*Etta James Is In The House- An Encore

Click on the title to link to YouTube's film clip of Etta James performing her classic "I'd Rather Go Blind".

CD Review

Etta James: Her Best- The Chess Records 50th Anniversary Edition, Etta James, MCA UK, 1997

The name Etta James goes back in my memory to associations with my first listening to rock music on the old transistor radio in the late 1950’s. At that time, I believe, her music was in the old doo wop tradition of the late 1950’s, a music that I was fairly soon to dismiss out of hand as the ‘bubble gum’ music that was prevalent in that period between the height of Elvis/Jerry Lee/Carl Perkins classic rock & rock and the Beatles and The Rolling Stones. That is where things were left until a dozen years ago or more when Etta ‘stole the show’ at the Newport Folk Festival. Well, we live and learn.

The stand outs here include: the classic Etta song “I’d Rather Go Blind,” the saucy “Tell Mama,” and “All The Way Down”. Overall this is a lesser Etta compilation, especially for a Chess 50th Anniversary edition item that usually has higher quality copies of the tracks.

Etta James - I'd Rather Go Blind Lyrics

Something told me it was over
When I saw you and her talkin'
Something deep down in my soul said, 'Cry, girl'
When I saw you and that girl walkin' around

Whoo, I would rather, I would rather go blind, boy
Then to see you walk away from me, child, no

Whoo, so you see, I love you so much
That I don't wanna watch you leave me, baby
Most of all, I just don't, I just don't wanna be free, no

Whoo, whoo, I was just, I was just, I was just
Sittin here thinkin', of your kiss and your warm embrace, yeah
When the reflection in the glass that I held to my lips now, baby
Revealed the tears that was on my face, yeah

Whoo and baby, baby, I'd rather, I'd rather be blind, boy
Then to see you walk away, see you walk away from me, yeah
Whoo, baby, baby, baby, I'd rather be blind...

*Etta James Is In The House-“At Last”

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of Etta Jame performing "At Last"

CD Review

At Last, Etta James, MCA, 1999



The name Etta James is no stranger to this space. Whether it is in reference to the classic Chicago blues label Chess Records, Chicago blues as a genre, or just Etta rockin’ the house I have found time to place her in that rather small (unfortunately) number of great modern female blues singers. That said, this CD has plenty of that, but also showcases her other talents. Although this album started life as a Chess production (of some sort) there are ballads and other old time tunes here to show that in her prime there was nothing Etta couldn’t cover with gusto. Some of it like “Trust In Me” is just a little too sweet for me. I called it “bubblegum" music in the old days. But compare that to her covers of famous classic Lena Horne “Stormy Weather” or “Sunday Kind of Love” and you have an approximation of what the songs were that we listened to when thoughts of love were first bubbling up around 1960. And easy music to ask a girl or guy to slow dance too. Ah, well.

Stormy Weather lyrics

Don't know why there's no sun up in the sky, stormy weather
Since my gal and I ain't together, keeps raining all the time
Life is bare, gloom and misery everywhere, stormy weather
Just can't get my poor old self together
I'm weary all the time, the time
So weary all the time
When she went away the blues walked in and they met me
If she stays away, that old rocking chair's gonna get me
All I do is pray the Lord above will let me
Walk in the sun once more
Can't go on, everything I have is gone, stormy weather
Since my gal and I ain't together
Keeps raining all the time
Keeps raining all the time
Can't go on, everything I have is gone, stormy weather
Since my gal and I ain't together
Keeps raining all the time, the time
Keeps raining all the time

When The Blues Was The Dues- Chess Records

CD REVIEW



Chess Records 50th Anniversary Tribute, various artists, Chess 1997



I have recently done a few commentaries on the legendary Sun Records that produced more than its share of both black blues and white rockabilly stars as well as a galaxy of early rock and roll idols ands classic songs. If one were to ask what other record company might have had such influence in those days the natural response should be Chicago’s Chess Records that caught many of the black blues artists as they headed North to reach their own stardom once the limits of what Memphis had to offer a black recording artist gave out. This album is a 50th Anniversary tribute to many of those who made stardom or at least were one-shot johnnies (and janes) on that label.

