"Fathers And Sons": obiettivo passare il testimone del blues dai veterani ai giovani, senza che per questo i "padri" abdichino; creano soltanto nuovi adepti. E quando i "padri" sono la leggenda Muddy Waters ed il pianista Otis Spann e i "figli" Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, Donald "Duck" Dunn e Sam Lay rischiamo di trovarci di fronte ad un gran disco.

Le aspettative vengono rispettate in pieno, la band gira intorno alla carismatica figura del leader, che da par suo intreccia le corde della sua chitarra con quelle dell'allora ventitreenne Bloomfield, talento americano già alla corte di Paul Butterfield, Black Flag e Al Kooper. L'idea di rilanciare Muddy Waters dopo gli scempi di "Electric Mud" e "After The Rain", con metà della Paul Butterfield Blues Band più un bassista spiccatamente soul e funk come Dunn (Booker T & The MG's), è sicuramente vincente: "Fathers And Sons" spazza via i recenti insuccessi del bluesman dando nuova linfa alla sua musica. Su tutti spiccano l'ispirazione dello stesso Butterfield, che con la sua armonica quasi sovrasta gli altri strumenti e condisce costantemente l'aria, e la comprovata arte pianistica di Otis Spann, alla corte del leader americano dal lontano '52, ma se la sezione ritmica pone delle solide fondamenta al suono, a deludere (almeno parzialmente), è l'apporto di Bloomfield, vittima di un certo timore reverenziale che lo limita nelle esecuzioni.

"All Aboard", incipit dell'Lp, con la sua armonica impazzita introduce al meglio quello che è il tema portante di tutto il lavoro, che vede alternarsi blues monolitici ("Forty Days And Forty Nights"), slow blues ("You Can't Lose What You Never Had") e pezzi di volta in volta funambolici, rockeggianti e puri divertissment ("Walkin' Thru The Park"); inoltre "Mean Disposition" e "Standin' Round Cryin'" rallentano il ritmo, dando l'impressione di trovarci dinanzi alle sessioni di registrazione dell'album "Folk Singer", suonate stavolta in versione elettrica anziché acustica.

Come se non bastasse al disco in studio ne viene affiancato uno dal vivo, che vede il bluesman, sempre affiancato dalla sua band, cimentarsi in alcuni pezzi storici: ecco che "Long Distance Call" diventa un bellissimo pezzo elettrico senza perdere quel feeling che ne faceva uno dei migliori episodi di "Folk Singer", mentre "Baby Please Don't Go" e "Got My Mojo Working (Part I & II)", col loro incedere trascinante, fanno ballare la platea e l'ascoltatore.

Blues dalla prima all'ultima nota, e il passaggio di consegne è compiuto.

Elenco tracce testi samples e video

01   All Aboard (02:53)

All aboard!

Mean old Frisco
takes my breath away
mean old Frisco
takes my breath away
well ive been howling ive been trusting
and now im lookin for the day.

Wake a man feel good
got me hold let me down
wake a man feel good
got me hold let me down
cos ive been howling ive been trustin
and now im gettin pushed around.

Can you show me
how the train goes round the bend
can you show me
how the train goes round the bend
and ive howling oh so long
and now im looking for the end.

Wake a man feel good
got me hold let me down
wake a man feel good
got me hold let me down
cos ive been howling ive been trustin
and now im gettin pushed around

Can you show me
how the train goes round the bend
can you show me
how the train goes round the bend
and ive howling oh so long
and now im looking for the end.

02   Mean Disposition (05:43)

03   Blow Wind Blow (03:42)

When the sun rose this morning,
I didn't have my baby by my side.
When the sun rose this morning,
I didn't have my baby by my side.
I don't know where she was,
I know she's out with some another guy.

Don't the sun look lonesome
Shading down behind the trees?
Don't the sun look lonesome
Shading down behind the trees?
But don't your house look lonesome
When your baby's packed to leave.

Blow wind, blow wind, blow my baby back to me.
Blow wind, blow wind, blow my baby back to me.
Well you know if I don't soon find them,
I will be in misery.

Goodbye baby, that is all I have left to say.
Goodbye baby, that is all I have left to say.
But you have lost your good thing,
Go ahead and have your own way.

by McKinley Morganfield

04   Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had (03:07)

05   Walkin' Thru the Park (03:22)

06   Forty Days and Forty Nights (03:09)

Forty days and forty nights
Since my baby left this town
Sunshinin' all day long
But the rain keep comin' down
She's my life I need her so
Why she left I just don't know
Forty days and forty nights
Since I set right down and cried
Keep rainin' all the time
But the river is runnin' dry
Lord help me it just ain't right
I love that girl with all-a my might
Forty days and forty nights
Since my baby broke my heart
Searchin' for her in a while
Like a blind man in the dark
Love can make a poor man rich
Or break his heart I don't know which
Forty days and forty nights
Like a ship out on the sea
Prayin' for her each night
That she would come back-a home to me
Life is love and love is right
I hope she come back home tonight

