"
Spoonful" is a
blues standardA blues standard is a blues song that is widely known, performed, and recorded by blues artists. The following list identifies blues standards and some of the blues artists that have recorded them...
written by
Willie DixonWilliam James "Willie" Dixon was a well-known American blues bassist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer...
and first recorded in 1960 by
Howlin' WolfChester Arthur Burnett , better known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
. It is loosely based on "A Spoonful Blues", a song recorded in 1929 by Charley Patton (
ParamountParamount Records was an American record label, best known for its recordings of African-American jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey and Blind Lemon Jefferson....
12869). "Spoonful" has a one-chord, modal blues structure found in other songs Dixon wrote for Wolf, such as "
Wang Dang Doodle"Wang Dang Doodle" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon for Howlin' Wolf at Chess Records in Chicago. Willie Dixon says in his autobiography that of all the songs he wrote for Howlin' Wolf, "Wang Dang Doodle" is the one he hated the most...
" and "
Back Door Man"Back Door Man" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon for Howlin' Wolf, released by Chess Records as a B-side to Wolf's "Wang Dang Doodle" in 1961...
" as well as in Wolf's own "
Smokestack Lightning"Smoke Stack Lightning" is a 1956 blues song by Howlin' Wolf. The song has appeared on the albums Moanin' in the Moonlight and The Howlin' Wolf Album....
". The
Rock and Roll Hall of FameThe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shores of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, dedicated to recording the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, and other people who have in some major way influenced the music...
listed it as one of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". "Spoonful" is also ranked #219 on
Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason.The magazine was named after the 1948 Muddy Waters song of the same...
magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Backing Howlin' Wolf (vocals) are: longtime accompanist
Hubert SumlinHubert Sumlin is an American blues guitarist and singer, best known for his celebrated work, from 1955, as guitarist in Howlin' Wolf's band. His singular playing is characterized by "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions"...
(guitar); relative newcomer Freddie Robinson (second guitar); and Chess recording veterans
Otis SpannOtis Spann was an American blues musician. Many aficionados considered him then, and now, as Chicago's leading postwar blues pianist.-Career:...
(piano),
Fred BelowFred Below was a leading blues drummer, best known for his innovative work with Little Walter and Chess Records in the 1950s. Nobody laid more of the Chicago blues rhythmic foundations, particularly its archetypal backbeat, than Fred Below.-Career:He was born in Chicago, and started playing drums...
(drums), and Dixon (double-bass).
"
Spoonful" is a
blues standardA blues standard is a blues song that is widely known, performed, and recorded by blues artists. The following list identifies blues standards and some of the blues artists that have recorded them...
written by
Willie DixonWilliam James "Willie" Dixon was a well-known American blues bassist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer...
and first recorded in 1960 by
Howlin' WolfChester Arthur Burnett , better known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
. It is loosely based on "A Spoonful Blues", a song recorded in 1929 by Charley Patton (
ParamountParamount Records was an American record label, best known for its recordings of African-American jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey and Blind Lemon Jefferson....
12869). "Spoonful" has a one-chord, modal blues structure found in other songs Dixon wrote for Wolf, such as "
Wang Dang Doodle"Wang Dang Doodle" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon for Howlin' Wolf at Chess Records in Chicago. Willie Dixon says in his autobiography that of all the songs he wrote for Howlin' Wolf, "Wang Dang Doodle" is the one he hated the most...
" and "
Back Door Man"Back Door Man" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon for Howlin' Wolf, released by Chess Records as a B-side to Wolf's "Wang Dang Doodle" in 1961...
" as well as in Wolf's own "
Smokestack Lightning"Smoke Stack Lightning" is a 1956 blues song by Howlin' Wolf. The song has appeared on the albums Moanin' in the Moonlight and The Howlin' Wolf Album....
". The
Rock and Roll Hall of FameThe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shores of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, dedicated to recording the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, and other people who have in some major way influenced the music...
listed it as one of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". "Spoonful" is also ranked #219 on
Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason.The magazine was named after the 1948 Muddy Waters song of the same...
magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Backing Howlin' Wolf (vocals) are: longtime accompanist
Hubert SumlinHubert Sumlin is an American blues guitarist and singer, best known for his celebrated work, from 1955, as guitarist in Howlin' Wolf's band. His singular playing is characterized by "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions"...
(guitar); relative newcomer Freddie Robinson (second guitar); and Chess recording veterans
Otis SpannOtis Spann was an American blues musician. Many aficionados considered him then, and now, as Chicago's leading postwar blues pianist.-Career:...
