Remembering Muddy Waters, born on this day in 1915.

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McKinley Morganfield, Muddy Waters’s real name, was born on April 4, 1915, into abject poverty on a cotton plantation in Stovall, in the Mississippi Delta. He spent his childhood and youth there, and was introduced to music through his father, a talented guitarist.

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In 1941, Alan Lomax, who had a paid assignment from the Library of Congress to recover the voices resonating across the nation, showed up at the plantation to record him. He cashed a check for $20. This encouraged him to keep playing, and after a dark history of disagreements on the cotton plantation, he left for Chicago, where he alternated between working at the city’s dive bars. There, in those noisy surroundings, he traded his acoustic guitar for an electric one, and the world began to learn about Muddy Waters.

After a few failed attempts at smaller record labels, he signed a contract with Chess Records and released his first hit single, “I Can’t Be Satisfied.” It was 1948, and he became so popular that by the following year he was working and recording with other bluesmen on the label, including Little Walter, Otis Spann, and Jimmy Rogers.

With fame and success came European tours, and in 1958 he arrived in the United Kingdom with a huge following, where he was heard live by some of the best European rock and pop musicians, including John Mayall, Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Van Morrison, and a teenager named Eric Clapton.

In 1960, he performed at the Newport Jazz Festival, where he was the shining star of that year’s program in the coastal city. In 1967, he recorded the famous “Super Blues” albums with Howlin’ Wolf, Bo Diddley, and Little Walter for the Chess label. In subsequent years, already in the 1970s, he recorded with Johnny Winter’s “Blue Sky” label and had the opportunity to perform with some of the greatest musicians of the time, such as Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones.

When Muddy Waters died in 1983, one of the founding fathers of the blues passed away, one of the greatest guitarists of his generation, and a historical icon who helped shape and define American culture through his music. Muddy’s influence changed the face of the blues and shaped the genre that would become known as rock and roll. In fact, the famous group The Rolling Stones took their name from one of their best-known songs by the charismatic bluesman.

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Muddy Waters Discography

Main article on Wikipedia: Muddy Waters discography

and for an in depth, illustrated discography, see https://www.wirz.de/music/waters.htm

Studio albums

• Muddy Waters Sings “Big Bill” (Chess, 1960)
• Folk Singer (Chess, 1964)
• Muddy, Brass & the Blues (Chess, 1966)
• Electric Mud (Cadet, 1968)
• After the Rain (Cadet, 1969)
• Fathers and Sons (Chess, 1969)
• The London Muddy Waters Sessions (Chess, 1972)
• Can’t Get No Grindin’ (Chess, 1973)
• Mud in Your Ear (Muse, 1973)
• London Revisited (Chess, 1974) split album with Howlin’ Wolf
• “Unk” in Funk (Chess, 1974)
• The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album (Chess, 1975)
• Hard Again (Blue Sky, 1977)
• I’m Ready (Blue Sky, 1978)
• King Bee (Blue Sky, 1981)

The Essential Collection (Muddy Waters album)

The Essential Collection is a 20-song compilation of the music of Muddy Waters, spanning work from 1950 through to 1972. The album, released in 2000 by Universal Music Group’s Spectrum Records, complements much of his original work with many songs that went on to become classics of the British Invasion when used by other artists.

Track listing

"Got My Mojo Working" - 2:53 (Preston Foster, Muddy Waters)
"Long Distance Call" - 2:41 (Jerry Livingston, Carl Lampl and Al Hoffman)
"Close to You" - 3:14 (Willie Dixon)
"I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" - 4:51 (Dixon)
"She Moves Me" - 2:59 (Waters)
"Baby Please Don't Go" - 3:16 (Waters)
"Mad Love (I Want You to Love Me)" - 3:04 (Dixon)
"I'm Ready" - 3:03 (Dixon, Waters)
"I Just Want to Make Love to You" - 2:51 (Dixon)
"I Live the Life I Love, I Love the Life I Live" - 2:54 (Dixon)
"She's All Right" - 2:30
"Mannish Boy" - 3:49 (Bo Diddley, Mel London, Waters)
"Young-Fashioned Ways" - 3:01 (Dixon)
"I Want to be Loved" - 2:32 (Dixon)
"Louisiana Blues" - 2:51 (Waters)
"Forty Days and Forty Nights" - 2:53 (Bernard Roth)
"Rollin' Stone" - 3:08 (Waters)
"Stuff You Gotta Watch" - 2:50
"Garbage Man" - 2:37 (Willie Hammond)
"Can't Get No Grindin'" - 2:48 (Waters)

Muddy Waters – Mannish Boy

Lyrics:

Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah

Everything gonna be alright this mornin’
Now, when I was a young boy
At the age of five
My mother said I was gonna be
The greatest man alive
But now I’m a man
I’m age twenty-one
I want you to believe me, honey
We having lots of fun

I’m a man (yeah)
I spell M
A, child
N
That represent man
No B
O, child
Y
That spell mannish boy
I’m a man
I’m a full-grown man
I’m a man
I’m a rollin’ stone
I’m a man
I’m a hoochie-coochie man

Sittin’ on the outside
Just me and my mate
I’m made to move
Come up two hours late
Wasn’t that a man?
I spell M
A, child
N
That represesnt man
No B
O, child
Y
That spell mannish boy
I’m a man
I’m a full-grown man
I’m a man
I’m a rolllin’ stone
I’m a man
Full-grown man
Oh, well
Oh, well

Muddy Waters – Muddy Waters Sings Big Bill.

A moving tribute from Muddy Waters to his former mentor, Big Bill Bronzy. The man who taught him his secrets and took him to the blues clubs across America. Recorded with passion, this album makes it clear that Bronzy’s gifted disciple is not only unique on the guitar, but also understood Big’s songwriting style and sings with energy and sensitivity.

Muddy Waters Sings “Big Bill” is the first studio album, but second overall album, by blues musician Muddy Waters, featuring songs by Big Bill Broonzy, released by the Chess label in 1960.

Track listing

All compositions by Big Bill Broonzy except where noted

"Tell Me Baby" – 2:15
"Southbound Train" – 2:51
"When I Get to Thinking" (Harriett Melka) – 3:05
"Just a Dream (On My Mind)" – 2:30
"Double Trouble" (Melka) – 2:44
"I Feel So Good" – 2:53
"I Done Got Wise" (McKinley Morganfield) – 2:56
"Mopper's Blues" – 2:51
"Lonesome Road Blues" – 3:01
"Hey, Hey" – 2:41