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Contents
Who wrote the song spoonful?
What songs is Howlin Wolf known for?
In the early 1960s, Howlin’ Wolf recorded several songs that became his most famous, despite receiving no radio play: “Wang Dang Doodle”, “Back Door Man”, “Spoonful”, “The Red Rooster” (later known as “Little Red Rooster”), “I Ain’t Superstitious”, “Goin’ Down Slow”, and “Killing Floor”, many of which were written by …
What did Howlin Wolf sing?
Who sang Spoonful by Cream?
What is the meaning of the word Spoonful?
Definition of spoonful
: as much as a spoon will hold specifically : teaspoonful.
Who did Howlin Wolf influence?
His work was known only to blues audiences until the Rolling Stones and other British and American rock stars of the 1960s and ’70s acknowledged his influence.
What did Sam Phillips say about Howlin Wolf?
So this is Sam Phillips talking about recording Howlin’ Wolf. SAM PHILLIPS: The Wolf, as I’ve said so many times, is one of my favorite artists. He was so individual in the things that he did. He had, number one, a voice that was so distinctive that there is – nobody could mistake it for anybody else.
What is Howlin Wolf’s most famous song?
One of the best Howlin’ Wolf songs committed to tape was “How Many More Years,” issued on Chicago’s Chess label.
Who was the first to record a white artist singing African American music?
So he was kind of pushed out of the public consciousness in the ‘teens and ’20s, and so forth. His records went out of print, and he was pretty much forgotten for many years after that. MARTIN: That was Tim Brooks speaking about singer George W. Johnson, the first African-American to make a commercial recording.
What does the term Smokestack Lightning mean?
Its lyrics were inspired, in part, by Charlie Patton’s “Moon Going Down” and the Mississippi Sheik’s “Stop and Listen Blues.” Wolf had already recorded a version of it for RPM in 1951 as “Crying at Daybreak.” Wolf said, with characteristic understatement, “Well, Smokestack Lightnin’ means it’s a train … that, uh, runs …
What does the phrase Killing Floor mean?
Noun. killing floor (plural killing floors) (US) that part of a slaughterhouse where the animals are killed and initial processing is carried out.
Is Howlin Wolf dead?
Who played harmonica in cream?
Cream – Jack Bruce – Signed Harmonica Played At Cream Reunion. Jack Bruce’s harmonica, used by him at the 2005 Cream reunion concerts at Royal Albert Hall; signed and authenticated by him.
Is Spoonsful a word?
The plural of spoonful was once spoonsful, but spoonfuls seems to be the preferred form now.
What is the song Spoonful blues about?
The word “spoonful” appears in several other important blues songs. Charlie Patton’s “Spoonful Blues” is unambiguously about drug addiction. Patton sang that he would kill a man, go to jail or leave town to find the spoonful that he needed.
What is the song Spoonful blues about?
The word “spoonful” appears in several other important blues songs. Charlie Patton’s “Spoonful Blues” is unambiguously about drug addiction. Patton sang that he would kill a man, go to jail or leave town to find the spoonful that he needed.
Is it spoonful or spoon full?
Explanation: Where the amount held by a spoon, etc., is used as a rough unit of measurement, the correct form is spoonful, etc.: take a spoonful of this medicine every day. Spoon full is used in a sentence such as he left a spoon full of treacle, where full of describes the spoon.
What is the plural form of spoonful?
noun, plural spoon·fuls. as much as a spoon can hold. a small quantity.
Howlin’ Wolf – Wikipedia
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Contents
Early life[edit]
Musical career[edit]
Personal life[edit]
Death[edit]
Legacy[edit]
Awards and nominations[edit]
Discography[edit]
Sessionography[edit]
Notes[edit]
General references[edit]
External links[edit]
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Spoonful – Wikipedia
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- Summary of article content: Articles about Spoonful – Wikipedia “Spoonful” is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and first recorded in 1960 by Howlin’ Wolf. Called “a stark and haunting work”, it is one of Dixon’s best … …
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Background and lyrics[edit]
Composition and recording[edit]
Cream renditions[edit]
Recognition[edit]
References[edit]
Bibliography[edit]
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‘Spoonful’: The Story Behind Howlin’ Wolf’s Classic Blues Song | uDiscover
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Spoonful – Howlin’ Wolf – NhacCuaTui
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Howlin’ Wolf
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Howlin’ Wolf – Spoonful Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
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Howlin’ Wolf – Spoonful Lyrics | Lyrics.com
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- Summary of article content: Articles about Howlin’ Wolf – Spoonful Lyrics | Lyrics.com “Spoonful” is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and first recorded in 1960 by Howlin’ Wolf. Called “a stark and haunting work”, it is one of Dixon’s best … …
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It could be a spoonful of tea
But one little spoon of your precious love
Is good en…Spoonful lyrics, lyrics for Spoonful, Spoonful song, Spoonful words, lyrics from Great Chicago Blues Songs - Table of Contents:
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Howlin’ Wolf
American blues musician (1910–1976)
Musical artist
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976), known professionally as Howlin’ Wolf, was a Chicago blues singer, guitarist, and harmonica player. Originally from Mississippi, he moved to Chicago in adulthood and became successful, forming a professional rivalry with fellow bluesman Muddy Waters. With a booming voice and imposing physical presence, he is one of the best-known Chicago blues artists.
The musician and critic Cub Koda noted, “no one could match Howlin’ Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits.”[1] Producer Sam Phillips recalled, “When I heard Howlin’ Wolf, I said, ‘This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies.'”[2] Several of his songs, including “Smokestack Lightnin'”, “Killing Floor” and “Spoonful”, have become blues and blues rock standards. In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 54 on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”.[3]
Early life [ edit ]
Chester Arthur Burnett was born on June 10, 1910, in White Station, Mississippi to Gertrude Jones and Leon “Dock” Burnett. He would later say that his father was “Ethiopian”, while Jones had Choctaw ancestry on her father’s side. He was named for Chester A. Arthur, the 21st President of the United States. His physique garnered him the nicknames “Big Foot Chester” and “Bull Cow” as a young man: he was 6 feet 3 inches (191 cm) tall and often weighed close to 300 pounds (136 kg).