07   Standin' Round Cryin' (04:06)

08   I'm Ready (03:40)

I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me

I got an axe handle pistol on a graveyard frame
That shoot tombstone bullets, wearin' balls and chain
I'm drinkin' TNT, I'm smokin' dynamite
I hope some screwball start a fight
'Cause I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me

All you pretty little chicks with your pretty little hair
I know you feels like I ain't nowhere
But stop what your doin' baby come overhere
I'll prove to you baby, that I ain't no square
Because I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me

I been drinkin' gin like never before
I feel so good, I want you to know
One more drink, I wish you would
I takes a whole lotta lovin' to make me feel good
'Cause I'm ready, ready as anybody can be
Now I'm ready for you, I hope you're ready for me

09   Twenty Four Hours (04:50)

Oh I mistreated my baby last night
Woman from holding you here in my arms
Oh I mistreated my baby last night
Woman from holding you here in my arms
Now you know she been gone 24 hours
And that's 23 hours too long

You know if I had a million dollars
I would give every dime to bring her back home
Oh, how my poor heart bleeds peoples
It's so sad to be alone
Now you know she been gone just about 24 hours
And that's 23 hours too long

Oh, my baby's so pretty
This little girl she looks just like a charm
I love this woman
This woman, she looks just like a charm
Now you know she been gone 24 hours
And that's 23 hours too long

10   Sugar Sweet (02:20)

I'm gonna tell you about my baby
I speak of her with pride
She go all the way to make me satisfied
Oh she's my baby, she's my baby, don't you see
I can't call her sugar 'cause sugar never was so sweet

It ain't no suprise, she serve me in the bed
She manicure my nails, scratch dandruff from my head
She's my baby, she's my baby, don't you see
I can't call her sugar 'cause sugar never was so sweet

When I say what I want, that's the way it's gonna be
She fall over backwards to go right on pleasin' me
Oh she's my baby, she's my baby, can't you see
I can't call her sugar 'cause sugar never was so sweet

11   Long Distance Call (06:37)

You say you love me darlin'
Please, call me on the phone sometime
You say you love me darlin'
Please, call me on the phone sometime
When I hear your voice
Ease my worried mind

One of these days
I'm gonna show you how nice a man can be
One of these days
I'm gonna show you just how nice a man can be
I'm gonna buy you a brand, new Cadillac
If you only speak some good words about me

Hear my phone ringin'
Sound like a long distance call
Hear my phone keep ringin'
Sound like a long distance call
When I picked up my receiver
The party said another mule kickin' in your stall

12   Baby Please Don't Go (03:03)

Baby, please don't go
Baby, please don't go
Baby, please don't go, down to New Orleans
You know I love you so

Before I be your dog
Before I be your dog
Before I be your dog
I get you way'd out here, and let you walk alone

Turn your lamp down low
Turn your lamp down low
Turn your lamp down low
I beg you all night long, baby, please don't go

You brought me way down here
You brought me way down here
You brought me way down here
'bout to Rolling Forks, you treat me like a dog

Baby, please don't go
Baby, please don't go
Baby, please don't go, back the New Orleans
I beg you all night long

Before I be your dog
Before I be your dog
Before I be your dog
I get you way'd out here, and let you walk alone

You know your man down gone
You know your man down gone
You know your man down gone
To the country farm, with all the shackles on

13   Honey Bee (03:58)

Sail on, sail on my little honey bee, sail on
Sail on, sail on my little honey bee, sail on
You gonna keep on sailing till you lose your happy home

Sail on, sail on my little honey bee, sail on
Sail on, sail on my little honey bee, sail on
I don't mind you sailing, but please don't sail so long

All right little honey bee

I hear a lotta buzzing, sound like my little honey bee
I hear a lotta buzzing, sound like my little honey bee
She been all around the world making honey
But now she is coming back home to me

14   The Same Thing (06:03)

What makes a man go crazy when a woman
wears her dress so tight
What makes a man go crazy when a woman
wears that ol' dress so tight
Must be the same ol' thing
that make a tom cat fight all night

Now, why do all the big men
try to run a big-legged woman down
Now, why do all the big men
try to run a big ol' woman down
Must be the same ol' thing that
makes a bulldog a huggling 'round

It's that ol' same thing,
now tell me who's to blame
The whole world is fighting
about that ol' same thing

What make you feel so good
when your baby's in her evening gown
What make you feel so good
when your baby's in her evening gown
Must be that same ol' thing
that makes a preacher lay his bible down

It's that ol' same thing,
now tell me who's to blame
The whole world is fighting
about that ol' same thing

15   Got My Mojo Working, Part One (03:25)

16   Got My Mojo Working, Part Two (05:09)

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