Added: 1 year ago
From: cojwat
Views: 76,987
Sort by time | Sort by thread (beta)

Link to this comment:

Share to:

All Comments (123)

Sign In or Sign Up now to post a comment!
  • Thankyou. Who is taking the money for his songs nowadays for when I buy this single?

  • this should have a million views!!!!

  • Talkin about Catfish, and the many who did it, Bobo Slim Thomas, guitar, Sonny Boy Williamson harp, Leonard Ware bass,recorded Catfish @ Scotts Radio Service Jackson Ms July 24th 1951 for the Trumpet label.

  • This is trance. Just wonderful, so free, so honest. It's like a satellite signal, overcoming all temporal boundaries, all geography.

  • Redneck? Good thing my black friends don't know you. I'm the furthest thing from redneck there is. You've got lot of nerve judging me without knowing me. Shows a bit of prejudice & ignorance. No matter what I said in my post -- I never called or accused YOU of anything. I don't make judgment calls unseen. If Public Enemy weren't racist -- they never would've said anything about Elvis in that manner. Professionals keep it about the music not the person.

  • one guitar. he's playing in an open tuning

  • This is really cool, his voice is similar to Blind Willie McTell. Do I hear two guitars here? There is a drone of a suspended sounding chord throughout- like he's playing a 5th fret barre A, then A minor, to an A suspended, then back to A...it gives -in combination with his style of singing- an almost optimistic feel to the song, not a quality I have encountered in other blues tracks before.

  • Help! Anyone tell what the tuning is? Dropped D? Open chord?

  • Wonderful..

    

  • 1941....nice song

  • One of the great blues tunes of all time and few have ever heard it. Thanks for posting this. I used to have this on a cassette and played it to death. Shame Petway didn't record more. This single song shows what a unique sound he had. Awesome!

  • This has been a favorite of mine for years. Petway's stuff sounds very ahead of his time. His style is the prototype of RL Burnside and the Hill Country boogie style.

  • Thats fucking great

  • this is amazing

  • did elvis EVER admit that he was influenced by these artists or give them artistic credit for what he stole.. NO.. in fact he was known for making the statement that the only thing blacks could do for him was SHINE HIS SHOES....THE KING OF ROCK AND ROLL???? HELL NO!!! THAT TITLE IS RESERVED FOR CHUCK BERRY THE REAL KING. elvis was an over rated imitator....

  • @blacknuss6 yaaaaaaasssssssss!!!!!!!

  • gotta love it baby!!!!!

  • white folks been stealing since we came into contact with them...and haven't stopped. my God, we originally sang gospel under the slavemasters whip, which eventually evolved into gospel OR vice versa. and you know what...they even stole our sorrows.

  • WOW! i am sooo humbled after this. SO raw. That is the BLUES !

  • Gedaye coj where did ya get this from this bloke is awsome is there some old music pit of blues artists out that i dont no about or what

  • Read the above blurb about Muddy Waters' Rollin' Stone. When a white singer (Elvis P.) performs old blues songs he's accused of having "stole" it. When Black performers (Muddy) use something from another Black performer (Petway) it's called "based on." Sounds like terminology a wily publisher of poor black blues singers would use. This is why an Elvis gets blamed when he sings a blues number & publishers don't pay the original Black artist. It's a shame we just can't enjoy their art.

  • @lastrada52 __Sorry, I don’t get your point or I don’t want to get – except the last sentence which I really agree.

    English is not my language, I just try to use it, but in this case I think that I understood what I wrote.

    And I don’t have anything to do with music industry. I just love the blues and many other kind of music.

    Maybe your message is so hard to understand for me, because we don’t have such a “black/white” history here in Scandinavia. And God, I’m proud about that.

    Yours Cojwat

  • @cojwat - Nice to hear from you. My point is hard. I recently argued with a poster about the accusations that Elvis "stole" Black music. Not true: What is true: Black songwriters weren't compensated properly by publishers & record co. when an Elvis did sing their songs. My point: a black artist "borrows" music -- like Muddy / Petway -- but it's not stealing, it's a song "based on" another melody. But if Elvis sings a black artist's song -- he's stealing it. Success makes you a target.

