Blues break: Etta James - "The Blues is My Business"

If trouble were money,
I'd have more than any man should.
I'm open for business in your neighborhood,
The blues is my business,
And business is good.

If there's anyone who does the blues better than the late Etta James (1938-2012), I've never come across her or him. And don't overlook the fine musicians who back her up in nearly every song.

Since one song is never enough with Etta, here she is with "Blues to the Bone:"

Blues Break: Two versions of "Mockingbird"

Aretha Franklin is joined by Roy Johnson in a rollicking version of "Mockingbird" back in the sixties on an unidentified TV show. (Aretha finally can't stay in her seat any longer at around 1:10.)

And here's a another version, with lyrics that are very much her own, by Regina Spektor. Her cover of "Little Boxes," written by Malvina Reynolds in 1962, is the perfect introduction to various episodes of Showtime's "Weed" series.

Blues Break: Cohen & Robinson - "Boogie Street"

Boogie Street - Lyrics

O Crown of Light, O Darkened One,
I never thought we'd meet.
You kiss my lips, and then it's done:
I'm back on Boogie Street.

A sip of wine, a cigarette,
And then it's time to go.
I tidied up the kitchenette;
I tuned the old banjo.
I'm wanted at the traffic-jam.
They're saving me a seat.
I'm what I am, and what I am,
Is back on Boogie Street.

And O my love, I still recall
The pleasures that we knew;
The rivers and the waterfall,
Wherein I bathed with you.
Bewildered by your beauty there,
I'd kneel to dry your feet.
By such instructions you prepare
A man for Boogie Street.

O Crown of Light, O Darkened One...

So come, my friends, be not afraid.
We are so lightly here.
It is in love that we are made;
In love we disappear.
Tho' all the maps of blood and flesh
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.

O Crown of Light, O Darkened One,
I never thought we'd meet.
You kiss my lips, and then it's done:
I'm back on Boogie Street.

A sip of wine, a cigarette,
And then it's time to go . . .

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

An animation backs up this fine performance of "Boogie Street" by Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson, who co-wrote the lyrics.

"Boogie Street" was composed for the "Ten New Songs" album, released in 2001. Another song from the album, "A Thousand Kisses Deep," picks up the Boogie Street motif.

"Ten New Songs" contains some of Cohen's best work and reflects his emergence from a deep depression. For years he lived in a zen monastery with Roshi, his master, on Mt. Baldy in California. During that time his business manager embezzled nearly all his savings . The whole sad story is revealed in interviews with Cohen in the 2006 film "I'm Your Man" (which includes a musical tribute performed in Australia by Nick Cave, U2 and various other musicians). He admits, at one point, that all those years in a zen monastery contributed little to his mental health. He says that other people commented on how calm and "centered" he seemed, yet it was all a facade devised to conceal a prolonged rage that he couldn't escape.

Even though he's now 74, Cohen has been touring in Europe, North America and Australia so he can recover his financial footing.

Blues Break: Toumani Diabate - 'Elyne Road'

The legendary Toumani Diabate plays his kora at the 43rd Cambridge Folk Festival in 2007. The song appears as the second track on his latest album, Mandé Variations (2008).

Blues Break: Keb' Mo' - "Dangerous Mood"

Keb' Mo' performs at the Piazza Blues Festival in Bellinzona, Italy, on June 30, 2001.

Blues Break: Two by Blind Willie Johnson

Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground

A great "moaning" piece by Blind Willie Johnson (1897-1945), born in Brenham, Texas. This song is one of the tracks on NASA's Voyager Golden Record. Launched in 1977, Voyager left the outer limits of the solar system in 2004.

Trouble Soon Be Over
Performed with a wonderful young singer whose name isn't available.

Blues Break: Shamisen with taiko

Virtuoso performances on the 3-stringed shamisen and taiko accompaniment. From Japanese television, but sadly the names of the performers and date are not available.

Blues Break: NIN - "Discipline"

A change of pace: this single was released for free by Nine Inch Nails on April 22nd. This "video" consists of just a few still photos. Ghosts, Trent Reznor's instrumental album, was released last month.

Blues Break: Cat Power - "New York, New York"

Cat Power (Charlyn "Chan" Marshall) covers Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" on BBC-2's Later. This song also appears on Jukebox, Cat Power's most recent album (2008). She'll be performing here in Portland at the Roseland on April 13th, but the cheapest ticket I could find costs... $193.

Blues Break: Shredmeister Jeff Healey - "Roadhouse Blues"

The late Jeff Healey and his band do a cover of The Doors' Roadhouse Blues in Baden-Baden, Germany, back in 1989. The band had just completed the soundtrack for Road House, released the same year. Before his untimely death on March 3rd at the age of 41, few people realized that Healey had been blind from infancy. He first picked up a guitar at the age of three and developed his unusual playing style as a child.

