I first heard it years ago on Clapton's superb 'From the Cradle'. It was one of the songs that made me yearn to be able to play harp: it's a filthy-dirty-low-down-smoking-gut-wrenching slow blues; it's the musical equivalent of being kicked in the balls.
Anyway, what gave me goose bumps all over again was when I downloaded Muddy's 1947-1972 anthology from iTunes. I hadn't realised that Clapton's version is a homage: it copies Muddy's note for note, including the harp line. That's what moved me: not just the song, but the homage. I don't know of anyone else who tries to do this, apart from Clapton, though, I daresay others do.
About the song: it's the epitome - to me at least - of what great blues harp is all about: tone. No need for fancy, fast stuff. Just good tone.
The harp part itself isn't monster difficult. Well, at least the notes aren't. Rather, it's the control that .....(fill in the blank please) and Portnoy (I think) have over their vibrato. To me, that is the holy grail of really tasty blues harp. If I get stuck in three positions for the rest of my life, I won't care a tinker's cuss, if I can learn to play in them with half that quality of tone. ---------- YouTube SlimHarpMick
One of the great slow blues songs. There's always been debate on who played on the original - Junior Wells is listed, but it's the more than a little reminiscent of Little Walter.
Last Edited by on Jan 25, 2010 5:40 AM
"If I get stuck in three positions for the rest of my life, I won't care a tinker's cuss, if I can learn to play in them with half that quality of tone."
I couldn't agree more. Too many people seem to be overly concerned with playing at speed and chromatically on the diatonic harmonica and consider those the most important aspects. It ain't worth a damn though if you can't do them with tone.
Tone and timing are THE two most important things in harmonica playing. These two things CAN NEVER be practised enough.
Thanks for digging those out. I had a quick rummage, but couldn't find one that sounded like the recordings I referred to. That second one with Portnoy is very close. What's not all that clear on it, though, is the very fine control he has over the 3 draw whole step bend at 3:55. On the studio version, he milks it for all it's worth, and then some. ---------- YouTube SlimHarpMick
On Harp-L, the controversy about who played harp on the original has been going on and off for years. According to interviews on the long defunct UK blues magazine Blues Unlimited of both James Cotton and Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells and LW were the top dogs in Chicago, both saying that in the early to mid 50`s, if you didn`t sound like those two, you weren`t considered a harp player. When I was on the road with Jimmy Rogers, who was also on that session, told me that was Junior Wells on it. When I saw Muddy, I also asked him and he also said it was JW as well, so those are sources from the horse`s mouth and Jimmy has never been one to BS anyone. I just wish I had a tape recorder with me after hearing tons of howlingly funny stories about all the old blues legends. Anyway, for me, the dead giveaway that it`s JW on harp is the speed of the vibrato and JW had a much slower one than LW did. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
On the same session,September 17,1952,Muddy,Junior,Elgin and Jimmy recorded "Who's Gonna Be Your Sweet Man When I'm Gone",giving studio credits to these poeple only. Almost makes it definet as to whose playing harp on "Standing Around Crying"- Junior Wells. That session also gave us "Iodine In My Coffee",and "Gone To Main Street".
Last Edited by on Jan 26, 2010 11:15 AM
Both Cotton and Billy Boy Arnold both said in interviews that LW and JW were stylistically a lot closer to each other back then. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