  • @cojwat snow in the roads is the only black/white history we've had hahaha

  • @cojwat good answer my friend

  • @lastrada52 i'd be able to buy this hook line and sinker if elvis actually had any difficulties because of this, but in reality all that happened was elvis got all the credit for popularizing these songs and didn't give the credit to the people who composed or created the original works. elvis covered peoples works without giving credit, which is the same as saying it was his from the start, ergo, it is stealing.

  • @drakeluv92 - I don't recall Elvis ever saying he wrote these songs. U have to remember back in the 50's/60's the record buying public weren't as "hip" to who wrote what song. They were only interested in buying a song they liked. Elvis excelled in this area. What was he supposed to do come out, sing a song & announce to the audience who originally recorded or wrote it? Hell, many don't do that today drakeluv92. ALL Elvis' records credit the writer under the song titles that I own.

  • @lastrada52 We wouldn't be talking about this at all if Elvis hadn't come along. Most people who like the blues discovered it through rock and roll.

    Same with sampling. Wu Tang Clan might steal a riff from an old RnB song, but then that singer will earn enough in royalties and increased record sales because of it that they'll be able to quit the dayjob as a janitor they had to pick up because nobody knew about their music.

    Anything that exposes music to more people is a good thing.

  • @GilbertSmith - That first sentence of yours GS is very true. Many people like to believe Elvis "stole" the black man's music but don't realize few people were buying or even caring about "race" records in the 50's. From what I've read, interest began to develop with Elvis, Chuck Berry and Little Richard and they together -- sparked interest in black music. My white friends DID NOT buy Pat Boone's version of "Ain't That A Shame," they bought Fats Domino's.

  • @lastrada52 Blacks cared about "race records"

    who really cares about anybody else

  • @lastrada52 But he did... Big Mama Thornton never got a check or a writing credit for Hound Dog there's a difference between covering and claiming 100% credit for a song you didn't write and Little Richard and Chuck Berry were around a couple years before Elvis but nobody would play their records until Elvis came along

  • @GrisGrisOnUrDoorStep - "Hound Dog" was written by white Jewish boys: Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller. Big Mama had nothing to do with writing it. That's why she never got a check / writing credit. Leiber-Stoller wrote many hits for Elvis. Elvis never took a writing credit for "Hound Dog," Little Richard & Chuck gained popularity on white radio because of Elvis. They acknowledged that. Payment from songs comes from the publishers -- they did lots of ripping off in the 50's.

  • @lastrada52 I had no idea that they wrote that song

  • @lastrada52 in fact you have made the argument of white musicians plagiarising even more plausible. Blues music is a cultural anthological resource fo the black community. In fact, tunes/songs with embedded cultural markers and memories are carried forward to a new generation of listeners by appropriating work of other black musicians. When Elvis uses it to become a record company money maker and for self-image construction then its not the same thing.

  • @administrator1037 - Well I guess Little Anthony & the Imperials should not be singing Teddy Randazzo songs & we should criticize The Drifters for covering Carole King songs. Or, Cassandra Wilson for doing "Last Train to Clarklsville," & Taj Mahal should not sing "Take A Giant Step." Plagiarising? Black musicians lost money because of black publishers. Elvis went into record two songs for his mother. He never went into the business to be a star like today's kids.

  • @lastrada52 Did Elvis make his hair and do the dancing steps for his mother or for the girls? Whats next? Sex Pistols made love songs?

    In any case, you are comparing two different things. I am talking in the specific context of black blues musicians that were performers and not (given the chance to be) recording artists by profession. You are talking about very different kind of and musicians. Its not just about being black. It is about being black' n' blue.

  • @administrator1037 - Black musicians made records & published their tunes. If an Elvis comes along (he was from the South) & covers one of their tunes he's given permission by the publisher & it is the publisher who forwards residuals to the original artist. Many black labels/publishers DID NOT compensate those original artists. Elvis Presley has NOTHING to do with making sure they get paid personally. Even James Brown said Elvis HELPED black musicians get their due. Period.

  • @lastrada52 I leave you with the words of Public Enemy "Elvis was a hero to most / But he never meant shit to me / Straight-up racist that sucker was / Simple and plain". Period!

