About Writing Blues songs

These have been posted elsewhere. A collection of opinions, analysis, hints...

Article 1. The Best Blues Songs

If we’re going to discuss blues songwriting, we have to have some agreement about what constitutes a “good” blues song.

I believe that the single best indicator of a good song (in any genre) is that lots of people sing it. I used a list called, “Perhaps the most-recorded blues songs of all times” compiled by someone at Worldofblues.com.  It is the only one I have found so far that was compiled using an objective sampling method, not based on personal opinion alone.

The author searched his database of 140,000 recorded blues songs to see which songs had been recorded the most times. The list has 34 song titles. Read the post for more information (http://worldofblues.com/Blog/2009/07/27/perhaps-the-most-recorded-blues-songs-of-all-time/)

Here is his top ten with (# of recordings). I added the songwriter name(s), some of which could be disputed.

    Stormy Monday Blues (1,134) T-Bone Walker

    Dust My Broom (1,037) Robert Johnson

    Hoochie Coochie Man (984) Willie Dixon

    Boom Boom (930) John Lee Hooker

    Got My Mojo Workin (776) Muddy Waters/Preston Foster

    The Thrill Is Gone (749) Roy Hawkins/Rick Darnell

    Sweet Home Chicago (735) Robert Johnson

    Crossroads  (699) Robert Johnson

    Baby Please Don’t Go (689) Big Joe Williams

    Key To The Highway (624) Charles Segar/Big Bill Broonzy

I’m sure there are other ways to make a list of the most-covered blues songs, some of which might be more accurate. But this list is certainly good enough to start with.

I analyzed the structure of each, and tried to figure out what makes them such good songs. I list the versions I studied. I don’t show the lyrics because I don’t want to deal with copyright issues. My favorite on-line lyric site is Lyricsfreak.com

Commonalities

• They are all written in first person (‘I”)
• They are all guitar songs, sung by guitar players
• They are all male protagonists
• 9 songs are about “now” – the singer is in the present moment, telling us how he feels, what he thinking about doing. (Exception #8)
• Most songs are directed to a second person (“You”). (Exceptions  #1, 2, 8)
• “You” is a woman/women. (Exception # 3
• Most common subject is “Wanting to leave this place”. Second – “A woman won’t let me do what I want”.
• Most have something you can sing along with – a chorus, a repeated phrase. 

Is this what makes them “good”? What do you think?

No Correlation 

• Tempos vary - fast, slow medium.
• Chord structures vary –  standard I-IV-V 12-bar in major key is the most common (4 songs).

  Details

1. "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just As Bad)"

Version T-Bone Walker version from YouTube 1947 Black and White Records.

Standard 12-bar chords (with turnaround)

| I | IV | I | I |

|IV| IV | I | I |

| V | IV | I/IV/ | I/V/ |

Later versions, including T-Bone Walker’s own, added chords and were more jazzy, with the sliding 9ths the Allmans used.  

Rhyme scheme – AAA

Lyric structure is traditional 12-bar blues, repeating the first line as the second line. First and second lines are the same in verse 1, slightly different in verses 2 and 3

Subjects – I get the blues every weekday. On Friday and Saturday I have money and have fun. Then I go to church and pray, and at the end I admit that I’m blue because my baby is gone.

Hooks – mentioning all the days of the week gives structure, gives the listener something to follow while waiting for the twists, surprises and poetry that make lyrics interesting. Notes - The song has a beginning and ending, almost a story, but the song is static in time – the singer is telling his feelings at a particular moment in time. The vocal is more important to the hook than the instrumental is. 

2. "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" by Robert Johnson

Version - from The New Transcriptions and King of The Delta Blues

Standard 12-bar chords

Rhyme Scheme/structure Standard 12-bar words, (lines 1 and 2 are identical)

Subjects – this woman is unfaithful, I’m getting out of here, there’s a good woman out there somewhere.

Hooks – guitar lick is the biggest hook. First verse is repeated, works like a chorus, has the words “dust my broom” which has an internal contradiction that gets our attention.

3.  "Hoochie Coochie Man" Willie Dixon

Version – from Willie Dixon “I am the Blues” 1970 reissue, YouTube

Structure A 16-bar blues. 8 measures stop time on a riff that fits in the I7 chord, and then the last 8 measures are structured like the last 8 measures of a standard 12-bar blues. The last 8 measures are like a refrain, same for every verse. Could be called a chorus, but to me it seems more tied to the verse than a chorus would usually be. Also, the instrumentals on the Willie Dixon performance are straight 12-bar, not the 16 bar progression.

Rhyme scheme is AABB with CC in the refrain. But there are pauses in each line that are long enough that I suppose you could say the rhyme scheme is ABCBDBEB in first 8 measures and then FFGF in the refrain. I‘m going to say AABBCC though.

Subjects – I am a sexy man, I am a lucky man. Interesting that the song is very positive.

Hooks – the words “Hoochie Coochie Man” stick right in the brain and stay there. So does the instrumental lick and use of stop time. Presence of a refrain/chorus.   

