Standard of the Week: 'Mean Ol' Frisco'

In in 1942, Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup recorded the blues standard 'Mean Ol' Frisco'.

The "Frisco" is actually a shorter term for the St. Louis-San Francisco train line, where he sings about his baby leaving him:

Well, that mean old, mean old Frisco,
And that low down Santa Fe
Well, that mean old Frisco, and that low down Santa Fe
Well it carried my baby away, and it's blown right back on me.

Ain't nothin' subtle about this old Mississippi blues track; with it's driving rhythm:

Soon enough many musicians took the song and covered it, such as:

MUDDY WATERS

LITTLE WALTER 

LIGHTNIN' HOPKINS

ERIC CLAPTON

CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE

JOE BONAMASSA