This song represents the epiphany one could experience from the most mind-boggling sexual experience possible this side of the great beyond. Starts out slow and reaches a frenzied climax and then nothing but mellow... no "stone left unturned" during the exploration. Senses amplified... like the first time... which is why you can listen to it for 50 years and it never fades...
The song is not about love, that's the outer meaning. The song's about coke. Clapton being the delta blues admirer that he is was influenced by Charlie Patton. The original has a spoken part that starts with "I'm about to go to jail about this spoonful". -Old Detroiter....
I'm 57 and heard this so many times and I never never never tire of it. The riffs just seem to roll along so effortlessly and the changes are so spontaneous and natural. This is a-fucking-mazing...
This was THE song to get stoned to as a newly-emerging 18 year old in the summer of '68. You could literally get into the intensity of every note. Clapton was at his peak on this song and album. Forty years later I have to play it every now and then just to remind myself of just how great he was before he got old, tired and lame. And lazy. The updated version of "Layla" is barf city compared to the original. He should have left that one alone
@jackgingeranderic - I'm pretty sure that crustaceans could dig Cream. I can see lobsters snapping their claws in time with Ginger's footwork, which is quite amazing to watch on film. The humans have been selling their souls in massive numbers, heretofore unprecedented in human history. Quite possibly in the entire universe only souless humans cannot dig a Cream jam. I saw Cream twice, and Spoonful has been in my repertoire since 69. The Howlin' Wolf version is quite nice also.
Listening to Ginger, you can hear that he's a jazz drummer, and not a "rock" drummer. Amazing. And Jack's bass playing is just phenomenal, I've never heard anyone play bass like that. This is like a perfect mixture of jazz, acid, and blues.
i love the drummers from back in the day huge jazz influence. love it. todays music plays this stuff just not pop. you hear it in garages and small bars not mtv. record producers are evil and should cease to exist in my opinion. sooner or later music will return to the roots its just what happens. people will remember the fact that music is supposed to come from the soul and theyll come back to the roots trust me theyll get bored of mainstream.
The first record my parents ever bought me.That Christmas was magical indeed.I could not wait to share this album with my friends..I consider the Wheels of Fire album to be the pinnacle of Cream's efforts.Thanks for posting this great music.
@DecoPage666 Heroin was actually a big problem with jazz players like Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Cannonball Adderley. Heroin got a second awakaning after the 60s, but it was always there. It was the first real thing to be a junky over, so this song came a long time after the big heroin boom in the mid 40s. I think the Heroin boom even outdates Willie Dixon. I know all of this because of the miles davis autobio, its a great read :)
@DecoPage666 Charlie Parker along with many other jazz legends died of heroin overdose before the wolf started recording with chess, so its very likely this song is about heroin
@gosiawoodman HOWLIN WOLF COULD NEVER BE DUPLICATE, BUT JACK'S STYLE OF WAILING VOCALS DID THIS SONG JUSTICE, AND THEIR IMPROVISATION DURING EXTENDED SOLOS CHANGED ROCK MUSIC FOREVER AND GAVE THE BLUES A HYPED UP ELECTRIC SOUND THAT ONLY ONE OTHER BAND COULD REPLICATE, THAT BEING LED ZEPELLIN
This was my favorite song from 1968 until 1969. I am sure the guys got very tired of playing these improvisational piece after a while. I mean they had to play, but everyone else was stoned and didn't have to hehe. It almost becomes Jazz like in its meandering throughout the song.
@graymouser2 SEE MY OTHER COMMENT, IT WAS JACK AND GINGER'S BACKGROUND THAT LED TO THESE LONG EXTENSIONS, AND NO OTHER GROUP COULD HAVE PULLED IT OFF, AS THE CREAM WERE JSUT THAT, THE CREAM OF BRITISH MUSICIANS AT THAT TIME
The cool thing about Cream was that it wasn't just Clapton being backed up by two other guys, but all three were great improvisors. What you had was basically three guys soloing a the same time, battling each other. Made for some pretty exciting music.