No Chess Record tribute can be complete, can even be considered as such, unless the name Howlin’ Wolf is mentioned. He is represented here by one of the all time great blues songs (and maybe rock and roll, as well) Little Red Rooster. I know I flipped out the first time I heard it covered by Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones in the early 1960’s. When I heard the Wolf do it I went crazy. Others who stand out here are a litany of blues greats- Etta James, Koko Taylor, Little Milton, and on and on. But here is the tip of the day. What you are getting this CD for is the Wolf’s Little Red Rooster and that is just fine.

*The "Earthshaker" Is In The House- The Blues Of Koko Taylor

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Koko Taylor Doing "Wang Dang Doodle". Wow!

CD REVIEW

Koko Taylor: The Earthshaker, Koko Taylor, Alligator Records, 1978.

In the modern era of blues, mainly electric blues, say from the post-World War II period women blues singers, especially black women blues singers, are probably underrepresented. One thinks of “Big Mama” Thornton, Ruth Brown, Etta James, and the artist under review, Koko Taylor. There are other lesser lights but not nearly the numbers that I can, and have, recounted in this space from the 1920’s and 1930’s. Nevertheless for sheer energy, volume and flat out “good time” dancing blues Ms. Taylor will do quite well, against male or female. The title of this CD, “The Earthshaker” is not mistaken or out of place.

That said, I remember in one of the segments of Martin Scorsese six-part PBS tribute to the blues a few years back that when Ms. Taylor was interviewed concerning the influence that Chicago’s Chess Records and its management, the Chess brothers (the guys that discovered her), had on the blues scene she was less that complimentary with the “shake” that that pair had given her. The whole question of the exploitation of black blues talent (and not only of that musical genre) deserves separate coverage and is beyond what I want to look at in this CD. However, I would point out, there is probably more truth that meets the eye concerning the Koko’s gripes about proper promotion, accreditation and payment (in short, the correct distribution of the dough, okay) and that Koko was not just being abstruse in the matter. That may also explain, a little at least, the dearth of women blues singers that come readily to mind.

But enough of that, for now. Here Koko belts out her standards, accompanied by a fine back up band made up of well-known, and in the case of “Pinetop” Perkins on keyboards legendary, musicians including Johnny Moore and Sammy Lawhorn on the guitars. Nice right, for those who know those names? Hits here include the Willie Dixon classic “Spoonful” that Howlin’ Wolf ripped up. Well, Koko does the same here. My favorite on this CD is the slow mournful blues “Walking the Back Streets” (needless to say crying in those back streets about a two-timing man). But so much for my favorite because the reason you get this CD is Koko’s signature Willie Dixon classic “Wang Dang Doodle”. Howlin’ Wolf covered that tune as well. Koko wins that duel though. Listen up.

Wang Dang Doodle
Howlin' Wolf, Koko Taylor

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 etc.

by Willie Dixon


SPOONFUL

Could fill spoons full of diamonds,
Could fill spoons full of gold.
Just a little spoon of your precious love
Will satisfy my soul.

Men lies about it.
Some of them cries about it.
Some of them dies about it.
Everything's a-fightin' about the spoonful.
That spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.
That spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.
That spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.
That spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.

Could fill spoons full of coffee,
Could fill spoons full of tea.
Just a little spoon of your precious love;
Is that enough for me?

Chorus

Could fill spoons full of water,
Save them from the desert sands.
But a little spoon of your forty-five
Saved you from another man.

by Willie Dixon

Let The Good Times Roll

Hey everybody, let's have some fun
You only live for once
And when you're dead you're done
So let the good times roll, let the good times roll
And live a long long
I don't care if you are young or old no no,
\get together and let the good times roll

Don't stand there moaning, talking trash
If you wanna have some fun,
You'd better go out and spend some cash
And let the good time roll
Let the good time roll
I don't care if you young or old,
Get together and let the good times roll

Don't stand there moaning, talking trash
If you wanna have some fun,
You'd better go out and spend some cash
And let the good time roll
Let the good time roll
I don't care if you young or old,
Get together and let the good times roll

Hey mister landlord, lock up all the doors
When the police comes around,
Tell them Johnny's coming down
Let the good times roll
Let the good times roll
And Lord I don't care if you young or old,
That's good enough to let the good times roll

Hey everybody!
Tell everybody !
That B.B. and Bobby's in town
I got a dollar and a quarter
And I'm just raring to clown
Don't let nobody play me cheap
I got fifty cents to know that I'm gonna keep
Let the good times roll
I don't care if you young or old
Let's get together and let the good times roll

*In The Prime Of The Chicago Blues Explosion- The Film "Cadillac Records"

Click On Title To Link To Chess Records site.

