Text "Marquee '62" (Walter Schäppi)
It's better to light up a small candle, tahn to complain about darkness. (Confucius)
It was 25 years ago that the Rolling Stones had their first legendary gig as The Rollin' Stones at the famous Marquee Club. This concert remained unrecorded, which is confirmed in F. Aeppli's trendsetting book Heart of stone. This album should at least give you an idea of the way the Stones played there.
To the Marquee songs I have added:
- One special song which needs no further explanation.
- The three songs of their first studio session. Those songs, as the following one, have never been released to date.
- As I didn't want to repeat the remarkable joke of leaving the 4th side without music, it includes a wide variety of blues songs which should encourage you to compare them to the covers.
Each album contains an 18 page booklet which I worked at from November 1986 to March 1987. Some parts were rewritten in June 1987; and 33 albums have a numbered tape with 35 more songs! First come, first served!
Why this album? Every song has been officially released, i. e. easy job to dub...
- Out of these 18 Marquee tunes, only four are known in at least one studio version, and recorded with a different line-up. I know from experience that there are a lot of Stones fans who don't know too many of the listed musicians, let alone the songs! I find that it's important for every real fan to be familiar with the roots of the Stones' music, or as Mick said in 1968: "What's the point in listening to us doing I'm a king bee when you can hear Slim Harpo do it?" Maybe you will not like some of these tunes, but then you shouldn't forget that the boys were crazy about them!
- Some of these tunes are by no means easy to obtain, and more easily available blues records are not always part of a collection.
- ...and this album makes more sense than to be forced to listen to the 47th version of "Brown sugar"!
Concerning song titles and composer credits, the existing information was not accurate enough, so I have collected the most important resp. interesting info from books, magazines, record sleeves and other sources, especially by listening to hundreds of records. In any case, it's work that repays the labour well!
Now listen to the songs and put together your own Marquee tape, and try to imagine how they played then. Fantasy is not a question of age...
I want to thank everyone, who, knowingly or unknowingly, helped me realise this project.
Dr. Blues jun. [= Walter Schäppi]
PS: The doctors Rock'n'Roll, Soul, Safe T. First and Country clearly say that they are not thinking of coming up with anything similar to this project!
Marquee International Jazz Club, 12th July 1962: Some personal remarks.
- R&B to the bone! In comparison to the Beatles (Star Club album from 1962!) and further bands from the Merseyside, the Stones were really different, despite Chuck Berry's heavy influence on all of these guys.
- The concert was organised very spontaneously. So they had to choose songs which they were very familiar with. As the group's member's showed different tastes, a variety of songs came together. Yet it's really to simple to say: Mick → Jimmy Reed, Keith → Chuck Berry, Brian → Elmore James and Stu → boogie woogie.
- As ist was a club performance this 18 song set was not too long, though it may be then seen so in retrospect. There was still a long way to the 8 song sets!
- They didn't play any Bo Diddley songs, and not more than two of Chuck Berry. Was there any fear of being considered a R&R band? On the other hand, there were ten songs by Jimmy Reed resp. Eddie Taylor and three by Elmore james! (There was only one Jimmy Reed song on an officially released record, but Jimmy Reed's and Elmore James's strong influences can hardly be overheard in the group later recordings.)
- In Britain the sources of black blues music were very limited. Records weren't easy to obtain, almost nothing could be heard on airwaves, with exception of the AFN and Radio Luxembourg, and the pop papers were stultifying garbage. So how did they come across these songs? Rare record shops which imported authentic blues records, art schools and clubs like Marquee and Ealing became meeting places and made discussions about musicians and songs, jams, rehearsals possible, and sometimes an effort to build up a band. (A remarkable number of black musicians had visited England before 1962. Big Bill Broonzy first, then J. White, Otis Spann, Muddy Waters, Sonny Terry, Brownie M. Gee, Sp. Red, Willie Dixon, Memphis Slim, J. J. Dupree, Jimmy Cotton, Roosevelt Sykes and L. B. Montgomery. But there is no hint, that a Stone saw one of these gigs!)
- What did it sound like? In comparison to Blues Incorporated, the regular Thursday band, the Stones' music was brasher, rawer, less jazzy (no horns!), and probably louder. And it was based on two electric guitars, "supported" by harp, piano, bass guitar and drums, like a blues band from Chicago! So it was totally new for the big part of the audience. With exception of a few notes in Stu's diary, there are no specific hints concerning arrangements. So it's not always clear which version of a song could have influenced them. (Only one record is mentioned: when Mick met Keith after several years of separation, he was carrying Berry's Rockin' at the hops with him - including "Confessin' the blues" and "Down the road apiece".) Generally they must must have been influenced by such a large number of musicians (blues, R&R, C&W) that the result would be a list too long to even begin to reproduce.
- No home game but a nervous debut of a new band. At that point of time there were no "screamies" around. The audience was not influenced by fame but could only be impressed by quality music. The audience's reaction was said to have been very mixed, but at the end of the gig, people felt more for the Stones than against.