@ssur55 CLAPTON ONCE SAID, THEY WOULD START OFF TOGETHER, ALL GO IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS DURING THE SONG, AND THEN COME BACK TOGETHER AT THE END, THAT'S WHERE THE JAZZ BACKGROUNDS OF GINGER AND JACK CAME IN TO ADD TO THE BLUES BACKGROUND OF CLAPTON. THE RESULT, ABSOLUTELY AWESOME MUSIC WHICH CHANGED MY LIFE AND GOT ME DEEP INTO THE BLUES AT AGE 16.
I guess you might include the original Fleetwood Mac in the list. I thought I'd heard all the great Peter Green stuff but then stumbled across "I've Got a Mind to Give Up Living" posted by Stoffe2. It blew me away. If you haven't heard it, give it a try - you won't be disappointed.
@lowdeckrap I have heard this number and I agree 100%, infact EC & Green + Duanne Allmann is my favourits guitarists. Have you heard PG´s FM 2Live at the Boston Teaparty vol 2, there is a 25 min killerversion of Rattlesnake shake !
Yeah basically I agree with what everyone's saying, i been listening to this track for over 40 years now. Play it once and listen to clapton's guitar, then play it again and follow Jack Bruce's bass, no one will ever come close to Jack.
When the real improvisation kicks off at 4:11, it's unbelievably brilliant playing by all three. I've heard lots of Jimi, but he never surpassed this song live. I'm not saying he wasn't the better guitarist, but this is nearly incomparable. The only songs to me that compare to this are "Sittin' On Top Of The World" and the Who's, "My Generation off "Live At Leeds." It's probably even better than this because of the mood changes. Check it out!
@IDontLiveTodayJH After listening to the Who's "My Generation" off Live at Leeds, I can't help but think this is most likely the greatest live song ever captured. The three of them made magic onstage. Jamming has long been criticized by the press, etc., but these guys just kicked ass on any song they jammed on. Baker, Bruce and Clapton were all at the very top of their musicianship at that time. Their studio albums were great too, and it's just too bad that Bruce and Baker couldn't get along.
Yeah. It's like a plane taking off. And at about the 7:14 mark they go into warp drive. What a rush!
To create this in the studio would be quite an accomplishment but it was all improvised. In NSU (Live Cream) at about the 6:00 minute mark Clapton is God. Really, I mean he's giving Moses the 10 Commandments here midst fire and brimstone. Eric Jack and Ginger, now that's the Holy Trinity.
Jack, at the chronometer reading of 8:41, through 8:49, employes an "inspired" and i'd like to trust (and i would hope he would acknowlege) borrowed bass line measure from Count Basie's and Freddie Green's composition; "midgets"
I was alive in '68 but was 9 years old. I didn't get into these guys until 1970. I already had the Dominoes album Layla (the first album in my record collection) but someone said that he was in this band called Cream and that Clapton's playing was very aggressive. Around the same time a friend lent me his older brothers Wheels of Fire album and I freaked out! This is still, to me, the quientessential Live Cream track. I still listen to this song and the live NSU and Sweet Wine frequently.
@pfaessel1 - I'm the same age as you & like yourself didn't discover Cream until 1970 when I heard White Room and Sunshine of your Love for the 1st time. I also recall reading a pop magazine at the time that lamented the disappearance of Eric Clapton & wondering whether we would see him again - little did we know how enduring he would become !
@pfaessel1 Hey you sound a lot like me. My older brother got me into Cream. Took about 5 listenings to Spoonful before that rush kicked in. Been listening to it ever since. Ain't no music like it by nobody, even Hendrix. Clapton proves he's head and shoulders above everyone else. His notes come from another dimension.
This song represents the epiphany one could experience from the most mind-boggling sexual experience possible this side of the great beyond. Starts out slow and reaches a frenzied climax and then nothing but mellow... no "stone left unturned" during the exploration. Senses amplified... like the first time... which is why you can listen to it for 50 years and it never fades...
2rightsmakeauturn 4 weeks ago
This song is about Heroine, not Cocaine.
