Spoonful
| Spoonful | |
|---|---|
| Howlin 'wolf | |
| publication | 1960 |
| length | 2:45 |
| Genre (s) | Blues , Chicago blues |
| Author (s) | Willie Dixon |
| Award (s) | * Rock and Roll Hall of Fame : "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll"
|
| album | Howlin 'Wolf (Chess LP-1469) - 1962 |
| Cover version | |
| 1968 | Cream |
Spoonful is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and which has become a standard through the cover versions of many different blues musicians. The song was first recorded by Howlin 'Wolf in 1960 .
General
The song was written by Willie Dixon and is based on the 1929 published blues song A Spoonful Blues by Charley Patton (Paramount 12869). The idea behind Spoonful was that you don't need a lot to be good at. The musical structure of the song can also be seen in other numbers Dixon wrote for Wolf. ( Wang Dang Doodle , Back Door Man and also in Wolf's own Smokestack Lightning ). The song was released in 1962 on Howlin 'Wolf's second long-playing record for Chess Records . In 1968 he re-recorded the song, along with other of his songs ( The Howlin 'Wolf Album , Cadet Concept LPS-319), but the recording was a commercial and artistic failure. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Wolf described the album as "dogshit" ( dog shit ).
Musician
- Howlin 'Wolf (vocals)
- Hubert Sumlin (guitar)
- Freddie Robinson (guitar)
- Otis Spann (piano)
- Fred Below (drums)
- Willie Dixon (bass).
Awards
The song was included in the list of "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll" of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , on the list of Rolling Stone Magazine with the " 500 Greatest Songs of All Time " it is ranked number 219. The Blues Foundation Hall of Fame listed the song in Wolf's version in 2010 in the Classics of Blues Recordings category.
Cream cover version
The English blues rock group Cream released their cover version on their debut album Fresh Cream . On the American edition of the album, however , Spoonful was replaced by I Feel Free and only released as a single the following year. The song was often used by Cream as a template for sprawling instrumental solos, the live version on Wheels of Fire (1968) lasted 16 minutes and 48 seconds.
Cover versions (selection)
- Booker T. & the MG's (1960),
- Etta James (1960) = as Etta & Harvey number 12 in the R&B charts,
- Gil Evans ( The Individualism of Gil Evans , 1964)
- Dion (1965),
- The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (1965),
- Jose Feliciano (1965)
- Canned Heat (1966),
- Blues Project (1966),
- Cream (1966)
- Ten Years After (1967),
- The Shadows of Knight (1967),
- John Hammond (1967),
- Bo Diddley (1968),
- Climax Blues Band (1971),
- Jimmy Witherspoon (1973),
- Alexis Korner (1975, 1978),
- Koko Taylor (1978),
- Delbert McClinton (1978),
- Jack Bruce (1987, 1993, 1997),
- Leslie West (1988),
- Salty Dog (1990),
- The Pretty Things (1991),
- Dana Gillespie (1996),
- Carole Clegg (1999),
- James Blood Ulmer (2001),
- Charlie Hunter (2001),
- Adam Green (2008),
- Catherine Russell (2009),
- Ron Wood (2010).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Dixon, Willie and Snowden, Don: I am the Blues - The Willie Dixon Story, Quartet Books London, 1989, p. 148
- ↑ Segrest, James; Hoffman, Mark (2004). Moanin 'at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf. Pantheon Books. S 249/50 ISBN 0375422463 .
- ↑ 500 songs that shaped rock and roll
- ^ Blues Foundation Hall of Fame
- ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top 40 R&B and Hip-Hop Hits. 1942-2004. New York, NY: Billboard Books, 2006, p. 282. Etta James' vocal partner was Harves Fuqua of the Moonglows
- ↑ Second hand songs
- ↑ Cover Info Spoonful
- ^ Willie Dixon: I am the Blues, p. 249