(piano),
Fred BelowFred Below was a leading blues drummer, best known for his innovative work with Little Walter and Chess Records in the 1950s. Nobody laid more of the Chicago blues rhythmic foundations, particularly its archetypal backbeat, than Fred Below.-Career:He was born in Chicago, and started playing drums...
(drums), and Dixon (double-bass). It has been suggested that
Freddie KingFreddie King also known as Freddy King and "The Texas Cannonball" , was an influential Afro-American blues guitarist and singer. He perfected his own guitar style based on Texas and Chicago influences and was one of the first bluesmen to have a multi-racial backing band on stage with him at live...
contributed the second guitar on "Spoonful", but both Sumlin and Robinson insist it was Robinson. In 1962, the song was included on Wolf's second album for Chess titled
Howlin' WolfHowlin' Wolf is the second album from blues singer Howlin' Wolf. Because of the illustration on its sleeve , the album is often called The Rockin' Chair Album, a nickname even added to the cover on some reissue pressings of the LP...
(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 ChessMarshall Chess is the son and nephew of the founders of Chess Records, the Chicago-based independent record label that first recorded an unprecedented list of African-American, blues and early rock and roll artists such as: Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Bo Diddley, Sonny Boy...
' attempt at updating Wolf's sound for the burgeoning rock market. Unlike his 1971
The London Howlin' Wolf SessionsThe London Howlin' Wolf Sessions is an album by rhythm and blues singer Howlin' Wolf, released in the summer of 1971 on Chess Records, catalogue CH 600008...
(Chess LP-60008) where he was backed by several rock stars, including
Eric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE is an English blues-rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Clapton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds, of Cream, and as a solo performer, being the only person ever to be inducted three times...
,
Steve WinwoodStephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English singer-songwriter who performs and writes rock, blues-rock, and jazz. He sings with a tenor voice and is a multi-instrumentalist who plays Hammond organ, guitar, bass, and other string instruments. In addition to his solo career, he was a member of...
,
Bill WymanBill Wyman is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band The Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1992. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings...
,
Charlie WattsCharles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is a jazz bandleader, record producer, commercial artist and horse breeder...
, et al., here he was backed by relatively unknown studio session players. The resulting album,
The Howlin' Wolf AlbumThe Howlin' Wolf Album is a 1969 album by Howlin' Wolf which mixed blues with psychedelic rock arrangements on several of Howlin' Wolf's classic songs. Howlin' Wolf strongly disliked the album, and Chess Records referenced this fact on the album's cover...
(
Cadet ConceptCadet Records was started as Argo Records in 1955 as the jazz subsidiary of Chess Records. Argo changed its name in 1965 to Cadet to avoid confusion with the similarly named label in the UK...
LPS-319), with its "comically bombastic" arrangements and instrumentation, was a musical and commercial failure. Wolf offered his assessment in an interview with
Rolling Stone magazine "Man ... that stuff's dogshit".
Cream versions
The British
blues-rockBlues-rock is a hybrid musical genre combining bluesy improvisations over the 12-bar blues and extended boogie jams with rock and roll styles. The core of the blues rock sound is created by the electric guitar, bass guitar and drum kit, with the electric guitar usually amplified through a tube...
band
CreamCream were a 1960s British blues-rock band and supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker. Their sound was characterised by a hybrid of blues, hard rock and psychedelic rock...
recorded "Spoonful" for their 1966 UK debut album,
Fresh CreamFresh Cream is Cream's December 1966 debut album. It was the first LP release of producer Robert Stigwood's new "Independent" Reaction Records label. It reached number 6 in the UK in February 1967 and - eventually - number 39 in the US in August 1968...
(
ReactionReaction Records was an "independent" British record label run by music executive Robert Stigwood in 1966 and 1967. Although Reaction released only three albums, one EP and 18 singles in its brief existence, its roster included two of the most popular British bands of the time, The Who and Cream...
591 001). For the American release of
Fresh Cream (
AtcoAtco Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, currently operating through WMG's Rhino Entertainment.-Beginnings:Atco Records was founded by Herb Abramson in 1955 as a sub label of Atlantic Records; operating as an outlet for acts that did not fit the format of Atlantic,...
SD 33-206), "
I Feel Free"I Feel Free" is a song first recorded by the British blues rock band Cream. The song was written by Pete Brown and Jack Bruce and was the first of their many collaborations. It was the first track on the US version of their debut album, Fresh Cream , and the band's second hit single, following the...
