It is with some astonishment that I state that I am only just older than this song by The Rolling Stones (released in 1964). This was the first single they wrote themselves, and they made a pretty good job of it. It's clearly derivative of American Blues and R&B and perhaps even Soul. They were a very smart bunch of musicians, learned well from what had gone before, added something of their own and produced something different. And the rest, as they say, is history.
No matter how you look at it, The Stones are one of the most important bands of all time. They are an important bridge from the past to the present. They covered lots of songs by early blues artists and gained much influence from them. These earlier influences then exploded outwards when The Stones became massive in about 1964.
Curiously, another key event in the Blues world happened in 1964: The Newport Folk Festival. A keen search had been undertaken by a couple of enthusiasts (including John Fahey) to locate some of the early Blues artists and they managed to find and convince to play Sleepy John Estes (name-checked by Bob Dylan on Bringing It All Back Home), Skip James (who had disappeared for 33 years), Mississippi John Hurt, Gary Davis and the Blues giant that was John Lee Hooker. There were others, but these are the key ones (incidentally, James, Hurt and Hooker are 3 of my favourite Blues guitarists and singers). This is a picture of Skip James playing at the festival:
Somewhat of a Blues holy trinity, this is Skip James, Bukka White and Son House together, from the 1966 festival - there appears to be lots of film of Bob Dylan at Newport in 64, but much less of the Blues artists. You can make up your own minds about why that is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWuwRiCXra8
(embedding disabled by request)
A huge Blues revival was the result of all this and I for one wholeheartedly approve. I’d love to write a book on the history of blues songs, from their most recent covers along chains back in time to the originators. Right now, I don’t have the time to research it, but maybe one day.
I’m learning James’ “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” at the moment and will post it at some point. This song was used excellently in the brilliant Coen Brothers film “O Brother Where Art Thou”.
Cheers, Tom.