Yeah, well, how can I tell you?
You've surely noticed that the sound of the LPs is really different to the description given on the front side: it sounds as if the songs were dubbed from old scratchy 78 rpm records. But most of the recordings are in reality excellent. (There's no doubt that thirty or forty years ago many sound engineers did a great job!)
It isn't my intention, as you may suggest, to force you to buy all the "original" records with their far better sound. (But the idea isn't that bad, could be mine!)
Hard luck that my tape deck ceased to work exactly one day before the deadline. Instead of postponing the project for some months, I recorded the whole lot with another (most probably faulty) deck. Sorry, hi-fi freaks!
Anything else? The "producer" has changed side C and D, and the somewhat strange labels were not my idea. (My agent told me that these people wouldn't think too much about their work. It seems he's right!)
What's that to me? I have a perfect tape (and all the LPs). Stones fans buy everything. OK, where's the problem?
Not that way!! As consolation, you get a tape with those songs I would have put on record in 1987. As you can see below, A 04.1, A 04.3, B 01.1 and C 08 would be replaced by the EP tracks on a further edition.
Since the discs have been delayed for about a year, I missed the 25th anniversary for the gig; but on the other hand, the initial 8-page booklet has grown in size, and quite a lot of mistakes have been erased.
I'm happy that I've got the records after all, and I think it's better than nothing.
| Table 3 (part of table 1): The Marquee tape - part one | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Track | Track see list bewlow |
Interpreter | Title |
| A 01 | A 02.3 | Wilbert Harrison | Kansas City |
| A 02 | A 03 | Jimmy Reed | Baby what's wrong |
| A 03 | A 04.2 | Little Walter | Confessin' the blues |
| A 04 | A 05 | Jimmy Reed | Bright lights, big city |
| A 05 | A 06 | Elmore James | Dust my blues |
| A 06 | A 07 | Chuck Berry | Down the road apiece |
| A 07 | B 02 | Jimmy Reed | I'm a love you |
| A 08 | B 03.a | Eddie Taylor | Bad boy |
| A 09 | B 04.1 | Jimmy Reed | I ain't got you |
| A 10 | B 5 | Jimmy Reed | Hush hush |
| A 11 | B 06 | Eddie Taylor | Ride 'em on down |
| A 12 | B 07 | Chuck Berry | Back in the USA |
| A 13 | B 08 | Jimmy Reed | Kind of lonesome |
| A 14 | B 09.2 | Elmore James | Blues before sunrise |
| A 15 | D 01 | Jimmy Reed | Big boss man |
| A 16 | D 02 | Billy Boy Arnold | Don't stay out all night |
| A 17 | D 03 | Jimmy Reed | Tell me you love me |
| A 18 | -- | Sonny Boy Williamson | Down child |
| B 01 | D 04 | Elmore James | Happy home |
| B 02 | A 01.3 | Muddy Waters | Rollin' stone |
| B 03 | D 05.2 | Muddy Waters | Soon forgotten |
| B 04 | D 06 | Bo Diddley | You can't judge a book by its cover |
| B 05 | D 07 | Jimmy Reed | Close together |
| B 06 | E 01 | Bo Diddley | Pretty thing |
| B 07 | E 02 | Coasters | I'm a hog for you |
| B 08 | D 08 | Elmore James | Look on yonder wall |
| B 09 | F 01 | R. Sharpe | Linda Lou |
| B 10 | C 01.2 | Little Walter | Key to the highway |
| B 11 | C 02 | Robert Johnson | Stop breakin' down blues |
| B 12 | C 03 | Slim Harpo | Shake your hips |
| B 13 | B 04.2 | Howlin' Wolf | Going down slow |
| B 14 | C 05.2 | Fred McDowell | You got to move |
| B 15 | C 06 | Jimmy Reed | The sun is shining |
| B 16 | C 07.3 | Elmore James | It hurts me too |
| B 17 | F 02 | Amos Milburn | Chicken shack boogie |
| Track | Interpreter Soloist or band leader (listed with his stage or nick name) |
Title | Author as given on record in last column |
Recording date | First released on | Selection on Marquee '62 is taken from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A 01.1 | Robert Petway | Catfish blues | no credits → Robert Petway [→ traditional] |
1941.03.28 | (7" A-side) Bluebird B8838 | Yazoo L-1038 |
| This is the first recording of this very popular tune which is said to have been already played by Skip James in the 1920. (A very special version is featured on the Bluesbreakers' bootleg The dark side of midnight.) | ||||||
| A 01.2 | Muddy Waters | Rollin' stone | McKinley Morganfield [= Muddy Waters] | 1950.02 | (7" A-side) Checker 1426 | Phonogram 9124 224 [= Chess 1427] |
| This one is evidently influenced by "Catfish blues". But I think that the new lyrics and the different way the guitar is used turn it to a tune which stands on its own strongly enough. (Has nothing to do with Robert Wilkins' very popular "Rolling stone" recorded on 7 September 1928) | ||||||
| A 01.3 | Muddy Waters | Rollin' stone [alternate] | McKinley Morganfield [= Muddy Waters] | 1950.02 | (LP) Chess 8208 ? | (2LP) Teldec 6.28622 (Chess) |
| A 02.1 | Little Willie Littlefield | Kansas City loving | Willie Littlefield [?→ Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller] |
1952.08.15or18 | (7" A-side) Federal 12110 | K. C. Rec. KC 101 |