Darkazar52 1 month ago
The song is not about love, that's the outer meaning. The song's about coke. Clapton being the delta blues admirer that he is was influenced by Charlie Patton. The original has a spoken part that starts with "I'm about to go to jail about this spoonful". -Old Detroiter....
dennis3880 3 months ago
Comment removed
netvisibilitygroup 3 months ago
@jackgingeranderic I actually found out it is a charlie patton song, it might just be a metaphor lol.
willwelsh816 3 months ago
unbeleivable! just fucking brilliant the intensity and claptons pentatonics that just keep you interested (unlike mine haha).
this is so bad ass its beyond words! LONG LIVE THE CREAM
robertpisarek 3 months ago
Jack Bruce and his vocals are off the charts
woodchuckandfox 6 months ago
COOLLLLLLLLLLLLL
notropis100 7 months ago
I'm 57 and heard this so many times and I never never never tire of it. The riffs just seem to roll along so effortlessly and the changes are so spontaneous and natural. This is a-fucking-mazing...
fripouille69 8 months ago
When they started saying, "Eric Clapton is God", they must have been listening to this tune.
joemi1966 8 months ago
This was THE song to get stoned to as a newly-emerging 18 year old in the summer of '68. You could literally get into the intensity of every note. Clapton was at his peak on this song and album. Forty years later I have to play it every now and then just to remind myself of just how great he was before he got old, tired and lame. And lazy. The updated version of "Layla" is barf city compared to the original. He should have left that one alone
deanslist101 9 months ago
Channeled from god....
2rightsmakeauturn 9 months ago in playlist Cream
@2rightsmakeauturn
Other way around...
2rightsmakeauturn 4 weeks ago
@jackgingeranderic - I'm pretty sure that crustaceans could dig Cream. I can see lobsters snapping their claws in time with Ginger's footwork, which is quite amazing to watch on film. The humans have been selling their souls in massive numbers, heretofore unprecedented in human history. Quite possibly in the entire universe only souless humans cannot dig a Cream jam. I saw Cream twice, and Spoonful has been in my repertoire since 69. The Howlin' Wolf version is quite nice also.
bamboosa 9 months ago
fuck.... this is blues baby
no more words, but gods of music
lucasns010 1 year ago
Wow: How I dig the sound of Chaos...lol
pfaessel1 1 year ago
Listening to Ginger, you can hear that he's a jazz drummer, and not a "rock" drummer. Amazing. And Jack's bass playing is just phenomenal, I've never heard anyone play bass like that. This is like a perfect mixture of jazz, acid, and blues.
greenfruitface 1 year ago
i love the drummers from back in the day huge jazz influence. love it. todays music plays this stuff just not pop. you hear it in garages and small bars not mtv. record producers are evil and should cease to exist in my opinion. sooner or later music will return to the roots its just what happens. people will remember the fact that music is supposed to come from the soul and theyll come back to the roots trust me theyll get bored of mainstream.
lewallen86 1 year ago
probably the greatest 16 minute song of all time...
mikexlong 1 year ago 5
thank god for jack bruce
DeltaGaryGordon 1 year ago 4
This has been flagged as spam show
The first record my parents ever bought me.That Christmas was magical indeed.I could not wait to share this album with my friends..I consider the Wheels of Fire album to be the pinnacle of Cream's efforts.Thanks for posting this great music.
HonestBlues 1 year ago
spoonful is it in reference to their heroin addiction?
fattirevsbud 1 year ago
@fattirevsbud I believe so. If you haven't already run into "The Black Keys" check them out!
UtzChips2009 1 year ago
@fattirevsbud Old blues song, my friend. I don't believe it has something to do to heroin. Grande abraço, OC.
DecoPage666 1 year ago
@DecoPage666 Heroin was actually a big problem with jazz players like Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Cannonball Adderley. Heroin got a second awakaning after the 60s, but it was always there. It was the first real thing to be a junky over, so this song came a long time after the big heroin boom in the mid 40s. I think the Heroin boom even outdates Willie Dixon. I know all of this because of the miles davis autobio, its a great read :)
willwelsh816 1 year ago
@DecoPage666 Charlie Parker along with many other jazz legends died of heroin overdose before the wolf started recording with chess, so its very likely this song is about heroin
willwelsh816 1 year ago
the orig version, thanx for postin this, I was livin when this came out, thanx for the memories scissor ^5
teleevangelist 1 year ago
As much as I love Cream for their
rock advancement....Howlin Wolf did a better vocal......