The name “Howlin’ Wolf” originated from Burnett’s maternal grandfather, who would admonish him for killing his grandmother’s chicks from reckless squeezing by warning him that wolves in the area would come and get him; the family would continue this by calling Burnett “the Wolf”. The blues historian Paul Oliver wrote that Burnett once claimed to have been given his nickname by his idol Jimmie Rodgers.[6]
Burnett’s parents separated when he was a year old. Dock, who had worked seasonally as a farm laborer in the Mississippi Delta, moved there permanently while Jones and Burnett moved to Monroe County. Jones and Burnett would sing together in the choir of the Life Boat Baptist Church near Gibson, Mississippi, and Burnett would later claim that he got his musical talent from her. Jones kicked Burnett out of the house during the winter when he was a child for unknown reasons.[a] He then moved in with his great-uncle Will Young, who had a large household and treated him badly. While in the Young household he worked almost all day and did not receive an education at the school house. When he was thirteen, he killed one of Young’s hogs in a rage after the hog had caused him to ruin his dress clothes; this enraged Young who then whipped him while chasing him on a mule. He then ran away and claimed to have walked 85 miles (137 km) barefoot to join his father, where he finally found a happy home with his father’s large family. During this era he went by the name “John D.” to dissociate himself from his past, a name by which several of his relatives would know him for the rest of his life. At the peak of his success, he returned from Chicago to see his mother in Mississippi and was driven to tears when she rebuffed him: she refused to take money offered by him, saying it was from his playing the “devil’s music”.
Musical career [ edit ]
1930s and 1940s [ edit ]
In 1930, Burnett met Charley Patton, the most popular bluesman in the Mississippi Delta at the time. He would listen to Patton play nightly from outside a nearby juke joint. There he remembered Patton playing “Pony Blues”, “High Water Everywhere”, “A Spoonful Blues”, and “Banty Rooster Blues”. The two became acquainted, and soon Patton was teaching him guitar. Burnett recalled that “the first piece I ever played in my life was … a tune about hook up my pony and saddle up my black mare”—Patton’s “Pony Blues”. He also learned about showmanship from Patton: “When he played his guitar, he would turn it over backwards and forwards, and throw it around over his shoulders, between his legs, throw it up in the sky”. Burnett would perform the guitar tricks he learned from Patton for the rest of his life. He played with Patton often in small Delta communities.
Burnett was influenced by other popular blues performers of the time, including the Mississippi Sheiks, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ma Rainey, Lonnie Johnson, Tampa Red, Blind Blake, and Tommy Johnson. Two of the earliest songs he mastered were Jefferson’s “Match Box Blues” and Leroy Carr’s “How Long, How Long Blues”. The country singer Jimmie Rodgers was also an influence. Burnett tried to emulate Rodgers’s “blue yodel” but found that his efforts sounded more like a growl or a howl: “I couldn’t do no yodelin’, so I turned to howlin’. And it’s done me just fine”.[15] His harmonica playing was modeled after that of Sonny Boy Williamson II, who taught him how to play when Burnett moved to Parkin, Arkansas, in 1933.[16][17]
During the 1930s, Burnett performed in the South as a solo performer and with numerous blues musicians, including Floyd Jones, Johnny Shines, Honeyboy Edwards, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Robert Johnson, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Willie Brown, Son House and Willie Johnson. By the end of the decade, he was a fixture in clubs, with a harmonica and an early electric guitar.
On April 9, 1941, he was inducted into the U.S. Army and was stationed at several bases around the country. He found it difficult to adjust to military life, and was discharged at the end of his hitch on November 3, 1943. He returned to his family, which had recently moved near West Memphis, Arkansas, and helped with the farming while also performing, as he had done in the 1930s, with Floyd Jones and others. In 1948 he formed a band, which included the guitarists Willie Johnson and Matt “Guitar” Murphy, the harmonica player Junior Parker, a pianist remembered only as “Destruction” and the drummer Willie Steele. Radio station KWEM in West Memphis began broadcasting his live performances, and he occasionally sat in with Williamson on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas.
1950s [ edit ]
In 1951, Ike Turner, who was a freelance talent scout, heard Howlin’ Wolf in West Memphis.[18] Turner brought him to record several songs for Sam Phillips at Memphis Recording Service (later renamed Sun Studio) and the Bihari brothers at Modern Records.[19][20] Phillips praised his singing, saying, “God, what it would be worth on film to see the fervour in that man’s face when he sang. His eyes would light up, you’d see the veins come out on his neck and, buddy, there was nothing on his mind but that song.[22] He sang with his damn soul.” Howlin’ Wolf quickly became a local celebrity and began working with a band that included the guitarists Willie Johnson and Pat Hare. Sun Records had not yet been formed, so Phillips licensed his recording to Chess Records. Howlin’ Wolf’s first singles were issued by two different record companies in 1951: “Moanin’ at Midnight”/”How Many More Years” released on Chess, “Riding in the Moonlight”/”Morning at Midnight,” and “Passing By Blues”/”Crying at Daybreak” released on Modern’s subsidiary RPM Records. In December 1951, Leonard Chess was able to secure Howlin’ Wolf’s contract,[24] and at the urging of Chess, he relocated to Chicago in late 1952.
