howlin' wolf's best

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i'm so glad
that you understand
i'm three hundred pounds
of muscle and man

this is it, this is it
look what you get

Poll Results

OptionVotes
smokestack lightning 8
spoonful 5
moanin' at midnight 3
killing floor 3
how many more years 2
howlin' for my darlin' 2
evil 2
forty-four 1
goin' down slow 1
three hundred pounds of joy 1
i ain't superstitious 1
who's been talking? 1
i asked for water (she gave me gasoline) 1
built for comfort 0
hidden charms 0
the red rooster 0
shake for me 0
wang dang doodle 0
sitting on top of the world 0
back door man 0


j., Wednesday, 16 April 2014 02:14 (eleven years ago)

this is such a great compilation. still remember the chill that went up my spine the first time i ever heard 'moanin at midnight.'

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 16 April 2014 02:18 (eleven years ago)

I really can't not vote for killing floor, that song slays

ביטקוין‎ (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 16 April 2014 02:20 (eleven years ago)

Damn, what a great collection. So many contenders.

EveningStar (Sund4r), Wednesday, 16 April 2014 02:21 (eleven years ago)

i've never really thought of these as songs before

j., Wednesday, 16 April 2014 02:30 (eleven years ago)

I never get tired of "Wang Dang Doodle" (never tire of any of these, really) but I think I prefer Koko Taylor's version. Pretty sure I need to go "Smokestack" in this.

A Perfect Ratio of Choogle to Jam (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 16 April 2014 15:00 (eleven years ago)

"who's been talkin'" was definitely one of those "ohhh so this is what Tom Waits wishes he sounded like" moments.
vocal on "goin' down slow" is unbelievable. all of these vocals are unbelievable.

tylerw, Wednesday, 16 April 2014 15:03 (eleven years ago)

http://www.keeponliving.at/song/sitting_on_top_of_the_world.html

long list of others' recordings

j., Friday, 18 April 2014 01:00 (eleven years ago)

Spoonful without doubt for me. But I would be very happy to spend time challenging this notion.

xelab, Friday, 18 April 2014 01:23 (eleven years ago)

this is really hard - "smokestack lightning," "killing floor," "how many more years," "I asked for water" are my biggest contenders

Now I Am Become Dracula (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Friday, 18 April 2014 03:56 (eleven years ago)

This is especially hard because these are all great tunes and the one that noses out the rest for me, "No Place To Go," is nowhere to be found.

When I Get To The Borad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 18 April 2014 04:02 (eleven years ago)

Incredible stuff here. Voted for "spoonful"

that's not my post, Friday, 18 April 2014 04:51 (eleven years ago)

Yes, they don't feel like songs - they dissolve into something else that is v hard to define as a word.

xyzzzz__, Friday, 18 April 2014 08:00 (eleven years ago)

It's a tough call between "How Many More Years" and "Who's Been Talking?" for me.

Humorist (horse) (誤訳侮辱), Friday, 18 April 2014 13:56 (eleven years ago)

"Where the soul of man never dies," according to Sam Phillips. xpost

A Perfect Ratio of Choogle to Jam (Dan Peterson), Friday, 18 April 2014 13:58 (eleven years ago)

Yeah, Sam loved Howlin' Wolf.

Yes, they don't feel like songs - they dissolve into something else that is v hard to define as a word.

Well, they are kind of the real deal as far as Delta Blues, no extra chords thrown in to round out the song structure, lots of droning going on.

When I Get To The Borad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 18 April 2014 14:02 (eleven years ago)

And a voice that is truly a force of nature, often imitated never duplicated.

A Perfect Ratio of Choogle to Jam (Dan Peterson), Friday, 18 April 2014 14:15 (eleven years ago)

I think I need this, but I've never heard of "Acrobat Records?"

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-RPM-Chess-Singles-1951-62/dp/B00IYLWVMW/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1397830584&sr=1-2&keywords=howlin+wolf+chess

A Perfect Ratio of Choogle to Jam (Dan Peterson), Friday, 18 April 2014 14:18 (eleven years ago)

love em all - but in the absence of Taildragger I'll probably go for one of the party tunes like wang dang doodle, 300 lbs, or built for comfort

brio, Friday, 18 April 2014 14:28 (eleven years ago)

wolf was early on the fat & proud tip

brio, Friday, 18 April 2014 14:30 (eleven years ago)

Recently got a hold of the bio Moanin' At Midnight, by James Segrest and Mark Hoffman and been rooting around in it. So far, so good.

