Friday, August 30, 2013

What is the "blues"?

Howlin' Wolf answers.


Note the potato chip bags in the "cupboard."

Nod to Dutch Boy, who clearly knows more about music than picking baseball teams.

UPDATE:  A partial plagiarism list for Led Zeppelin songs, from blues greats, from the comments for the video above:

Zepp's plagiarism is actually well documented: 
Lemon Song: Howlin' Wolf 
Whole lotta love: Muddy Waters 
Killing Floor: Robert Johnson 
Moby Dick: Bobby Parker 
Bring it on Home: Sonny Boy Williamson 
Hats Off: Bukka White 
Custard pie: Sleepy John Estes 
Nobody’s Fault But Mine: Blind Willie Johnson 

And Led Zepplin plagiarized much more than that. Howlin' Wolf was able to sue and get compensation but most did not.

Angus has in the past discussed the overt and unacknowledged plagiarism of other white "supergroups."  It is rather appalling.  That people got so rich covering songs about having nothing.  And the people who actually wrote the songs about having nothing, the songs that made people rich, those writers ended up with nothing.

3 comments:

Jeff said...

Maybe this is a minority view, but I think those are actually some of Led Zeppelins' worst songs. They'd have been better off just writing their own stuff if you ask me.

Nicholas said...

This is one of the reasons I prefer the Rolling Stones: much more likely to just cover a song they liked, and more open about their influences when they didn't. Jimmy Page always seemed like he was hiding something, or trying to get away with something. I think Keith Richards would have been happy if everyone who bought his albums also went out and bought Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters et al (and the praise heaped on his idols in his autobiography bears that out).

Pelsmin said...

I liked his summary about what the blues means, but I'm with Bleeding Gums Murphy. The blues ain't about feeling better. It's about making other people feel worse.