I was listening to Jr Wells, and realised I don't really know what he meant when he said 'pickup'...which he did quite often. I feel like maybe I've heard someone else use the term on stage, but I can't think who... What was he asking for when he said this? Another thing he said a lot "somebody better come here". Again, I don't really know what that means in context. I'm pretty gullible so you can probably have a laugh with the Aussie on this one.
I'm not sure how to describe it exactly right, but its a bar ahead of the first. ---------- "Trust Those Who Seek The Truth. Doubt Those Who Say They Have Found It."
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Feb 19, 2016 7:01 PM
Here i let someone else explain it for me. I stole this from wikipedia. JR. Wells is the one who originally made me figure it out too. Lol. Others say it a bit, but Wells says It Alot
In music, an anacrusis (also known as a pickup) is a note or sequence of notes which precedes the first downbeat in a bar in a musical phrase.[2] The musical term is inferred from the terminology of poetry, where it refers to one or more first but unstressed syllables of a lyrical verse.
If anacrusis is present, the first bar after the anacrusis is assigned bar number 1.
---------- "Trust Those Who Seek The Truth. Doubt Those Who Say They Have Found It."
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Feb 19, 2016 3:27 AM
Although an a pickup is another word for anacrusis, I'm not sure that's how he using it here. Where I've heard it, it sounds more to me like an encouragement to solo. Like William Clarke saying 'blow, blow, blow' to the guitarist.
I love those directions, integrated into the song. He says 'Be cool', it seems to quieten the band, that what it seems.
James Brown's precise instructions e.g. Funky Drummer: 'When I count to count to four I want everyone to lay out and let the drummer go...when I count to four I want you to come back in.' Now that's nice and clear.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Feb 19, 2016 7:38 AM
Well his intent i cant be sure of, but that what a pick up is.
SOMEBODY BET COME HUR I SPECT!
A pickup Is used alot in the blues. (So i hear) And he says"pick up pick up pick up ... this the blues now. "
My interpretation of that is ... to play the pick up ( edit : it could very well just mean ... pick up the tempo. I'm not sure if play the pickup applys there at that point in the song, but it does always seem to be at or near the turnaround )
You could find out for sure by getting the song in sheet music form. And see if there is a Pick up. ---------- "Trust Those Who Seek The Truth. Doubt Those Who Say They Have Found It."
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Feb 19, 2016 1:38 PM
Somebody better come here...I think generally does precede a solo, and maybe that is how he uses it. The 'pickup' call...I don't think is related to playing a pickup. It may be the opposite of 'be cool' or 'easy now baby' as in 'pickup the intensity'...one example I can think of is in 'early in the morning' on the hoodoo man blues album, just before the second vocal verse...
Yea i think a few times he does definitely mean pick up the tempo.
But others i assumed it meant play the pickup. Either way it sounds cool. ---------- "Trust Those Who Seek The Truth. Doubt Those Who Say They Have Found It."
Checked with my band mates today and was informed that a pickup note is a slip of paper with something clever written on it that you hand a woman at a bar in hopes she will go home with you! ;-)
Excuse me Miss. .... Does this napkin smell like chloroform? ... *THUD* ---------- "Trust Those Who Seek The Truth. Doubt Those Who Say They Have Found It."
Excuse me Miss. .... Does this napkin smell like chloroform? ... *THUD*
Disclaimer : Just kidding. Date Rape is NOT a joke. So dont try this at home. ---------- "Trust Those Who Seek The Truth. Doubt Those Who Say They Have Found It."
I am not sure this is what Jr. Wells is talking about but, pickup notes are not trivial. I have been teaching my scout band musicians how to count in a song with pickups. The above image is St. James infirmary. It has two eighth note pickups so one you need to count 3 and start on four. Note also that the last measure only has three counts so when you repeat, the last measure plus the pickups make a full 4 count measure.
Last Edited by STME58 on Feb 19, 2016 11:13 PM
Yeah for sure pickups are important but I suspect Jr is telling the band he is planning to sing another verse..I'm gonna listen to Vietcong Blues again. He says it twice on the Vanguard recording of that number. Maybe he is specifically calling on the drummer to play a pickup beat for the turnaround. Maybe it's a reminder to someone who may need it. I had a bass player who was prone to lose count if the chord didn't change in bar 12...he'd change early in bar 3 of the following chorus and drive me mad...shouldn't be an issue with a vocal verse though. I think the 'someone better come here' does always precede an instrumental, but it's not calling the soloist in...at least one time Jr takes the solo after making that call...but it could be he is telling the rhythm section what he wants for the next chorus.