gosiawoodman 1 year ago
@gosiawoodman HOWLIN WOLF COULD NEVER BE DUPLICATE, BUT JACK'S STYLE OF WAILING VOCALS DID THIS SONG JUSTICE, AND THEIR IMPROVISATION DURING EXTENDED SOLOS CHANGED ROCK MUSIC FOREVER AND GAVE THE BLUES A HYPED UP ELECTRIC SOUND THAT ONLY ONE OTHER BAND COULD REPLICATE, THAT BEING LED ZEPELLIN
BLUESMANRONCHICAGO 1 year ago
Hey.....you gotta go backwards...Howlin Wolf....
I can't post a link...just type Howlin Wolf and seek out Spoonful
gosiawoodman 1 year ago
This was my favorite song from 1968 until 1969. I am sure the guys got very tired of playing these improvisational piece after a while. I mean they had to play, but everyone else was stoned and didn't have to hehe. It almost becomes Jazz like in its meandering throughout the song.
gm
graymouser2 1 year ago
@graymouser2 SEE MY OTHER COMMENT, IT WAS JACK AND GINGER'S BACKGROUND THAT LED TO THESE LONG EXTENSIONS, AND NO OTHER GROUP COULD HAVE PULLED IT OFF, AS THE CREAM WERE JSUT THAT, THE CREAM OF BRITISH MUSICIANS AT THAT TIME
BLUESMANRONCHICAGO 1 year ago
This always blows me away!
guglielmo64 2 years ago
The cool thing about Cream was that it wasn't just Clapton being backed up by two other guys, but all three were great improvisors. What you had was basically three guys soloing a the same time, battling each other. Made for some pretty exciting music.
ssur55 2 years ago 16
@ssur55 yeah: bands don't do this anymore; challenge one another. It's alot like jazz. And Baker and Bruce were definately jazz players.
pfaessel1 1 year ago
@ssur55 CLAPTON ONCE SAID, THEY WOULD START OFF TOGETHER, ALL GO IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS DURING THE SONG, AND THEN COME BACK TOGETHER AT THE END, THAT'S WHERE THE JAZZ BACKGROUNDS OF GINGER AND JACK CAME IN TO ADD TO THE BLUES BACKGROUND OF CLAPTON. THE RESULT, ABSOLUTELY AWESOME MUSIC WHICH CHANGED MY LIFE AND GOT ME DEEP INTO THE BLUES AT AGE 16.
BLUESMANRONCHICAGO 1 year ago
@ssur55
Thats more like the 60's lol
RastafariPoet 1 year ago
Gimmie a 1/2 hours worth of Spoonful by these three musical geniuses anyday!!!!
None of the shit today even comes close to this!!!!
rikray1 2 years ago 2
I agree with you 100%, music today is a fucking joke compared with bands like Cream, The Who, Led Zep,Stones etc.........................
kinggreenbaum1966 2 years ago
@kinggreenbaum1966
I guess you might include the original Fleetwood Mac in the list. I thought I'd heard all the great Peter Green stuff but then stumbled across "I've Got a Mind to Give Up Living" posted by Stoffe2. It blew me away. If you haven't heard it, give it a try - you won't be disappointed.
lowdeckrap 1 year ago
@lowdeckrap I have heard this number and I agree 100%, infact EC & Green + Duanne Allmann is my favourits guitarists. Have you heard PG´s FM 2Live at the Boston Teaparty vol 2, there is a 25 min killerversion of Rattlesnake shake !
kinggreenbaum1966 1 year ago
the best rock song ever...never surpassed or duplicated even by clapton himself...something special. it's the fifth synphony of rock
the only bad part is bruce's singing...he's just not a good blue's singer...his bass playing makes up for his little shortcoming.
cirosuperiore 2 years ago
@cirosuperiore Your kidding me man Jack Bruce is one of the great blues/ rock singers of all time.