In Chicago, Howlin’ Wolf assembled a new band and recruited the Chicagoan Jody Williams from Memphis Slim’s band as his first guitarist. Within a year he had persuaded the guitarist Hubert Sumlin to leave Memphis and join him in Chicago; Sumlin’s understated solos and surprisingly subtle phrasing perfectly complemented Burnett’s huge voice. The lineup of the Howlin’ Wolf band changed often over the years. He employed many different guitarists, both on recordings and in live performance, including Willie Johnson, Jody Williams, Lee Cooper, L.D. McGhee, Otis “Big Smokey” Smothers, his brother Little Smokey Smothers, Jimmy Rogers, Freddie Robinson, and Buddy Guy, among others. Burnett was able to attract some of the best musicians available because of his policy, unusual among bandleaders, of paying his musicians well and on time, even including unemployment insurance and Social Security contributions. With the exception of a couple of brief absences in the late 1950s, Sumlin remained a member of the band for the rest of Howlin’ Wolf’s career and is the guitarist most often associated with the Chicago Howlin’ Wolf sound.
Howlin’ Wolf had a series of hits with songs written by Willie Dixon, who had been hired by the Chess brothers in 1950 as a songwriter, and during that period the competition between Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf was intense. Dixon reported “Every once in a while Wolf would mention the fact that, ‘Hey man, you wrote that song for Muddy. How come you won’t write me one like that?’ But when you’d write for him he wouldn’t like it.” So, Dixon decided to use reverse psychology on him, by introducing the songs to Wolf as written for Muddy, thus inducing Wolf to accept them.
In the 1950s, Howlin’ Wolf had five songs on the Billboard national R&B charts: “Moanin’ at Midnight”, “How Many More Years”, “Who Will Be Next”, “Smokestack Lightning”, and “I Asked for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)”. His first LP, Moanin’ in the Moonlight, was released in 1959. As was standard practice in that era, it was a collection of previously released singles.
1960s and 1970s [ edit ]
In the early 1960s, Howlin’ Wolf recorded several songs that became his most famous, despite receiving no radio play: “Wang Dang Doodle”, “Back Door Man”, “Spoonful”, “The Red Rooster” (later known as “Little Red Rooster”), “I Ain’t Superstitious”, “Goin’ Down Slow”, and “Killing Floor”, many of which were written by Willie Dixon. Several became part of the repertoires of British and American rock groups, who further popularized them. Howlin’ Wolf’s second compilation album, Howlin’ Wolf (often called “the rocking chair album”, from its cover illustration), was released in 1962.
During the blues revival in the 1950s and 1960s, black blues musicians found a new audience among white youths, and Howlin’ Wolf was among the first to capitalize on it. He toured Europe in 1964 as part of the American Folk Blues Festival, produced by the German promoters Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau. In 1965, he appeared on the popular television program Shindig! at the insistence of the Rolling Stones, whose recording of “Little Red Rooster” had reached number one in the UK in 1964. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Howlin’ Wolf recorded albums with others, including The Super Super Blues Band, with Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters; The Howlin’ Wolf Album, with psychedelic rock and free-jazz musicians like Gene Barge, Pete Cosey, Roland Faulkner, Morris Jennings, Louis Satterfield, Charles Stepney and Phil Upchurch; and The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions, accompanied by the British rock musicians Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ian Stewart, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and others.
The Howlin’ Wolf Album, like rival bluesman Muddy Waters’s album Electric Mud, was designed to appeal to the hippie audience. The album had an attention-getting cover: large black letters on a white background proclaiming “This is Howlin’ Wolf’s new album. He doesn’t like it. He didn’t like his electric guitar at first either.” The album cover may have contributed to its poor sales. Chess co-founder Leonard Chess admitted that the cover was a bad idea, saying, “I guess negativity isn’t a good way to sell records. Who wants to hear that a musician doesn’t like his own music?”
The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions, like Muddy Waters’s London album, proved more successful with British audiences than American.
Wolf’s last album was 1973’s The Back Door Wolf. Entirely composed of new material, it was recorded with musicians who regularly backed him on stage, including Hubert Sumlin, Detroit Junior, Andrew “Blueblood” McMahon, Chico Chism, Lafayette “Shorty” Gilbert and the bandleader Eddie Shaw. The album is shorter (a little more than 35 minutes) than any other he recorded, as a result of his declining health.
Personal life [ edit ]
Burnett was noted for his disciplined approach to his personal finances. Having already achieved a measure of success in Memphis, he described himself as “the onliest one to drive himself up from the Delta” to Chicago, which he did, in his own car on the Blues Highway and with $4,000 in his pocket, a rare distinction for a black bluesman of the time. Although functionally illiterate into his forties, Burnett eventually returned to school, first to earn a General Educational Development (GED) diploma and later to study accounting and other business courses to help manage his career.
Burnett met his future wife, Lillie, when she attended one of his performances at a Chicago club. She and her family were urban and educated and were not involved in what was considered the unsavory world of blues musicians. Nevertheless, he was attracted to her as soon as he saw her in the audience. He immediately pursued her and won her over. According to those who knew them, the couple remained deeply in love until his death. Together, they raised two daughters Betty and Barbara, Lillie’s daughters from an earlier relationship. West Coast rapper Skeme is his great nephew, who was born 14 years after his death.[citation needed]
After he married Lillie, who was able to manage his professional finances, Burnett was so financially successful that he was able to offer band members not only a decent salary but benefits such as health insurance; this enabled him to hire his pick of available musicians and keep his band one of the best around. According to his stepdaughters, he was never financially extravagant (for instance, he drove a Pontiac station wagon rather than a more expensive, flashy car).[28]
Burnett’s health began declining in the late 1960s. He had several heart attacks and suffered bruised kidneys in a car accident in 1970. Concerned for his health, the bandleader Eddie Shaw limited him to performing 21 songs per concert.
Death [ edit ]
In January 1976, Burnett checked into the Veterans Administration Hospital in Hines, Illinois, for kidney surgery. He died of complications from the procedure on January 10, 1976, at the age of 65. He was buried in Oakridge Cemetery, outside Chicago, in a plot in Section 18, on the east side of the road. His gravestone has an image of a guitar and harmonica etched into it.[29]
Legacy [ edit ]
On September 17, 1994, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 29-cent commemorative postage stamp depicting Howlin’ Wolf.
