Kind Hearted Woman Blues
Encyclopedia
"Kind Hearted Woman Blues" is a blues
song recorded on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas
by legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. The song was originally released on 78 rpm
format as Vocalion
03416 and ARC
7-03-56. Johnson performed the song in the key
of A, and recorded two takes, the first of which contains his only recorded guitar solo
. Both takes were used for different pressings of both the Vocalion issue and the ARC issue. The first take (SA-2580-1) can be found on many compilation albums, including the first one, King of the Delta Blues Singers
(1961). Take 2 (SA-2580-2) can be heard on the later compilation Robert Johnson, The Complete Recordings
(1990).
. It was composed as if in answer to "Cruel Hearted Woman Blues" by Bumble Bee Slim
(Amos Easton), which in turn was based on "Mean Mistreater Mama" by Leroy Carr
accompanied by Scrapper Blackwell
. Johnson uses the Carr melody and conveys something of Carr's style in his relaxed singing. His guitar accompaniment echoes Carr's piano phrases in the first verse, then copies Blackwell's guitar phrases in the second verse. He then adds a musical bridge
in the style of another hit record, "Milk Cow Blues" by Kokomo Arnold
. At the end of the bridge, he jumps into a higher register as Arnold does, but then maintains an extraordinary controlled falsetto, which may have been based on the singing of Joe Pullum
. Thus Johnson showed in his very first recording that he had mastered the commercially successful urban blues style of the Thirties. However, his debut cannot be dismissed as derivative. He combined elements of the styles of others into a highly individual style of his own.
Like Bumble Bee Slim
, Johnson wrote lyrics
consisting mostly of conventional twelve-bar
three-line verses, but varied with an eight-bar
bridge
. Slim's bridge merely repeated the words, but Johnson wrote a more complex sequence:
Johnson also makes a marked change in tone. Leroy Carr
's original "Mean Mistreating Mama" was resigned, even understanding:
Bumble Bee Slim
removed that hint of sympathy when he covered the song as "Mean Mistreatin' Woman":
When he wrote new words to the tune, his mood was still resigned:
Johnson decides that his "kind-hearted woman" is, after all, hostile. But there is no resignation, only anguish:
Like many of Johnson's songs, "Kind Hearted Woman Blues" is a staple in the repertoires of many blues musicians and has been recorded by dozens of traditional and contemporary blues figures, including Muddy Waters
, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Johnny Winter
, George Thorogood
, and Keb' Mo'
. It was included on Eric Clapton
's 2004 album, Me and Mr. Johnson
, along with many other Johnson classics.
On Led Zeppelin
's cover of Johnson's "Traveling Riverside Blues", singer Robert Plant quotes this song with the line "Got a kind-hearted woman/she studies evil all the time".
According to Stephen Calt, the phrase kind-hearted woman was slang for a woman who "catered to a gigolo in return for sexual fidelity".
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
song recorded on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
by legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. The song was originally released on 78 rpm
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
format as Vocalion
Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records is a record label active for many years in the United States and in the United Kingdom.-History:Vocalion was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano Company of New York City, which introduced a retail line of phonographs at the same time. The name was derived from one of their...
03416 and ARC
American Record Corporation
ARC, the American Record Company, also referred to as American Record Corporation, or as ARC Records, was a United States based record company...
7-03-56. Johnson performed the song in the key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
of A, and recorded two takes, the first of which contains his only recorded guitar solo
Guitar solo
In popular music, a guitar solo is a melodic passage, section, or entire piece of music written for an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. Guitar solos, which often contain varying degrees of improvisation, are used in many styles of popular music such as blues, jazz, rock and metal styles such...
. Both takes were used for different pressings of both the Vocalion issue and the ARC issue. The first take (SA-2580-1) can be found on many compilation albums, including the first one, King of the Delta Blues Singers
King of the Delta Blues Singers
King of the Delta Blues Singers is a compilation album by American blues musician Robert Johnson, released in 1961 on Columbia Records. It is considered one of the greatest and most influential blues releases ever...
(1961). Take 2 (SA-2580-2) can be heard on the later compilation Robert Johnson, The Complete Recordings
The Complete Recordings (Robert Johnson album)
The Complete Recordings is a compilation album by American blues musician Robert Johnson, released August 28, 1990 on Columbia Records. The album's recordings were recorded in two sessions in Dallas and San Antonio, Texas for the American Record Company during 1936 and 1937. Most of the songs were...
(1990).
Influences
This was the first song that Johnson recorded, and it was carefully crafted in imitation of recent hit recordsHit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
. It was composed as if in answer to "Cruel Hearted Woman Blues" by Bumble Bee Slim
Bumble Bee Slim
Amos Easton , better known by the stage name Bumble Bee Slim, was an American Piedmont blues musician.-Biography:Easton was born in Brunswick, Georgia, United States...
(Amos Easton), which in turn was based on "Mean Mistreater Mama" by Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist, who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. He first became famous for "How Long, How Long Blues" on Vocalion Records in 1928.-Life and...
accompanied by Scrapper Blackwell
Scrapper Blackwell
Francis Hillman "Scrapper" Blackwell was an American blues guitarist and singer; best known as half of the guitar-piano duo he formed with Leroy Carr in the late 1920s and early 1930s, he was an acoustic single-note picker in the Chicago blues and Piedmont blues style, with some critics noting...