Later artists sing “You know I’m him”. The words on Lyricsfreak.com accompanying the Dixon and the Muddy Waters versions use “You know I’m here”. Willie does sound like he sings “here” not “him”, and Muddy does also, though I can persuade myself to hear it as “him” when Muddy sings it. It would be interesting to see the original sheet music, which I will guess Willie Dixon did make, since he was wise in the ways of publishing and copyrights. 

4. "Boom Boom" John Lee Hooker

Versions -  YouTube video playing solo from 1960’s (xyrius upload), Blues Brothers movie, Live in Montreal 1983, with Tony McPhee in England.

This is basically a 12 bar blues, but it stays on the I chord throughout. I listened to a few versions. Sometimes John Lee Hooker may play extra measures himself, and depending on who he is playing with, the jam sections may not always be multiples of 12 measures. This is an exceptionally good jamming tune because it stays on the one chord and has a distinct rhythmic structure to the instrumental lick between the vocal lines so everyone can get in the groove right away. It sticks to a  2 3-and 4-and 1 and stops for the vocal to come in. The vocal lines all have their emphasis (or finish) on the first beat of a measure, and vary the rhythm before that beat. Examples -  “When she walk that walk” 2-and 3 4 1; “I love to see you walk” – 2 3-and 4-and 1;  “That baby talk” 2 3 4 1; “Tell me that you love me” 3-and 4-and 1-and is about the only time he doesn’t finish the phrase on the first beat.

Subjects – the emotional effect of a woman making an immediate strong impression on a man.

Hooks – “Boom, boom, boom, boom” is a pretty good hook all by itself. John Lee Hooker tells the story that he wrote the song during an extended engagement at the Apex Bar in Detroit. "I would never be on time; I always would be late comin' in. And she [the bartender Willa] kept saying, 'Boom boom—you late again'. Every night: 'Boom, boom—you late again'. I said 'Hmm, that's a song!'"

Other hooks – repeated guitar lick, remaining on the I chord the whole time, stop time in verses.

5. 'Got My Mojo Working", Muddy Waters/Preston Foster

Version – Muddy Waters “Definitive Collection”

12 bar structure 

| I | IV | I | I |

|IV| IV | I | I |

| V | V | I/IV/ | I/V/ |

Subjects – frustration about unattainable woman, Mojo (masculinity?)

Hooks – the concept of Mojo, allusions to voodoo things, a chorus that works every time to get audience call and response

The chorus follows the same chord progression but has a different melody.

Verse structure – V-V-C-Inst-V-C

6. "The Thrill Is Gone" Roy Hawkins/Rick Darnell

Version – B.B. King

Structure Minor key blues. 12-bar. Goes to the VI chord, which is a dominant seventh in harmonic minor scale, but the song also has the V as a dominant 7th: natural minor scale.

Im Im Im Im

IVm IVm Im Im

VI(7) V Im Im  

Subjects – love that has lost its thrill

Hooks – repetition of the title. Use of minor key.

This song has very similar words in the first three verses. It does tell a story over  the course of its four verses – you’ll be sorry you done me wrong; I’ll be lonely but I’ll live on; I’ll get over it; I did get over it. I think this is the trick of the song – it remains right here in the moment, describing a particular feeling, but it also tells a story, unlike most blues songs. Another little thing that sticks out for me - the phrase “The thrill is gone” begins each of the first three verses. Then it repeats in the second line with the word “baby” added. In each verse, the second line differs just a little bit from the first line, but says the same thing. This gives the singer a lot of room to work with, and bring different degrees of emotion to the lyric.

There aren’t a lot of minor key blues songs.

7. "Sweet Home Chicago"  Robert Johnson

Version – The New Transcriptions, Eric Clapton

Subjects – Wanting to leave, woman that won’t do what I want,

Hooks – repeat of first verse, misplacement of beat on the “go” of Chicago”, wordplay with the numbers in the verses.

Standard 12-bar chords (with turnaround)

| I | IV | I | I |

|IV| IV | I | I |

| V | IV | I/IV/ | I/V/ |

(The New Transcriptions has measure 10 as 2 beats of I and two beats of IV but I just don’t hear it that way.)

Structure Each verse ends with a refrain. Robert Johnson sings “Back to the land of California, to my sweet home Chicago”. Other performers sing “To the same old place, sweet home Chicago”. The math verses give people an opportunity to be creative and come up with their own rhymes.

8. "Crossroads"  Robert Johnson

Versions – The New Transcriptions, Cream, John Hammond Jr.

Subjects – wanting to go somewhere else,

Hooks – I don’t hear an identifiable hook in this one, but it has to be there.

"The New Transcriptions" has to be regarded as the authority on the chord progression that Robert Johnson plays. And they have it changing from 4/4 to 3/4 to 5/4…it just doesn’t keep to a repetitive chord progression. Johnson is just playing what felt right at the time, it is powerful. But as a whole it feels like a 12-bar blues. Later versions by other artists (which is what we are really tracking here – the songs most recorded by others) stick to a more regular progression. Cream gave the song the most exposure – straight 12 bar. John Hammond Jr’s version is almost a straight 12-bar, but more true to Robert Johnson and has some odd things in there.

