Worried Life Blues
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". "Worried Life Blues" is a blues standard and one of the most recorded blues songs of all time. Originally recorded by Big Maceo Merriweather in 1941, "Worried Life Blues" was an early blues hit and Maceo's most recognized song. The song was inspired by an earlier track and several artists have had record chart successes with their interpretations of the song.
Background
"Worried Life Blues" is based on "Someday Baby Blues" recorded by Sleepy John Estes in 1935.[1] Estes' song is performed as a vocal and guitar country blues, whereas Maceo's is a prototypical Chicago blues. The two original songs have lyrical differences, such as in the first few verses: Template:Poemquote Template:Poemquote Over the years the differences have become blurred by various cover versions of the songs, which use elements from both songs, often combined with new lyrics and variations in the music.
Composition and recording
Big Maceo recorded "Worried Life Blues" June 24, 1941, shortly after arriving in Chicago.Template:Sfn Lester Melrose produced the song and it became Maceo's first single on Bluebird Records. The song is a moderate-tempo eight-bar blues, with Maceo on vocal and piano, accompanied by frequent collaborator, guitarist and fellow recording artist, Tampa Red[1] and bassist Ransom Knowling.
Music writer Keith Shadwick identifies it a major hitTemplate:Sfn and blues historian Jim O'Neal notes that it "eclipsed the song ['Someday Baby'] that inspired it".[1]Template:Efn Several other renditions soon followed, including those by Bill Gaither (1941), Sonny Boy Williams (1942), and Honeyboy Edwards (1942). In 1945, Maceo recorded a second version with additional lyrics, also accompanied by Tampa Red. Titled "Things Have Changed", it reached number four on Billboard magazine's Race Records chart.Template:Sfn
Recognition and influence
"Worried Life Blues" became an early blues standardTemplate:Sfn and was among the first songs inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1983 as a "Classic of Blues Recordings".[1] In 2006, the song received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award.[2] Over the years numerous artists have covered "Worried Life Blues" or some mixture of it, "Someday Baby Blues", and other elements,Template:Sfn making it one of the most recorded blues songs of all time.Template:Sfn When Charles Brown reworked it as a West Coast blues number titled "Trouble Blues", it was one of the biggest hits of 1949 and spent 15 weeks at number one on Billboard's Race Records/Rhythm & Blues Records chart.Template:Sfn In 1955, Muddy Waters' recording of it as "Trouble No More" in a Chicago blues style reached number seven on the R&B chart.Template:Sfn Junior Parker recorded "Worried Life" in 1969; Minit Records released it as a single, which appeared at number 34.Template:Sfn In 1970, a version originally recorded by B.B. King as "Someday Baby" in 1960 was retitled "Worried Life" and reached number 48.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn
Notes
References
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Bibliography
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External links
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