| It's still not clear who wrote "Kansas City loving". On Federal 12110 it reads "Stoller-Leiber", but there is a credible story in existence, that in retrospect, Willie Littlefield sold this song for next to nothing to "Leiber-Stoller" (which is categorically denied by Mike Stoller). | ||||||
| A 02.2 | Little Richard | Kansas City | Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller [?→ Willie Littlefield] |
1955.09.13-14 | Specialty 2104 | Ace CH 133 [= Specialty 2104] |
| As the Stones knew Little Richard very well, I wanted to use his "Specialty 2104" version. But then, after having listened to it, I really disliked it. (Released in March 1959 on LP, more than three years after the recording session, and after the success of Wilbert Harrison's version also on single, but without scoring.) | ||||||
| A 02.3 | Wilbert Harrison | Kansas City | Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller [?→ Willie Littlefield] |
1959.03 | (7" A-side) Fury 1023 | Charly CRB 1102 |
| When the session began, the horn section had already packed up their instruments. What a lucky chance! Did the Stones sound like that in the Marquee? I hope that they knew this very successful tune: No. 1 in the Billboard R&B charts with this lyrical slightly smoothed version of "Kansas City loving" (get me some - get me one). (Another source says, the piano was played by Ike Turner.) | ||||||
| A 03 | Jimmy Reed | Baby what's wrong | Mathis James Reed [= Jimmy Reed] | 1961 | (7") Vee Jay 425 | (2LP) Vee Jay VJS 2-1035 |
| Thanks to the 1963 studio recording we are familiar with the song. A Willie Dixon composition, as the Stones books say? By chance, I discovered the song on an LP of "Mr. Memphis" Lonnie Mack (Edsel ED 158). Mack? Yeah, it's him! Thanks to the given composer credits I could import the LP in question. (Note that lots of Vee Jay LPs have been rereleased in the last few months.)
Sometimes Ian Stewart didn't note the song titles in his diary, but a similar sounding part of the lyrics. His "Honey what's wrong with you" is part of two Jimmy Reed songs: "Baby what's wrong" and "You don't have to go" (30 December 1953), but of course the played "Baby what's wrong". (Different way of writing on label and cover of double album Vee Jay 1035! What's written on the single "Baby what's wrong" or "What's wrong baby"? Leadbitter listed it as "What's wrong baby"!) Bad luck! First I preferred another "Baby what's wrong", one of my Elmore James' all time favourites (October 1952) with some great Berry riffs (sorry, T-Bone & Co, I know Chuck's "teachers"). But then all arguments spoke against that song. | ||||||
| A 04.1 | Jay McShann and Walter Brown | Confessin' the blues | Walter Brown, Jay McShann → Walter Brown |
1941.04.30 | (7") Decca 85.. | [tape] |
| Was McShann more than just the arranger of this tune? Walter Brown, who was the new singer in the band at that time, was afterwards mostly regarded as the only composer. (Note that Charlie Parker was member of the band then! Remember Charlie's book?) - Late addition: McShann records are often stated as Jazz records. If I had known that earlier... (see MCA LP MCA-1338).
A comparison of these three songs is worthwile! First let's look at what Roy Carr has written: "Confessin' the blues comes from Chuck Berrys's repertoire... surprisingly enough, the Stones keep to McShann's slower interpretation." Roy, that isn't true! Berry's version covers, despite the faster pace, a lot of the feeling of McShann's original (compare some lead guitar playing to McShann's piano playing), whereas the Stones 1964 recording is clearly influenced by Little Walter's interpretation. Concerning the lyrics, Mick followed Chuck Berry and Little Walter, putting in a few words of his own. And in 1962? Any reason why it shouldn't have been a cover of Little Walter's recording? | ||||||
| A 04.2 | Little Walter | Confessin' the blues | Marion Walter Jacobs [= Little Walter] → Walter Brown, Jay McShann |
1958.?02 | (7") Checker 890 | Teldec 6.24805 (Chess) |
| A 04.3 | Chuck Berry | Confessin' the blues | Walter Brown, Jay McShann | 1960.02.15 | (LP) Chess 1448 | Vogue 515033 [= Chess 1448] |
| A 05 | Jimmy Reed | Bright lights, big city | Jimmy Reed | 1961 | (7") Vee Jay 398 | Charly CRB 1003 |
| Backing vocals by his wife Mary Lee. She (co-)wrote many of his songs, but without receiving any credits until 1964. Because of his extreme alcohol abuse, Jimmy Reed often forgot the lyrics immediately, so she had to whisper resp. sing the words to him. Here, she can clearly be heard. | ||||||
| A 06 | Elmore James | Dust my blues | Bihari, Elmore James → Elmore Brooks [= Elmore James] → RJ, Elmore James |
1955.mid | (7" A-side) Flair 1074 | Kent KST 522 |
| Elmore James was the illegitimate child of Leola Brooks (thus the credits "Elmore Brooks"). Shortly after his birth, she married his father Joe Willie James.
