1000 SONGS - DAY 376 Song #409

Day 376: A Pour Man With a Heart Full of Love
 

If God is watching when I pay for my sin, tell him I'm sorry but I'd do it again:  "Pour man" by Lee Hazlewood (from the album "Love and other Crimes") is a murder ballad that does neither sound like a ballad nor like a tragic song.  Like so many tunes that Hazlewood has written, it is simply great and the way he sings it w/h that voice - who could do that better? There are, nevertheless, cover versions galore of Hazlewod songs, but mostly of the better known like "These boots are made for walking". Tav Falco Panther Burns did a rather minimalistic cover of "Pour Man", renamed as "Poor Man" (the title on the sleeve of the EP that features the song). Hazlewood surely intended a word-play w/h "pour" (pouring down liquor) and "poor". Why Tav Falco chose "poor", I do not know. I do like the version of the latter guy, but - Gorblyme!, if the original is not unmatched until today.
I miss Lee Hazlewood and the little songs he sings.

1000 SONGS - DAY 375 SONGS #408

Day 375: The Catfish Rolling Stone Blues

There is a Blues song by Muddy Waters that gave the name to the self-defined "greatest Rock band ever", the Rolling Stones. It might have been Brian Jones who referred to this song when searching for a name for the band, since initially, it was his band. Later on, Jagger/Richards, not as good in musicianship as Jones, but better songwriters, took it over. Be that as it may, this is not about the Stones (I am still a fan of the early Stones up to Exile on Main Street and Sticky Fingers). It is about the Catfish Blues, a traditional tune, allegedly first recorded by Robert Petway in 1941. It was recorded by Lightning Hopkins, Muddy Waters and a load of other musicians. Muddy Waters based his "Rollin Stone" on the Catfish Blues (in fact, it is simply the same song). The song was covered by many a great artist, for example, Jimi Hendrix, or ZZTOP. Here, I feature the version of Lightnin' Hopkins, the "Rollin' Stone" version by Muddy Waters and the cover done by Gary Clark Jr. - sounds like Hendrix, better than the Hendrix version, imho.

So here they are: The great Lightning Hopkins, the two times great Muddy Waters and the thrice great Gary Clark Jr.