Mandatory Blues Song of the Week: "I Want to Live So God Can Use Me" by Son House.
Listen to "I Want to Live So God Can Use Me" by Son House. Song starts around 1:50, after his shy monologue.
Eddie "Son" House, as with all the blues legends, is a fascinating guy. He didn't pick up a guitar until he was 28 years old because he was a baptist preacher and considered it the devil's music. He preached at two different churches in his time, and also shot a man at a juke joint and served 2 years on Parchman Work Farm for the murder. His dual impulses to religion and the blues tormented him all of his life, but, in his own words, "the women and liquor would not set me free."
He was "rediscovered" in the 1960's and became an immediate success because of his soulful performances, but even the success dragged him down. He began to be drunk all of the time, and antagonized even his old friends Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Eventually, his performances began to be worse and worse until he finally did not have any gigs.
That said, hard living must have agreed with him. He outlived most of the younger generation, lasting well into his late 80's. If you believe one blues researcher -- who theorizes that Son House faked his birth certificate to be 20 years younger so he could find work in the Great Depression, then he may have even lived to be 100+.
Also, here's another version of his classic "Death Letter Blues" that is INCREDIBLE.
Eddie "Son" House, as with all the blues legends, is a fascinating guy. He didn't pick up a guitar until he was 28 years old because he was a baptist preacher and considered it the devil's music. He preached at two different churches in his time, and also shot a man at a juke joint and served 2 years on Parchman Work Farm for the murder. His dual impulses to religion and the blues tormented him all of his life, but, in his own words, "the women and liquor would not set me free."
He was "rediscovered" in the 1960's and became an immediate success because of his soulful performances, but even the success dragged him down. He began to be drunk all of the time, and antagonized even his old friends Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Eventually, his performances began to be worse and worse until he finally did not have any gigs.
That said, hard living must have agreed with him. He outlived most of the younger generation, lasting well into his late 80's. If you believe one blues researcher -- who theorizes that Son House faked his birth certificate to be 20 years younger so he could find work in the Great Depression, then he may have even lived to be 100+.
Also, here's another version of his classic "Death Letter Blues" that is INCREDIBLE.