BLUES 1972

Good evening blues, blues how do you do?

I did pretty good in the 50’s, but now it’s 72....

1972 and lots of people think that blues is dying of old age and respectability. Many of the old masters have died (Mississippi Fred McDowell for one), and those who are left often have only part of their original power... and who’s gonna take their place?

Eric Clapton? Alvin Lee? Mark Farner? Alice Cooper? Nope .. . Time passes and all things change — the great melting pot of America assimilates another form into its homogenizing blender, and how long before B.B. King is doing gasoline commercials? (And why shouldn’t he? He’s paid his dues, right?) I

But what happened to blues?

Who ate it?

Was it English rockers with sincere respect and occasional outright thievery? Was it young white fans who were down so low cause their local pizza parlor wouldn’t serve them if they didn’t have a shirt on? (DM - crim — i — nation. . . ) Was it working in Las Vegas where, if Jesus came back, he might get two weeks in the big room at one of the more mod casinos? Was it record companies who fadize and hustleize and hypeize everything into profit-and-loss chucks of plastic melba toast? Was it the critics and anthologizers who inspected, disected and filleted it neatly into a medium size volume?

Or did it just change shirts and move into another room while the bullshit’s going down in the parlor? Have you seen the blues walking like a man lately? When’s the last time you went down to your corner bar to hear Elmore James?

Does the blues grab your guts and walk across your head like a snowstorm in August? Or does it sit neatly in your record collection amongst the ragas and bluegrass, waiting on its turn-table time? How does it fit into your life, and what’s it mean to you?

Do you respect the blues? Do you respect the rock? How do you feel about organic cauliflower? Is blues a past-time or a way of life? Is the thrill really gone? Are you a broke down engine without no driving wheel? When you drink Gordons gin do you think about Elvin Bishop, Robert Johnson or Janis?

You ever been in a juke-joint? (Me neither, but I was trapped in a juke box for three days one night.) Ever heard that pea-vine when) she moaned? Ever worked five long years for one woman, trucking steel like a slave? Were you born in Chicago? Do you wish you were/weren’t?

Is blues: a) an'art form, b) a vital expression of the needs and concerns of its audience, c) a good warm-up act for Led Zeppelin?

Who was Leonard Chess? Or the Bihari brothers? Or Tony Glover? Got any records on the Ace label? Do you like Big Bill Broonzy better than A1 Hirt? Would you wrassle with the devil or walk a canyon on a wire just to be with your woman? Drank any TNT or smoked any dynamite lately?

You ever fucked to Little Walter records? Or cleaned up Blind Lemon Jefferson’s grave? Have you got all the Cobra master numbers memorized? Can you name the sidemen on “Three Times A Fool”? Eyer been stuck inside of Mobile with the?

Do you support your local bluesingers? Have you taken a rack-jobber to lunch lately? Got any good 8 X 10s of Freddy King up over your bathtub?

Was Hank Williams a blues singer? How about Percy Mayfield? Have you done the popcorn lately? Do you sing along on Chuck Berry’s “My Ding-A-Ling”? (If so, which part?) Do you have more Howling Wolf or Allman Brothers albums? Did you go see The Girl Can’t Help It for Gene Vincent or Little Richard? (Or Jayne Mansfield?) How’s your discography?

Does the blues fall down like hail where you live? Would you rather be a wah-wah pedal or a fuzz-tone box? (I’d like to be a “Mad Dog” switch on a Burns guitar myself.) Would you rather hear the Stones or Slim Harpo do “King Bee”? Is Mike Bloomfield better than B.B. King? How about Albert King? How about Henry the Eighth?

Is three o’clock in the morning a special point in the face of time for you? Are you a crawling kdngsnake? Have you seen Jimmy Reed lately? Where’s the danger zone? Is Paul Butterfield a tunafish sandwich? Can you mellow down easy? Or shake your money maker?

Have you ever been collected for the Library of Congress? Did anybody ever give you a pint of whiskey, $20 and steal all your songs? If you had a chance to play Carnegie Hall or Mattie’s Tavern, which one would you take?

If Buddy Guy played acoustic 12-string would he be a folk-singer? Did Canned Heat discover John Lee Hooker? Is Ray Charles singing “Look What They Done To My Song Ma” blues?

Can you tune to open E? Got a black cat bone on your person? Ever go down to Louisiana behind the sun? Seen any smokestack lightning lately? Do you like to roll and rhumba? Pitched any good wang-dang-doodles recently? Is a string section a valid part of a blues band? Was King Curtis better than Big Jay McKneely? Could Son House cut Eric Clapton? Is your mojo working?

Did Reverend Robert Wilkins ever get all his royalties for “Prodigal Son?” How about Sonny Boy Williamson’s share of Led Zep’s “Bring It On Home?”

Is the blues alive? Is it a memory? Is it now or yesterday? What about Johnny Winter? What about Larry Johnson? Is the blues an aching old hard luck disease? Will drinking malted milks drive them away?

When your babe’s hot, is there any cooling? Have you got the key to the highway? Are you a gangster of love? Would you rather spend an hour with Otis Rush or Keith Richard? If the river was whiskey and you a diving duck, would you?

Are you a back door man? Or a tit man? When’s the last ' time you sank into a crossroads? Do you like grits and greens better than McDonalds? Is there a hell-hound on your trail? Is the blues in the air or the spirit? Can you touch them?

Can they touch you?

(This was suppposed to be an article on the state of blues today — but it seems all I can do is ask myself questions. Maybe you know some answers... )

Tony Glover