Peterjamesrobin 2 years ago
Comment removed
cirosuperiore 2 years ago
when the pick up tempo at 4:18 always blows me away
carlfia 2 years ago
Yeah basically I agree with what everyone's saying, i been listening to this track for over 40 years now. Play it once and listen to clapton's guitar, then play it again and follow Jack Bruce's bass, no one will ever come close to Jack.
Peterjamesrobin 2 years ago
@Peterjamesrobin
And then play it again and listen to Ginger.
IDontLiveTodayJH 2 years ago
When the real improvisation kicks off at 4:11, it's unbelievably brilliant playing by all three. I've heard lots of Jimi, but he never surpassed this song live. I'm not saying he wasn't the better guitarist, but this is nearly incomparable. The only songs to me that compare to this are "Sittin' On Top Of The World" and the Who's, "My Generation off "Live At Leeds." It's probably even better than this because of the mood changes. Check it out!
christoJihad2 2 years ago 2
@christoJihad2
The only Jimi improv that compares to this is 'Hear my Train a comin'' on the Hendrix :Blues album
IDontLiveTodayJH 2 years ago
@IDontLiveTodayJH After listening to the Who's "My Generation" off Live at Leeds, I can't help but think this is most likely the greatest live song ever captured. The three of them made magic onstage. Jamming has long been criticized by the press, etc., but these guys just kicked ass on any song they jammed on. Baker, Bruce and Clapton were all at the very top of their musicianship at that time. Their studio albums were great too, and it's just too bad that Bruce and Baker couldn't get along.
christoJihad2 2 years ago
Yeah. It's like a plane taking off. And at about the 7:14 mark they go into warp drive. What a rush!
To create this in the studio would be quite an accomplishment but it was all improvised. In NSU (Live Cream) at about the 6:00 minute mark Clapton is God. Really, I mean he's giving Moses the 10 Commandments here midst fire and brimstone. Eric Jack and Ginger, now that's the Holy Trinity.
getcreamed 2 years ago 2
some of Clapton's best guitar work EVER.
cashpresley 2 years ago
Love all the music from the late 60´, but when it comes to jamming, no one beats Cream
kinggreenbaum1966 2 years ago 3
clapton was somebody here
gerthie 2 years ago
Have to listen to all 16 plus minutes and get totally stoned.
cullions3 3 years ago 18
i gotta agree with this statement
seanyiscubsfan1 2 years ago
i third the motion!
pattbateman 1 year ago
Jack, at the chronometer reading of 8:41, through 8:49, employes an "inspired" and i'd like to trust (and i would hope he would acknowlege) borrowed bass line measure from Count Basie's and Freddie Green's composition; "midgets"
bonerdownmam 3 years ago
Try getting that tone on a strat. Strats...pfftt! Susutain of a banjo.
Snotra 3 years ago
Well I goof around with a semi-hollow body - it works. My son can do anything with his Les Paul.
swlabrnsu 3 years ago
when the ENGLISH
rocked!
fauxfungi 3 years ago 2
Great version, thanks for posting.
JorgeAmarull 3 years ago
I was alive in '68 but was 9 years old. I didn't get into these guys until 1970. I already had the Dominoes album Layla (the first album in my record collection) but someone said that he was in this band called Cream and that Clapton's playing was very aggressive. Around the same time a friend lent me his older brothers Wheels of Fire album and I freaked out! This is still, to me, the quientessential Live Cream track. I still listen to this song and the live NSU and Sweet Wine frequently.
pfaessel1 3 years ago 4
@pfaessel1 - I'm the same age as you & like yourself didn't discover Cream until 1970 when I heard White Room and Sunshine of your Love for the 1st time. I also recall reading a pop magazine at the time that lamented the disappearance of Eric Clapton & wondering whether we would see him again - little did we know how enduring he would become !
rod280459 1 year ago
@pfaessel1 Hey you sound a lot like me. My older brother got me into Cream. Took about 5 listenings to Spoonful before that rush kicked in. Been listening to it ever since. Ain't no music like it by nobody, even Hendrix. Clapton proves he's head and shoulders above everyone else. His notes come from another dimension.
getcreamed 1 year ago 2
The Winterland performance! Man I wish I was alive in 1968...oh, wait!!!
Thanks for posting this scissor man.
swlabrnsu 3 years ago