20 Terrible Blues Song Names

Taken from Conan O'Brien's website, fan submitted:


The Terrible 20: Blues Song Titles

20. "Alcoholism And Depression Hotel"
    
19. "My Baby Left Me For A Guy With A Mullet"
    
18. "Black Magic Walrus"
    
17. "Give Me Back My February Issue of 'Cat Fancy' Magazine Please, Blues"
    
16. "I Got Gastrointestinal Discomfort Troubles"
    
15. “Born Under a Jersey Overpass”
    
14. “I've Misplaced My Back Scratcher” 
    
13. “No One Lets Me Ride Shotgun Blues”
    
12. "The View’ Is on While I’m on the Elliptical Blues”
    
11. “Ain’t No Salt on My Fries”
    
10. “I Only Got Me 140 Characters”
    
9. “Unidentified Rash Boogie”
   
8. “Accidentally Bought Lean Pockets Blues”
   
7. “Ain’t Nobody That Can Break This Hundred”
   
6. “Ain’t Got No Battery Left”
   
5. "My Old Lady Is Actually Quite Nice To Me”
   
4. “Undescended Testicle Boogie”
   
3. “Let’s All Get Drunk for Christmas and Slap Each Other Out”
   
2. “I Got Sick on Your Rug Blues”
   
1. “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Bath Salts” 

Useless Info: Chicken Waffle Tenders Inspired by Jazz Musicians

So apparently, Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen (the chicken fast-food franchise) is offering a limited time meal which is fried chicken tenders dipped in waffle batter.

The inspiration behind this meal comes from jazz musicians; in the 40's and 50's Los Angeles, jazz musicians who finished their sets late would be hungry from all the boppin', and would go to a restaurant and there would be leftover chicken, which they mixed with waffle batter, as that was being prepped for breakfast.

As per the chief brand officer of Popeyes Dick Lynch said:

"Jazz is so embedded in the culture of New Orleans that we didn't have to look too hard to find a correction," he said. "We're looking to real culinary trends, no matter where they came from. The older the better, frankly."

So there you have it; yet another cultural achievement given to us by jazz.

[SOURCE]

My Article in Project Revolver is Up!

I have joined forces with Project Revolver,  a Lebanese blogging platform dedicated to music via contributing authors, covering a wide array of subjects and genres.

My first article with them is called "10 Blues Songs That Shaped Rock n' Roll", and you can find it

here.

Let me know what you think, and support Project Revolver!

Humor Blues - 'Chicken Cordon Blues'

I always share songs about despair, hard times, cheating lovers and assorted other things that make us cry. However I also am about having fun too; who says we have to be serious all the time?

Thanks to Steve Goodman, we have a funny blues tune called "Chicken Cordon Blues", which discusses the disintegrating eating habits of two lovers, as such:

When I first met you baby, you fed me on chicken and wine.

It was steak and potatoes and lobster and babe I sure felt fine.

But now all you ever give me is seaweed and alfalfa sprouts

And sunflower seeds and I got my doubts -

Babe, you left me here with the Chicken Cordon Bleus.

Alfalfa seeds... you can't get more blue than that!

Standard of the Week - 'Sweet Home Chicago'

This week, I'm jumping into one of the most famous and covered blues standards ever, called 'Sweet Home Chicago'. It was written in 1936 by Robert Johnson, which was a combination of several older songs, such as 'Kokomo Blues' by Scrapper Blackwell in the late 20's.

It features a straight 12 bar blues shuffle rhythm, and features a homage to Chicago, but also to California. This still is a bit controversial, as many were wondering why he asked his lady to go "back to the land of California". In most new versions, "California" is replaced with "that same old place". When played with amplified, this song gets pretty powerful.

This is the original Robert Johnson recording:

One of the earliest well received covers was by Junior Parker in 1958, where it reached #13 on the Billboard R&B charts:

The late great Magic Sam covered this song in 1967 on his album 'West Side Soul' : 

From 1980, this sweet version with extensive solo sections was recorded by The Blues Brothers, and is featured in the movie: 

A more recent, kick-ass version was performed live in the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival, featuring Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Jimmie Vaughan, Robert Cray and Hubert Sumlin:

And finally,

PRESIDENT BARACK FREAKING OBAMA:





This is just a handful of the hundred and thousands of aspiring artists, and the best musicians perform.

'Chameleon' Live - Herbie Hancock & Jaco Pastorius

Put Herbie Hancock and Jaco Pastorius on the same track and what do you get?! A jazz/funk explosion!

This song is off of Herbie Hancock's breakthrough 1973 album 'Head Hunters', which was a jazz-funk album, a genre still in it's infancy but thanks to musicians like Miles Davis, was starting to gain momentum.

This version, off the Live Voyage album in 1977, features Herbie and Jaco trade off the bass parts, switching between the keyboard and bass guitar. Later, Herbie plays some interstellar key work. Sax is played by Bennie Maupin and drums by James Levi.

Funk it baby!

'Johnny B Goode' From 'Back to the Future' Movie

Who doesn't love this movie?! It's one of the staples of the 1980's!

Besides the comedy and the crazy story, and that DeLorean car, there was a scene where Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) absolutely rips the song that shot Chuck Berry to fame, 'Johnny B Goode' which was a great moment from that movie, when Marty went back to 1955 to Hill Valley High School.

I especially like how at the end he goes off into a guitar frenzy. Enjoy this flashback folks!

Even Canadians Get the Blues

Originally this was just going to be a funny, 'nothing important happening this Saturday morning' type post, but once I actually heard the music, shit got real.

still funny though. Admit it... you laughed.

My curiosity led to me to hear some of the music, and damn... there's some epic big band jazz goin' on over here!

So yes thanks Rob McConnell, for showing us that Canadians can actually play good music... I mean... Justin Bieber? Nickelback? Fuck no, THIS IS SOME REAL CANADIAN STUFF PEOPLE. 

So enjoy the song 'Even Canadians Got the Blues', eh! You hosers!

Standard of the Week: 'Baby Please Don't Go'

This week, we delve into one of the most famous and most played blues standard of all time, called 'Baby Please Don't Go'. It was originally written and performed by Big Joe Williams in 1935, with himself on guitar and vocals, and features a fiddle and a washboard (played by Dad Tracy and Chasey Collins respectively), bringing on the work song origins and inspirations of the Mississippi Delta to the big city of Chicago where it was recorded.

The song was a smash hit and Williams went on to record another version of it later , as did several notable bluesmen adding their own touches such as Lightnin' Hopkins in 1947:

An electric Chicago blues from Muddy Waters in 1953:

And once rock n' roll came into action, many rock artists such as Bob Dylan in 1962: 

And even freakin' Aerosmith covered it:

Another major blues record that inspired legions of artists. Come back next week for another standard; or on second thought... baby, please don't go!!

Bluesman T-Model Ford Passes Away

Last night, delta bluesman T-Model Ford (real name James Lewis Carter Ford) passed away from respiratory failure. I wrote about him last year, mentioning that though he can't really remember his birthday, it's somewhere around the late 80's.

He was one of the last pure delta bluesmen, living a hard blues life (alcoholism, killing a man and spending two years in jail, marrying six women and fathering twenty six children), and only learned guitar at the age of 58.

He became popular in the 70's and kept performing and recording until his death.

RIP to a true bluesman.

Here's one of his songs, a cover of Howlin' Wolf's 'Asked Her for Water':