A 1950 Chess single about a restless wanderer, whose title a young London R&B band borrowed for their own (1950)
'Rollin' Stone' — the source of the Rolling Stones' name, and arguably of Rolling Stone magazine's.
Popular music · Jazz & blues
Muddy Waters
1913–1983 · American
Chicago electric blues
Muddy Waters, born McKinley Morganfield, carried the Delta blues north to Chicago and plugged it in, creating the amplified small-band sound that became the direct ancestor of rock and roll. Recording for Chess with songs largely written by Willie Dixon, he is the man usually described as the father of modern Chicago blues.
How to spot them
- ▸Real name McKinley Morganfield; the nickname came from playing in a muddy creek as a boy
- ▸Chess Records in Chicago, run by the brothers Leonard and Phil Chess
- ▸Willie Dixon wrote his biggest hits; Little Walter on amplified harmonica, Otis Spann on piano
- ▸Slide guitar and a declamatory voice; boasts about charms, mojos and manhood
- ▸Alan Lomax recorded him on a Mississippi plantation for the Library of Congress before he ever went north
Songs & albums
A 1954 Willie Dixon song of black cat bones, John the Conqueror root and a seventh son born on the seventh hour (1954)
'(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man' — his biggest hit and the template for the blues stop-time riff.
A 1955 answer record in which the singer spells out, letter by letter, that he is fully grown (1955)
'Mannish Boy', a reply to Bo Diddley's 'I'm a Man'; re-cut in 1977 and played in The Last Waltz.
A 1957 boast that the singer's charm works on every woman but the one he wants (1957)
'Got My Mojo Working', written by Preston Foster; his most requested number on stage.
A 1954 Willie Dixon song of promises — diamond rings, a life of ease — in exchange for one thing (1954)
'I Just Want to Make Love to You', later a hit for Etta James and for Foghat.
Acoustic recordings made in 1941 at Stovall Plantation by a Library of Congress folklorist (1941)
'Country Blues' and 'I Be's Troubled', taped by Alan Lomax; hearing the playback convinced him he could be a professional.
A 1977 comeback album produced by the Texan guitarist Johnny Winter, the first of four that won him Grammys (1977)
Hard Again — the record that revived his career in his sixties.
Quick-fire facts
- •Born in Mississippi in 1913 and raised at Stovall, near Clarksdale; he moved to Chicago in 1943 and worked in a paper mill
- •His first Chess hits appeared on the label's predecessor, Aristocrat, renamed Chess in 1950
- •The Rolling Stones took their name from his 1950 single; they recorded at Chess's studio at 2120 South Michigan Avenue in 1964
- •His 1958 British tour astonished audiences expecting an acoustic folk singer and helped start the British blues boom
- •His bands were a training ground: Little Walter, Jimmy Rogers, Otis Spann, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy and James Cotton all passed through
- •He won six Grammy Awards, all for traditional or ethnic blues recordings, between 1971 and 1980
- •He appeared in The Band's farewell concert film The Last Waltz (1978), singing 'Mannish Boy'
- •He died at his home in Westmont, Illinois, on 30 April 1983
- •He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, inducted by Paul Butterfield
Drill it — 8 cards
1 / 8new card
Sources
- Muddy Waters — Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
- Robert Gordon — Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters