Episode 4 The Devil's Music


Episode 4

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And the last programme in this series

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concerns itself entirely with group performances -

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electric blues, rhythm and blues, R & B,

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the form which has generally come to be called Chicago blues,

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which in any event is where

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most of the following performances were recorded at Eddie Shaw's club.

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Howlin' Wolf used to appear there regularly.

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Whereas the earlier players merely used the electric guitar

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to amplify their original acoustic sounds -

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Joe Willie Wilkins and Houston Stackhouse earlier in the series

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were excellent examples of this -

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the next generation of players viewed the electric guitar, quite rightly,

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as a different instrument.

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And the harmonica players were rapidly to follow suit.

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Billy Boy Arnold was actually born in Chicago in 1935.

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His mother was a great fan of John Lee Williamson, Sonny Boy I,

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a major influence on all the Chicago harmonica players

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from the late '40s on.

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This song was the first recording which Arnold made

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for Vee-Jay Records in 1955 - She Fooled Me.

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# Once upon a time

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# Down on 47th Street in Chicago

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# I met a fine chick

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# Tried to knock her off her feet

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# Now all alone

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# I thought she was playin'

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# And didn't know that I was a real sugar man

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# But she fooled me

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# Oh, she fooled me that time

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# I thought she was just a dumb little girl

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# I could give her almost any old line

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# Now this same chick

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# Tried to put me on the run

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# Course, I gave her a little money

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# We had a little fun

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# And all that time

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# I thought she didn't know

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# That I had another girl up on the second floor

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# But she fooled me

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# Whoa, the little girl fooled me that time

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# I thought she was just a dumb little girl

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# And I could give her almost any old line

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# I ran out of money

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# Ran out of fun

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# She put me down and put me on the run

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# I said, look here, baby

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# Don't play me cheap

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# I'll have a lot of money one day next week

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# But she fooled me

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# Whoa, that little girl fooled me that time

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# I thought she was just a dumb, stupid little girl

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# I could give her almost any old line

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# Now when she out I was cheating

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# She wanted to put me down

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# I had holes in my clothes

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# My feet was on the ground

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# She said, look here, Daddy

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# I'm going to change my order

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# I'm going to trade you in and get myself a brand-new model

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# Cos she fooled me

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# Whoa, that little girl fooled me that time

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# I thought she was just a dumb, stupid little fool

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# And could get a pretty thing almost any time

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# Said, look here, Daddy

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# I'm going to change my order

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# I'm going to trade you in and get myself a brand-new model

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# She fooled me

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# Whoa, that little girl fooled me that time

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# I thought she was just a dumb, stupid little girl

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# That could get a pretty thing almost any time. #

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ALEXIS: Billy Boy Arnold, accompanied by The Aces,

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of whom more later. She Fooled Me.

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And that, incidentally, was the first R & B song that I ever recorded,

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some six or seven years later.

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Now, imagine that you have available all the note-sustaining qualities

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of an acoustic bottle-neck guitar sound,

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only louder, longer, and with no need to use a bottle-neck.

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T-Bone Walker and BB King long ago set the style and the standards.

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Fenton Robinson hears and plays it his own way

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even if the influences are obvious.

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# You don't know what love is

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# Until you really fall in love one time

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# You don't know what love is

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# Until you really fall in love one time

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# Oh, I remember when that little love was with me

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# And she almost blew my mind

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# From sun-up to sun-down

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# She kept my nose down on the ground

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# Oh, from sun-up, all day long, yeah

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# She kept my nose down on the ground

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# She jangled my life around another chain

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# And now I know I'll never be the same

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# And I'd be a fool to say so much

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# A beautiful picture still it haunts my mind

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# And I'd be a fool to say it's all over

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# A beautiful picture still is in my mind

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# Oh, brother You just don't know what love is

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# Until you really fall in love one time

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# Get on down now! #

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ALEXIS: You Don't Know What Love Is.

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Fenton Robinson's been working as a regular band leader

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for some 22 years now.

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He's also a successful writer,

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and by far the most modern performer in this series.

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Compare his playing, for instance,

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with that of Joe Willie Wilkins who, together with LT Lewis,

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accompanies harmonica player Sonny Blake

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in this performance of a song called Bring It On Home To Me.

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# Baby

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# Baby

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# I'm coming on home to you

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# Train's at the station to get her load

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# The conductor calls out, all aboard

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# To you, my sweet I'm going to hurry back

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# Watch that train roll up and down the track

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# Baby

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# Baby

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# I'm coming on home to you

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# And my soul got happy and my heart got glad

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# Strangest feeling that I ever had

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# You know, pretty baby Don't you know that's true?

