Week 3: Blues

This week I have been listening to Muddy Waters. I never heard much of Muddy Water’s music before this week, but I have known that he is a well-respected blues musician from the 1940s to 1950s. 

The instrumentation in his songs mostly consists of guitar, bass, drums, piano, and harmonica. In the songs “Mannish Boy” and “Hoochie Coochie Man”, I’ve noticed that Waters’ incorporates stop time and repeated chords throughout. Songs, such as “I’m Ready”, contained a sixteen bar structure as the melody. Furthermore, Muddy uses the harmonica, piano, and acoustic guitar to harmonize in most songs, such as “They Call Me Muddy Waters”, “Don’t Get No Further, and “Stuff You Gotta Watch”. I’ve heard that the guitar and harmonica harmonies also create dissonance in which makes the melody more interesting to listen to like in "Rollin' And Tumblin'" and "Got My Mojo Working". The songs “Louisiana Blues” and “Rollin’ Stone” only contain Muddy Waters’ vocals and a strummed, slightly distorted electric guitar, which gives a more emotional effect. Muddy always sings of provocative subjects involving love in each song, which was very different in the 1950s. Part of his vocal technique is to emphasize certain words by singing them louder like in "I Can't Be Satisfied". It gives nice crescendos throughout the songs. I’ve also noticed that he uses slang such as in "Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had", which might have not been popular among people during his time. 

I believe Muddy Waters was a very original and aspiring blues artist of his time and I have enjoyed listening to his music.

Song list:

Mannish Boy

Mean Disposition

Rollin' Stone

I'm Ready

Jitterbug Blues

I Can't Be Satisfied

Louisiana Blues

Hoochie Coochie Man

Mean Mistreater

Don't Get No Further

They Call Me Muddy Waters

Rollin' And Tumblin'

Mean Red Spider

You're Gonna Need My Help

Canary Bird

Stuff You Gotta Watch

You Gonna Miss Me

Got My Mojo Working

Evan's Shuffle

Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had