  • @administrator1037 - Public Enemy's very lyric reads racist to my ears. But Elvis is still talked about, influential & sells millions 34 years after his death. Public Enemy is a footnote in music. Important to those who liked them -- which never numbered anywhere as high as Elvis. If you don't like Elvis -- fine. Muhammad Ali, James Brown & Sammy Davis Jr. did & that's enough for me. What Public Enemy writes/thinks doesn't matter when blacks like them loved him. Period!

  • @lastrada52 LOL! Someone called Public Enemy Racist. That's as good as a redneck confession.

  • @administrator1037 - One other thing -- you and I are getting further and further away from the subject -- Robert Petway. Let's not waste YouTube space and the poster cojwat's time with our selfish words. Out of respect for Mr Petway let's stick to the subject administrator1037 -- or let it go....

  • Comment removed

  • And yet another old blues master - wow good stuff

  • This is a theme based on proverbs and is prevelent in all pre recordered blues and is why it reoccurs in most early recordings including charlie patton. I owned a coppy of this in the late 80's and have been searching for a copy since, thanks for the post

  • 212!!! - 0!!! yeahhhhh :D

  • @grindhiphop This is probably something to do with the fact that people who aren't interested in proper old school blues wont come by these parts of the interwebs!

  • @rezi1989 Yeah man, that's it

  • 'Bout time he got his just deserts...What a fine, fine song and a real missing piece of the jigsaw, beautiful...

  • Sounds like I hear a Diddley Bow in there. Nice.

  • I can't get enough of this song.

  • Love this guy...

  • hmm hmm now this is what im talking 'bout

  • I liked the song until i saw how old it is.

  • @heyheyheyden Is this a joke? The age of a song shouldn't ruin it for you. If anything, it should inspire fascination that a song this old can be so good.

  • @duggy51 haha i was just kidding and you took it so seriously typical....

  • @heyheyheyden Haha thank God :)

  • @duggy51 amazing comment. you explained it lik a picture with a thousand words

  • @heyheyheyden Haha....what joke. You don't like it because its too old? Maybe the Justin Beiber blues experience is more suited for your taste?

  • @heyheyheyden Bit like sayin I want a one week old whiskey.

    We do not know if Robert wrote this, heard another singin it and added his soul to it, do remember records started in 1920,s or so, after earlier mechanical reordings on rolls, so the blues pre that time were not recorded, they didnt just appear overnight, Freddie Spruill also did a Catfish, dont recall who put it down first. I could check.

  • Another guy almost forgotten by History... Great bluesman, incredible song. Glad I discovered his work!

  • The lyrics looks more like "Stroll Out" by Eddie Taylor

  • @alsegober You could say that Eddies Stroll out west was the catfish tune. Which was much later recording.

  • It's really pity that musicians like Robert Petway, Mance Lipscombe or Lousiana Red are so little known (at least less known than Clapton or Buddy Guy), when they are such a good musicians. Another great bluesman is Guy Davis, but I've never seen him alongside the aforementioned blues musicians. A pity, just a pity folks

  • solo se le acerca canned heat....ésta es la mejor.....

  • freaking awsome

  • With this'', I can see where The Stones and many others got their material. Thanks. Great Stuff.

  • We are standing on the shoulders of all the great blues artists, performers, and composers who gave us the seeds of blues, jazz, rock, hip hop, and rock-a-billy. Most of these people were blacks who made almost nothing for their great contributions but who gave us the beginnings of the music which is truly American.

    The incalculable contribution of blacks to American culture can never be over emphasized. Without these artists we would never have had the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, etc

  • @farseas ...I don't understand why so many people believe hendrix and the stones are the epitome of good music

  • @busessuck1 Well, because they are. I would have added many other names to this list, but I ran out of characters. We would also never have had Rock'n'Roll at all without the previous influence of blues. What are your opinions about the epitome of good music?

  • @farseas Amen.

  • @farseas There are so many great artists who were influenced by the blues, but the blues isn't just a stepping stone to Rock or Jazz or RnB its an art form of its own and this is an example of a great blues song no matter who came later and covered it or who was influenced by it.

