AG Weinberger - Spoonful

27 August 2009 - Parcul National
AG Weinberger & The Band (Sorin Petrila, Vlad Spatar & Miki Orban)

"Spoonful" is a blues standard written by Willie Dixon and first recorded in 1960 by Howlin' Wolf.[1] It is loosely based on "A Spoonful Blues", a song recorded in 1929 by Charley Patton (Paramount 12869).[2] "Spoonful" has a one-chord, modal blues structure found in other songs Dixon wrote for Wolf, such as "Wang Dang Doodle" and "Back Door Man" as well as in Wolf's own "Smokestack Lightning". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed it as one of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll".[3] "Spoonful" is also ranked #219 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[4]

Backing Howlin' Wolf (vocals) are: longtime accompanist Hubert Sumlin (guitar); relative newcomer Freddie Robinson (second guitar); and Chess recording veterans Otis Spann (piano), Fred Below (drums), and Dixon (double-bass). It has been suggested that Freddie King contributed the second guitar on "Spoonful", but both Sumlin and Robinson insist it was Robinson.[5] In 1962, the song was included on Wolf's second album for Chess titled Howlin' Wolf (Chess LP-1469). As with his first album released in 1958, the second album was a collection of various singles spanning his career up to that point (because of the album cover design, it is frequently referred to as the "Rocking Chair album").

In 1968, Wolf reluctantly re-recorded "Spoonful", along with several of his blues classics in Marshall Chess' attempt at updating Wolf's sound for the burgeoning rock market. Unlike his 1971 The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions (Chess LP-60008) where he was backed by several rock stars, including Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, et al., here he was backed by relatively unknown studio session players. The resulting album, The Howlin' Wolf Album (Cadet Concept LPS-319), with its "comically bombastic" arrangements and instrumentation, was a musical and commercial failure.[6] Wolf offered his assessment in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine "Man ... that stuff's dogshit".[6]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonful

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