Willie Dixon

Willie Dixon's style of blues was one of the inspirations for a new generation of music, rock and roll.

Willie Dixon (July 1, 1915 – January 29, 1992) was a well-known American blues bassist, singer, songwriter, and record producer.

Career

He was born as William James Dixon, in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He was a producer for Chess and Checker Records in Chicago and is considered one of the key figures in the creation of Chicago blues. He worked with Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Led Zeppelin, Otis Rush, Bo Diddley, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Koko Taylor, Little Milton, Eddie Boyd, Jimmy Witherspoon, Lowell Fulson, Willie Mabon, Memphis Slim, Washboard Sam, and others.

He had a colourful life. In his teens he had many scrapes with the law, and decided to hitchhike his way to Chicago. A giant of a man, he took up boxing, and was so successful as to win the Golden Gloves heavywight title in 1936. His progress in learning to play the bass was halted when he resisted the World War II draft, and was imprisoned for ten months. After the war, he re-united with his bass playing tutor, Baby Doo Caston, forming the Big Three Trio, who went on to record for Columbia Records. Dixon subsequently signed for Chess Records as a recording artist, but by 1951 he was a full time employee of the label. His relationship with them was sometimes strained, although his spell there covered the years from 1948 to the early 1960s. During this time his output, and influence was prodigious. Indeed, he once claimed "I am the blues." This may seem a little arrogant, but there is no doubt that he was one of the major influences on the genre, through his original and varied songwriting, live performances, recording, and copious production work. He later recorded on Bluesville Records.

His double bass playing was of a high standard. He appears on many of Chuck Berry's early recordings, further proving his linkage between the blues and the birth of rock 'n' roll.

Dixon's genius as a songwriter, lay in refurbishing archaic Southern motifs, in contemporary arrangements. This produced songs with the backbone of the blues, and the agility of pop music. British R&B bands of the 1960's constantly drew on the Dixon songbook for inspiration.

In addition, as his songwriting and production work started to take a backseat, his organisational ability was utilised, putting together all-star, Chicago based blues ensembles for work in Europe.

His health deteriorated in the 1970s and 1980s, due to long-term diabetes, and eventually his leg had to be amputated. It was during this latter period of his life that Willie Dixon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As the songlist below demonstrates, his work was covered by a varied range of artists, from the blues, to modern day rock music practitioners.

Willie Dixon died of heart failure in Burbank, California in 1992 and was buried in the Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.

Songs

He wrote many famous blues songs, usually producing and playing double bass when they were first recorded. Some of these, and the extensive subsequent covers, include:

• "29 Ways" – Marc Cohn, Willie Dixon
• "300 Pounds Of Joy" – Howlin' Wolf
• "Back Door Man" – Howlin' Wolf, The Doors, Grateful Dead, Shadows of Knight, Bob Weir
• "Big Boss Man" – Jimmy Reed, Elvis Presley, Grateful Dead
• "Bring It on Home" – Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller), Led Zeppelin
• "Built for Comfort" – Howlin' Wolf, Canned Heat, UFO
• "Crazy For My Baby" – Little Walter, Charlie Musselwhite, Willie Dixon
• "Close to You" – Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Doors, Sam Lay, Rock Bottom
• "Dead Presidents" – Little Walter, J. Geils Band
• "Diddy Wah Diddy" – Bo Diddley, Captain Beefheart
• "Do Me Right" – Lowell Fulson
• "Don't Tell Me Nothin´" – Willie Dixon – used in the movie "The Color of Money"
• "Everything But You" – Jimmy Witherspoon
• "Evil" – Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Canned Heat, Captain Beefheart, Monster Magnet, Derek and the Dominos, Gary Moore,Cactus,The Faces

• "Hidden Charms" – Howlin' Wolf
• "Hoochie Coochie Man" – Muddy Waters, Shadows of Knight, The Nashville Teens, The Allman Brothers Band, Alexis Korner, Steppenwolf, Motörhead, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix
• "I Ain't Superstitious" – Howlin' Wolf, The Yardbirds, Grateful Dead, Megadeth, Jeff Beck
• "I Can't Quit You Baby" – Little Milton, Otis Rush, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Led Zeppelin, Gary Moore
• "If the Sea Was Whiskey" – Chris Thile
• "I Got What It Takes" – Koko Taylor
• "I Just Want To Make Love To You" – Muddy Waters, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, Shadows of Knight, Mungo Jerry, Grateful Dead, Foghat, The Rolling Stones, Etta James, Van Morrison