This is one of the typical variations of Robert Johnson's "I believe I'll dust my broom" (recorded 23 November 1936). (When writing this song, Robert Johnson must have had Kokomo Arnold's "Sagefield woman blues", recorded 15 January 1935, in mind. Other sources are said to have been Kokomo Arnold's "Sissy man blues", recorded 15 January 1935, and Leroy Carr's "I believe I'll make a change", recorded 16 August 1934.) Already in 1952 Elmore James had a top ten R&B hit with "Dust my broom" (recorded in August 1951, credited to Almore James!). In today's pop music it wouldn't be clear if "Dust my blues", with partially borrowed lyrics from Robert Johnson, could be considered as an original composition. Probably a judge would have to clear the situation. This song's pattern became Elmore James's trademark, but he's got a lot more to offer! (Elmore James's "Dust my broom" version is in my opinion the most popular blues by black and white blues musicians, comparable to Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" in the R&R field.) Bihari: It's a very strange characteristic not only of these producers and record company owners to put down their own names as (co-)authors without justification. (Josea is a pseudonym for Joe, Ling fpr Saul, and Taub for Jules or Florette Bihari.) | ||||||
| A 07 | Chuck Berry | Down the road apiece | Don Raye | 1960.02.15 | (LP) Chess 1448 | Vogue 515033 [= Chess 1448] |
| The way of writing is not clear, e. g. as "Down the road apiece" on Chess LP 1448. It's also not clear from where the song comes. There is a vague idea that it was a boogie woogie hit in the 1930s. On the other sidethere are two versions by white pianist Freddie Slack: As "Down the road a-piece" (recorded 2 September 1940) and as "That place down the road a piece" (recorded 2 June 1941) with Don Raye as a "singer" and also mentioned as composer.
(Don Raye is no pseudonym for Ray McKinley, the singer and drummer on the 1940 version. He was in fact one of the many Tin Pan Alley songwriters.) | ||||||
| B 01.1 | Amos Milburn | Down the road apiece | Don Raye | 1946.09.12 | (7" A-side) Aladdin 161 | Pathé Marconi 1546711 |
| Dedicated to Ian Stewart who perfectly knew Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, Amos Milburn... | ||||||
| B 02 | Jimmy Reed | I'm a love you | Jimmy Reed | 1960.12.13 | (7" B-side) Vee Jay 380 | (2LP) Vee Jay VJS 2-1035 |
| Jimmy Reed didn't record a song titled "I want to love you"! I think it's this song, which also contains the words "I want to love you" in the lyrics. | ||||||
| B 03a | Eddie Playboy Taylor | Bad boy | Eddie Taylor | 1955.01.18 | (7" A-side) Vee Jay 149 | Charly CRB 1015 |
| This is one of the songs Mick had already sung with Blues Incorporated. That's why it has to be "A 03a" because Cyril Davies would never have played a song like "A 03b". | ||||||
| B 03b | Larry Williams | Bad boy | Larry Williams | 1958 | (7" A-side) Specialty 658 | (Ace CH 129) |
| A song of the composer of e. g. "Dizzy Miss Lyzzy", "Slow down" and "Bony Maronie". (If you don't know his original, there's also a probably better known Beatles version.) | ||||||
| B 04.1 | Jimmy Reed | I ain't got you | Calvin Carter | 1955.07.18 | (LP) Vee Jay 1022 | Charly CRB 1003 |
| Written for Vee Jay Records. The song was better known in those days in Chicago as "Eldorado Cadillac". The Stones may have known both versions. | ||||||
| B 04.2 | Billy Boy Arnold | I ain't got you | Calvin Carter | 1955.fall | (7" A-side) Vee Jay 171 | (Charly CRB 1016) |
| B 05 | Jimmy Reed | Hush hush | Jimmy Reed | 1959.08.25 | (7" A-side) Vee Jay 357 | Charly CRB 1028 |
| B 06 | Eddie Playboy Taylor | Ride 'em on down | Eddie Taylor → BJW, Eddie Taylor [→ traditional] |
1955.12.05 | (7" B-side) Vee Jay 185 | Charly CRB 1015 |
| According to Stones books, "Ride 'em on down" is said to have been written by Big Bill Broonzy. But he never recorded a song with this title! In fact a traditional Delta melody - listen to e. g. Johnnie Temple's "Lead pencil blues" (recorded 14 May 1935) - was used for several recordings: "Shake 'em on down" (Bukka White, recorded 1 September 1937; Bo Chatmon, recorded 22 October 1938), "New shake 'em on down" (Big Bill Broonzy, recorded 5 May 1938; T. McClennan, recorded 22 November 1939), "Truck 'em on down", "Ride 'em on down" (Robert Petway, recorded 28 March 1941). and "Break 'em on down" (Big Joe Williams, recorded 12 December 1941). Taylor's amplified version is lyrically a mixture of lots of Big Joe Williams's words, enriched with own ideas; and Petway was the first who used "Ride" in the refrain.
