Live music is best, but when I think of live music I think of small bar and Indie bands, and open mic "amateur professionals". I like to appreciate the music I listen to and while going to see Sheryl Crow perform at the SkyDome with Eric Clapton is well worth it - I would go for the memories not because of the excellent renditions of the songs. For that you need to be in a quiet room with a set of speakers and a recording of the music you want to hear. Live performances are great, but they do not often result in the musician's best work.
There are some great musicians out there doing it for the love of but not able to do so to earn a living. Sad but true - for all artists not just musicians. So lucky us. I get a good diet of live music at my local - the Liberty Bistro and once every few years I go to a major concert.
For the most part, aside from the live music once or maybe twice a week, like most, I enjoy recorded music. My taste is varied and while there are some types which I listen to more often there isn't much I would turn off. Well, maybe pure rap and some types of Country. I enjoy music performed by the many fantastic artists of all genres - both Indie as well as established label musicians. At any given moment, I might choose jazz, blues, folk, rock, world/regional or classical depending on my mood. When I come home from work after a stressful day and I need to chill and obtain a calm and peaceful state of mind, I might put on "spa or new world" music... Which to my mind is something you might listen to if you were medidating - well, if you were actually supposed to listen to music when meditating. If I am getting ready to go out and party I might listen to some adult alternative or some urban dance music. A romantic date? Well, nothing beats a sultry jazz tune. There is music for every emotional and motivational need.
One of my favourite types of music is Blues. You can often find a blues tune to fit any mood. I would like to focus the next several Tuesdays with some of my Blues favourites. Here goes Part 1.
According to Wiki:
"Worried Life Blues" is a blues standard that has become "one of the most covered of all blues songs." Major "Big Maceo" Merriweather recorded "Worried Life Blues," a mid-tempo, 8-bar blues, in 1941.Although Joe Cocker produced a very good version, it is better known as a BB King song. I like this recording which features both Clapton and BB King.
Worried Life Blues
Oh lordie lord
It hurts me so bad for us to part
But someday baby
I ain't gonna worry my life anymore
So many nights since you've been gone
I've had to worry and grieve my life alone
But someday baby
I ain't gonna worry my life anymore
So many days since you went away
I've had to worry night and day
But someday baby
I ain't gonna worry my life anymore
Yoo're on my mind every place I go
How much I love you nobody knows
But someday baby
I ain't gonna worry my life anymore
So that's my story
This is all I got to say to you
Goodbye baby I don't care what you do
But someday baby
I ain't gonna worry my life anymore
Oh lordie lord
Oh lordie lord
It hurts me so bad for us to part
But someday baby
I ain't gonna worry my life anymore
The very interesting thing about this song and its lyrics is its similarity to another blues standard "Someday Baby Blues" by Sleepy John Estes (1935). The two songs are very similar and have over the years become intermingled with features from both songs included in covers produced by subesquent artists. The lyrics provide the major distinction between the two songs as suggested by the different titles. The following is taken from the Someday Baby lyric.
- I don't care how long you go, I don't care how long you stay
- But that good kind treatment, bring you back someday
- Someday baby, I ain't gonna worry my mind anymore
As an romantic optimist by nature, I prefer the sentiments expressed in Someday Baby.
The 1935 Someday Baby Blues was subquently revisited and restyled by Bob Dylan as a folksy version of the Sleepy John Estes song.
Feist subsequently recorded this (now) Dyan song and produced a reasonably good version.
Stay tuned next week for Part 2:Unchain My Heart and The Thrill is Gone
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This post reminds me that Bob and I are going to see Leon Redbone in concert next month. Not knowing much about this performer I googled him. He performed in Toronto in his early days.
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