  "Gone Daddy Gone" - the Violent Femmes' Gordon Gano incorporated elements of "I Just Want To Make Love To You" into his track; the former was later covered by Gnarls Barkley

• "I'm Ready" – Muddy Waters, Humble Pie, Buddy Guy, Aerosmith
• "Insane Asylum" – Koko Taylor, Kathy McDonald & Sly Stone, Diamanda Galás, Asylum Street Spankers, The Detroit Cobras
• "It Don't Make Sense (You Can't Make Peace)" – Styx
• "I Want To Be Loved" – Muddy Waters, The Rolling Stones
• "Let Me Love You Baby" – Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Muddy Waters
• "Little Red Rooster" – Howlin' Wolf, Sam Cooke, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Grateful Dead, The Doors, Luther Allison, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Big Mama Thornton
• "Mellow Down Easy" – Little Walter & His Jukes, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Black Crowes, Carey Bell, ZZ Top
• "Million Dollar Baby" – Dizzy Gillespie
• "My Babe" – Little Walter, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Spencer Davis Group, John P. Hammond, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Othar Turner & The Rising Star Fire and Drum Band
• "My Mind is Ramblin" – Rock Bottom
• "Nervous" – Willie Dixon
• "Pain In My Heart" – Willie Dixon
• "Pretty Thing" – Bo Diddley, Pretty Things, Canned Heat
• "Seventh Son" – Willie Mabon, Mose Allison, Bill Haley, Johnny Rivers, Sting, Climax Blues Band
• "Sin And City" – Buddy Guy
• "Shake For Me" – Stevie Ray Vaughn
• "Spoonful" – Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Shadows of Knight, Paul Butterfield, Cream, Canned Heat, Grateful Dead, Ten Years After, Willie King & the Liberators, The Who
• "The Same Thing" – Muddy Waters, George Thorogood, The Allman Brothers Band
• "Third Degree" – Eddie Boyd, Eric Clapton, Leslie West
• "Three Hundred Pounds of Joy" – Howlin' Wolf
• "Tollin' Bells" – Lowell Fulson, Savoy Brown Blues Band
• "Too Late" – Little Milton
• "Too Many Cooks" – Buddy Guy, Robert Cray
• "Violent Love" – The Big Three, Oingo Boingo, Dr. Feelgood
• "Walkin' The Blues" – Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, John Kay
• "Wang Dang Doodle" – Koko Taylor, Howlin' Wolf, Grateful Dead, Savoy Brown, PJ Harvey, Rufus Thomas, The Pointer Sisters
• "Weak Brain, Narrow Mind" – Willie Dixon
• "When The Lights Go Out" – Jimmy Witherspoon, Kim Wilson
• "You Can't Judge A Book By Looking At Its Cover" – Bo Diddley, Shadows of Knight, Cactus, The Yardbirds, Beat Farmers, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Tim Hardin, The Merseybeats, Elliott Murphy, Long John Baldry, The Monkees, Eric Clapton, Roy Buchanan
• "You Know My Love" – Otis Rush
• "You'll Be Mine" – Howlin' Wolf, Stevie Ray Vaughan
• "You Need Love" – Muddy Waters

  "Whole Lotta Love" – Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" was appropriated, without credit, from Dixon's "You Need Love". Dixon and his music publisher received credit and royalties, after a 1985 lawsuit was settled out of court.

  "You Need Loving" recorded by The Small Faces in 1965, is another uncredited loose version of the song

• "You Shook Me" – Muddy Waters, Jeff Beck Group, Led Zeppelin
• "Young Fashioned Ways" – Muddy Waters

Trivia and Tributes

• French singer/song writer Francis Cabrel refers to Willie Dixon in the song "Cent Ans de Plus" on the 1999 album "Hors-Saison". Cabrel cites the artist as one of a number of blues influences, including Charley Patton, Son House, Blind Lemon, Robert Johnson (musician), Howlin' Wolf, Blind Blake and Ma Rainey.

References

• Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-190-X
• The Blues - From Robert Johnson To Robert Cray - ISBN 1-85868-255-X
• I Am the Blues - Willie Dixon, Don Snowden - ISBN 0-7043-0253-5
• Willie Dixon - Master Blues Composer: With Notes and Tablatur - ISBN 0-7935-0305-1
• Willie Dixon - I Am The Blues (DVD)

External links

• The Dead Rock Stars Club - Willie Dixon
• Willie Dixon Induction into Blues Foundation Hall of Fame, 1980