" was substituted for "Spoonful". The song was released in the U.S. later in 1967 as a two-sided single (Atco 45-6522). Cream frequently played it in concert and the song evolved beyond the blues-rock form of the 1966 recording into a vehicle for extended improvised soloing influenced by the sixties San Francisco music scene. One such rendition, recorded at a
WinterlandThe Winterland Ballroom, often referred to as Winterland Arena or simply Winterland, was an old ice skating rink and 5,400 seat music venue in San Francisco, California...
concert and included on their 1968 album
Wheels of FireWheels of Fire is the name of a double album recorded by Cream. The release was largely successful, scoring the band a #3 peak in the UK and a #1 in the US, and became the world's first platinum-selling double album....
, clocks in at nearly seventeen minutes.
Other versions
"Spoonful" has also been recorded by artists such as
Etta JamesEtta James is an American blues, soul, R&B, rock & roll, gospel and jazz singer and songwriter. James is the winner of four Grammys and seventeen Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both...
(on her 1961 album
At Last!At Last! is the debut studio album by American Blues artist, Etta James. The album was released on Argo Records in 1961 and was produced by Phil and Leonard Chess. The original release contained four of James's hits on the Rhythm and Blues Records Chart between 1960 and 1961...
), the
Paul Butterfield Blues BandPaul Butterfield was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player who gained international recognition in part as one of the acts performing at the original Woodstock Festival...
,
Canned HeatCanned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie band that formed in Los Angeles, California, USA, in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists...
,
Dion DiMucciDion Francis DiMucci , better known as Dion, is an American singer-songwriter who blended elements of doo-wop, pop, rock and R&B styles.-Early years:Dion was born to an Italian-American family in the Bronx...
, the
Allman JoysThe Allman Joys was an early band with Duane and Gregg Allman fronting. It was originally the Escorts, but it eventually evolved into the Allman Joys. Duane Allman quit highschool to focus his days at home practicing guitar. They auditioned for Bob Dylan's producer, Bob Johnston, at Columbia...
,
Shadows of KnightThe Shadows of Knight are a American rock band from the Chicago suburbs, formed in the 1960s, who play a form of British blues mixed with influences from their native city . At the time they first started recording, the band's self-description was as follows: "The Stones, Animals and Yardbirds...
,
Ten Years AfterTen Years After is an English blues-rock band, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s.-History:After several years of local success in the Nottingham/Mansfield area as a band known since 1962 as The Jaybirds , and later as Ivan Jay and the Jaymen, Ten Years After was founded by Alvin Lee...
, The Grateful Dead,
Gov't MuleGov't Mule is a rock and jam band formed in 1994 as an Allman Brothers Band side project. They released their debut album Gov't Mule in 1995...
,
The WhoThe Who are an English rock band formed in 1964. The primary lineup consisted of guitarist Pete Townshend, vocalist Roger Daltrey, bassist John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They became known for energetic live performances including the pioneering spectacle of instrument destruction...
,
Johnny DieselJohnny Diesel is an Australian musician. He has recorded nine albums under either this name, his birth name of Mark Lizotte or the epithet Diesel. Two of his albums have been No. 1 Australian hits and he has also played on several albums by his brother-in-law, rock singer Jimmy Barnes...
(
Short Cool Ones),
My Midnight CreepsMy Midnight Creeps was a Norwegian rock band fronted by deceased Madrugada-guitarist Robert Burås and Ricochets-guitarist Alex Kloster-Jensen. The other members were Dag Stiberg on tenor saxophone, Behzad Farazollahi on drums, Anders Møller on drums and percussion and Raymond Jensen on bass....
,
Blues CreationBlues Creation was a Japanese hard rock band from the late 60s, 70s, and early 80s.-Biography:Blues Creation was the brainchild of guitarist/singer Kazuo Takeda...
and songwriter
Willie DixonI Am The Blues is a Chicago blues album released in 1970 by the well-known bluesman Willie Dixon. It is also the title of Dixon's autobiography, edited by Don Snowden.- Track listing :# "Back Door Man" 6:08...
. The Charley Patton antecedent can be heard on the
compilation albumA compilation album is an album featuring tracks from multiple recording artists, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, source or subject matter...
The Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful DeadThe Music Never Stopped: Roots of the Grateful Dead is a 1995 compilation album of songs, performed by the original artists, that the American rock group the Grateful Dead covered and performed live throughout their career...
.