Blues Break Double Header: Robert "Wolfman" Belfour

Robert Belfour jams on a back porch during the Centrum Blues Workshop, Port Townsend, Washington State, in August, 2007. This is an instrumental version of Old Black Mattie. The sound quality is only marginally better than in an earlier Wolfman Blues Break, but it's well worth a listen anyway.

Can't seem to get enough of this guy—he's the real deal. Too bad I missed him when he was here in the Pacific Northwest. Here he is again, with somewhat better acoustics, performing his classic Done Got Old (date and location not available):

Blues Break: John Fahey - "Red Pony" (1969)

Here's the description of this performance from YouTube:

John Fahey performs "Red Pony" on Laura Weber's "Guitar Guitar" TV show in 1969. From the DVD "John Fahey in Concert and Interviews 1969 & 1996."

The guitar is in open G tuning (I think).

I saw Fahey (1939-2001) open for his protegé Leo Kottke at Reed College in Portland back in 1970 (or maybe 1971). Fahey walked onto the stage, sat down on a stool, chugged a can of beer and plunged into a dazzling (but too short) 30-minute set without a word. At the end he got up and said, "now it's time for the guy you really came to hear," then walked out. There was no hint of irony in his comment: a very sad, even shocking, moment. I never saw him perform again even though he moved to Salem, just an hour down I-5, ten years later.

There's a rumor in my family that Fahey was a distant relation on our paternal grandmother's side, but I have no confirmation of this claim.

Blues Break: Big Mama Thornton and Buddy Guy - "Hound Dog"

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (1926-84) performs this blues classic with a very young Buddy Guy in 1965. She first recorded it in 1952 and made it a big hit nationally in 1953. Four years later, Elvis Presley performed his rock-'n'-roll version* on the Milton Berle Show before forty million people and became a national sensation (and the subject of some controversy). His recording sold four million records in the U.S., making it Elvis' most popular single release.

[*NOTE: This video is from a later Ed Sullivan show.]

Blues Break: Mississippi Fred McDowell, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee

Fred McDowell performs at the Newport Folk Festival (around 1965), followed by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. (It's too bad that both songs are cut short, but we can still be grateful to have this footage available online.)

Blues Break: Robert "Wolfman" Belfour

Robert "Wolfman" Belfour performs at Del's General Store in Clarksdale, Mississippi, during the 2007 Juke Joint Festival. The vocals are difficult to follow in this recording, but the power of Wolfman's amplified blues guitar comes through clearly enough. After 35 years as a construction worker, this 67-year-old bluesman may finally be getting a well-deserved audience.

Blues Break: Allen Ginsberg - "Father Death Blues"

From an interview with Ginsberg on the BBC's Face to Face (date unknown, but probably not long before his death in 1997) . The poem, which is Part IV of "Never Grow Old," appears in Plutonian Ode: Poems 1977-1980. Here's the full text:

"Father Death Blues"

Hey Father Death, I'm flying home
Hey poor man, you're all alone
Hey old daddy, I know where I'm going

Father Death, Don't cry any more
Mama's there, underneath the floor
Brother Death, please mind the store

Old Aunty Death  Don't hide your bones
Old Uncle Death  I hear your groans
O Sister Death  how sweet your moans

O Children Deaths go breathe your breaths
Sobbing breasts'll ease your Deaths
Pain is gone, tears take the rest

Genius Death  your art is done
Lover Death  your body's gone
Father Death  I'm coming home

Guru Death your words are true
Teacher Death I do thank you
For inspiring me to sing this Blues

Buddha Death, I wake with you
Dharma Death, your mind is new
Sangha Death, we'll work it through

Suffering is what was born
Ignorance made me forlorn
Tearful truths I cannot scorn

Father Breath once more farewell
Birth you gave was no thing ill
My heart is still, as time will tell.

(Over Lake Michigan)

In loving memory of Elliott Smith
Friend - Songwriter - Musician
(August 6, 1969 - October 21, 2003)

Blues Break: Dirty Mac - "Yer Blues"

John Lennon is joined by Keith Richards (bass), Eric Clapton (lead guitar) and Mitch Mitchell (drums) in a 1968 (or maybe 1969) performance of this song from the White Album. (YouTube has a 4-screen version online.)

Lighnin Hopkins: "Lonesome Road"

This video was apparently made in 1960. For another fine Hopkins performance, and more information about the artist, check out "Questionnaire Blues" here.

Blues Break: Greg Allman - "Come and Go Blues"

Greg Allman gets in some fine blues licks and vocals during an apparent break (due to "technical problems") in a studio recording session. (Or is it all staged?) The guitar is in open G tuning (DGDGBD).

Blues Break: Etta Baker - "Mint Julep"

Etta Baker (1913-2006) of Morganton, North Carolina, plays "Mint Julep" in the Piedmont blues style also associated with Blind Willie McTell, Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Boy Fuller, John Cephas and (though he was from Mississippi) John Hurt. If there are any videos or films of her performances available, I couldn't find them online.

The Jukebox feature (audio only) at the Musicmaker Relief Foundation offers some outstanding blues selections, both historic and contemporary, including some MP3's of Baker's work.