplane,
get in my airplane
Gon' fly all oh-oh, gon' fly all over this land
I'm gonna find my little school girl,
find her in the world somewhere

Good mornin' 'lil school girl,
good mornin' 'lil school girl
Can I go home with, can I go home with,
can I go home with you?
Tell your mother and your father,
Johnny little school boy too

Come be my baby, come be my baby,
I buy you a diamond, I buy you a diamond ring
You don't be my little baby,
I ain't gonna buy you a doggone ring

Out In The 1920s Blues Harp Night- “Harmonica Blues: Great Harmonica Performances Of The 1920s And 1930s”- A CD Review

Click on the headline to link to a YouTube film clip of old time blues harmonica player Junior Gillum performing his classic The Devil’s Blues.

CD Review

Harmonica Blues: Great Harmonica Performances Of The 1920s And 1930s, various artists, Yazoo Records, 1991

I have endlessly mentioned the old time pre-city blues (cities, mainly upriver Memphis, Chicago and Detroit) migration (and electrification) of the blues as it came out of the Mississippi Delta (and other southern ports of call like Alabama and North Carolina but centrally Mississippi burning country in jim crow days. Back in those days it was played, among other places like hellhole Parchman’s Farm prison and the like, in hard-bitten, hard drinking, hard lovin’ and hard repentin’ Saturday nights at juke joints. Joints which due to a little electrical problem (none) meant that you have to drink your whisky in the dark (or kind of), doing your lovin’, well you know what I mean, in the dark and your two-fisted fighting over some roaming –eyed woman in the darks as well.

What you also needed to do, if you were a musical performer, was set your instruments to that non-electric night. And hence the guitar (primitive or National Steel), the fiddle, and the instrument featured in this review, Harmonica Blues: Great Harmonica Performances Of The 1920s And 1930s,
had their heyday as weapons of choice for those who ventured into the 1920s blues night.

And this nice little treasure trove CD compilation gives you the best of the bunch who were recorded in those late 1920s and early 1930s days (before the great storm depression blew what little discretionary income there was all away) and one, if one so chooses can hear the long forgotten, for the most part, harmonica players, who influenced later legends like James Cotton, Junior Wells and, of course, Sonny Boy Williamson. The harmonica work is obviously as not as powerful as later when someone like Howlin’ Wolf practically devours the damn thing putting up against a jacked-up microphone on a song like “How Many More Years” but the basic configurations are in place here. Moreover this CD has a roll call of the best, including Jazz Gillum, Jaybird Coleman , and Deford Bailey. And, as always with a Yazoo production, an informative sheet with all kind of interesting facts about the performers and the milieu is included.

Out Of The Golden Age Of Electric Blues Harp Night- “Blues Harp”-A CD Review

Click on the headline to link to a YouTube film clip of Sonny Boy Williamson (number II but that is a long blues story) playing with Muddy Waters.

Blues Harp, various artists, Ace Records, 1999

Recently in a CD review of “Harmonica Blues: Great Harmonica Performances Of The 1920s And 1930s” I noted that the great harmonica players of that period were hamstrung (at least out in the country) by the lack of electricity in the Saturday juke joints and so the sound was somewhat tinny. However I also noted that the basic configurations produced in that period would be transformed by later harp greats into magic by electrification. And the album under review, Blues Harp, is proof positive of that assertion.

No question the post-World War II (and before too) black migration north to the cities and city industrial jobs (especially during the war) changed the slow back country beat music in profound ways. The electric “juice” provided at urban Saturday night (and Sunday morning, Sunday morning before repentance, okay) played a great role in bringing the harmonica (through close mouth association with the microphone) to its central place in the great golden age of the electric blues (part one) before rock and roll blew everyone away (for a while, and then we hungered back again for roots music, for that primordial connection with ancient times, and ancient lusts).

