DukeBerryman
198 posts
Mar 01, 2014
8:59 AM
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I'm gonna move baby, way out on the outskirts of town
I'm gonna move baby, way out on the outskirts of town
You see I don't need no-body, always hangin' 'round
Let me tell you honey, we gonna move away from here
I don't need no iceman, I'm gonna, get you a Frigidaire
When we move, way out on the outskirts of town
Whoa, you see we won't need no-body, always hangin' 'round
It may seem funny honey, funny as can be
If we have a dozen children, you know they AW-LL-all better look like me
When we move, way back 'a town
Whoa-oh-oh-oh, we won't need no-body, always hanging around
We don't need nobody baby, AW-LL-always hanging 'round
This is a favorite blues song of mine because it talks about moving to the suburbs. I grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago, and, little did I know, Muddy Waters had moved to the town next door, Westmont, IL. I only found out in high school when one of my friends told me stories of hanging out at his house. He was friends with some of Muddy’s kids (or grandkids) because they all grew up in Westmont.
Muddy’s kids would dare my friend Paul to go down into the basement of the house. Paul took the dare, crept down the stairs, and saw a bunch of old black men sitting around a card table. Suddenly, one them said, “Boo!”, and Paul ran scared back up the stairs.
But I also like the song because it points out that we’re all American, all we all want the American dream. No one wants to be poor and living in a shitty urban neighborhood. Sometimes the perception is this is how the old blues guys liked it. No they didn’t - and no one would like it. We all want to make something better for our families, including hard living musicians who sing about sex, drugs, and the blues.
So what did they do about it at the time? They wrote a song: “I’m gonna make some money, move to the Western burbs… Spend all day playing cards, and watch my kids grow-up…”
Also listen to Buddy Guy - he’s got about 10 songs about growing up picking cotton, and then moving to Chicago. He wanted to get the hell out of there! No one in the world wants to pick cotton - it’s horrible. And now Buddy’s got his own club, can tour whenever he wants, and is probably living in the western suburbs. The music is really about the upward mobility that's supposed to be possible in America.
Last Edited by DukeBerryman on Mar 01, 2014 9:19 AM
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