folo

This is a two-part story. The first is about one of the greatest blues singers you don’t know, Doctor Clayton. The picture above is a publicity photo for his recordings. He recorded for Bluebird Records, which defined Chicago blues in the late 1930s and early 1940s. He was a great influence on singers like B.B. King. His life was tragic– his wife and children died in a housefire, and he drank himself to death. On records, he was accompanied usually by the excellent Chicago blues pianist Blind John Davis and occasionally by Robert Jr. Lockwood and others. He floats a cool, ironic, and almost laid-back singing style over the fluid accompaniment, and wrote some great songs. I don’t see anywhere on the internet to link his music, although if you search on Amazon for Doctor Clayton, you’ll find an excellent full cd on Document Records.

Two of his songs were “Ain’t No Business We Can Do” and “Cheatiin’ and Lyin’ Blues.” The first starts out:

I went down to Eli’s, got my new suit out of pawn
Took the last little change I had left, and put some new shoes on
I took a real slow stroll, right down the avenue
A high yellow asked me could she go along too.
I said “Hey, good looking. Have you got any cash on you,
Cause if you’re broke like me, ain’t no business we can do.”

Here’s one verse and and the chorus of “Cheatin’ and Lyin’ Blues:”

Four o’clock this morning, when I staggered in the block
The little moonshine joint in the rear had just started to rock.
I sneaked inside, to get a better view
I caught my woman doing the boogie too.
I’m going to murder my baby, if she don’t stop cheating and lying.
Well, I’d rather be in the penitentiary than to be worried out of my mind.

One of the singers influenced by Doctor Clayton was Robert Nighthawk. He was born in Helena, lived and performed in Memphis, Jackson, and the Mississippi Delta before heading north to Chicago– at one time he had two wives (“one time” meaning “both living there at once”) living in different rooms of the Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale (the Riverside having famous blues associations– Bessie Smith died there and Ike Turner grew up there). He performed on the radio in Jackson, and, while in Memphis played with the Memphis Jug Band. Like Muddy Waters, Nighthawk went north to Chicago and later recorded at Chess Records.

He’s on film in a remarkable 1964 documentary called “And This Is Free,” which was filmed at the outdoor market in Chicago’s Southside, the Maxwell Street Market. Here we have “Going Down To Eli’s,” Nighthawk putting together the two Doctor Clayton songs quoted above and adding some searing slide guitar. You have to watch through to the dancers–

I went down to Eli’s to get my pistol out of pawn.
When I got home, my woman was gone.
I’m going to murder my baby if she don’t stop cheating and lying
Well, I’d rather be in the penitentiary than to be worried out of my mind.