Back Door Man
| Back Door Man | |
|---|---|
| Howlin 'wolf | |
| publication | 1960 |
| length | 2 min 45 sec |
| Genre (s) | Blues , Chicago blues |
| Author (s) | Willie Dixon |
| album | Howlin 'wolf |
| Cover version | |
| 1967 | The Doors |
Back Door Man is the title of a blues song by Howlin 'Wolf , written by Willie Dixon . It was released on Chess Records in 1960 as the b-side of Wolf's single Wang Dang Doodle . Both tracks are included on the album Howlin 'Wolf , which was released as a compilation of six Chess singles from 1960 to 1962.
General
In the blues jargon of the American South, a “back door man” is generally referred to as someone who finds a way to circumvent the rules or laws. Specifically, this means a man who has a relationship with a married woman and who comes and goes unobtrusively through a back door or garden entrance (back door) . This slang phrase comes from the 1920s, but its meaning expanded in the 1960s, because it can also mean a "man who engages in anal intercourse".
The "Back Door Man" is a common figure in the blues. Already Emery Glen attacks him on (Back Door Blues , recorded on November 7, 1927), followed by Charley Patton (Banty Rooster Blues , June 14, 1929 and Bird Nest Bound , May 28, 1930), Lightnin 'Hopkins (Back Door Friend , May 31, 1965) and Sara Martin, a blues singer from the 1930s. In Strange Loving Blues (March 1925) she claims that every reasonable woman has a "back door man".
Recording and publication
Lyrically, the protagonist describes that he sneaks around somewhere at midnight when everyone is asleep. When the rooster crows in the morning, someone tells him that he has to go - because he's a back door man ( When everybody trying to sleep, I'm somewhere making my midnight creep. / Every morning the rooster crow, something tell me I got to go / I am a back door man ). The passage You men eat your dinner or eat your pork and beans / I eat more chicken any man ever seen is ambiguous, because either the lover is served better food (chicken was luxurious back then) or he gobbles more women than other men have ever seen ( eat chicken ). The three-verse song contains one of the most extraordinary sexual commentaries in blues music, as two white women ask the court to release the murder accused. The Back Door Man is obviously taking a high risk as his body is full of bullet holes. Musically, a guitar figure comprising just two notes and a single chord characterize the simple musical structure; the song does without a harmonica solo and without a guitar break.
The Back Door Man was recorded together with the A-side Wang Dang Doodle and Spoonful in the Chess recording studios in June 1960 . In addition to Howlin 'Wolf (vocals), the line- up consisted of Otis Spann (piano), Hubert Sumlin (guitar), Willie Dixon (bass) and Fred Below (drums). The single Wang Dang Doodle / Back Door Man (Chess 1777) was published in November 1960 but not entered the US R & B - hit parade .
Cover versions
John Hammond , The Blues Project , The Doors , Luther Johnson , Black Oak Arkansas , Sugar Blue , Robby Krieger , Viktor Lazlo , Don Croissant, Quicksilver Messenger Service , Ron Hacker and The Hacksaws, T-Model Ford , Chicken Shack , Shadows of Knight , James Blood Ulmer , Guy Davis , Iggy Pop & Soul Asylum , Popa Chubby , Willie Dixon
Individual evidence
- ^ Arnold Shaw, American Dictionary of Pop / Rock , 1982, p. 23
- ↑ Jonathon Green, Cassell's Dictionary of Slang , Sterling Publishing Company, 2006, p. 48 ISBN 0-304-36636-6
- ↑ Back Door Man, Lyrics ( Memento of the original from March 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Andrew James Kellett, Fathers and Sons: American Blues and British Rock Music, 2008, p. 202
- ↑ Kara Kealing / Josh Kun, Sound Clash: Listening to American Studies , 2012, pp. 255 f.
- ↑ Secondhand Songs
- ↑ Cover info
