Rosco Gordon: Booted

[Adam Blake]

Is this the drunkest record ever made?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhf3yqIvFoY

[Jamie Renton]

Is this the drunkest record ever made?

One of. So's this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jBgl_3hxkY

[Adam Blake]

Ah but that's a song about being drunk as opposed to a record performed by people who ARE drunk. Or at least not very. The horns come in on time and harmonise with each other. This takes a certain degree of sobriety. I love how on the Rosco Gordon record the drummer comes in on the wrong foot in the solo and just stays there. And as for the vocal entry!

[john poole]

Sonny Burgess' records for Sun certainly sound as if some drinking may have taken place, although he apparently claims that they were "stone-cold sober"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ_80yKiU3M

[Jamie Renton]

Ah but that's a song about being drunk as opposed to a record performed by people who ARE drunk. Or at least not very. The horns come in on time and harmonise with each other. This takes a certain degree of sobriety.

Yes, but the vocal chorus sounds drunk as a skunk to my ears.

The Rosco G tune has long been a favourite of mine. I've been known to DJ with it and for all it's drunken disorderliness, it can work surprisingly well on the dancefloor

[Adam Blake]

Sonny Burgess' records for Sun certainly sound as if some drinking may have taken place, although he apparently claims that they were "stone-cold sober"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ_80yKiU3M

Hmmm... I think what you've got hold of there John, is amphetamine - which was quite legal at the time.

I am convinced that Sam Phillips was a speed freak and that he dished it out to his performers on a routine basis (if they didn't provide their own). It makes sense of so much. Amphetamine allows you to drink much more alcohol and stay with it, it makes you look lean and hungry, it breaks down inhibitions (such as might have been felt by Southern white musicians about recording black sounding music) and it makes everything sound fast and urgent!!!

Of course it also drives you insane and makes your teeth fall out but later for that, right?!

[john poole]

You're probably right Adam, although I'm not so sure about Sam Phillips. None of the other Sun artists sound quite as crazed as Sonny Burgess though.

[tulsehill charlie]

Another fine example of the "singers dramatically pretending to be drunk" gendre. Bembeya Jazz "Whisky-soda" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTe--k74Pys
Of course the greatest exponent of this would be Sonny Boy Williamson who could both be drunk and pretend to be at the same time - "Wake Up Baby" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yLOQXvq1DY

[Alan Balfour]

There was a very lengthy and informative interview conducted by Hank Davis and published in Living Blues 49 (Winter 1980-81) which ran to 10 pages. I'll see if there's any salient paragraphs worth reproducing here.

[Alan Balfour]

John Stedman toured him to Britain. One of the gigs was a Saturday night at the 100 Club. The same evening B.B. King and Booby Bland (who had with him guitarist Wayne Bennett) were performing at the Hammersmith Odeon. During the interval word was passed back stage to King and Bennett that Rosco was in London too. After the show King and Bennett were put into a cab 100 Club bound. The reaction from Rosco on stage as the pair of them approached him was priceless, the audience were gobsmacked. King and Bennett got up on stage, borrowed the backing band's guitars and the three of them had a ball. There are photos of this event.

[Adam Blake]

Oh man... You just made me weep.

My favourite bit of all the Scorsese blues films is the section in the Memphis film ("The Road To Memphis") where Gordon is walking up and down Beale Street trying to find his gig. A trumpeter who is being employed to advertise a restaurant recognizes him and they have a little jam together. That made me weep too. I'm just an old softie, I know.

[garth cartwright]

Great record and, Alan, great story. Adam: I'm with you on the Road To Memphis - didn't Roscoe give up music to run a drycleaners for several decades?

[Adam Blake]

Yep. In Queens, New York, I believe. That's why he couldn't find his way around Beale Street any more. In their infinite wisdom - and with the usual American Establishment reverence for American culture - the city fathers of Memphis had seen fit to raise Beale Street to the ground and replace it with a cardboard replica tourist attraction.