Howlin’ Wolf Foundation [ edit ]
The Howlin’ Wolf Foundation, a nonprofit corporation organized under the US tax code, section 501(c)(3), was established by Bettye Kelly to preserve and extend Howlin’ Wolf’s legacy. The foundation’s mission and goals include the preservation of the blues music genre, scholarships to enable students to participate in music programs, and support for blues musicians and blues programs.[30]
Awards and nominations [ edit ]
In 1972, Howlin’ Wolf was awarded an honorary doctor of arts degree from Columbia College in Chicago.
Grammy Hall of Fame [ edit ]
A Howlin’ Wolf recording of “Smokestack Lightning” was selected for a Grammy Hall of Fame Award, an award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old and have “qualitative or historical significance”.[31]
Howlin’ Wolf Grammy Award history Year Title Genre Label Year inducted 1956 “Smokestack Lightning” Blues (Single) Chess 1999
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [ edit ]
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed three songs by Howlin’ Wolf in its “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.[32]
The Blues Foundation Awards [ edit ]
Howlin’ Wolf: Blues Music Awards[33] Year Category Title Result 2004 Historical Blues Album of the Year The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions Nominated 1995 Reissue Album of the Year Ain’t Gonna Be Your Dog Nominated 1992 Vintage or Reissue Blues Album—US or Foreign The Chess Box—Howlin’ Wolf Winner 1990 Vintage/Reissue (Foreign) Memphis Days Nominated 1989 Vintage/Reissue Album (US) Cadillac Daddy Nominated 1988 Vintage/Reissue Album (Foreign) Killing Floor: Masterworks Vol. 5 Winner 1987 Vintage/Reissue Album (US) Moanin’ in the Moonlight Winner 1981 Vintage or Reissue Album (Foreign) More Real Folk Blues Nominated
Inductions [ edit ]
Discography [ edit ]
Albums [ edit ]
Singles [ edit ]
Year Titles (A-side, B-side)
Both sides from same album except where indicated Label & Cat No. US R&B Album 1951 “How Many More Years” Chess 1479 4 Moanin’ in the Moonlight “Moanin’ at Midnight” 10 “Riding in the Moonlight”
b/w “Morning at Midnight” RPM 333 — Howling Wolf Sings the Blues “Passing By Blues”
b/w “Crying at Daybreak” (from Howling Wolf Sings the Blues) RPM 340 — Non-album tracks 1952 “The Wolf Is at Your Door”
b/w “Howlin’ Wolf Boogie” Chess 1497 — “My Baby Stole Off”
b/w “I Want Your Picture” RPM 347 — “Gettin’ Old and Grey”
b/w “Mr. Highway Man” Chess 1510 — “Saddle My Pony”
b/w “Worried All the Time” Chess 1515 — 1953 “Oh Red!!”
b/w “My Last Affair” Chess 1528 — “All Night Boogie”
b/w “I Love My Baby” (from More Real Folk Blues) Chess 1557 — Moanin’ in the Moonlight 1954 “No Place to Go”
b/w “Rockin’ Daddy” (from More Real Folk Blues) Chess 1566 — “Baby How Long”
b/w “Evil Is Goin’ On” Chess 1575 — “I’ll Be Around”
b/w “Forty Four” (from Moanin’ in the Moonlight) Chess 1584 — More Real Folk Blues 1955 “Who Will Be Next”
b/w “I Have a Little Girl” Chess 1593 14 “Come to Me Baby”
b/w “Don’t Mess with My Baby” Chess 1607 — Non-album tracks 1956 “Smokestack Lightning”
b/w “You Can’t Be Beat” (from More Real Folk Blues) Chess 1618 8 Moanin’ in the Moonlight “I Asked for Water”
b/w “So Glad” (non-album track) Chess 1632 8 1957 “Going Back Home”
b/w “My Life” Chess 1648 — Non-album tracks “Somebody in My Home”
b/w “Nature” (from The Real Folk Blues) Chess 1668 — Moanin’ in the Moonlight 1958 “Sitting on Top of the World”
b/w “Poor Boy” Chess 1679 — The Real Folk Blues “I Didn’t Know”
b/w “Moanin’ for My Baby” (from Moanin’ in the Moonlight) Chess 1695 — Change My Way “I’m Leaving You”
b/w “Change My Way” (from Change My Way) Chess 1712 — Moanin’ in the Moonlight 1959 “I Better Go Now”
b/w “Howlin’ Blues” Chess 1726 — Change My Way “I’ve Been Abused”
b/w “Mr. Airplane Man” Chess 1735 — “The Natchez Burning”
b/w “You Gonna Wreck My Life” (from More Real Folk Blues) Chess 1744 — The Real Folk Blues 1960 “Tell Me”
b/w “Who’s Been Talking” Chess 1750 — Howlin’ Wolf “Spoonful”
b/w “Howlin’ for My Darling” Chess 1762 — 1961 “Wang-Dang Doodle”
b/w “Back Door Man” Chess 1777 — “Down in the Bottom”
b/w “Little Baby” Chess 1793 — “The Red Rooster”
b/w “Shake for Me” Chess 1804 — 1962 “You’ll Be Mine”
b/w “Goin’ Down Slow” Chess 1813 — “I Ain’t Superstitious”
b/w “Just Like I Treat You” Chess 1823 — Change My Way “Mama’s Baby”
b/w “Do the Do” (from Change My Way) Chess 1844 — Non-album track 1963 “Three Hundred Pounds of Joy”
b/w “Built for Comfort” Chess 1870 — The Real Folk Blues 1964 “Hidden Charms”
b/w “Tail Dragger” (from The Real Folk Blues) Chess 1890 — Change My Way “My Country Sugar Mama”
b/w “Love Me Darling” (from Change My Way) Chess 1911 — The Real Folk Blues 1965 “Louise”
b/w “Killing Floor” Chess 1923 — “Tell Me What I’ve Done”
b/w “Ooh Baby” Chess 1928 — “Don’t Laugh at Me”
b/w “I Walked from Dallas” Chess 1945 — Change My Way 1966 “New Crawling King Snake”
b/w “My Mind Is Ramblin'” Chess 1968 — 1967 “Pop It to Me”
b/w “I Had a Dream” Chess 2009 — Non-album tracks 1969 “Evil”
b/w “Tail Dragger” Cadet Concept 7013 43 The Howlin’ Wolf Album 1970 “Mary Sue”
b/w “Hard Luck” Chess 2081 — Non-album tracks 1971 “I Smell a Rat”
b/w “Just As Long” Chess 2108 — Message to the Young 1973 “Coon on the Moon”
b/w “The Back Door Wolf” Chess 2145 — The Back Door Wolf
Sessionography [ edit ]
Title Date Studio Location Comments Baby Ride with Me Early 1951 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Audition session Ridin’ in the Moonlight Early 1951 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Audition session Baby Ride with Me (Ridin’ in the Moonlight) 1951-14-05 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN How Many More Years 1951-14-05 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN How Many More Years 1951-00-07 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Chess 1479 Moanin’ at Midnight 1951-00-07 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Chess 1479 Baby Ride with Me (Ridin’ in the Moonlight) 1951-00-09 KWEM West Memphis, AR RPM 333 Dog Me Around 1951-00-09 KWEM West Memphis, AR Morning at Midnight 1951-00-09 KWEM West Memphis, AR RPM 333 Keep What You Got 1951-00-09 KWEM West Memphis, AR Passing By Blues 1951-10-02 Private home West Memphis, AR RPM 340 Crying at Daybreak 1951-10-02 Private home West Memphis, AR RPM 340 My Baby Stole Off 1951-10-02 Private home West Memphis, AR RPM 347 I Want Your Picture 1951-10-02 Private home West Memphis, AR RPM 347 Howlin’ Wolf Boogie 1951-12-18 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Chess 1497 California Blues #1 1951-12-18 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN California Boogie 1951-12-18 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Look-a-Here Baby 1951-12-18 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN The Wolf Is at Your Door (Howlin’ for My Baby) 1951-12-18 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Chess 1497 Smile at Me 1951-12-18 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Worried All the Time 1951-12-18 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Chess 1515 Mr. Highway Man (Cadillac