Music of the Day, 30 October 2023

you ain't never caught a rabbit

Over the years, I’ve had several friends who are big fans of the blues; a few of them have attempted to draw me in deeper. It’s hard to be a rock music fan and remain ignorant of the blues’ contribution to rock & roll, though, and between that and my ongoing, deep affection for The Blues Brothers,¹ I wasn’t sure what they wanted to see from me.

My reactions to the genres of the blues, opera, and jazz share this in common: there are aspects of the genre that I like and seek out, but there are things I don’t like as much and try to avoid. Some of the elements in the latter category are what others view as fundamental to great music. Having examples thrust at me that I know I don’t like cools my ardor for exploration and hardens my resolve to trust my own judgment over another’s.

So I’m not often in the mood for the blues or opera, but when I am, I have enough in my library to explore. Today, listening more closely to an album I’ve enjoyed for many years now, I discovered a new favorite blues song—a cover of a very famous song that is itself a cover.

I had thought that “Hound Dog” was an Elvis Presley classic; it’s been the only version I heard for most of my life. In researching its provenance today, I learned that it was written in 1952 for Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton by two 19-year-old songwriters: Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.² Having just now listened to her rendition once through, I think the cover I’ve heard without really attending to for years does the song proud. Both make Presley’s version seem fairly insipid to me… certainly more rock than blues.

I have no idea who shared two Koko Taylor albums with me, but I’m eternally grateful to them. One is her 1978 album The Earthshaker, which has one of her biggest hits, “Wang Dang Doodle,” with Buddy Guy on guitar. The other is Force of Nature, which was released in 1993 and features several covers, including a duet of “Born Under a Bad Sign” with Buddy Guy.³

Taylor’s extended intro is what threw me off the scent until today; I like the way her “testifying” intro sets the song up. And her signature rough vocals make “Hound Dog” really tasty, especially on the “bow wows” she adds to her extended outro. Koko Taylor transformed a short and pleasant classic that I could tolerate into a ripping blues piece I’m now listening to on repeat.

1. It’s the only movie from that era that I own and watch ~quarterly; but yeah, that barely touches on the blues and all its varieties

2. The story is great and well worth reading

3. Another interesting cover is her take on “Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor),” which was a big hit for Robert Palmer