The Stones played it most probably in the style of Jimmy Reed and Eddie Taylor (Eddie Taylor was Jimmy Reed's arranger and sideman for many years... and the harp player on A 03a "Bad boy" and A 06 "Ride 'em on down"). | ||||||
| B 07 | Chuck Berry | Back in the USA | Charles Edward Anderson Berry [= Chuck Berry] | 1959.02 | (7" A-side) Chess 1729 | Chess 9283 020 |
| B 08 | Jimmy Reed | Kind of lonesome | Jimmy Reed | 1960 | (2LP) Vee Jay 1035 | (2LP) Vee Jay VJS 2-1035 |
| B 09.1 | Leroy Carr | Blues before sunrise | no credits Leroy Carr [→ F. Blackwell, Leroy Carr] |
1934.02.21 | (7") Vocalion 02657 | [never heard] |
| This tune was first copyrighted in 1950, although Leroy Carr, to whom the song is credited, already died in 1935 (who got the royalties?). And there is some information that his partner "Scrapper" Blackwell co-wrote this song. | ||||||
| B 09.2 | Elmore James | Blues before sunrise | no credits Elmore James ?→ Leroy Carr, Elmore James [?→ F. Blackwell, Leroy Carr, Elmore James] |
1955.mid | (7" A-side) Flair 1079 | Kent KST 522 |
| It's certainly no Elmore James composition (which is confirmed on the cover of Charly CRB 1017). Muddy Waters' studio version (recorded January 1959) and slow live version (recorded 26 October 1958 in Manchester, released 1982) weren't yet available on record in 1962. Muddy Waters and Elmore James used the same first verse (with that Carr's words), but the rest is typical Elmore James' style. So he gets credits, although I don't know Carr's original. | ||||||
| D 01 | Jimmy Reed | Big boss man | Luther Dixon, Al Smith | 1960.03.29 | (LP) Vee Jay 1022 | Charly CRB 1003 |
| Written for Jimmy Reed. | ||||||
| D 02 | Billy Boy Arnold | Don't stay out all night | William Arnold [= Big Boy Arnold] | 1955.fall | (7" B-side) Vee Jay 171 | Charly CRB 1016 |
| It took me a long time to find out. Thanks for the hint, Mr. Korner! (Dalton p. 19) You don't have to compare with Skip James' "I don't want a woman to stay out all night" (recorded 1964, first recording in 1931 as "If... the road", and again in 1965 as "Look down the road"). It's a completely different song. | ||||||
| D 03 | Jimmy Reed | Tell me you love me | Jimmy Reed, Al Smith Jimmy Reed |
1961 | (2LP) Vee Jay 1035 | (2LP) Vee Jay VJS 2-1035 |
| Sung as "Tell me that you love me", but everywhere the song title is written without "that". | ||||||
| D 04 | Elmore James | Happy home | no credits Josea → Elmore James |
1955.05 | (7" A-side) Flair 1069 | Kent KST 522 |
| According to some liner notes, Elmore James never had an album released in his lifetime (1918-1963). In the USA some of his songs came out on singles, in Britain not even one. Where did Brian get these songs from? - Late addition: A 06, B 09.1 and D 04 on the tape are taken from a new, digitally remastered Ace LP. | ||||||
The Marquee gig is over!
Now for some more songs which (certainly) have connection to the Stones. To make it easier for you to compare, I've given all recording dates where the Stones (group, individual members) were involved.
NB: It's controversial if all cover versions of the Stones are of top quality. But it's undisputed that they almost managed to make the best choice!
Recording date given if a song was released on record and/or on film (full-playback performances excluded), with the exception of a few cases of historical interest.
Some data should be especially interesting (not only for hardcore fans, I hope) because it differs a bit from the existing information. Special notice should be taken in the lists to "First recorded by".
It's definitively not my aim to accumulate as many blues songs as possible, but to build up a fine collection. Fortunately there are a few record shops specializing in blues, where I could carefully listen to all the songs I didn't want to buy (thanks!). Therefore excuse some gaps ("First" and songs as "Hi-heel sneakers" where I couldn't find a blues LP in my collection with a version of it. - But there's Jerry Lee Lewis' 1964 live version in the rock'n'roll section!)