And they are all here, or almost all, the great ones that is, although the classic one that I keep coming back to is Howlin’ Wolf fooling around with
“How Many More Year” down at early years Newport Folk Festival when he practically inhales the harmonica. Wow. Crank up YouTube for that one. In the meantime the cast here will give you the role of honor in the golden age night, Sonny Boy Williamson, Junior Wells, James Cotton, Snooky Pryor, the Wolf Man, of course, and some others who history had previously left in the shadows, How many more years, indeed.

Once More On The Post-World War II Chicago Blues Explosion- The Work Of Master Blues Harmonica Player Sonny Boy Williamson

CD Review

Sonny Boy Williamson: His Best: 50th Anniversary Chess Edition, Sonny Boy Williamson, Chess Records, 1997

I hope I never get tired of reviewing the various blues greats that I have spent the better part of the last couple of years trying to highlight. And I probably won’t. However, one little problem tends to keep creeping up. Just when I think that I have hit all the blues highbinders that are possible to mention without just running out into the street and reviewing some itinerant street player along comes another one that it would be a sin, a mortal sin, not to mention. That is the case here with the work of Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Carter version, for those who want to get into that controversy over who the real Sonny Boy is, or was), master harmonica player, no, make that harmonica wizard.

One of the things that got added, significantly, when the blues went north to Chicago (and other such environs) and went electric in the post-World War II period was the increased use of the harmonica to drive the beat, or act as counter-point to it, as the case may be on any particular song. We all know, or should know, of the key role that Muddy Walters and his various bands played in this with the emergence of Little Walter and later James Cotton. Note should also be taken of Howlin’ Wolf’s role when he was in his prime, and drove everyone crazy with that voice and THAT harmonica he practically inhaled on things like “How Many More Years”. Well, how do you think these guys learned the tricks of the harmonica trade? One way or another at the feet of Sonny Boy.

And the proof? Well just take about ten out of the twenty selections in this 50th Anniversary of Chess Records edition. Perhaps any ten will do but here are my stick outs. Keep in mind that most of the lyrics are monstrously “politically incorrect” but “Keep It To Yourself,” “Your Funeral And Mine,” Down Child,” and, the well-known “Help Yourself” are a good sampler.

***********

Sonny Boy Williamson - Blue Bird Blues Lyrics

Artist: Sonny Boy Williamson

Album: Miscellaneous

Genre: Blues


Send "Blue Bird Blues" Ringtone to your Cell
Songwriters: John Lee Williamson


My bluebird, bluebird
Please take this letter down south for me
Now, bluebird, bluebird
Please take this letter down south for me
Now you can tell my baby, I'm up here in St. Louis
Oh, but I'm just as blue as I can be

Now, bluebird, when you get to Jackson
I want you to fly down on Shannon Street
Now, bluebird when you get to Jackson
I want you to fly down on Shannon Street
Well, but I don't want you to stop flyin'
Until you find Miss Lacey Belle, for me

Now bluebird, when you find Miss Lacey Belle
I want you to please give her my best regard
Now bluebird, when you find Miss Lacey Belle
Oh, give her my best regard
Well, that you can tell her I'm up here in St. Louis
But these times is awful doggone hard

Now bluebird, she may not be at home
But please, knock on her door
Now bluebird, she may not be at home
But please knock on her door
Well, but she might be right across the street
Visitin' her next door neighbor, you know

*When The Blues Was Dues- The "Second Coming"

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Sippy Wallace performing "Women Be Wise". Wow!

DVD REVIEW

The American Folk Blues Festival: 1962-1966: Volume 1, Reelin’ In The Years Production, 2003

You know when we were listening to all those folkies like Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk and Joan Baez or starting to pick up on the Beatles or The Rolling Stones the American home grown blues was traveling to Europe to be appreciated by those audiences. Well, what goes around comes around. Here we have a ‘second’ chance to see what we missed from the legends that were just winding down their careers.