DVD Review

Cadillac Records, starring Adrian Brody as Leonard Chess, Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters, Mos Def as Chuck Berry and Beyonce Knowles as Etta James, Sony Music Film, 2008

It seems almost anti-climatic to be reviewing this particular film, Cadillac Records, about the rise of Chess Records and its driving force, owner Leonard Chess, in the maelstrom of the Chicago blues explosion of the 1940's and 1950's. Why? Over the past year or so, along with the usual left wing political books by the likes of Leon Trotsky and James P. Cannon that are the core items that I review in this space, I have been fervently doing a personal search for, and reflection on, the roots of American music. And nothing is more central to an exploration of the American songbook than the various expressions of the blues from its roots in the black quarters of plantation society down South, through to the immense process of black urbanization in the mid-20th century and with it the electrification of the blues and further on the use of that genre to form the basis for Rock `n' Roll that was central to much of the musical history of the last half of that century.

Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Jimmy Reed, Howin'Wolf, Chuck Berry and the divine Ms. Etta James are all names that should be familiar to knowledgeable blues fan and whose fame and fortune, rises and falls form the core of this film. They are also names prominent among those that have been reviewed in this space so this is a real treat. The Chess Record saga is narrated by the actor who plays the producer, "talent hunter", songwriter and musician Willie Dixon, a huge force in the expansion of Chess Records and Chicago blues in general. And this is as it should be. Willie Dixon wrote for both Muddy Waters (the classic "Hoochie Coochie Man", among others) and Howlin' Wolf (the most famous being "The Red Rooster", a song later covered by The Rolling Stones, enthusiastic blues aficionados, and one of my first exposures to the raw electric blues sound. Thanks, Willie). He was also at Chess when the music shifted away from the Chicago blues to the `jump' of rock `n' roll driven by the likes of Chuck Berry who could "crossover" to all those white teenagers like me trying to break out of the music of our parents' generation. He was also there when Ms. Etta James came on the scene with her R&B style that also was an attempt to do that same crossover with a black woman singer.

According to the notes to this film it is based on a true story, that of Leonard Chess and the blues stars mentioned above. How much truth there actually is included in the script is beyond the scope of this review. I would note that one of the segments of Martin Scorsese's PBS multi-part Blues homage in 2003 dealt with the role of Chess Records as part of the total blues picture and featured Leonard Chess's son, Marshall, a record producer in his own right. Some of his comments do not exactly jibe with the presentation of the facts in this film. That is a subject for further research and discovery.

Some important themes, nevertheless, are explored in the film, even if obliquely. The relationship between a young hustling Jew (and his brother, not noted in the film) from Poland trying to make a buck in America and young blacks trying to get out from under the rural "Jim Crow" South in mid-20th century America. The question of interracial sex, both male and female when that was very, very taboo. Martial infidelity, a constant problem in the music industry (and elsewhere). Exploitation of blacks, both financially and musically, by the white-dominated music power structure, including Leonard Chess. The touchy question of black identity and self-respect, addressed very nicely in the tensions between Muddy, as a representative "Uncle Tom", and Howlin' Wolf (or Chuck Berry), as the "New Black Man", coming out of new black consciousness of the civil rights struggle blazing away during that period. Addressing those issues should keep us busy for a while.

Let's finish up with a few kudos, though. A musical tribute to a record company and a famous record producer could have been a piece of fluff. While, as noted above, the film raised a number of questions about what really went on back then the heart of the movie is driven by the blues and the need to express oneself in that genre, whether as a job or a way of life. The performers carried the day. The camaraderie and falling out between Muddy and Little Walter is worked nicely. The struggle's of Etta James (Beyonce is rather fetching here, by the way, as Etta) to break through as an artist works. And so on.

The Cadillac automobile formed a symbol for Americans, black and white, back in these days. The artists presented here deserved their Cadillacs. More enduring though, as noted at the end of the film, all the main players here have been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame. I challenge anyone to argue against those inclusions. Watch this film and then get on the Internet and download the music. Yes, that's the ticket.