| Track | Interpreter Soloist or band leader (listed with his stage or nick name) |
Title | Author as given on record in last column |
Recording date | First released on | Selection on Marquee '62 is taken from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D 05.1 | St. Louis Jimmy | Soon forget you | no credits James Burke Oden [= St. Louis Jimmy] |
1942.03.25 | (7") Bluebird B9016 | [never heard] |
| D 05.2 | Muddy Waters | Soon forgotten | no credits James Burke Oden [= St. Louis Jimmy] |
1960.07.03 | (LP) Chess 1449 | P-Vine Spec. PLP-814 [= Chess 1449] |
| D 06 | Bo Diddley | You can't judge a book by its cover | Willie James Dixon [= Willie Dixon] | 1962.06.27 | (7") Checker 1019 | Chess CH-9106 (Sugar Hill) |
| D 07 | Jimmy Reed | Close together | Jimmy Reed | 1960.12.13 | (7" A-side) Vee Jay 373 | Vee Jay VJLP 1025 |
| D 08 | Elmore James | Look on yonder wall | no credits Elmore James, M. Sehorn → James Clark → James Clarke |
1961 | (7") Fire 504 | (3LP) P-Vine Spec. PLP-6006 |
| C 01.1 | Jazz Gillum | Key to the highway | no credits William McKinley Gillum [= Jazz Gillum] |
1940.05.09 | (7") Bluebird B8529 | [never heard] |
| C 01.2 | Little Walter | Key to the highway | Little Walter → Jazz Gillum |
1958.?08 | (7" A-side) Checker 904 | Teldec 6.24805 (Chess) |
| C 01.3 | Jazz Gillum | Key to the highway | no credits Jazz Gillum |
1961 | (LP) Folkways FS3826 | Folkways Rec. FS3826 |
| C 02 | Robert Johnson | Stop breakin' down blues | Robert L. Dodds [= Robert Johnson] | 1937.06.20 | (7" A-side) Vocalion 04002 | CBS (Columbia) C 30034 |
| C 03 | Slim Harpo | Shake your hips | James Moore [= Slim Harpo] | 1966.?01 | (7" A-side) Excello 2278 | (LP) Rhino RNLP 106 |
| C 04.1 | St. Louis Jimmy | Going down slow | no credits St. Louis Jimmy |
1941.11.11 | (7") Bluebird B8889 | [never heard] |
| C 04.2 | Howlin' Wolf | Going down slow | no credits St. Louis Jimmy |
1961.12 | (7") Chess 1813 | (LP) Vogue 515026 [= Chess 1469] |
| C 05.1 | Reverend Gary Davis | You got to move | traditional [→ Gary D. Davis = Reverend Gary Davis] |
1961.08.10 | (LP) Pre./B'ville 1032 | (2LP) Fantasy F-24704 |
| C 05.2 | Fred McDowell | You got to move | Fred McDowell → Reverend Gary Davis, Fred McDowell [→ traditional] |
1966 | (LP) Arhoolie F 1027 | (LP) Arhoolie F-1027 |
| C 06 | Jimmy Reed | The sun is shining | Jimmy Reed | 1957.04.03 | (7" A-side) Vee Jay 248 | (2LP) Vee Jay VJS 2-1035 |
| C 07.1 | Tampa Red | It hurts me too | Hudson Woodbridge [= Tampa Red] | 1940.05.10 | (7" B-side) Bluebird B8635 | (Blues Classics BC 25) |
| C 07.2 | Elmore James | It hurts me too | Elmore James, Marshall Sehorn → Tampa Red, Elmore James |
1957 | (7" A-side) Chief 248 | (Charly CRB 1008) |
| C 07.3 | Elmore James | It hurts me too | no credits Elmore James, Marshall Sehorn → Tampa Red, Elmore James |
1962or1963 | (7" A-side) Fire 2020 | (3LP) P-Vine Spec. PLP-6007 |
| C 08 | Bo Diddley | Mona (I need you baby) | Ellas Bates [= Bo Didlley] | 1957.03 | (7") Checker 860 | Chess CH-9106 (Sugar Hill) |
| E 01 | Bo Diddley | Pretty thing | Willie Dixon | 1955.08.12 | (7" A-side) Checker 827 | (Chess CH-9106 (Sugar Hill)) |
| E 02 | Coasters | I'm a hog for you | Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller | 1959.07.17 | (7" B-side) Atco 6146 | (Atlantic 30057) |
| F 01 | Ray Sharpe | Linda Lou | Ray Sharpe | ca. 1959 | (7" A-side) | (Moonshine BLP 104) |
| F 02 | Amos Milburn | Chicken shack boogie | Lola Ann Cullum, Amos Milburn | 1956 | (7") Aladdin 3332 | (Pathé Marconi 1546711) |
| -- | Sonny Boy Williamson | Down child | Aleck Ford [= Sonmny Boy Williamson 2] | 1964.early | (LP) Fontana TL 5277 | [taped FM broadcast] |
| Sonny Boy recorded some (chaotic) live sides with the Yardbirds, the Animals, Brian Auger and Chris Barber; and toured with lots of English bands. Were the Stones too busy to...? This song has a certain raw charm. Hasn't it? | ||||||
Words and music by ...
(Large parts of this chapter have been translated by a friend, thanks buddy!)
Have you never wondered at the fact that, according to the information on record labels and covers, several musicians are said to be writers of the same song? For example: Big Bill, Jazz Gillum, John Lee Hooker, Cahrlie Segar, Little Walter, Muddy Waters and even Chuck Berry of the classic "Key to the highway".