So what do we have here? A sizzling T-Bone Walker. Sonny and Brownie. Memphis Slim. The underrated Otis Rush. John Lee Hooker, Junior Wells, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and on and on. The stealers of the show- Lonny Johnson and Sippy Wallace (doing her classic “Don’t Advertise Your Man”. Wow.). Those who follow the blues will be familiar with all the line up here. Practically every one of these performers has been reviewed by this writer elsewhere in this space (with the exception, I think, of Otis Rush). So here you get them all under one roof while they are ‘hot’. For those who are unfamiliar with the performers or with classical acoustic and electric blues here’s your primer. Get working.

Women Be Wise

Sippy Wallace

(Additional lyrics by John Beach)
Olwen Music- BMI

Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man
Don't sit around gossiping, explaining what your good man really can do
Some women nowadays, Lord they ain't no good
They will laugh in your face, Then try to steal your man from you
Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man

Your best girlfriend, she might be a highbrow, she changes clothes 3 times a day
What do you think she's doing now, while you're so far away
She's loving your man in your own damn bed
You better call for the doctor, mama, try to investigate your head
Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man

Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man
Don't sit around, girl, telling all your secrets,
telling all those good things he really can do
If you talk about your baby, you tell me he's so fine
Lord honey, I just might sneek up and try to make him mine
Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man

Don't be no fool, don't advertise your man (baby don't do it)



"The Red Rooster" by Willie Dixon

I have a little red rooster, too lazy to crow for day
I have a little red rooster, too lazy to crow for day
Keep everything in the barnyard, upset in every way

Oh the dogs begin to bark, and the hound begin to howl
Oh the dogs begin to bark, hound begin to howl
Ooh watch out strange kind people, cause little red rooster is on the prowl

If you see my little red rooster, please drag him home
If you see my little red rooster, please drag him home
There ain't no peace in the barnyard, since the little red rooster been gone


Bukka White - Aberdeen, Mississippi blues Lyrics
Album: Parchman Farm Blues

I was over in Aberdeen
On my way to New Orlean
I was over in Aberdeen
On my way to New Orlean
Them Aberdeen women told me
Will buy my gasoline

Hey, two little women
That I ain't ever seen
They has two little women
That I ain't never seen
These two little women
Just from New Orlean

Ooh, sittin' down in Aberdeen
With New Orlean on my mind
I'm sittin' down in Aberdeen
With New Orlean on my mind
Well, I believe them Aberdeen women
Gonna make me lose my mind, yeah

(slide guitar & washboard)

Aber-deen is my home
But the mens don't want me around
Aberdeen is my home
But the men don't want me around
They know I will take these women
An take them outta town

Listen, you Aberdeen women
You know I ain't got no dime
Oh-oh listen you women
You know'd I ain't got no dime
They been had the po' boy
All up and down.

(guitar & washboard to end)

*When The Blues Was Dues- A Wrap-Up

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Sister Rosetta Tharpe performing "Above My Head".

DVD Review

Those who follow the blues will be familiar with all the line up here. Practically every one of these performers has been reviewed by this writer elsewhere in this space (with the exception, I think, of Memphis Slim). So here you get them all under one roof while they are ‘hot’. For those who are unfamiliar with the performers or with classical acoustic and electric blues here’s your primer. Get working.

The American Folk Blues Festival: The British Tours 1963-1966, Reelin’ In The Years Production, 2003

You know when we were listening to all those folkies like Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk and Joan Baez or starting to pick up on the Beatles or The Rolling Stones the American home grown blues was traveling to Europe, in this volume to Britain, to be appreciated by those audiences. Well, what goes around comes around. Here we have a ‘second’ chance to see what we missed from the legends that were just winding down their careers.

So what do we have here? A sizzling Sonny Boy Williamson. The primordial Howlin’ Wolf. Big Joe Williams. The underrated Big Joe Turner. The underrated Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Junior Wells, Otis Rush, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and on and on. The stealer of the show- Lightnin’ Hopkins. Those who follow the blues will be familiar with all the line up here. Practically every one of these performers has been reviewed by this writer elsewhere in this space (with the exception, I think, of Otis Rush). So here you get them all under one roof while they are ‘hot’. For those who are unfamiliar with the performers or with classical acoustic and electric blues here’s your primer. Get working.