  

9. "Baby Please Don’t Go"  Big Joe Williams

Versions – 1935 (Original issue Bluebird Records 'When The Sun Goes Down') and 1941 Joe Williams performances on YouTube , Lightnin’ Hopkins from YouTube 1947 recording. Them with Van Morrison was thew first time I heard it, same for many other people. Which raises an interesting point – was the song good enough in its original arrangement to become popular, or was it the cover that was made later that made people want to record the song themselves?

Subjects – Woman leaving me,

Hooks – later artists versions - the way the words tumble out in the Now, baby please don't go, Back to New Orleans, Even though I love you so, Baby please don’t go.

Another one with only one chord. Big Joe Williams 1935 recording has an “irregular” chord progression where he waits for the fiddle player to finish a lick before singing the next line. The rhythm changes quite a bit within the song, measures of 6/4, 7/4. The instrumentals on the 1941 version I listened to do go to the IV and V chords but the vocals stay on the I.  Lightnin Hopkins plays it this way also – stays on the I chord for the vocal and then an 8-bar blues instrumental between the vocal verses. Lightnin’s vocal verses are 8-bar while singing, with a couple extra bars prior to the singing. 

10. "Key To The Highway"  Charles Segar/Big Bill Broonzy

Versions – YouTube Big Bill Broonzy from Verve LP "Blues et Gospel No 3". YouTube Eric Clapton.

Structure An 8-bar blues makes the top ten.

| I | V | IV | I |

| V | IV | I/IV/ | I/V/ | (turnaround)

Subjects – Leaving here for better things.

Hooks – Key to the Highway is interesting concept. “Leave here runnin’ cos walking is much too slow” is catchy.

So What?

Let’s question my assumptions – does number of covers recorded really correlate with how good a song is? What factors make certain popular blues songs more “recordable”? Possibly...

• People can dance to it.
• It allows the singer to express himself/herself.
• It allows the singer to show off their chops.
• There is room for instrumentalists to stretch out.
• People who buy CDs at your gigs want to buy tunes they recognize.
• Every blues CD should pay homage to the masters.
• You already know it. The band knows it. The engineer knows it. Makes things easier.
• You haven’t done enough production prep prior to your recording session (e.g. looking for great songs to record) and this is all you can come up with.
• You’ve been playing this song since you were eleven years old.
•  

My goal with this blog is to somehow help songwriters come up with better blues songs (including myself). Why record these worn-out chestnuts one more time? After all, they’ve been done by hundreds of other artists – is your version adding anything? And you have to pay the same 9.1 cents per song per CD copy that you pay for ANY cover tune. Study them, sure, but then write something new, or look around for other local writers’ songs that turn you on.

Article 2. The Simple magic of repeating the first line

A standard blues song structure is to have the same words in both the first and second lines.

I should research and see if this derived from the work song call-and-response structure. Maybe I’ll do that one day, but for now I’m more concerned with the opportunities and advantages the repeated line structure offers us songwriters.

Among the advantages

• §         When a singer is making up lyrics on the spot, he has time to think, while repeating the first line, and figure out a third line that relates to, and rhymes with the first two.
• §         The listener gets a second chance to hear the words, and a second chance to figure out what the hell they mean. So there is less of a “speed bump” effect* and the listener has a second chance to get back on track with the flow of the song.
• §         The writer can use words/meanings/sounds that take more than one hearing to be absorbed by the listener. So you could get quite heavy with your meaning, use lines with multiple allusions, or use words that are fresh, that surprise the listener. 

One example from a classic blues by Slim Harpo. Imagine you are hearing it sung for the first time...

            I’m a king bee buzzing round your hive

...the words are not hard to understand, but did he really say that? What does that have to do with anything that is relevant to my life?

            I’m a king bee buzzing round your hive

Yup, that’s what he said. And then comes a superb payoff

            I can make honey baby; let me come inside.

Harpo keeps the metaphor going for three more verses (plus the sting-me bridge) to give us one of the best blues songs ever written.

(Source: Album: The Best of Slim Harpo HIPD40072 Excello Records 2113 from http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/slim+harpo/im+a+king+bee_10217448.html)

Another advantage

• Anticipation builds up as the first line is repeated. The listener is predisposed to hear something good. The words, melody and feelings we put into that third line will find home. There will usually be a two-bar turnaround after that third line, another chance for the listener to digest what we just sang, and get back on track if it was a speed bump of some kind.

I am trying to take advantage of these factors in a rather ambitious song I am writing called, “The Sinner Who Tried To Redeem Himself.” It is a straightforward 12-bar blues and the first line is

            In my pride, I tried to measure God by the length of my arm

What the hell does that mean?

            In my pride, I tried to measure God by the length of my arm

Okay, I did hear it right the first time, and it sounds interesting but what the hell does it mean?

I’m going to need one hell of a good third line…

* The “speed bump” – a term used in song critiques to describe what happens when a listener is taken aback/mystified/thrown off by something in a song. The listener then has become disengaged from the song, and often cannot catch back up with the story/mood/progression as it has continued along without him. We’ve all had the experience where we drove our car over a speed bump in the street, “What happened?!!” It’s like that.