- This topic has 13 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 7 months ago by .
-
Topic
-
It’s one of my favorites and one I like to play on the gittar, usually in A.
The first recorded version was called “Roll and Tumble Blues” by Hambone Willie Newbern, recorded and released in 1929.
Another progenitor was “Minglewood Blues,” first recorded in 1928 by Gus Cannon’s Jug Stompers.
Because there was a discrepancy between Wikipedia’s date and the one given by the YouTube poster (who is usually reliable), I checked Stefan Wirz’s excellent blues discography. This is a link to the discography’s home page. It seems the date Wikipedia has is correct.
If you want to find out more about it, Wikipedia is a good place to start.
It’s been covered and recovered and re-recovered.
“Banty Rooster Blues” by Charley Patton (1929)
Garfield Akers, “Dough Roller Blues” (1929 or 1930)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgS4rymh8IRobert Johnson pointed at it in “If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day” (1936)…
…and used the melody and some of the lyrics in his “Traveling Riverside Blues” (1937); this song is also the source of the lyrics in Led Zeppelin’s “The Lemon Song.”
Here’s THE version from Muddy Waters (1950).
Elmore James on my absolute favorite, one of my all-time favorite recordings—it’s so intense (1960); Elmore James (vocal and gittar, possibly the sax), Johnny Acey (piano), Jimmy Spruill (gittar) and Homesick James (bass on gittar), Sam Myers (drums)
Howlin’ Wolf called it “Down in the Bottom” when he recorded it in 1961. Here’s a live version from 1966.
This was the first place I heard it, by Cream, on Fresh Cream (1966).
R.L. Burnside recorded a version in 1967, not sure when this one is from.
It was the first song on Canned Heat’s first album. Here’s a live version from the Monterey Pop Festival on June 17, 1967, just before the album was released.
Johnny Winter did it like he did everything, great. Here’s “Rollin’ And Tumblin'” from his great Progressive Blues Experiment (1968).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCfO2g-lFt8John Lee Hooker, “Roll And Tumble” from I Feel Good (recorded October 1969, Paris, released 1970); Lowell Fulson plays the second gittar on here. Twenty-five other songs were recorded the same night this was; about half are on I Feel Good, great album!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXx4BRseeDwOne of my favorites, by pianist and vocalist extraordinaire, Sunnyland Slim, “Going Back To Memphis” from Slim’s Got His Thing Goin’ On (1969), another great album!
The Wikipedia entry says that Fleetwood Mac released it on The Original Fleetwood Mac (1971). If so, they retitled it. I’m going to listen to the album as soon as I can and if I hear it there, I’ll post it (but don’t get your hopes up). Please post any interesting versions I’ve missed, thanks!
Here’s Jeff Beck’s version from You Had It Coming (2000).
There have been many since and so long as people keep recording music, it’s likely they’ll keep recording this song.
Don D.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.