Howlin' Wolf Defines the Blues While Slamming Son House + "Meet Me In The Bottom"

[CoolNightSky]

I just want to hear the conversation!

[CheeseMoe13]

it's almost surreal seeing two legends in the same room.

[GMDPDKD]

Any one want to transcribe what Son house is saying?

[bongofury67]

Any views on what time signature this is in?

[poolpig]

@bongofury67 Yea its find a place and just play :)

[bongofury67]

"Cuz he done drunk up all of his.......and he worried" lol I love it. Wolf was the Man!

[TusPapi]

Who is that on sax? Incredible recording.

[EarlyLAPunk]

so real

[DaveOtheMoan]

that's the sweat...of the blues explosion

[cArNeGiEization]

I never knew either of these two, and I'm a white guy, But it sounds to me as if Howlin Wolf was showing his genuine concern for another man...which by-the-way has a-lot of status among this particular group.

[nahkmong]

airconditioner = no blues

no airconditioner = blues

[yungsu100]

BILLY BOY ARNOLD SAID THIS ABOUT WOLF

WOLF RAN THE BAND LIKE A SMART BUSINESS MAN, A WAY BAND SHOULD BE RAN. NO DRINKING OR GETTING HIGH ON THE BANDSTAND.

AND DEDUCTING TAXES FROM THE BAND MEMBERS. AT A TIME THAT PRACTICE WAS VERY RARE.

[rwgoble]

I find it ironic that the man who seems the least haunted is trying to lecture Son House on the blues. House was watching the blues change, going from acoustic/resonator to electric. He was witnessing a less authentic form of the blues flourish. Wolf seems to think that the blues is all about not having money, but House was trying to correct his ass, because he was wrong. The blues is about wanting to be alone. It's about not being right with yourself. It's about not being right with the world.

[howlingsandy]

@rwgoble That's not in any way what this video is depicting. not your conclusions nor your assumptions, not about blues, not about authenticity and certainly mostly not about Son House or Howlin' Wolf. And go hear a lot more of all the stuff they did. Jeez. What it IS about is on a comment I posted here a year ago.

[lecassid]

when was this performance?

[ChoirofWolves]

don't need no whiskey for the wolf to show his fangs. can't take it, don't play the blues

[JesusMakeUpMyDyinBed]

this is as real as it gets

[jimmers37]

From what I can tell (or guess anyway) Howlin' Wolf is doing his act and Son House is talking through it and disagreeing with him. I wouldn't say he's being a heckler but I'm going to assume House is drunk- either way it's interrupting Wolf's piece and that's what sets him off. I can see how it would be annoying but I think Wolf was being too harsh on the poor old guy. But then from all accounts Wolf was a pretty severe guy.

[kaptainbastard]

cant make out what Son is saying,Son House is religious,very spiritual this comes out in his playing. Howlin' Wolf has a more shallow materialistic attitude towards music.

blues Simplisticly its nothing but a five note scale as its foundation,then theres the blues built upon it.its pretentious to define what Blues is,Its personal

blind willie johnson,jimi hendrix is blues.rock n roll is blues heavy metal is blues.happy blind boy fulller is blues.

gary davis said he dont play blues.go figure

[Bassyswing1]

That seems harsh but that sort of in your face advice was common back then. I wonder if more people need that today.

[fuzzballzz36]

@Bassyswing1 They do. Oh, lordie, they DO! People now desperately need to cut all this PC nicey-nice bullshit and lay down the truth to each other like they did then.

[JoshuaPanda]

Somebody throw that one note playing sax player OUTSIDE!

[ItzhakWoolf]

I don't hear their quarrel very clearly. I just know Son House disagree Wolf's point of view. Can anyone tell me about what they are talking about concretely?

[DeLarger]

@ItzhakWoolf Son believed that the blues is much more specific that what Wolf thinks it is. Paraphrasing, Son believed "there's only one kind of blues that consists of what happens between a man and a woman." Wolf just believed it was about being down.

[TusPapi]

@DeLarger

As Wolf said in the video, it was much, much more than that. Blues stemmed from having nothing to the point that you may not know where to get your next meal or shelter. Because of the situation, evil thoughts crept into your head. That's the blues, according to Howling Wolf. Even this song is about breaking into someone's house.

In sum, if you have blues and talent, you're a blues man. If you don't have the talent, you're a criminal. lol

[phantom5691]

i fucking love this so much...

[staticview]

out the winda and gone. know it.

[bluesify100]

Do you know what amp Wolf was using? Thats another secret to getting that same sound.

[fmilktoast]

@bluesify100 silvertone twin twelve

[MrRGanja]

Wow! Unbelievable. He was an upstanding humble guy, no-nonsense and definitely by his stature and physical presence, not one to mince words. This is what society needs to be built on. Straight talking to your neighbor. Everyone keeping each other in line. Iron sharpening iron!!

[vauxhall908]

I like Woody's way of telling the blues best check it out .

[Barnekkid]

ijitdunn, your adjoining commentary is very insightful. I've never heard of or could have imagined this idiom compared to Buddhism.

[Diomedes22]

Even though Son's drunk and surly, I still think he got the better of Howlin Wolf. "I love my wife and she ain't whisky," is classic. Also, Howlin Wolf spent his whole career copying Charlie Patton and I don't think Son House respected him for this reason.