Daddy) 1952-01-23 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Chess 1510 My Troubles and Me 1952-01-23 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Getting Old and Grey 1952-01-23 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Chess 1510 My Baby Walked Off 1952-01-23 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Chocolate Drop 1952-01-23 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN House Rockin’ Boogie 1952-02-12 Private home West Memphis, AR Brown Skin Woman 1952-02-12 Private home West Memphis, AR Worried About My Baby 1952-02-12 Private home West Memphis, AR Driving This Highway 1952-02-12 Private home West Memphis, AR The Sun Is Rising 1952-02-12 Private home West Memphis, AR My Friends 1952-02-12 Private home West Memphis, AR I’m the Wolf 1952-02-12 Private home West Memphis, AR Passing the Blues 1952-02-12 Private home West Memphis, AR Everybody’s in the Mood (All in the Mood) 1952-04-17 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Color and Kind 1952-04-17 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Bluebird 1952-04-17 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Saddle My Pony 1952-04-17 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Chess 1515 Dorothy Mae 1952-04-17 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Sweet Woman (I’ve Got a Woman) 1952-04-17 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN (Well) That’s All Right 1952-04-17 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Decoration Day 1952-04-17 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Oh Red 1952-10-07 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Chess 1528 My Last Affair 1952-10-07 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Chess 1528 Come Back Home 1952-10-07 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Drinkin’ C.V. Wine Blues 1952-10-07 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN I’ve Got a Woman 1953 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Mastered on 1953-09-24 Just My Kind 1953 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Mastered on 1953-09-24 Work for Your Money 1953 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Mastered on 1953-09-24 I’m Not Joking 1953 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Mastered on 1953-09-24 Mama Died and Left Me 1953 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Mastered on 1953-09-24 Highway My Friend 1953 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Mastered on 1953-10-28 Hold Your Money 1953 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Mastered on 1953-10-28 Streamline Woman 1953 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Mastered on 1953-10-28 California Blues #2 1953 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Mastered on 1953-10-28 Stay Here Till My Baby Comes Back 1953 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Mastered on 1953-10-28 Crazy About You Baby 1953 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Mastered on 1953-10-28 All Night Boogie 1953 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Mastered on 1953-10-28; Chess 1557 I Love My Baby 1953 Memphis Recording Service Memphis, TN Mastered on 1953-10-28; Chess 1557 No Place to Go 1954-03 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1566 You Gonna Wreck My Life 1954-03 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1744 Neighbors 1954-03 Chess Studios Chicago, IL I’m the Wolf 1954-03 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Rockin’ Daddy 1954-03 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1566 Baby How Long 1954-05-25 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1575 Evil 1954-05-25 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1575 I’ll Be Around 1954-10 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1584 Forty Four 1954-10 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1584 Who Will Be Next 1955-03 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1593 I Have a Little Girl 1955-03 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1593 Come to Me Baby 1955-03 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1607 Don’t Mess with My Baby 1955-03 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1607 Smokestack Lightning 1956-01 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1618 You Can’t Be Beat 1956-01 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1618 I Asked for Water 1956-07-19 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1632 So Glad 1956-07-19 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1632 Break of Day 1956-07-19 Chess Studios Chicago, IL The Natchez Burnin’ 1956-07-19 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1744 Going Back Home 1956-12 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1648 Bluebird 1956-12 Chess Studios Chicago, IL My Life 1956-12 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1648 You Ought to Know 1956-12 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Who’s Been Talking? 1957-06-24 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1750 Tell Me 1957-06-24 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1750 Somebody in My Home 1957-06-24 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1668 Nature 1957-06-24 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1668 Walk to Camp Hall 1957-12 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Poor Boy 1957-12 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1679 My Baby Told Me 1957-12 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Sittin’ on Top of the World 1957-12 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1679 I Didn’t Know 1958-03 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Howlin’ Blues (I’m Going Away) 1958-03 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1726 I Better Go Now 1958-03 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1726 I Didn’t Know (rerecorded) 1958-04-03 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1695 Moaning for My Baby 1958-04-03 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1695 Midnight Blues 1958-04-03 Chess Studios Chicago, IL I’m Leavin’ You 1958-09 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1712 You Can’t Put Me Out 1958-09 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Change My Way 1958-09 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1712 Getting Late 1958-09 Chess Studios Chicago, IL I’ve Been Abused 1959-07 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1735 Howlin’ for My Darling 1959-07 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1762 My People’s Gone 1959-07 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Mr. Airplane Man 1959-07 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1735 Wolf in the Mood 1959-07 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Wang Dang Doodle 1960-06 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1777 Back Door Man 1960-06 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1777 Spoonful 1960-06 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1762 Down in the Bottom 1961-05 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1793 