Everybody knows Soul Power by James Brown, at least for the extensive sampling of it in and beyond hip hop. But who does still know "Soul Food", recorded by James Brown in 1963, when he was still playing the organ in his band. It is a soul classic, and the beat by Nat Kendrick is featured in drum books dealing with soul and funky drumming. Make it groovy with all those buzz notes:
Ball and Chain is what I would call a female Blues. It was written by Big Mama Thornton (the one who first recorded Hound Dog by Leiber/Stoller) in 1961, but not recorded before 1968. It was made famous by the rendering of Janis Joplin. Another fine version is that of Etta James. Three women singing a song that deals with the miserable situation of a married woman, who loves her husband that treats her bad, as made clear, for example, in this part of the lyrics:
I said Oh, Oh Baby,
Why do you wanna do all these mean things to me?
I said Oh, Oh Baby, why do you wanna do,
Why do you wanna do all these things to me?
Because you know I love you,
And I'm so sick and tired, so sick and tired of being in misery.
Hey Hey, ball and chain
(Most of the lyrics you find on the internet do not match what Big Mama actually sings on the version featured below).
The song picks up a common topic of many blues songs, like "my baby left me this morning", "love in vain" a.s.o., but from a female perspective: the woman is the one who wants to leave this miserable situation, but the love to her husband clinches to her like a ball and chain. She is a prisoner in this relationship. That's what the song is about, and each of those great performers give to it a personal touch.
Here there are the versions of BMT, Etta James and Janis (live version from Monterey).
"I Got Stripes" is a song featured on "The Heart of Cash", an album released in 1968. There is also a German version of the song, done by Johnny. Officially, the credits for the song go to Johnny Cash and a guy called Charlie Williams (whoever that might be). It is a song about a man being arrested (that's why he got stripes). There are many songs in the history of American music dealing with that topic. For instance, Hudson William Ledbetter - the man they called Leadbelly - recorded a song with the same theme, "On a Monday", way back sometimes. What would the American songbook look like without Leadbelly? Surely, most of the songs he made famous weren't written by him, being traditionals he saved for the future by his rendering of them.
Johnny Cash didn't steal a song by Leadbelly, he just took up a traditional song recorded by Leadbelly, did his own version and pretended to have written it.
Here is: Leadbelly, On a Monday & Johnny Cash, I got Stripes, English and German version.
