{"id":4719,"date":"2014-04-22T11:20:15","date_gmt":"2014-04-22T16:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=4719"},"modified":"2014-04-23T09:19:09","modified_gmt":"2014-04-23T14:19:09","slug":"big-mama-thornton-wade-in-the-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=4719","title":{"rendered":"Big Mama Thornton – Wade In the Water"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Example\" <\/strong><\/p>\n

Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Example\" <\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download Big Mama Thornton – Wade In the Water<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

UPDATE: I just found out that Cultures of Soul has just reissued ‘Wade In the Water’ on 45 as part of the Andy Smith’s Jam Up Twist box set. It’s a great collection (put together by a great DJ) and a fantastic way to get this burner – among others – on 45.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Greetings all<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

The middle of the week is here and so in service of defeating the doldrums, I bring you something guaranteed to melt your face, and\/or make your hair stand on end.<\/p>\n

I do not recall where I first heard Big Mama Thornton\u2019s<\/strong> epic reading of \u2018Wade In the Water\u2019 but I do remember being knocked back on my heels.<\/p>\n

I have already mentioned in this space that the song in question is a big favorite of mine, and as such I like to pick up new versions wherever I find them.<\/p>\n

What is most interesting is the fact that \u2018Wade In the Water\u2019 is at its base a gospel song with roots in the underground railroad.<\/p>\n

Though is has been rerecorded in a number of non-gospel settings, most of those (or at least the ones I\u2019m familiar with) were usually instrumental (though the rock version by Clover<\/strong> is a marked exception).<\/p>\n

The version you see before you today, by Willie Mae \u2018Big Mama\u2019 Thornton takes the song, strips it down to a skeletal framework (tossing the \u2018gospel\u2019 out the window) and rebuilds it as something else entirely.<\/p>\n

Most people know of Big Mama Thornton for her original recordings of \u2018Hound Dog\u2019 (later done by Elvis<\/strong>) and \u2018Ball and Chain\u2019 (turned into a showcase by Janis Joplin<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Thornton. A singer, harp player and drummer had been recording blues and R&B since the early 1950s.<\/p>\n

By the mid-1960s she had relocated to the San Francisco Bay area, and started recording for Arhoolie records.<\/p>\n

She recorded \u2018Wade In the Water\u2019 in 1968, and it was released as a 45 (rare and expensive) but also released on the compilation \u2018Ball and Chain\u2019 (released in 1968 and 1974 and much less expensive).<\/p>\n

Her version burns rubber like a top fuel dragster (one friend has referred to it as \u2018the punk rock version\u2019) and just gets faster and harder as it goes on. Big Mama wails, and the guitar solo by Bee Houston<\/strong> is killer.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to listen to a record this elemental and singularly powerful without wondering why it wasn\u2019t a hit.<\/p>\n

The likely explanation is that it was a record \u2018out of time\u2019. It is light years heavier than most rock music from the time, and I can\u2019t imagine what it must have sounded like to the blues fest crowds that she was playing to at the time.<\/p>\n

It’s a lot closer to the MC5<\/strong> than it is to Muddy Waters.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This, in addition to the fact that lyrically, Thornton divorces the song completely from its gospel roots, choosing instead to rebuild the lyrics as a loose, bluesy riff serving only to deliver her remarkable voice. It\u2019s as if someone harnessed a hurricane and pressed it into the grooves of a record.<\/p>\n

Heavy, heavy stuff.<\/p>\n

I hope you dig it as much as I do.<\/p>\n

See you on Friday.<\/p>\n

Keep the faith<\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

_________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!<\/strong> The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.<\/strong> They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).<\/strong> Click here to go to the ordering page.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/a> \"Example\"<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton Listen\/Download Big Mama Thornton – Wade In the Water   UPDATE: I just found out that Cultures of Soul has just reissued ‘Wade In the Water’ on 45 as part of the Andy Smith’s Jam Up Twist box set. It’s a great collection (put together by a great DJ) and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[89,58,14,82,30,64,12],"tags":[166,173,164],"class_list":["post-4719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blues","category-cover-songs","category-funky16corners","category-gospel","category-lp-tracks","category-rb","category-soul","tag-funky16corners","tag-rb","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-1e7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4719"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4754,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4719\/revisions\/4754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}