“Hard Day Blues” (Aristocrat Records, 1948. Written by Morganfield (Muddy Waters), vocal and guitar; Ernest “Bit” Crawford, bass. Source: Muddy Waters: His Best, 1947 to 1955 (Chess/MCA. CHD-9370, 1997). Read the discussion of this song in Filene, pages 81-87.
“I Can’t Be Satisfied” (Aristocrat Records, 1948). LYRICS. Written by Morganfield (Muddy Waters), vocal and guitar; Ernest “Bit” Crawford, bass. Source: Muddy Waters: His Best, 1947 to 1955 (Chess/MCA. CHD-9370, 1997).
“Rollin’ Stone” (Chess Records, 1950). Written by Morganfield (Waters), vocal and guitar; Ernest “Bit” Crawford, bass. Source: Muddy Waters: His Best, 1947 to 1955 (Chess/MCA. CHD-9370, 1997)
“I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man” (Chess Records, 1954). Written by Willie Dixon. Waters vocal and guitar; Little Walter, harmonica; Jimmy Rogers, guitar; Otis Spann, piano; Willie Dixon, bass; Fred Below, drums. LYRICS. Source: Muddy Waters: His Best, 1947 to 1955 (Chess/MCA. CHD-9370, 1997).
“Got My Mojo Working” (Chess Records, 1956). Written by Preston Foster. Waters, vocal and guitar; others unidentified. Source: The Best of Muddy Waters (MCA,1999. MCAD-11946).
Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1915, Willie Dixon became the most prominent producer, composer, and general fixer on the Chicago blues scene. According to writer Tony Russell, Dixon’s songwriting gift “lay in refurbishing archaic Southern motifs, often of magic and country folkways, and sometimes derived from earlier artists like Charlie Patton, in contemporary arrangements, to produce songs with both the sinew of the blues and the agility of pop. British R&B groups of the 1960s constantly drew on the Dixon songbook.” Dixon died in 1992.
“Signifying Monkey.” Written by Dixon, recorded in Chicago in 1947. LYRICS. Big Three Trio, vocals; Willie Dixon, string-bass; Leonard Caston, piano; Bernardo Dennis, guitar; Charles Sanders, drums. Source: Willie Dixon: Poet of the Blues (Columbia/Sony Music 1998).
“The Seventh Son” Written by Dixon, recorded in Chicago in 1970. LYRICS. Dixon, vocal and string bass; Shaky Jake, harmonica; Sunnyland Slim, piano; Johnny Shines, guitar; Clifton James, drums. Source: Willie Dixon: Poet of the Blues (Columbia/Sony Music 1998).
“Spoonful.” Mississippi Delta Blues sung by Charley Patton, 1929. Source:The Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead (Shanachie 6014: 1995). LYRICS.
“Spoonful” Written by Dixon, recorded in Chicago in 1970. Dixon, vocal and string bass; ShakyJake, harmonica; Sunnyland Slim, piano; Johnny Shines, guitar; Clifton James, drums. Source: Willie Dixon: Poet of the Blues (Columbia/Sony Music 1998). LYRICS.
“You Can’t Judge a Book by Its Cover.” Bo Diddley, guitar and vocal; Written by Willie Dixon, recorded in Chicago in 1962 for Checker Records. LYRICS.
“Key to the Highway.“ Written by Bill Broonzy, recorded in Chicago in 1958 for Checker Records. LYRICS. Marion “Little Walter” Jacobs, vocal and harmonica; Muddy Waters, slide guitar; Luther Tucker, guitar; Willie Dixon, bass; George Hunter, drums. Source: Little Walter: His Best (Chess 50th Anniversary Collection, 1997).
“Wang Dang Doodle.” Written by Willie Dixon. Performed by Howlin’ Wolf (Chester Burnett), vocal and guitar LYRICS.
Koko Taylor (born Cora Walton, 1935, in Memphis). Sang in church choir as a teenager; moved to Chicago in 1953 where she began doing club dates.
“What It Takes,” Koko Taylor, vocal. Written by Willie Dixon. Walter Horton (harmonica); Lafayette Leake, piano; Buddy Guy, Robert Nighthawk, guitars; Jack Meyers, bass; Clifton James, drums. Recorded in 1964 in Chicago for Checker. LYRICS.
“Wang Dang Doodle,” Koko Taylor, vocal. Written by Willie Dixon, vocal. Gene Barge, Donald Hankins, saxes; Buddy Guy,Johnny “Twist” Williams, guitars; Jack Meyers, bass; Fred Below, drums. Recorded in 1965 in Chicago for Checker. LYRICS.
Etta James, born in Los Angeles in 1938. Wrote “Roll With Me Henry” with Johnny Otis, released as “Wallflower” and rose to #2 R&B hit in 1955. Signed by Chess in Chicago in 1960. Eight top-ten R&B hits followed on Argo, six more on Cadet. Twenty-four hits crossed over to Hot 100 pop chart in the decade of the 1960s.
“At Last,” Etta James, vocal. Written by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon. Recorded in 1960 in Chicago for Argo Records.
“A Sunday Kind of Love,” Etta James, vocal. Written by Barbara Belle, Louis Prima, Anita Leonard, Stan Rhodes. Recorded in 1960 in Chicago for Argo Records.
“Stormy Weather,” Etta James, vocal. Written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Recorded in 1960 in Chicago for Argo Records.
“Spoonful” Etta James, vocal. Written by Willie Dixon. Recorded in 1960 in Chicago for Argo Records.