There’s one genre that’s been underrepresented in this feature: the blues. That changes this week.
I used Born Under A Bad Sign as a Saturday Odds & Sods theme song in 2017. It was written in 1967 by Booker T. Jones and William Bell with Albert King in mind. That’s where we begin.
The Cream version with Jack Bruce on lead vox was the first version of this blues classic I ever heard.
Lyricist William Bell recorded this week’s tune two years after the Albert King original.
Etta James. Say no more.
Koko Taylor and Buddy Guy gave the Jones-Bell classic the Chicago blues treatment in 1993.
Paul Rodgers took Born Under A Bad Sign back to its Memphis roots in a version featuring Journey’s Neal Schon on lead guitar.
Finally, a 21st Century version by Kenny Wayne Shepherd with Keb Mo and the Rebirth Brass Band along for the ride.
What would the Friday Cocktail Hour be without instrumental versions of the week’s song? This time, Booker T. & The Mgs followed by a blast of jazz fusion by Larry Coryell, Victor Bailey, & Lenny White.
That’s it for this week. Let’s drink to another election day that baffled the MSM punditocracy. It’s what Al Jackson, Steve Cropper, Booker T. Jones, and Duck Dunn would want. Never argue with Booker T. & The MGs.
A great song pick, as “Born Under A Bad Sign” is timeless Stax blues! You followed the threads of all the variations with your typical cocktail hour aplomb, and somehow this missive really lifted my spirits in every which way….
Excellent. Glad it didn’t have the opposite affect.