Women Be Wise

Sippy Wallace

(Additional lyrics by John Beach)
Olwen Music- BMI

Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man
Don't sit around gossiping, explaining what your good man really can do
Some women nowadays, Lord they ain't no good
They will laugh in your face, Then try to steal your man from you
Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man

Your best girlfriend, she might be a highbrow, she changes clothes 3 times a day
What do you think she's doing now, while you're so far away
She's loving your man in your own damn bed
You better call for the doctor, mama, try to investigate your head
Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man

Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man
Don't sit around, girl, telling all your secrets,
telling all those good things he really can do
If you talk about your baby, you tell me he's so fine
Lord honey, I just might sneek up and try to make him mine
Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man

Don't be no fool, don't advertise your man (baby don't do it)


"The Red Rooster" by Willie Dixon

I have a little red rooster, too lazy to crow for day
I have a little red rooster, too lazy to crow for day
Keep everything in the barnyard, upset in every way

Oh the dogs begin to bark, and the hound begin to howl
Oh the dogs begin to bark, hound begin to howl
Ooh watch out strange kind people, cause little red rooster is on the prowl

If you see my little red rooster, please drag him home
If you see my little red rooster, please drag him home
There ain't no peace in the barnyard, since the little red rooster been gone

*When The Blues Was Dues- Volume Three

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Bukka White performing "Aberdeen Mississippi Woman". Wow!

DVD Review

The American Folk Blues Festival: 1962-1966: Volume 3, Reelin’ In The Years Production, 2003

You know when we were listening to all those folkies like Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk and Joan Baez or starting to pick up on the Beatles or The Rolling Stones the American home grown blues was traveling to Europe to be appreciated by those audiences. Well, what goes around comes around. Here we have a ‘second’ chance, thanks to these recently discovered archives rescued by German cinema, to see what we missed from the legends that were just winding down their careers.

So what do we have here? A sizzling T-Bone Walker. Sonny and Brownie. Memphis Slim, as always. Good solo performances by Roosevelt Sykes, a young Buddy Guy and “Big Joe” Turner. A nice section featuring the old country blues singers Skip James, Son House and Bukka White. A finale led by Helen Humes with an All-Star lineup including T-Bone, Willie Dixon, Jumping Jack and a host of others. For my money though the stealer of this show is Bukka White mentioned above. I might add that this is not the first time I have made mention of that fact, even against my favorites Son House and Howlin’ Wolf. Bukka’s long version of his classic “Cannonball” flipped me out. When he gets to flailing on that old National Steel guitar he “owns” it.

Women Be Wise

Sippy Wallace

(Additional lyrics by John Beach)
Olwen Music- BMI

Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man
Don't sit around gossiping, explaining what your good man really can do
Some women nowadays, Lord they ain't no good
They will laugh in your face, Then try to steal your man from you
Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man

Your best girlfriend, she might be a highbrow, she changes clothes 3 times a day
What do you think she's doing now, while you're so far away
She's loving your man in your own damn bed
You better call for the doctor, mama, try to investigate your head
Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man

Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man
Don't sit around, girl, telling all your secrets,
telling all those good things he really can do
If you talk about your baby, you tell me he's so fine
Lord honey, I just might sneek up and try to make him mine
Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man

Don't be no fool, don't advertise your man (baby don't do it)


"The Red Rooster" by Willie Dixon

I have a little red rooster, too lazy to crow for day
I have a little red rooster, too lazy to crow for day
Keep everything in the barnyard, upset in every way

Oh the dogs begin to bark, and the hound begin to howl
Oh the dogs begin to bark, hound begin to howl
Ooh watch out strange kind people, cause little red rooster is on the prowl

If you see my little red rooster, please drag him home
If you see my little red rooster, please drag him home
There ain't no peace in the barnyard, since the little red rooster been gone