Little Baby 1961-05 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1793 Shake for Me 1961-06 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1804 The Red Rooster 1961-06 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1804 You’ll Be Mine 1961-12 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1813 Just Like I Treat You 1961-12 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1823 I Ain’t Superstitious 1961-12 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1823 Goin’ Down Slow 1961-12 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1813 Mama’s Baby 1962-09-27,28 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1844 Do the Do 1962-09-27,28 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1844 Tail Dragger 1962-09-27,28 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1890 Long Green Stuff 1962-09-27,28 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Hidden Charms 1963-08-14 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1890 Three Hundred Pounds of Joy 1963-08-14 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1870 Joy to My Soul 1963-08-14 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Built for Comfort 1963-08-14 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1870 Love Me Darlin’ 1964-08 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1911 Killing Floor 1964-08 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1923 My Country Sugar Mama 1964-08 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1911 Louise 1964-08 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1923 I Walked from Dallas 1965-04-15 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1945 Tell Me What I’ve Done 1965-04-15 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1928 Don’t Laugh at Me 1965-04-15 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1945 Ooh Baby 1965-04-15 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1928 Poor Wind That Never Change 1966-04-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL New Crawlin’ King Snake 1966-04-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1968 My Mind Is Ramblin’ 1966-04-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 1968 Commit a Crime 1966-04-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Pop It to Me 1967-06 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 2009 I Had a Dream 1967-06 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 2009 Dust My Broom 1967-06 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Long Distance Call 1967-09 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Ooh Baby/Wrecking My Love Life 1967-09 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Sweet Little Angel 1967-09 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Spoonful 1967-09 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Diddley Daddy 1967-09 Chess Studios Chicago, IL The Red Rooster 1967-09 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Goin’ Down Slow 1967-09 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Spoonful 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Tail Dragger 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Smokestack Lightnin’ 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Moanin’ at Midnight 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Built for Comfort 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL The Red Rooster 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Evil 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Down in the Bottom 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Three Hundred Pounds of Joy 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Back Door Man 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL I’m the Wolf 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Rollin’ and Tumblin’ 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Howlin Wolf interview 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL I Ain’t Gonna Be Your Dog No More 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Woke Up This Morning 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Ain’t Going Down That Dirt Road 1968-11 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Mary Sue 1969-07-14 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 2081 Hard Luck 1969-07-14 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Chess 2081 The Big House 1969-07-14 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Tired of Crying 1969-07-14 Chess Studios Chicago, IL I Want to Have a Word with You 1970-05-02 through 07 Olympic Studios London Goin’ Down Slow 1970-05-02 through 07 Olympic Studios London I Ain’t Superstitious 1970-05-02 through 07 Olympic Studios London Rockin’ Daddy 1970-05-02 through 07 Olympic Studios London Poor Boy 1970-05-02 through 07 Olympic Studios London Wang Dang Doodle 1970-05-02 through 07 Olympic Studios London Sittin’ on Top of the World 1970-05-02 through 07 Olympic Studios London Do the Do 1970-05-02 through 07 Olympic Studios London Highway 49 1970-05-02 through 07 Olympic Studios London Commit a Crime 1970-05-02 through 07 Olympic Studios London Worried About My Baby 1970-05-02 through 07 Olympic Studios London Built for Comfort 1970-05-02 through 07 Olympic Studios London Who’s Been Talking? 1970-05-02 through 07 Olympic Studios London The Red Rooster 1970-05-02 through 07 Olympic Studios London Killing Floor 1970-05-02 through 07 Olympic Studios London If I Were a Bird 1971-10 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Message 1971-10 Chess Studios Chicago, IL I Smell a Rat 1971-10 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Miss James 1971-10 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Message to the Young 1971-10 Chess Studios Chicago, IL She’s Looking Good 1971-10 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Just As Long 1971-10 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Romance Without Finance 1971-10 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Turn Me On 1971-10 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Moving 1973-08-14,17 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Coon on the Moon 1973-08-14,17 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Speak Now Woman 1973-08-14,17 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Trying to Forget You 1973-08-14,17 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Stop Using Me 1973-08-14,17 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Leave Here Walking 1973-08-14,17 Chess Studios Chicago, IL The Back Door Wolf 1973-08-14,17 Chess Studios Chicago, IL You Turn Slick on Me 1973-08-14,17 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Watergate Blues 1973-08-14,17 Chess Studios Chicago, IL Can’t Stay Here 1973-08-14,17 Chess Studios Chicago, IL
Notes [ edit ]
Citations [ edit ]
Explanatory notes [ edit ]
^ Segrest & Hoffman 2004 , p. 6 speculate various such reasons as Burnett’s refusal to work the fields, his rejection of choir music in favor of singing the blues, that the half-Indian Jones thought Burnett was “too dark”, and that Jones had met another man who didn’t want Burnett around.