[francispetaluma]

Yeah that's definetly a gibson firebird, with it's "banjo" tuners. But, it looks like it's upside down... maybe it was a left handed model?

[Znarus]

the blues is a simple form of music en teory.. but it's very hard to play well..

[jacobbeahm]

hubert using an old goya plastic body guitar

[howlingsandy]

he was upset a former hero had sunk into the failings of alcoholism. I was Wolf's close collaborative friend. He was not slamming Son House.... He wss being VERY kind in a tough love style so very much him. Unless he reallllly didn't like you .... another matter

you can read how we made things happen on my website howlingwolfphotos

[ijitdunn]

@howlingsandy Thanks. I'll be sure to check out your website!

One!

[DoctorRazzArea4]

always gotta be politically correct

[stanleysoldman]

now this is the blues!

[boxingin]

I'm so glad he put that two face phony Son House in his place and here's why... All Charlie Patton did was help Son house with his career yet all Son House would do was diss Charley Patton every chance he got whenever someone asked him about Charlie Patton.. Wolf who really loved Charlie Patton (his mentor) got his revenge on that night by telling Son House the truth to his own face!

[edcerc]

@boxingin where did you find this information.

[RunningBarL]

Wolf keepin it real - He never sold himself out to buy his future - true classic

[mcsampler]

what dvd is it?

[SavantSvant]

I feel sorry for the Wolf seeing old man House in that state when he know how talanted he is/was. :(

[coy0te9]

in Moanin' at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf, they say Wolf was angry and humiliated at Son's drunkeness. House was an old friend from the Mississippi days. Best of my recollection, he went on at length later in the evening, using House as a bad example of life to Sumlin and some other younger musicians.

[DutchComedian]

Damn, that was cold. Howlin Wolf keeps it real.

[SeanSFM]

Anyone have any ideas on his guitar? Looks like a fender jaguar?

[ijitdunn]

@SeanSFM I don't know If it's a Jaguar, it's hard to tell from this, but it's definitely a Fender with a reversed head stock...and an unusual machine head set-up!

[meximetal96]

@SeanSFM gibson firebird. the wolf i mean i have no idea what the hell hubert uses:P

[ijitdunn]

@meximetal96 Now that you've said that, I'm pretty certain you're correct. Very good eye.

[ijitdunn]

@meximetal96 O.K....I went and matched the part of the headstock you can see in this vid with a picture from an online retailer, not that I doubted you, just wanted to be sure this time. Dead On!

[stealyourface73]

@meximetal96 - At that time, Hubert was playing a Teisco Guitar.

[Paulsworks]

@SeanSFM It's a Gibson Firebird. Just like what Johnny Winters uses.

[sflx327]

@SeanSFM It's a Gibson Firebird.

[JGH207]

@SeanSFM Gibson Thunderbird.

[kickalion]

@SeanSFM epiphone but before they were owned by gibson

[fuzzballzz36]

@SeanSFM It's a Firebird. Undeniably. The curve of the headstock gives it away.

[fuzzballzz36]

@fuzzballzz36 And he's playing it through a a mid-'60s Silvertone Twin Twelve, which looks quite similar to one that I own.

[jimmcallister]

@fuzzballzz36 And it's got Gibson written on it!

[fuzzballzz36]

@jimmcallister That's certainly true. :-)

[synapsecracklepop]

I shouldn't comment twice, but I can't get over just how totally tight that was - THIS is mastery.

whew...

There is a disc somewhere, maybe just in wax, of the Wolf doing straight up, old school acoustic.

In fact, when I first joined "their-tube" I think I tried to post it up and got bumped for "infringement"

I bet I have it floating around here somewhere

[ijitdunn]

I'm Glad you like it. I have the entire dvd. Actually, if you Haven't seen it, it kicks off with one of your favs, Skip James, Doing a couple of numbers while Wolf and others look on. I just this week discovered a treasure trove of Old Vinyl When I was at My Ma's House doing some Electrical Work. I spent most of my meager funds on 45s, 33s, and cassettes as a child. I forgot Just how young I was when I got in So Deep with Music.

[synapsecracklepop]

It's important to check the vinyl with the online data bases, to find out if they've ever been digitally preserved. The industry only preserves and remasters what they believe to be profitable. A lot of the rights were bought up by fly by night, late night infomercial A-holes hawking "compilations." It's really up to pirates to protect our heritage.

Nowadays it's not so hard to make a digital version of a vinyl recording. If it's never been done by the industry, it's a good idea to do it.

[HieronymousLex]

In which vid does he lick the harmonica?

[ijitdunn]

He did that a lot. I'm not big on that myself. I play Harmonica as well as guitar, it seems unhygienic to me..., but to each his own. Any way, there are a couple of times within that movie that he licks or fully inserts his harp in his mouth, and since you ask I will clip and upload them...but you'll have to give me til the weekend, as it is a fairly long process,and I get on Youtube mostly while at work...I know, it's bad. I don't know how any of us get any work done with Facebook and Youtube.

[HieronymousLex]

Thanks :D

[FlingsPooAtTheZoo]

@HieronymousLex LOL! Well, he does it at the end of one that was in the related videos with this one. Search on Youtube:

Howlin' Wolf - How Many More Years (Licks his Harp)

[synapsecracklepop]

awesome