Bukka White - Aberdeen, Mississippi blues Lyrics
Album: Parchman Farm Blues

I was over in Aberdeen
On my way to New Orlean
I was over in Aberdeen
On my way to New Orlean
Them Aberdeen women told me
Will buy my gasoline

Hey, two little women
That I ain't ever seen
They has two little women
That I ain't never seen
These two little women
Just from New Orlean

Ooh, sittin' down in Aberdeen
With New Orlean on my mind
I'm sittin' down in Aberdeen
With New Orlean on my mind
Well, I believe them Aberdeen women
Gonna make me lose my mind, yeah

(slide guitar & washboard)

Aber-deen is my home
But the mens don't want me around
Aberdeen is my home
But the men don't want me around
They know I will take these women
An take them outta town

Listen, you Aberdeen women
You know I ain't got no dime
Oh-oh listen you women
You know'd I ain't got no dime
They been had the po' boy
All up and down.

(guitar & washboard to end)

*When The Blues Was Dues- The "Second Coming"-Volume Two

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Howlin' Wolf performing "Smokestack Lightning". Wow.

DVD Review

The American Folk Blues Festival: 1962-1966: Volume 2, Reelin’ In The Years Production, 2003

You know when we were listening to all those folkies like Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk and Joan Baez or starting to pick up on the Beatles or The Rolling Stones the American home grown blues was traveling to Europe to be appreciated by those audiences. Well, what goes around comes around. Here we have a ‘second’ chance, thanks to these recently discovered archives rescued by German cinema, to see what we missed from the legends that were just winding down their careers.

So what do we have here? A sizzling T-Bone Walker. Sonny and Brownie. Memphis Slim, as always. A nice performance by Victoria Spivey (with those dazzling eye movements of hers giving expression to her song). “Big Mama” Thornton leads an All-Star cast of harmonica players (including John Lee Hooker) in one of the most outlandish outfits I have seen in a while. But, Big Mama rocks here. However, the performer who steals this show is the ever great Howlin’ Wolf. I commented in a previous review of his work that in a video clip that I had seen he practically devoured the microphone performing “The Red Rooster”. Here he practically obliterates his small (for him) guitar when he gets rolling. Wow.

Those who follow the blues will be familiar with all the line up here. Practically every one of these performers has been reviewed by this writer elsewhere in this space (with the exception, I think, of Memphis Slim). So here you get them all under one roof while they are ‘hot’. For those who are unfamiliar with the performers or with classical acoustic and electric blues here’s your primer. Get working.

Note: Check out the bonus track section for a couple of ‘hot’ guitar efforts by the great Earl Hooker, another underrated artist who deserves (and will receive)
separate consideration in this space later.

Women Be Wise

Sippy Wallace

(Additional lyrics by John Beach)
Olwen Music- BMI

Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man
Don't sit around gossiping, explaining what your good man really can do
Some women nowadays, Lord they ain't no good
They will laugh in your face, Then try to steal your man from you
Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man

Your best girlfriend, she might be a highbrow, she changes clothes 3 times a day
What do you think she's doing now, while you're so far away
She's loving your man in your own damn bed
You better call for the doctor, mama, try to investigate your head
Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man

Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man
Don't sit around, girl, telling all your secrets,
telling all those good things he really can do
If you talk about your baby, you tell me he's so fine
Lord honey, I just might sneek up and try to make him mine
Women be wise, keep your mouth shut, don't advertise your man

Don't be no fool, don't advertise your man (baby don't do it)


"The Red Rooster" by Willie Dixon

I have a little red rooster, too lazy to crow for day
I have a little red rooster, too lazy to crow for day
Keep everything in the barnyard, upset in every way

Oh the dogs begin to bark, and the hound begin to howl
Oh the dogs begin to bark, hound begin to howl
Ooh watch out strange kind people, cause little red rooster is on the prowl

If you see my little red rooster, please drag him home
If you see my little red rooster, please drag him home
There ain't no peace in the barnyard, since the little red rooster been gone