Blues with a Feeling
"Blues with a Feeling" is a blues song written and first recorded by Rabon Tarrant with Jack McVea and His All Stars in 1947,[1] as the B-side of "Slowly Goin' Crazy Blues". Although the original release was commercially unsuccessful, the song later became an important hit for Little Walter, with whom it is usually identified.
| "Blues with a Feeling" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by Rabon Tarrant with Jack McVea and His Door Openers | |
| A-side | "Slowly Goin' Crazy Blues" |
| Released | After May 10, 1947 |
| Recorded | Los Angeles, 1947 |
| Genre | Jump blues |
| Length | 3:00 |
| Label | Black & White |
| Songwriter(s) | Rabon Tarrant |
Walter transformed the tune from Tarrant's jump blues-oriented style to a Chicago blues harmonica classic. It became a blues standard and an important piece for blues harp players.
Original song
Rabon Tarrant, a drummer with saxophone player Jack McVea's band, wrote "Blues with a Feeling" and also provided the vocals.[2] The song was performed as a mid-tempo twelve-bar jump blues that features sax and trumpet soloing over a strong backbeat. The opening verses reflect on lost love:
Blues with a feeling, that's what I have today
Blues with a feeling, that's what I have today
Gonna find my baby, yes if it takes all night and day.
In its "Advance Record Releases" column, Billboard describes the single on Black & White Records as "slowly goin'".[3] The notice appears on May 10, 1947, about one month after McVea's number two hit "Open the Door Richard" exited the chart.[3][4] However, "Blues with a Feeling" did not reach the chart.[4]
Little Walter rendition
Little Walter follows much of McVea's verses and arrangement, however, he updates the song in his own style.[2] It is performed as a slow blues with Walter playing a distinctive harp intro and accompaniment to his vocals.[2] When Little Walter recorded "Blues with a Feeling" in Chicago on July 23, 1953, he was backed by one of the classic Chicago blues bands.[5] Sometimes known as the Aces, Dave Myers and Louis Myers (or possibly Jimmy Rogers) provide guitars, with Willie Dixon on upright bass, and Fred Below on drums.[5] Walter biographer Tony Glover notes the "nice interplay between the guitar and the harp ... with Below providing momentum with his shuffling brush work, and an effective stop-time vocal verse from Walter near the end".[2]
Checker Records, a Chess Records subsidiary that issued most of Walter's recordings, released the song as a single in 1953.[5] According to Glover, Checker choose the second of two takes, largely due to a faulty audio connection which affected the first.[2] The single debuted on two of Billboard's R&B charts on October 10, 1953, eventually reaching number two on the Juke Box chart and number six on the Best Seller chart.[4]
The song is found on many Little Walter compilations, including his first, Best of Little Walter (1958), the comprehensive The Essential Little Walter (1993),[5] and, as a part of The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection, His Best (1997). An alternate take, recorded in September 1953, was released on Blues with a Feeling: Chess Collectables, Vol. 3 (1995).[6] Unlike most of Walter's alternate takes, this later recording differs little from the original.[6]
Legacy
Little Walter's adaptation of "Blues with a Feeling" has been identified as a blues standard and a "necessary passage of every beginning harmonica player" by blues historian Gérard Herzhaft.[7] Music writer Mary Katherine Aldin notes that it "has been cited by a number of his imitators as the song that inspired them to take up harmonica".[6] Harmonica instructional book author Winslow Yerxa identifies it as one of the best-known "tried-and-true harmonica tunes" and one of six blues favorites.[8][9]
Although "Blues with a Feeling" was written and originally performed and recorded by Tarrant, Little Walter usually receives the credit for the tune.[6] Many subsequent releases also credit him, leading Aldin to call it "maybe Walter's most covered song".[6]
References
- Original record labels give the band name as "Jack McVea and His Door Openers". McVea had previously had a hit with "Open the Door, Richard". See also Billboard, May 10, 1947, page 122.
- Glover, Tony; Dirks, Scott; Gaines, Ward (2002). Blues with a Feeling: The Little Walter Story. New York City: Routledge. eBook. ISBN 978-0-415-93711-5.
- "Advance Record Releases – Race". Billboard. Vol. 59, no. 18. May 10, 1947. p. 122. ISSN 0006-2510.
- Whitburn, Joel (1988). Top R&B Singles 1942–1988. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research. pp. 261, 285. ISBN 0-89820-068-7.
- Snowden, Don (1993). The Essential Little Walter (Album notes). Little Walter. Los Angeles: MCA Records/Chess Records. pp. 4, 12. OCLC 29365560. CHD2-9342.
- Aldin, Mary Katherine (1995). Blues with a Feeling (Album notes). Little Walter. Universal City, California: MCA Records/Chess Records. p. 11. CHD2-9357.
- Herzhaft, Gerard (1992). "Blues with a Feeling". Encyclopedia of the Blues. Fayetteville, Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press. p. 440. ISBN 1-55728-252-8.
- Yerxa, Winslow (2015). Harmonica For Dummies (2nd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. p. 299. ISBN 978-1-118-88076-0.
- The short list of six blues favorites also includes Walter's "Juke"; Sonny Boy Williamson II's "Bye Bye Bird" and "Help Me"; and Jimmy Reed's "Honest I Do" and "Bright Lights, Big City". Yerxa, page 299.