Such a strange record. My other Big Mama Thornton records emphasize that she made a hit of ‘Houn’ Dog’ before Elvis Presley did, that he wanted to sound like her, that she is the godmother of rock and roll. I see how that helps a blues singer sell records to rock and roll fans. She does a great version of Wade in the Water, for example, that could be a rock song. On this record, though, about half of her songs are hymns—the fountain will never run dry/I never have to cry/I never will die/because I know the sun keeps shining/Jesus take my hand. In another song, she’s headed for the pearly gates, St. Peter gonna lead her. I understand that her faith was an important part of her life and she wanted to sing about it.
But the other half of the songs include Bumble Bee (sort of a companion song to Muddy Waters wishing his honey bee would bring her sweetness back to him) that says ‘you stung me this morning/I’ve been looking for you all day long.’ I never expected to hear Big Mama say ‘your stinger as long as my right arm/you had me to the good place.’
I am puzzled by Black Rat. She says she’ll hide her shoe close to her man’s shirttail. I’ve heard threats to put one’s boot up another’s rear end—never heard a woman say it though. Then I thought, shirttails are in the front as well as the back. She could be threatening to kick him in the crotch as hard as she can. The next verse is obscure—I took you downtown/pay your doctor bill/Now I’m in a little bit of trouble/tryin to get me killed. I guess St. Peter can handle ambivalence.
This Arhoolie record is the best-made I’ve played. Sixty years old, there’s no surface noise and the instruments are all crisp.
converselyspeaking 