St Harmonica's Blues Club - online - Palmers Green Community

st harmonicas online Missing Friday nights at the Southgate Club listening to the great bands playing at St Harmonica's? Well, we can't do anything about the lockdown, but we can do our best to recreate St Harmonica's in the comfort of your own home. So pour yourself a glass of beer, move the furniture aside to make yourself a dance floor, click on the first of the music videos below and start a text conversation with some of the people you usually meet up with at the club.

Friday 14th August

This week we have not one, but two playlists complied by a couple of Low Down Dogs. The theme is (loosely) 'Here’s one I didn’t write myself”; the sub-title could be : 'Did you realise this wasn’t the original?'. Playlist 20A contains the original versions. We're listing them first, out of respect for their composers and original recording artists.
Playlist 20B contains the cover versions, generally much better-known than the originals.

Below, the songs from the two playlists are set out together - original version first, cover second.

Ann Cole - Got My Mojo Working

Got My Mojo Working - composed by Ann Cole; covered by Muddy Waters.

Muddy Waters - Got My Mojo Working

Little Willie John - I Need Your Love So Bad

Need Your Love So Bad - written by Mertis John Jr; first recorded by his brother, Little Willie John. Later re-arranged by Peter Green and covered by Fleetwood Mac.

Fleetwood Mac - Need Your Love So Bad

John Haitt - Feels Like Rain

Feels Like Rain - by John Hiatt; covered by Buddy Guy, with some tasteful slide guitar from Bonnie Raitt, on his album of the same name.

Buddy Guy - Feels Like Rain

Erma Franklin - Piece Of My Heart

Piece Of My Heart - originally recorded in 1967 by Erma Franklin; written by Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns. Janis Joplin covered it a year later.

Janis Joplin - Piece Of My Heart

Tampa Red - It Hurts Me Too

It Hurts Me Too - often attributed to Elmore James, but originally written and recorded by Tampa Red in 1940.

Elmore James - It Hurts Me Too

Roy Hawkins - The Thrill Is Gone

The Thrill Is Gone - by Roy Hawkins & Rick Darnell or Hawkins and Taub? Surely most people assume it was written by BB King.

B.B. King - The Thrill Is Gone

Delmore Brothers - I've Got The Big River Blues

Big River Blues - written and recorded by the Delmore Brothers. Doc Watson changed the title to Deep River Blues.

Doc Watson - Deep River Blues

Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightning

Smokestack Lightning - here's a rare film version of the Howlin' Wolf classic, itself based on earlier blues lyrics, and recorded by him in multiple versions. Covered by the likes of the Yardbirds, Manfred Mann, and even Bob Dylan.

The Yardbirds - Smokestack Lightnin'

Nat King Cole - Route 66

Route 66 - written by Bob Troup and his wife during their long road trip westwards, and first recorded by Nat King Cole. Later given the R&R treatment by Chuck Berry, and in turn covered by the Rolling Stones and numerous others.

Chuck Berry - Get Your Kicks On Route 66

Big Mama Thornton - Ball And Chain

Ball And Chain - powerful stuff from Big Mama Thornton, performing it here with Buddy Guy's band. She originally recorded it in the early Sixties, but it didn't get released for a few years. Then Janis Joplin came along!

Big Brother and the Holding Company - Ball And Chain

Blind Willie McTell - Statesboro Blues

Statesboro Blues - written and recorded by Blind Willie McTell in 1928. The song was covered by Taj Mahal 40 years later, and his version then inspired the Allman Brothers Band.

The Allman Brothers Band - Statesboro Blues

Tim Curry - Sloe Gin

Sloe Gin - hands up everyone who thought Joe Bonamassa wrote this song. Bob Ezrin and Michael Kamen penned it; Tim Curry released it in 1978. Respect to Joe B for its rediscovery.

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