"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

Wang Dang Doodle
Howlin' Wolf, Koko Taylor

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 etc.

by Willie Dixon


SPOONFUL

Could fill spoons full of diamonds,
Could fill spoons full of gold.
Just a little spoon of your precious love
Will satisfy my soul.

Men lies about it.
Some of them cries about it.
Some of them dies about it.
Everything's a-fightin' about the spoonful.
That spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.
That spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.
That spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.
That spoon, that spoon, that spoonful.

Could fill spoons full of coffee,
Could fill spoons full of tea.
Just a little spoon of your precious love;
Is that enough for me?

Chorus

Could fill spoons full of water,
Save them from the desert sands.
But a little spoon of your forty-five
Saved you from another man.

by Willie Dixon

"Come To Mama" (And A Million Other Songs) -Blues Diva Etta James Passes On At 73

Click on the headline to link to an article on the passing of blues great Etta James.

From the American Left History blog:

Thursday, July 02, 2009

"Come To Mama"- The Blues Of Etta James

This is a little quick entry for a blues queen that I will write more, much more, about later in connection with a review of "Cadillac Blues", a film based on the history of Chicago's Chess Records that gave Etta her start. Feast on.
********
Here is a little tribute to a kindred spirit that the old time blues singer, Sippy Wallace, would call "sister".

"Come To Mama”- The Blues Of Ms. Etta James

Etta James And The Roots Band: Burning Down The House, Etta James and various artists, NTSC, 2001

The name Etta James goes back in my memory to associations with my first listening to rock music on the old transistor radio in the late 1950’s. At that time, I believe, her music was in the old doo wop tradition of the late 1950’s, a music that I was fairly soon to dismiss out of hand as the ‘bubble gum’ music that was prevalent in that period between the height of Elvis/Jerry Lee/Carl Perkins classic rock & rock and the Beatles and The Rolling Stones. That is where things were left until a dozen years ago or more when Etta ‘stole the show’ at the Newport Folk Festival. Well, we live and learn.

Here we have Etta, in a 2001 concert being recorded for this album, doing all the songs that she is justly famous for like “Born Blue” and “I Rather Be A Blind Girl” as well as some nice covers in her own style of the likes of Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild”. Just a nice solid performance with a good back up band, including a couple of her sons.
******
Etta James- "Come To Mama" Lyrics

If the Sun goes behind the clouds
And you feel it's gonna rain
And if the moon ain't shinin bright
And the Stars, the Stars
Won't shine for you tonight
If your life is hard to understand
And your lovelife is out of hand
Oh, Come to Mama
Come on to Mama

If you need, if you need a satisfyer
Let me be, let me be your pacifyer
And if you feel, feelin like a horse
Chompin at the bit
Call my number 777-6969, I'll give you a fix
Cause I've got your favorite toy
Guaranteed to bring you joy
Come to Mama
Come on to Mama

Lead Solo


If your soul is on fire
Let me take you to the corner of the sky
Hey - Come to Mama
Come on to Mama

Come to Mama
Come on come on to Mama
COME ON TO MAMA.....

*A Mixed Bag Musical Potpourri-Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Rock And Rockabilly-Dinah Washington

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Dinah Washington Doing "Stormy Weather".

Nothin’ Could Be Finah Than Dinah

Dinah Jams, Dinah Washington and various artists, Polygram Records, 1990

I admit to a very spotty interest in jazz over my life time and while I have always loved those 1940’s swing bands, like that of Benny Goodman, it was only with the celebration of the centennial of Duke Ellington’s birth in 1999 that I got a little more serious about this genre. Ken Burns’ “Jazz” series for PBS gave me another boost. Still and all there are huge gaps in my knowledge and appreciation of the classic jazz tradition. This is a little odd in that there is a certain convergence between jazz and my favorite musical genre, the blues. The artist under review here exemplifies both those traditions, although she was not known as a jazz singer, as such. All I know is I like what I hear here.

And what is that? Well, how about a very salacious “Lover Come Back To Me”, a heartfelt turn on the Johnny Mercer tune “Come Rain Or Come Shine”, a seemingly created for her style Cole Porter classic “ I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and a knock out “You Go To My Head”. Hell, even if you don’t a thing about jazz you know Dinah has got that “thing”.

