Oh yea Jimmy Reed...loose, sloppy, (not really it's just the feeling it creates)
Albert King had good drummers. His drummers were pretty modern sounding considering it was the 2nd era
Great Skip James track Tony. His vocal style retains that haunting quality that was a hallmark of the first era. Him and Robert Johnson were contemporaries. , pretty sure Robert lifted some ideas from him. Yea, the rhythms these guys played....where the hell did they get them from? They sound so....primitive...No one plays them much anymore, they kind of fell out of favor. Still they provide inspiration for blues fans.
Here's my favorite Blues song of all times, there's no drums. This song is LOADED with raw material to mine, even though a lot of it goes right by unless you listen hard, kind of like Robert Johnson's music.
Charley Patton's "Spoonful", a song about cocaine.
You can listen to this song a hundred times and each time you will pick up on something that passed you by earlier. How he sang and played this I'll never know
Read the lyrics. You can't understand a word the guy says, until you read the lyrics, then it all makes sense. He's got elements that knock me out. He only says the word "spoonful" once in the beginning, spoken. Every time it comes around to that word afterwards, he substitutes a slide guitar figure. I love it, it's so blues. The tempo doubles by the end, the song never resolves until the very last note, it's always building tension, and the way he sings it, at first I thought it was 2 different guys, one talking and one singing. It's all him. The guys voice, he's a walking megaphone. He could project like no one else. It's what REAL blues was. This style is all but extinct. Howlin Wolf took this song and made it more palatable for the white audience to digest.
The great Charley Patton on probably his best recording, "Spoonful Blues" (with no ads!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyIquE0izAg
Lyrics:
(spoken: I'm about to go to jail about this spoonful)
In all a spoon', 'all that spoon'
The women goin' crazy, every day in their life 'bout a...
It's all I want, in this creation is a...
I go home (spoken: wanna fight!) 'bout a...
Doctor's dyin' (way in Hot Springs !)
just 'bout a...
These women goin' crazy every day in their life 'bout a...
Would you kill a man dead? (spoken: yes, I will!) just 'bout a...
Ah babe, I'm a fool about my...
(spoken: Don't take me long!) to get my...
Hey baby, you know I need my...
It's mens on Parchman (done lifetime) just 'bout a...
Hey baby, (spoken: you know I ain't long) about my...
It's all I want (spoken: honey, in this creation) is a...
I go to bed, get up and wanna fight 'bout a...
(spoken: Look-y here, baby, would you slap me? Yes I will!) just 'bout a...
Hey baby,
(spoken: you know I'm a fool a-)
'bout my...
Would you kill a man?
(spoken: Yes I would, you know I'd kill him)
just 'bout a...
Most every man (spoken: that you see is)
fool 'bout his...
(spoken: You know baby, I need)
that ol'...
Hey baby,
(spoken: I wanna hit the judge 'bout a)
'bout a...
(spoken: Baby, you gonna quit me? Yeah honey!)
just 'bout a...
It's all I want, baby, this creation is a...
(spoken: look-y here, baby, I'm leavin' town!)
just 'bout a...
Hey baby, (spoken: you know I need)
that ol'...
(spoken: Don't make me mad, baby!)
'cause I want my...
Hey baby, I'm a fool 'bout that...
(spoken: Look-y here, honey!)
I need that...
Most every man leaves without a...
Sundays' mean (spoken: I know they are)
'bout a...
Hey baby, (spoken: I'm sneakin' around here)
and ain't got me no...
Oh, that spoon', hey baby, you know I need my...
Parchmen was an infamous prison in the South. The Hot Springs reference (Hot Springs is a town in Arkansas) is about a local story of the day. Not a very politically correct song at all...slapping women, hitting judges, killing men, doing cocaine...
I love the song form. He stretches it in places to accomodate himself, it's not a set pattern AFAICT.