  • gotta keep this music alive.

  • I don't get the montage of pictures. Why not put a blurred picture of Clarence Ashley? Many of the images were from completely divergent talents, seemed to be a mere distraction from the music.

  • what if i were a catfish mama ?

    the very, very best of the American blues scene

    don't get any better.... settin' out hook for me !!

  • It is impossible to listen to this version too many times

    every time it yields more

    So great!!

  • What's the tuning to this song? And does anyone have a half decent tab? I can't find one anywhere!

  • The rhythm is somewhat similar to Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love.

  • @k1awdttt the rhythm of led zeppelin's whole lotta love is somewhat similar to THIS

  • @clarkharney138 Right... I phrased it wrongly. Thanks for the correction.

  • @k1awdttt I gave you a thumbs up. A little modesty is like a breath of fresh air on here.

  • @lewars1912 And kudos to you sir. Give me an internet brofist!

  • hey thanx man!! that's awesome! Love history!

  • I have 2 theorys on what happened to Robert Petway

    1)He could have died in war?

    2)If he's still alive he's somewhere in Mississippi?

  • @jacksondemarre definitely the second one 

  • @busessuck1 I was thinking that also

  • soy el 100 me gusta

    wuuuuuujuuuuuu

  • sounds like north Mississippi hill country blues to me

  • maybe he died in the war.

  • Any idea who does own the rights to this. The recording itself is well over 50 years old, and so will be out of copyright. The copyright of the music - as a written composition - would belong to the writer for 50 or 70 years after his/her death. Was Robert Petway the original writer? I guess this information is probably not known. I'd be really interested if anyone does have any info on this though.

  • Many thanks for sharing this fabulous track. Amazing to think how long ago it was recorded and yet it does not sound dated. Not to my ear, anyway.

  • Pretty interesting posts until some clown threw the F word

  • Something rough and really cool about that voice!

  • This is incredible. That up-beat tempo is awesome.

  • robert petway is from my home town.

  • It's like he was a ghost. He just travelled around playing adn then just disappeared

    nobody knows what happened or where he is. creepy!

  • @ontariobuds I kno right

    

  • OG before OG was OG.

    Thank you for this vid!

  • Somebody knows what he's singing in the lyric?

  • I know just of every ol' blueman there is, but Petway got away. I first heard of him when I saw his name credited on Jimi Hendrix's blues album for 'Catfish Blues'.

    One of my favourites.

  • This is oustanding........if not for the uploader and YouTube, i never would have heard this.  Bravo to the uploader!

  • WOW

  • This is such an awesome rendition. Thank you.

  • My favorite version of this song, followed by one of Honeyboy Edwards.

  • This is my favorite version of this song -

  • Too bad only 16 recorded songs I feel quite cheated as do any fan of the blues does I'm sure

  • Absolutely brilliant,dig it.

  • yea yea, hendrix is okay...but this is what i was lookin for

  • old school.......love it!

  • SWEETNESS.....:) Blessing's, Peace,LOVE,Light! :) Thankyou...

  • Him and Tommy McClennan are among the most baddass musicians of all time

  • The youth have to be listening to more of this type of kiss ass musics melts the face

  • I don't even know what to think about this. One thing's certain tho: it gives me shivers!

  • raw and pure

  • Thanks for posting this vid, cojwat. It used to be up but then disappeared. Its nice to have it back!

  • Captain Beefheart owes more than just a nod to this legend .

  • tj, that was an understatement. this is beautiful shit. it is so very fucking real. that shit they call music these days is an insult to punk rock. at least they knew 3 chords.

    the git is out of tune, he loses key here and there, and still it reamains shit the stones would steal. (fuck you, keef)

    i dont wanna offend, but this is one of the better things that came out of slavery. the blues have touched every part of american culture, in a good way.

    thank yas.

  • This is one of the rockingest blues songs of all history.

Loading...
Alert icon
0 / 00Unsaved Playlist Return to active list
    1. Your queue is empty. Add videos to your queue using this button:
      or sign in to load a different list.
    Loading...Loading...Saving...
    • Clear all videos from this list
    • Learn more