Worried Life Blues
| "Worried Life Blues" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Worried Life Blues single cover.jpg | ||||
| Single by Big Maceo | ||||
| B-side | "Texas Blues" (Bluebird) "Tough Luck Blues" (RCA) |
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| Released | 1941 | |||
| Format | Ten-inch 78 rpm record | |||
| Recorded | Chicago, June 24, 1941 | |||
| Genre | Blues | |||
| Length | 2:51 | |||
| Label | Bluebird (no. B 8827) RCA Victor (no. 20-2133) |
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| Producer(s) | Lester Melrose | |||
| Big Maceo singles chronology | ||||
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Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
"Worried Life Blues" is a song that has become one of the most recorded blues songs of all time.[1] Originally recorded by Major "Big Maceo" Merriweather in 1941, "Worried Life Blues" was an early blues hit[1] and Maceo's most recognized song. It was inspired by an earlier song Someday Baby by Sleepy John Estes and has been recorded by hundreds of artists, including several who had record chart successes with their interpretations of the song.
Contents
Background
"Worried Life Blues" is based on "Someday Baby Blues" recorded by Sleepy John Estes in 1935 (Decca 7279). Estes' song is performed as a vocal and guitar country blues, whereas Maceo's is a prototypical Chicago blues. To illustrate the lyrical differences of the originals, the first few verses are as follows:
- "Worried Life Blues" Big Maceo (1941):
- Oh lordy lord, oh lordy lord
- It hurts me so bad, for us to part
- But someday baby, I ain't gonna worry my life anymore
- "Someday Baby Blues" Sleepy John Estes (1935):
- I don't care how long you go, I don't care how long you stay
- But that good kind treatment, bring you back home someday
- Someday baby, you ain't gonna worry my mind anymore[2]
Over the years the differences have become blurred by various cover versions of the songs, which use elements from both songs, often combined with new lyrics and variations in the music.
Composition and recording
Big Maceo recorded "Worried Life Blues" June 24, 1941, shortly after arriving in Chicago.[1] It was his first single (Bluebird 8827) and he was joined by frequent collaborator, guitarist and fellow recording artist, Tampa Red. "Worried Life Blues" is a moderate-tempo eight-bar blues, with Maceo (vocal and piano) accompanied by Tampa Red (guitar) and Ransom Knowling (bass). It became "a major hit"[1][3] and "eclipsed the song that inspired it".[4] Several other versions soon followed, including those by Bill Gaither (1941), Sonny Boy Williams (1942), and Honeyboy Edwards (1942). In 1945, Maceo recorded a second version with additional lyrics, also accompanied by Tampa Red. Titled "Things Have Changed", it reached number four in the Billboard R&B chart.[5]
Recognition
Big Maceo's "Worried Life Blues" was in the first batch of songs inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1983 in the "Classics of Blues Recordings" category, alongside "Stormy Monday," "Sweet Home Chicago," "Dust My Broom," and "Hellhound on My Trail").[4] In 2006, the song received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.[6]
Other renditions
Over the years numerous artists have covered "Worried Life Blues" or some mixture of it, "Someday Baby Blues", and other elements. Some of these versions include (all titled "Worried Life Blues" except as noted):
- 1949 Charles Brown as "Trouble Blues" (Aladdin 3024) (spent 15 weeks at R&B #1)
- 1955 Muddy Waters as "Trouble No More" (Chess 1612) (R&B #7)
- 1958 Ray Charles as "Someday Baby" (a very faithful version of "Worried Life Blues" except for the title) from The Genius Sings the Blues (also recorded later version)
- 1960 Chuck Berry from Rockin' at the Hops
- 1965 The Animals from Animal Tracks, The Animals On Tour
- 1966 Blues Magoos from Psychedelic Lollipop
- 1969 Junior Parker (Minit 32080 1969) (R&B #34)
- 1970 B.B. King as "Ain't Gonna Worry My Life Anymore" from Indianola Mississippi Seeds (also recorded 1960 version as "Someday Baby," which his former record label released in 1970 as "Worried Life Blues," which reached R&B #48; also recorded 2000 version with Eric Clapton on Riding with the King)
- 1971 Freddie King on Getting Ready...
- 1971 Mississippi Fred McDowell as "Someday Baby" from Live in New York (also as "Fred's Worried Life Blues" from Fred McDowell: Mississippi Delta Blues)[7]
- 1972 The Allman Brothers Band as "Trouble No More" from "Eat a Peach" (uses the lyrics and general arrangement of Muddy Waters' 1955 version)
- 1979 Keith Richards with The New Barbarians on Buried Alive: Live in Maryland
- 1980 Eric Clapton from Just One Night
- 1993 Robben Ford from Mystic Mile
- 2000 Eric Clapton and B.B. King from Riding with the King
- 2006 Bob Dylan as "Someday Baby" from Modern Times
- 2007 Clutch as "Electric Worry" from From Beale Street to Oblivion[8][9]
- 2007 Procol Harum from One Eye to the Future – Live in Italy 2007
- 2010 Night Horse from The Dark Won't Hide You
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The refrain is paraphrased in Estes' epitaph "ain't goin' to worry Poor John's mind anymore".
- ↑ "Worried Life" was released before Billboard or a similar service began tracking such releases.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Clutch claims that inspiration for this song came from the McDowell version.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- The Animals version: Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