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# You know, pretty girl I'm coming home to you

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# Yes, I'm coming to you, baby

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# I'm coming to you, baby

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# Yes, I'm coming to you, baby

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# Yes, I'm coming to you, baby

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# Well, I'm coming to you, baby

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# I'm coming on home to you. #

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ALEXIS: A good rolling feel from Sonny Blake on harmonica,

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Joe Willie Wilkins guitar and LT Lewis on drums.

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And today is definitely the day for harmonica players.

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Good Rockin' Charles, Charles Edwards,

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he's been around Chicago

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playing harmonica and singing for many years now.

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He lives on welfare payments

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and whatever he can make in the Chicago blues clubs.

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The Aces, who back him here,

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have been encouraging him for some time now.

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The song - Don't Start Me To Talkin'.

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# Well, I'm going down the road

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# Stop at Fannie Mae's

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# Going to tell Fannie what I've heard her boyfriend say

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# Now don't start me to talkin'

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# I'll tell everything I know

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# I'm going to break up all this signifying

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# Cos somebody's got to go

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# Jack gave his wife two dollars one time

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# To get some market

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# Gets out on the street

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# Old George stopped her

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# He knocked her down

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# He blackened her eye

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# She come back home

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# And tell her husband a lie

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# Now don't start me to talkin'

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# I'll tell everything I know

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# I'm going to break up all this signifying

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# Cos somebody's got to go

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# She borrowed some money

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# For the beauty shop

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# He honked his horn and she began to stop

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# Said take me, baby Around the block

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# I'm going to the beauty shop where I can get my hair styled

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# Don't start me to talkin'

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# I'll tell everything I know

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# I'm going to break up all this signifying

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# Cos somebody's got to go

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# Oh, yeah

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# Borrowed some money

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# For the beauty shop

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# He honked his horn

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# And she began to stop

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# Said take me, baby Around the block

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# I'm going to the beauty shop where I can get my hair styled

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# Don't start me to talkin'

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# I'll tell everything I know

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# I'm gonna break up all the signifying

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# Oh, somebody's got to go. #

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Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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So now it's time to see The Aces,

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not as a backing band, but as they really are -

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one of the top bands in Chicago,

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one of the tightest

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and, paradoxically, one of the loosest.

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The Myers brothers - Louis on guitar and Dave on bass -

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are both Mississippians who moved to Chicago in 1941.

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Louis was 12, Dave was 15.

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Freddy Below is considered by many

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to be the greatest Chicago R & B drummer around.

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When this film was made,

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they'd been playing together fairly regularly for 25 years.

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# Come on, babe

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# Take a little walk with me

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# Come on, babe

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# Take a little walk with me

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# By that same old place

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# Where we long to be

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# Come on, baby I don't want you to walk too slow

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# I got something, baby That I want you to know

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# Hey, babe

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# Take a little walk with me

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# By that same old place

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# Where we long to be. #

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Look out!

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# Two and two is four, you know

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# Four and four is eight

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# Come on, baby, you know I don't want you to be too late

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# Hey, babe

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# Take a little walk with me

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# By the same old place

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# Where we long to be

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# Come on, baby Don't you be too slow

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# I've got something, baby That I want you to know

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# Hey, yeah

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# Take a little walk with me

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# By the same old place

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# Where we long to be. #

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ALEXIS: Take A Little Walk by The Aces,

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one of the most thoroughly professional blues bands

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you're ever likely to hear.

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But then by now we're at what one might call

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the better-groomed, the glossier end of the business.

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These are no longer the blues of poverty -

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the blues of oppression, maybe, but NOT the blues of poverty.

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Things, after all, are changing.

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There is now a very powerful Black middle class.

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For them, the smoother-sounding blues men -

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more genteel, I agree, than Booker White or Big Joe Williams,

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but men of quality who keep the blues right up to date,

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and that's what's needed, always.

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So we'll leave you with the man most appropriate to the occasion -

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Fenton Robinson.

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The statutory White musician, the smooth fluency of Robinson's playing,

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the touches of jazz improvisation, the staging, it's all real.

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This IS the blues of today.

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# Somebody loan me a dime

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# I wanna call my old-time used-to-be

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# Somebody loan me a dime, I tell you

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# I just wanna call my old-time used-to-be

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# My woman's been gone so long, yeah

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# And that began to worry me

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# Oh, I just cried, I just cried

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# I cried like a baby all night long

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# Oh, I cried and then I cried

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# I cried just like a baby all night long

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# Oh, I need somebody

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# I need somebody here in my home. #

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Up there!

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# And now I know she's a good girl

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# But at that time I just didn't understand

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# Oh, I know she's a good girl

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# But at that time I just didn't understand

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# Oh, somebody loan me a dime, yeah

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# Just to ease my worried mind

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# All right. #

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APPLAUSE

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