When I Get To The Borad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 18 April 2014 14:38 (eleven years ago)

wolf was early on the fat & proud tip

― brio, Friday, April 18, 2014 10:30 AM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I didn't know "300 Pounds" was his until I heard this comp about 10 years ago. A cover by Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows in the mid-80s got a fair amount of airplay in Chicago.

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 18 April 2014 14:55 (eleven years ago)

Going Down Slow by a nose, for the Willie Dixon vocals.

Sumlin really was a force of nature, jesus christ

Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Friday, 18 April 2014 15:44 (eleven years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Wednesday, 30 April 2014 00:01 (eleven years ago)

"smokestack lightning"

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, 30 April 2014 00:23 (eleven years ago)

It's a tough call between "How Many More Years" and "Who's Been Talking?" for me.

These were my finalists too. I went with "How Many More Years".

EveningStar (Sund4r), Wednesday, 30 April 2014 01:15 (eleven years ago)

i don't know if i can do this

j., Wednesday, 30 April 2014 02:55 (eleven years ago)

Good lord

Impossible, but I can narrow it down to smokestack and killin floor

Corpsepaint Counterpaint (jjjusten), Wednesday, 30 April 2014 03:01 (eleven years ago)

Went with "How Many More Years."

Humorist (horse) (誤訳侮辱), Wednesday, 30 April 2014 03:05 (eleven years ago)

i went with 'moanin' because it is first and starts with the throaty humming and he sings about the telephone in it, and i like that there are telephones in howlin' wolf songs

j., Wednesday, 30 April 2014 03:07 (eleven years ago)

(Xpost to jjusten) Those two were in my top three, four or five but I finally went with "Moanin' At Midnight" for the humming and the dynamics.

Bee Traven Thousand (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 30 April 2014 03:09 (eleven years ago)

'commit a crime' is not on this = this so-called 'best of' is a travesty!

cb, Wednesday, 30 April 2014 13:21 (eleven years ago)

voted "Evil"

Alvarius B. Goode (WilliamC), Wednesday, 30 April 2014 15:16 (eleven years ago)

Interesting. Always figured you for an I Asked For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline) guy.

Bee Traven Thousand (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 30 April 2014 22:36 (eleven years ago)

I dunno, I just I love the arrangement -- it swings and stomps, but is spare enough to put the focus on Wolf's voice where it belongs. My favorite Wolf song of all is probably "Down in the Bottom," but that wasn't on this comp.

Alvarius B. Goode (WilliamC), Wednesday, 30 April 2014 23:58 (eleven years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Thursday, 1 May 2014 00:01 (eleven years ago)

Huh- missed this poll. Probably would have voted "Spoonful".

o. nate, Thursday, 1 May 2014 02:32 (eleven years ago)

Might as well put it all on a dartboard.

But "Forty-Four" wins for me right now, just because of the explosion of that first line that he didn't even have to look for, that he olds for the whole song.

Underrated: the alternate take of "Highway 49" from the London sessions, "Little Baby." Oh, and I go back to "She's Lookin' Good" and "Just As Long" from the sequel to the psychedelic record, both because they're fantastic and because I had no idea that album existed until 3 years ago.

kaleb, Thursday, 1 May 2014 03:01 (eleven years ago)

lol at dartboard

Bee Traven Thousand (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 1 May 2014 03:05 (eleven years ago)

I'm awful at metaphors. I was just trying not to say "wow they're all so darn good."

kaleb, Thursday, 1 May 2014 03:23 (eleven years ago)

Not at all. It was a great metaphor. Knew exactly what you meant.

Bee Traven Thousand (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 1 May 2014 03:40 (eleven years ago)

Oh, okay. I usually assume any references to me are veiled criticisms.

Aside: I saw Hubert Sumlin a couple times and he had the most infectious smile I've ever seen. Even when he got to using an oxygen tank, he still had that smile.

kaleb, Thursday, 1 May 2014 04:02 (eleven years ago)


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