Wikipedia
Blues standard first recorded by Howlin’ Wolf
“Spoonful” is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and first recorded in 1960 by Howlin’ Wolf. Called “a stark and haunting work”,[1] it is one of Dixon’s best known and most interpreted songs.[2] Etta James and Harvey Fuqua had a pop and R&B record chart hit with their duet cover of “Spoonful” in 1961, and it was popularized in the late 1960s by the British rock group Cream.
Background and lyrics [ edit ]
Dixon’s “Spoonful” is loosely based on “A Spoonful Blues”, a song recorded in 1929 by Charley Patton. Earlier related songs include “All I Want Is a Spoonful” by Papa Charlie Jackson (1925) and “Cocaine Blues” by Luke Jordan (1927).
The lyrics relate men’s sometimes violent search to satisfy their cravings, with “a spoonful” used mostly as a metaphor for pleasures, which have been interpreted as sex, love, and drugs:
It could be a spoonful of coffee
It could be a spoonful of tea
But one little spoon of your precious love
Is good enough for me
Men lies about that spoonful
Some of them dies about that spoonful
Some of them cries about that spoonful
But everybody fight about that spoonful
Composition and recording [ edit ]
“Spoonful” has a one-chord, modal blues structure found in other songs Willie Dixon wrote for Howlin’ Wolf, such as “Wang Dang Doodle” and “Back Door Man”, and in Wolf’s own “Smokestack Lightning”. It uses eight-bar vocal sections with twelve-bar choruses and is performed at a medium blues tempo in the key of E. Music critic Bill Janovitz describes it as “brutal, powerful Wolf bellowing in his raspy style. There are few recordings that equal the powerful force of ‘Spoonful,’ or, for that matter, any other Wolf/Dixon Chess side.”[1]
Backing Wolf on vocals are longtime accompanist Hubert Sumlin on guitar, relative newcomer Freddie Robinson on second guitar, and Chess recording veterans Otis Spann on piano, Fred Below on drums, and Dixon on double-bass. It has been suggested that Freddie King contributed the second guitar on “Spoonful”, but both Sumlin and Robinson insist it was Robinson. In 1962, the song was included on Wolf’s second compilation album for Chess, Howlin’ Wolf.
In 1968, Wolf reluctantly re-recorded “Spoonful”, along with several of his blues classics in Marshall Chess’s attempt at updating Wolf’s sound for the burgeoning rock market. Unlike his 1971 The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions (Chess LP-60008), on which he was backed by several rock stars, including Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman, and Charlie Watts, here he was backed by relatively unknown studio session players. The resulting album, The Howlin’ Wolf Album, with its “comically bombastic” arrangements and instrumentation, was a musical and commercial failure. Wolf offered his assessment in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine: “Man … that stuff’s dogshit”.
Cream renditions [ edit ]
The British rock group Cream recorded “Spoonful” for their 1966 UK debut album, Fresh Cream. They were part of a trend in the mid-1960s by rock artists to record a Willie Dixon song for their debut albums.[9]
In an album review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine described Cream’s rendition as “where the swirling instrumental interplay, echo, fuzz tones, and overwhelming volume constitute true psychedelic music, and also points strongly toward the guitar worship of heavy metal.”[10]
For the American release of Fresh Cream, “I Feel Free” was substituted for “Spoonful”. Atco Records released the song in the US later in 1967 as a two-sided single (with some pressings misspelled as “Spoonfull”), but it failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 record chart.[11] To fit the 6:30 album track on a 45 rpm record, side one fades out at the beginning of the instrumental break (at 2:25) and side two begins just before the third verse (lasting 2:28).[12] The unedited studio version made its US album debut on the Best of Cream compilation in 1969.
Cream frequently played “Spoonful” in concert, and the song evolved beyond the blues-rock form of the 1966 recording into a vehicle for extended improvised soloing influenced by the San Francisco music scene of the late 1960s. One such rendering, lasting nearly seventeen minutes, is included on their 1968 album Wheels of Fire. Although the album notes indicate “Live at the Fillmore”, “Spoonful” was actually recorded at the Winterland Ballroom.
Recognition [ edit ]
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed Howlin’ Wolf’s “Spoonful” as one of the “500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll”.[14] It is ranked number 219 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.[15] In 2010, the song was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame “Classics of Blues Recordings” category.[16] In a statement by the foundation, it was noted that “Otis Rush has stated that Dixon presented ‘Spoonful’ to him, but the song didn’t suit Rush’s tastes and so it ended up with Wolf, and soon thereafter with Etta James”.[16] James’ recording with Harvey Fuqua as “Etta & Harvey” reached number 12 on Billboard magazine’s Hot R&B Sides chart and number 78 on its Hot 100 singles chart. However, Wolf’s original “was the one that inspired so many blues and rock bands in the years to come”.[16]
References [ edit ]
‘Spoonful’: The Story Behind Howlin’ Wolf’s Classic Blues Song
Photo: Chess Records Archives
In 1960, Chicago-based Chess Records released a single that became one of the most influential and much-covered recordings in its catalogue. It was called “Spoonful” and was delivered by a singer who, at six feet three inches tall, and weighing 300lbs, was an imposing figure of a man. His voice, a booming sepulchral bellow that was akin, perhaps, to a volcanic eruption from hell, was even more remarkable. Though he was baptized Chester Burnett, the singer from White Station, Mississippi, called himself Howlin’ Wolf (1910-76), and both his name and his sound were unforgettable.