Who would ever have imagined that in the case of "Hide away" the songwriter was not Freddie King, but Hound Dog Taylor? Or, in "It hurts me too" it was not Elmore James but Tampa Red? Or, in "Sweet little angel" it was not B. B. King but again Tampa Red? The same songs have different titles; songs with the same titles are different; songs almost have similar titles, melodies, texts. It often stands to discussion as to who wrote what. When I give names other than those usually associated with a song:
- I haven't broken new ground. Of course there are different arguments, in part, and the information gathered are the results of detailed, painstaking work.
- This doesn't mean that it's definitive. Some discretion is advised! Where is the exact line between original composition and interpretation? Should I give composer credits to some new words, to a new pioneer arrangement? Needless to say that my definition is not more than one way of approaching. How sensible is it on my part to change best known composition credits? Am I not causing unnecessary confusion?
- It's my intention to give some musicians the recognition tehy deserve.
- In most cases I know the first version of the record. But as we are about to see, that doesn't mean much for blues, because some songs have gone quite a long way through phases of constant metamorphosis, until the first recording. Why is it so difficult to determine the true composers?
Blues and tradition
"Folk music is the product of a folk group within a larger society. It is transmitted orally within that group or between folk groups... unless it is transmitted through any form of the mass media, then folk music can also be considered popular music." (D. Evans)
It's an obvious mistake to think that all black Americans are blues lovers, for blues is only one of their musical creations. Many have little knowledge of blues or, if they've ever heard it, don't like it, for one reason or another. The following remarks deal with the important segment of black Americans who have enjoyed and transmitted blues.
Blues came from African roots that could not be suppressed, invariably mixed with strong Euro-American influences (language, chucrh songs, dance music, folk songs and almost all instruments). Whereby popular songs such as "Stack o' Lee", "Corrina, Corrina", "Lonesome road blues" and "St. Louis blues" all came from the so called "common-stock" (no racial connotation!), blues is "common only within the black tradition. White versions sound not like independent expression of a traditional song, but like covers" (T. Russell). (Any arguments against that? Why is it that already the first white recorded blues in 1926? Why is it that blues purists considered the songs of Harmonica Frank as original blues till they found out that he was white? If this music contains so many Euro-American elements, is it then surprising that white musicians found a sufficient basis to tackle blues later on??)
In blues, a well-established number of themes, melodies, expressions, verses, lines and rhyming couplets are available. New creations quickly become common property, finding their way back into blues again. So there are already pre-fab components which can be joined together: those elements that are unsuitable are left out, new elements are added, historical material is replaced by current matter. Imitating is therefore not a sign of "a lack of originality. Blues is most accurately seen as a music of re-composition" (Blues Classics LP BC 21)!
The blues novice learned by imitating local musicians (and since the 1920s, by listening to records). Note that lots of blues musicians had much broader repertoires. They included blues, spirituals, worksongs, dance pieces, folk balads and even hillbilly stuff. But record companies wanted blues, for blues sold well in the black community.
Some combed the entire land; others hardly budged from their backyards. Each one learned from the other, and passed on further. In this way popular songs enjoyed wide distribution. Many texts and melodies held their own until now.
Blues was therefore so freely structured that it allowed for an individual arrangement. There's no doubt that countless musicians have developed a distinct, easily recognisable style, that they made PD stuff their own. For a folk music, blues has also attained surprising flexibility! Ever so often, new influences had to be adapted to. (For example Elmore James gave Robert Johnsons "Crossroad blues" a facelift to fit the large city scene - he did this by making some changes in the text and an arrangement for electric slide guitar and ensemble. Country blues became R&B.)
During the time of rock'n'roll and soul, disco and funk, blues had to endure long hauls. Blues is live music, surviving through being played. (in the mid-1970s, it's said that in Chicago blues was played exclusively in not more than two clubs. Since then discos have made a switch. For how long?)
Most of the "greats" are dead or over 60. Sippie Wallace, the last singer of the first blues generation of the 1920s, died some weeks ago (1 November 1986). The piano is disappearing from the blues clubs of Chicago. Pinetop Perkins and Lafayette Leake are still alive. Anybody else of interest? Black band leaders are tending, if at all, to play with white keyboarders.
Do the "young" talents have a chance to put people like Muddy or Howlin' Wolf in the shade?? Are the good ol' days, wehn blues was "honest and pure", long gone? Does the future belong to those people who are trying to break the pattern, to integrate other music? Robert Cray, Sugar Blue, Luther Allison are three examples from our time. But they are carrying further what B. B. King, Taj Mahal or Johnny Guitar Watson already tried to do years ago.
Blues and commercialization
Music business is one of the lines of business where lots of money can be made quickly; especially in the area of pop hits. (Is that perhaps the reason why there are so many people in the business who have no idea about music?)