Last Edited by SuperBee on Feb 20, 2016 12:08 AM
Example: Ships on the Ocean, from Hoodoo Man Blues. At about 2m 15s JW says, 'pick up on this, pick up baby, pick up, pick up, this is the blues you hear' and then starts with a solo squarely on beat 1, no anacrusis. The band seem to play at the same intensity. The drummer plays fills but only normal for signalling a change.
Maybe it's not an instruction but just vocally emphasising that it's the turnaround bars?
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Feb 20, 2016 2:31 AM
Ah well, I thought it may have been well understood band jargon that I just wasn't aware of, that someone could definitely bring me up to speed with, but if it's just a JW quirk, doesnt matter...I can go back to speculation around Walter Horton 'have a good time' lyrics...at least I worked out the oft-cited 'dumb as they come' is 'judgement day comes'...and I have a couple of ideas for 'my hair just rolls'. No idea of what munnerinclo might be though
In the old days we had plenty of frustration and fun trying to work out lyrics, inventing words that fitted what we heard on the record, and now Internet has removed that mystery. Remember Desmond Dekker and Aces 'My ears are alight'?
I'm pleased there is some mystery left and you can't just google for everything.
I just listened to and reviewed the lyrics of Jr. Wells "Vietcong Blues". The sense I get is that the asides are not to the band, but to the person the song is addressed to. I get the sense that pickup is pickup the phone and listen to what I have to say. I can hear a frustration like one would have when you know the party is home but they won't pick up the ringing phone because they don't want to hear what you have to say. This seems particularly the case with the first aside, "(But you got to be wrong, don't you hear me) (You got to be wrong, now pick up)" There are many times when a singer may address the band mid song, but I don't see that as what is going on here.
Read more: Junior Wells - Vietcong Blues Lyrics | MetroLyrics
Last Edited by STME58 on Feb 20, 2016 11:34 AM
I like goldbrick's post . Stem, I get where you're at that. Thing is that he uses that term a lot in performances from around that time. And always at the end of the verse. I can't totally rule out what you're saying but it seems unlikely to me that he is always imagining himself on the telephone. But a sense of "people pick up on what I'm putting down" I can buy
SuperBee, I think we are saying the same thing. It is a metaphor for missed communication, whether it involved a telephone or not. I like your idea of "people pick up on what I'm putting down" and I think it fits.
Since the advent of the telegraph we have been using technical metaphors for communication; there seems to be a disconnect, are we on the same wavelength?, do you read me?, can you hear me now? he's got the wrong number!,etc.
What I hear in Jr. Wells song is a frustration about missed communication and lack of understanding.
Superbee - thanks to Google I was able to look up and confirm the meaning of minitrue. Of course I knew that, just checking :) After all, I didn't want there to be a communication breakdown.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Feb 21, 2016 3:47 AM
Rod Stewart (in the old days, when he was a blues singer) used to say, "Over here" before he came back in--and IIRC, there were a number of other quirky asides I am sure he co-opted from the blues lexicon.
I agree with STME58 on this one. It has nothing to do with band instructions. It's an interjection into the lyrics, "pick up on this", meaning "listen up". ----------
Yep I'm convinced it's as Goldbrick's post, and STME58, a general rev up, and call to 'listen to what I'm saying, this is some heavy stuff'. Cool, thanks everyone, that has puzzled me off and on for quite a few years.
I could swear that I have heard Sonny Boy Williamson II say, in between the phrases of a solo,"Somebody better come here and smack me!" which I understood to mean "I'm beside myself with emotion; somebody had better slap me to bring me back to my senses." I thought that was what Junior Wells was saying too.
I am not sure this is what Jr. Wells is talking about but, pickup notes are not trivial. I have been teaching my scout band musicians how to count in a song with pickups. The above image is St. James infirmary. It has two eighth note pickups so one you need to count 3 and start on four. Note also that the last measure only has three counts so when you repeat, the last measure plus the pickups make a full 4 count measure.
Last Edited by 