I've Got You Under My Skin Lyrics

Ive got you under my skin
Ive got you deep in the heart of me
So deep in my heart, that youre really a part of me
Ive got you under my skin

Ive tried so not to give in
Ive said to myself this affair never will go so well
But why should I try to resist, when baby will I know than well
That Ive got you under my skin

Id sacrifice anything come what might
For the sake of having you near
In spite of a warning voice that comes in the night
And repeats, repeats in my ear

Dont you know you fool, you never can win
Use your mentality, wake up to reality
But each time I do, just the thought of you
Makes me stop before I begin
cause Ive got you under my skin

*"Come To Mama"- The Blues Of Etta James

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Etta James Performing "Tell Mama".

This is a little quick entry for a blues queen that I will write more, much more, about later in connection with a review of "Cadillac Blues", a film based on the history of Chicago's Chess Records that gave Etta her start. Feast on.

*********

Here is a little tribute to a kindred spirit that the old time blues singer, Sippy Wallace, would call "sister".

"Come To Mama”- The Blues Of Ms. Etta James

Etta James And The Roots Band: Burning Down The House, Etta James and various artists, NTSC, 2001

The name Etta James goes back in my memory to associations with my first listening to rock music on the old transistor radio in the late 1950’s. At that time, I believe, her music was in the old doo wop tradition of the late 1950’s, a music that I was fairly soon to dismiss out of hand as the ‘bubble gum’ music that was prevalent in that period between the height of Elvis/Jerry Lee/Carl Perkins classic rock & rock and the Beatles and The Rolling Stones. That is where things were left until a dozen years ago or more when Etta ‘stole the show’ at the Newport Folk Festival. Well, we live and learn.

Here we have Etta, in a 2001 concert being recorded for this album, doing all the songs that she is justly famous for like “Born Blue” and “I Rather Be A Blind Girl” as well as some nice covers in her own style of the likes of Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild”. Just a nice solid performance with a good back up band, including a couple of her sons.



Etta James- "Come To Mama" Lyrics

If the Sun goes behind the clouds
And you feel it's gonna rain
And if the moon ain't shinin bright
And the Stars, the Stars
Won't shine for you tonight
If your life is hard to understand
And your lovelife is out of hand
Oh, Come to Mama
Come on to Mama

If you need, if you need a satisfyer
Let me be, let me be your pacifyer
And if you feel, feelin like a horse
Chompin at the bit
Call my number 777-6969, I'll give you a fix
Cause I've got your favorite toy
Guaranteed to bring you joy
Come to Mama
Come on to Mama

Lead Solo

+ de parolesAt Last I Just Want To Make Love To You Stormy Weather (keeps Rainin' All The Time) All I Could Do Was Cry Don't Cry Baby Hickory Dickory Dock Oh Happy Day Amen, This Little Light of Mine A Sunday Kind Of Love A Change Is Gonna Do Me Good

If your soul is on fire
Let me take you to the corner of the sky
Hey - Come to Mama
Come on to Mama

Come to Mama
Come on come on to Mama
COME ON TO MAMA.....

*A Bluesy Slice Of Neo-Film Noir- The Film “Dark Streets”-A Review

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of the trailer for "Dark Streets"

DVD Review

Dark Streets, starring Gabriel Mann, Sony Entertainment, 2009

Admittedly it is tough, very tough to make a modern film noir in color that gives that gritty feel of something like Bogart and Bacall in the 1940s classic age of film noir in the “Big Sleep”. And this small film doesn’t try to do that. However, its does have a very bluesy feel to it as advertised. The plot line is a familiar one of a good guy (here in the guise of a debt-ridden nightclub owner dealing with his father’s mysterious death) of greed , intrigue and treachery, in this case involving the nefarious doings of covering up a crime in the process of cornering the electric market of an obviously corrupt and wide open city (and state). The dialogue is also somewhat stilted. One would think that such a combination calls for a thumbs down. Not so. Why? Go back to that bluesy feel. From the two fetching femme fatale torch singers who vie for said night club owner’s attentions, to the chorus girls doing, well doing their thing, to the black dancer/singer/narrator who holds the whole thing together (and puts on amazing Michael Jackson-like song and dance performances to boot). And here’s the topper- a sound track with the likes of Etta James, Solomon Burke and Doctor John in the back. My friends, this is a no-brainer in these quarters.