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Sonny Boy WillitmioA with Houston SUCJJKMIK and Peck Curtis.
Or did it just change shirts and move into another room
white the bullshit s going down in the parlor? Have you seen
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the blues walking like a man lately? When s the last time you
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went down to your corner bar to hear Elmore James?
Does the blues grab your guts and walk across your head
like a snowstorm in August? Or does it sit neatly in your
record collection amongst the ragas and bluegrass, waiting on
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its turn table time? How does it tit into your life, and what s it
mean to you?
You ever been in a juke- joint? (Me neither, but I was
trapped in a juke box for three days one night.) Ever heard
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that pea vme when she moaned? Ever worked five long years
for one woman, trucking steel like a slave? Were you bom in
Chicago? Do you wish yOil were, weren t?
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Is blues: a ) an art fc brm, b) a vital expression of the needs
and concerns of its audience, c) a good warm- up act for Led
Zeppelin?
Was Hank Williams a blues singer? How about Percy
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Mayfield? Have you done the popcorn lately? Do you sing
along on Chuck Berry ’ s “My Ding-A Ling ? (If so, which
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part?) Do you have more Howling Wolf or Allman Brothers
albums? Did you go see The Girl Can t Help It for Gene
? Vincent or Little Richard? tOr Jayie Mansfield? )
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§ f Does the blues fall down like nail where you live? Would
d like to
« you rather be a wah wah pedal or a fuzz tone box? (I '
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7 > be a “Mad Dog switch on a Burns guitar myself.) Would you
z rather hear the Stones or Slim liarpo do “King Bee" ? Is Mike
5 Bloomfield better than B.B. King^ How about Albert King?
Good evening blues. How about Henry the Eighth?
Is three o ' clock in the morning a special point in the face of
blues how do you do? time for you? Are you a crawling kingsnake* Have you seen
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I did pretty good in the 50 s, Jimmy Reed lately? Where ’ s the danger zone? Is Paul
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but now ift 72 •• • Butterfield a tunafish sandwich? Can you mellow down easy?
Or shake your money maker?
1972 and lots of people think that blues is dying of old age Have you ever been collected for the Library of Congress?
and respectability. Many of the old masters have died Did anybody ever give you a pint of whiskey', $20 and steal all
( Mississippi Fred McDowell for one), and those who are left your songs? If you had a chance to play Carnegie Hall or
often have only pait of their original power . . . and who s Mattie s Tavern, which one would vou take?
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gonna take their place? Did Reverend Robert Wilkins ever get all his royalties for
Eric Cliptonr Alvin Lee? Mark Farner? Alice Cooper ? “ Prodigal Son? How about Sonny Boy Williamson s share of
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Nope ••• Time passes and all things change the great melting led Zep s “Bring It On Home? *'
pot of America assimilates another form into its homogenizing Is the blues alive? Is it a memory? Is it now or yesterday?
blender, and how long before B.B. King is doing gasoline What about Johnny Winter? What about Larry Johnson? Is the
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commercials? ( And why shouldn t he? lie s paid his dues, blues an aching old hard luck disease?
right?) When your babc s hot. is there any cooling? Have you got
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But what happened to blues* ' the key to tire highway? Are you a gangster of love? Would
Who ate it? you rather spend an hour with Otis Rush or Keith Richard? If
Was it English rockers with sincere respect and occasional the river was whiskey and you a diving duck, would you?
outright thievery? Was it young white fans who were down so Are you a back door man? Or a tit man? When ' s the last
low cause their local pizza parlor wouldn ' t serve them if they time you sank into a crossroads? Do you like grits and greens
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didn t have a shirt on? (l ) is - enm - i - nation... I Was it better than McDonalds? Is there a hell-hound on your trail? Is
working in Las Vegas where, if Jesus came back , he might get the blues in the air or the spirit? Can you touch them?
two weeks in the big room at one of the more mod casinos? Can they touch yum?
W'as it record companies who fadizc and hustlei/e and hypei/e ( This ms suppposed to be an article on the state of blues
everything into profit-and-loss chucks of plastic melba toast? today - but it seems all / can do is ask myself questions.
W' as it the critics and anthologizers who inspected, disected Maybe you know some answers ••• )
and filleted it neatly into a medium size volume? Tony Glover
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