YOU ARE HERE: zharth.net / Zharth's Music Log / Week 71 (Po' Boy Blues)
(Originally finalized on April 22, 2024)
Preface: Last week we took a journey from rags to riches, while exploring the American Dream and its empty promises. This week we're gonna flip over that rock, and shine a spotlight on those who never made it to the top (or else did, and then fell from that lofty pedestal).
Monday: Derek And The Dominos - Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out [Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, 1970]
Comments: Featuring the talents of both Eric Clapton and Duane Allman on guitar, here's a song that's as mellow as it is downhearted, from the greatest collection of love songs ever recorded. Although we don't all have the experience of being millionaires, it's a noted phenomenon that you tend to attract hangers on when you're successful, yet nobody wants to know you when you're down and out. "If I get my hands on a dollar again, I'm gonna hang on to it 'til that eagle grins."
Tuesday: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Double Trouble [The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw, 1967]
Comments: From the oddly named album The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw, which saw guitarist Elvin Bishop step up after Mike Bloomfield left the band, Paul Butterfield offers his take on this classic Otis Rush blues, that laments the class divide - something we could all relate to in this age of celebrity billionaires and greedflation. "In this generation of millionaires, it's hard to keep decent clothes to wear."
Wednesday: The Kinks - Low Budget [Low Budget, 1979]
Comments: In this title track from one of The Kinks' later albums, Ray Davies sings, in his characteristically humorous and catchy way, about living in a recession. He's not cheap by nature, mind you - it's just that times are hard and he has to cut corners in order to get by. And who among us hasn't been there at some point in our lives? "Circumstance has forced my hand - to be a cut price person in a low budget land."
Thursday: The Jimmy Dawkins Band - Welfare Line [Blisterstring, 1976] and Albert Collins - When The Welfare Turns Its Back On You [Ice Pickin', 1978]
Comments: I'm bending the rules to squeeze these two songs in, since I had 8 songs for this theme and I just couldn't pare them down any further. Both are songs from the '70s about welfare, from a couple of true bluesmen who don't always get the credit they deserve. Jimmy Dawkins' Welfare Line is cynical and searing (in his typical style), meandering for almost a full 8 minutes, yet never feeling like it's overstayed its welcome. "It seems like politics. Lord, that's all I'm livin' in. Politics - in a world of sin." Next up is Albert "Iceman" Collins, from the album that features Cold, Cold Feeling. If you want a taste of his showmanship, you can't miss his cameo in the 1987 family fun film, Adventures in Babysitting. "Now what you gonna do, when the welfare turns its back on you?"
Friday: Buddy Guy - Too Broke To Spend The Night [Damn Right, I've Got The Blues, 1991]
Comments: If Albert Collins was a showman, Buddy Guy was an experience. I'm surprised this album from 1991 is considered his breakthrough album (although it's a really good one), because I remember seeing him in the video for the Festival Express tour in 1970, and thinking, "wow, this guy is the Jimi Hendrix of the blues!" In this song, his self-effacing humor doesn't dull his passion one bit while singing and playing the guitar. "I'm so broke right now that I can't even spend the night."
Saturday: Walter Trout - Workin' Overtime [Full Circle, 2006]
Comments: Full Circle is, pound for pound, one of my favorite albums from the 21st century, from a consummate bluesman with a phenomenal talent on the guitar - and a powerful singing voice, too. The album features many high-profile guests, including Jeff Healey on this track. Sort of a darker version of Blue Collar Man, it's an ode to everyone who's ever worked themselves to the bone, just for the guy at the top of the totem pole to reap all the benefit. "The man keeps gettin' richer, and he's got me workin' overtime."
Sunday: Lance Lopez - Quarter, Nickel or a Dime [Wall of Soul, 2004]
Comments: It's not often that a musical artist outside of the 20th century catches my attention, but one listen to Lance Lopez leaves no mystery as to how he managed to weasel his way into my CD collection (along with some great choices of cover songs - including Robin Trower's Shame The Devil, and the oft-overlooked Spanish Castle Magic from Jimi Hendrix's catalog). This is one of my favorite of Lance's songs, and it features his characteristic blues-rock guitar pyrotechnics. "My baby done left me - without a quarter, nickel or a dime."