Though not as famous as “Smokestack Lightnin’,” Wolf’s signature song, “Spoonful” is nevertheless a hugely significant recording whose performance captures the intimidating charisma and primal energy of its creator. In essence, it’s a simply constructed piece comprising a hypnotic one-chord vamp which is seasoned with Freddie Robinson’s stinging guitar lines and Otis Spann’s barrelhouse piano. Above a throbbing groove, Wolf describes desire as an incurable addiction that can drive people to murder and madness. Boasting great power and intensity, it was unequivocally a record that made an indelible mark on many of its listeners, particularly for its memorable line: “One spoon of love from my 45 will save you from another man.”
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For many, one spoonful wasn’t enough. The song quickly became a blues standard covered by everyone from Cream to Etta James and even Kronos Quartet.
Listen to the history of “Spoonful” on Spotify.
“Spoonful”’s author was noted songwriter and producer, Mississippi-born Willie Dixon (1915-92), who was a key architect in sculpting the trajectory of post-war Chicago electric blues. Though he made many records under his own name, Dixon – a Grammy-winning inductee into the Blues Hall Of Fame – is best remembered for authoring a raft of classic blues tunes that were recorded by a number of significant artists at Chess Records in the 50s and early 60s. His greatest songs include “Hoochie Coochie Man” (Muddy Waters), “You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover” (Bo Diddley), “My Babe” (Little Walter), “The Red Rooster” (Howlin’ Wolf), “Wang Dang Doodle” (Koko Taylor), “Bring It On Home” (Sonny Williamson II) and “I Just Want To Make Love To You” (Etta James).
“Spoonful” wasn’t the first blues song to reference addiction, and it could be considered a later descendent of early blues maven Charley Patton’s 1929 recording “A Spoonful Blues,” which in turn was influenced by Papa Charlie Jackson’s “All I Want Is A Spoonful,” released four years earlier. In Dixon’s song, however, “Spoonful” is really a metaphor for sex, and the fact that Howlin’ Wolf purportedly simulated masturbation on stage while performing the song (and rubbed his groin area with a big wooden spoon), would seem to corroborate this.
Others, though, have interpreted the song as representing a desperate craving for any addictive substance, be it drugs or alcohol – especially when Wolf sings, “Men lie about that spoonful/Some cry about that spoonful/Some die about a spoonful/Everybody fight about that spoonful.” But Willie Dixon was adamant that his song wasn’t about using narcotics. “People who think ‘Spoonful’ was about heroin are mostly people with heroin ideas,” he wrote in his autobiography, I Am The Blues.
Spoonful
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Though Wolf’s version of “Spoonful” didn’t chart when it was released in 1960, the Willie Dixon song became a Top 20 US R&B duet for Etta James and Harvey Fuqua, who were billed together as Etta & Harvey. Theirs had a similar swagger to Wolf’s version but, with its softer, more sophisticated arrangement featuring horns, a new bridge section, and key changes, it lacked the visceral intensity of the original.
The early 60s was a time when rising British beat groups, such as The Rolling Stones, The Animals, and The Yardbirds, were profoundly influenced by American blues musicians the likes of Howlin’ Wolf. Eric Clapton, who played guitar with The Yardbirds before joining John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, first recorded the song as a member of a short-lived studio group called Powerhouse, fronted by ex-Manfred Mann singer Paul Jones. Also on that session was bassist Jack Bruce, with whom Clapton would go onto form noted power trio Cream a year later, in 1966. Significantly, Cream recorded “Spoonful” for their debut LP, Fresh Cream. Led by Jack Bruce’s febrile lead vocals and rowdy harmonica, they captured the raw intensity of Wolf’s version, ramping up the excitement quotient with Clapton’s molten guitar lines. The band also included an epic 17-minute live version on their 1968 LP, Wheels Of Fire.
Spoonful (Live)
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Cream’s notoriety helped to put “Spoonful” on the radar of other groups in the mid-60s. The short-lived New York band The Blues Project recorded it in 1966 for their Live At The Cafe Au Go Go album, while another, more esoteric US combo, The Shadows Of Knight, cut the song the same year but imbued it with a garage band feel. A bigger US band with blues roots were Canned Heat, who put their own distinctive spin on the Willie Dixon song the same year, but the recording wasn’t released until 1970, when it appeared on their album Vintage.
The rise of white blues bands in the 60s brought Howlin’ Wolf’s name to a wider public. Aiming to capitalize on his newfound fame, he re-cut “Spoonful” in 1968 as part of The Super Super Blues Band, a convivial blues summit with fellow Chess mates Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley, who all take turns singing the different verses of the song. It’s looser and less potent than the original but enjoyable nevertheless.
In 1970, Willie Dixon finally recorded his own version (which was faithful to the Howlin’ Wolf original but boasted extended guitar and piano solos) on the LP that gave his autobiography its name, while a year later the UK’s Climax Blues Band recorded an imaginative, sultry take of “Spoonful” for their Tightly-Knit LP. Another notable blues rendition in the 70s came from Illinois blues songstress Koko Taylor.
Willie Dixon and John Sebastian – Spoonful Live on Sunday Night 1989
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Jack Bruce revisited the song in 1988, in tandem with guitarist Leslie West on the latter’s LP Theme, and in 1994 the Scottish bassist included a nine-minute version of “Spoonful” on his double-album Cities Of The Heart, which reunited him with Cream’s erstwhile drummer Ginger Baker.
More recently, “Spoonful” was covered by George Thorogood & The Destroyers (on their 2011 LP, 2120 South Michigan Avenue) and rising blues-rock god Joe Bonamassa (on his 2015 live album, Muddy Wolf At Red Rocks), which proves that, despite being over half a century old, the song’s powerful theme of love as addiction continues to resonate with both musicians and listeners alike.
For Howlin’ Wolf’s original version of “Spoonful,” along with many other Willie Dixon songs that laid the foundation for rock’n’roll, follow the Blues For Beginners playlist on Spotify.
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