But the black market also promised a lot. Contrary to the pop market, there was no necessity for paying royalties: it was simply a matter of course, that the black musicians were cheated out of their publishing rights. By saying this, I really don't want to give the impression that people could do whatever they wanted with these "illiterates and boozers". One simply has to be on the ball, so as not to learn the hard way! Just refer to those lawsuits conducted by Sting, Paul McCartney, John Fogerty, the Stones, the Who, Bruce Springsteen, ...
Only a minority of black musicians had the opportunity of making recordings. Since much was left up to providence, one can just imagine how many fine musicians remained unknown. (It's hard to imagine what blues would have lost if Robert Johnson, who was killed in 1938, hadn't tried to record some of his songs in 1936!)
Production and distribution were under white control. One was not too particular about composition credits. How was the producer to know who had written what? Did the musician himself know? How far was he concerned with this at all? It was only interesting for people who earned money from these rights. Artist = composer, in this way money could be saved, as we are about to see. (The first legal actions that I know of were made against Chess Records because of false credits in "Got my mojo working", and against Fury Records - Bobby Robinson - because they had omitted the credits in Wilbert Harrisons "Kansas City".)
Before World War II a few large firms, and afterwards many small ones, divided the blues (and later also the rock'n'roll) market among themselves. Blues records (then only singles) were locally or regionally distributed. The distribution system was rather primitively organised. The number of copies were small (there are exceptions to the rule: in the R&B field there were also million sellers). In one region a top hit, it was practically unknown in big parts of the country.
NB: These were race records and consequently meant for black people. The more important segment of white buyers was sealed off from this "wild, crude, sex-obsessed and demoralizing nigger music". The syrupy cover versions of some of these local hits sung by whites were intended for these buyers. (Those few radio stations which aired black music played a very important role as ice-breakers, because they gradually reached white teenagers.)
Cover versions such as Haley's "Shake rattle and roll" or Elvis's "Hound dog" didn't fit into this category. Of course, also here, lots of money was made with the covers; the original artists remained in obscurity. On the otehr side, only the group of white teenagers neglected by the large firms were reached.
Appendix 1: What does "Rhythm & Blues" entail?
a) Every kind of black music, that after World War II, was meant for the black market. Listed in the race charts; from 25 September 1949, Billboard changed the name to R&B charts, or
b) Term for a music which dates back to the 1940s, probably created in New York City. A mixture of blues, big band music, boogie woogie and gospel. Typical big city music. The electric Chicago blues and its offshots were mostly placed in this category. Typical representatives: Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner, Fats Domino, Muddy Waters, the Coasters, Dinah Washington and B. B. King. Lots of R&B records had a potential for moving into the white market.
Big money could only be made in the pop charts. Chuck Berry was one of the first black musicians to have made it directly to the Top Ten pop charts ("Maybelline", 1955), without being taken over by a white cover version. That was because his clear voice sounded "white" on the radio.
In the blues scene of the 1950s, with exception of the very successful vocal groups, there was Jimmy Reed who got into the pop charts with "Honest I do" (No. 32). Anybody else? Even a megastar like B. B. King only got into the Top 20 in 1969!
The black musicians could only live from music if they were able to make live performances; i. e. years and years of mammoth tours through taverns and shacks. (The 300 nights a year, exclusiverly fro blacks, of B. B. King have already become a legend!) Frequently enough, these were not concerts; one was literally a juke box for entertaining the people, for dancing and animating them to drink ("to dance all nite long" - and you can bet these are not just empty words!) Hits helped a lot in obtaining better bookings. Only those who could perform for a white public on a regular basis in the 1960s and 1970s could say "we've made it".
It has to be quite clearly seen that the dichotomy black/white artists also functions today, in spite of people like Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner or Prince. One only has to remember the controversy concerning the composition of the program for "Live Aid" or MTV. And music meant for a black audience entered the race, then R&B, then soul charts. Today it's called Hot Black 100!
Appendix 2: Some money channels in the record business
The "copyright company" (BMI, ASCASP, GEMA, ...) permits public performances of the registered songs and collects compensation for those. Distributed to publishers and songwriters.
The songwriter sels or hands over the copyright of his songs for a certain period of time (the old classic was lifespan + 50 years. Remember the vain attempts made by Paul McCartney to buy back the copyrights for the Beatles' songs for 40 million dollars?) to a "copyright company" or a publishing house.
A publishing house<7b> is ran by a manager, record company, "copyright company", or songwriter himself, but mostly by other people. It collects the money for the songwriter (transfers from the "copyright companies", sales of sheet music, ...), controls the observance of the copyrights ans promotes songs and artists.
Publication
| ca. 1987 |  liner notes for sampler tape Marquee '62
|
These liner notes were originally written for the booklet of the unauthorised sampler double album Marquee '62. Author Walter Schäppi sent them to me in 1987 - though I never got hold of this album and I don't know if it actually exists at all (Walter had a definite faible for non-existing albums). However these notes show Walter's in-depth interest for the Rolling Stones and their blues roots, so I think it's good lecture still today. When I revised Walter's original writing in 2009, I substituted abbreviations with the complete words; footnotes were directly included to make reading easier.