. Johnson uses the Carr melody and conveys something of Carr's style in his relaxed singing. His guitar accompaniment echoes Carr's piano phrases in the first verse, then copies Blackwell's guitar phrases in the second verse. He then adds a musical bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
in the style of another hit record, "Milk Cow Blues" by Kokomo Arnold
Kokomo Arnold
Kokomo Arnold was an American blues musician.Born as James Arnold in Lovejoy's Station, Georgia, he got his nickname in 1934 after releasing "Old Original Kokomo Blues" for the Decca label; it was a cover of the Scrapper Blackwell blues song about the city of Kokomo, Indiana...
. At the end of the bridge, he jumps into a higher register as Arnold does, but then maintains an extraordinary controlled falsetto, which may have been based on the singing of Joe Pullum
Joe Pullum
Joe Pullum was an American Texas blues singer and songwriter.-Biography:Pullum, a Houston-born nightclub singer, was one of the more obscure blues stars. He was accompanied on his few recordings by two pianists; Rob Cooper on his earlier discs, and Andy Boy on his later efforts...
. Thus Johnson showed in his very first recording that he had mastered the commercially successful urban blues style of the Thirties. However, his debut cannot be dismissed as derivative. He combined elements of the styles of others into a highly individual style of his own.
Like Bumble Bee Slim
Bumble Bee Slim
Amos Easton , better known by the stage name Bumble Bee Slim, was an American Piedmont blues musician.-Biography:Easton was born in Brunswick, Georgia, United States...
, Johnson wrote lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
consisting mostly of conventional twelve-bar
Twelve bar blues
The 12-bar blues is one of the most popular chord progressions in popular music, including the blues. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics and phrase and chord structure and duration...
three-line verses, but varied with an eight-bar
Eight bar blues
In music, an eight-bar blues is a typical blues chord progression, "the second most common blues form," "common to folk, rock, and jazz forms of the blues," taking eight 4/4 or 12/8 bars to the verse....
bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
. Slim's bridge merely repeated the words, but Johnson wrote a more complex sequence:
| "Cruel Hearted Woman Blues" | "Kind Hearted Woman Blues" | |
|---|---|---|
| You's a cruel-hearted woman, swear, — and you treat me like a slave …… x 2 You keep me fallin' — down on my bending knee |
I got a kind hearted woman, — do anything in this world for me …… x 2 But these evil-hearted women, — man, they will not let me be |
|
| Do you remember one mornin' — when the lights was burnin' low You give me my clothes — and drove me from your door Do you remember one mornin' — when the lights was burnin' low You give me my clothes — and drove me from your door |
There ain't but the one thing — make Mr Johnson drink I swear how you treat me Baby, — I begin to think Oh Babe — my life don't feel the same You break my heart — when you call Mister So-and-so's name |
Johnson also makes a marked change in tone. Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist, who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. He first became famous for "How Long, How Long Blues" on Vocalion Records in 1928.-Life and...
's original "Mean Mistreating Mama" was resigned, even understanding:
You're a mean mistreating mama, and you don't mean me no good
And I don't blame you baby, I'd be the same way if I could
Bumble Bee Slim
Bumble Bee Slim
Amos Easton , better known by the stage name Bumble Bee Slim, was an American Piedmont blues musician.-Biography:Easton was born in Brunswick, Georgia, United States...
removed that hint of sympathy when he covered the song as "Mean Mistreatin' Woman":
You's a mean mistreatin' woman, but I love you just the same
I know you didn't want me, the day I changed your name
When he wrote new words to the tune, his mood was still resigned:
You's a cruel heated woman, swear, and you just can't realise
That's all right baby, I'll be the same when I rise
Johnson decides that his "kind-hearted woman" is, after all, hostile. But there is no resignation, only anguish:
I love my baby, my baby don't love me
And I really love that woman, can't stand to let her be
She's a kind-hearted woman, she studies evil all the time
You wells to kill me, as to have it on your mind
Like many of Johnson's songs, "Kind Hearted Woman Blues" is a staple in the repertoires of many blues musicians and has been recorded by dozens of traditional and contemporary blues figures, including Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter
John Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
, George Thorogood
George Thorogood
George Thorogood is an American blues rock vocalist/guitarist from Wilmington, Delaware, United States, known for his hit song "Bad to the Bone" as well as for covers of blues standards such as Hank Williams' "Move It On Over" and John Lee Hooker's "House Rent Boogie/One Bourbon, One Scotch, One...
, and Keb' Mo'
Keb' Mo'
Keb' Mo is an American blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee, United States.-Early life:From early on he had an appreciation for the blues and gospel music...
. It was included on Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
's 2004 album, Me and Mr. Johnson
Me and Mr. Johnson
Me and Mr. Johnson is an album by Eric Clapton released in 2004. The album is a tribute to legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. According to Clapton's autobiography, the recordings weren't intended to become an album. The band had rented the studio, but Clapton didn't have any songs written, so he...
, along with many other Johnson classics.
On Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
's cover of Johnson's "Traveling Riverside Blues", singer Robert Plant quotes this song with the line "Got a kind-hearted woman/she studies evil all the time".
According to Stephen Calt, the phrase kind-hearted woman was slang for a woman who "catered to a gigolo in return for sexual fidelity".