"Blues with a Feeling" is a blues song first released by Rabon Tarrant with Jack McVea

Jack McVea

Jack McVea was an American swing, blues, and rhythm and blues woodwind player; he played clarinet and tenor and baritone saxophone...

 and His All Stars in 1947. Later, the song became an important hit for Little Walter

Little Walter

Little Walter, born Marion Walter Jacobs , was an American blues harmonica player, whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, for innovation and impact on succeeding generations...

 and "has been cited by a number of his imitators as the song that inspired them to take up harmonica". "Blues with a Feeling" has been recorded by various blues and other artists.

Original song

Rabon Tarrant, a drummer with saxophone player Jack McVea's band, wrote "Blues with a Feeling" and also provided the vocals. The song was performed as a mid-tempo twelve-bar jump blues

Jump blues

Jump blues is an up-tempo blues usually played by small groups and featuring horns. It was very popular in the 1940s, and the movement was a precursor to the arrival of rhythm and blues and rock and roll...

 that features sax and trumpet soloing over a strong backbeat. The opening verses are as follows:

Blues with a feeling, that's what I have today

Blues with a feeling, that's what I have today

Gonna find my baby, yes if it takes all night and day

Little Walter version

Little Walter recorded "Blues with a Feeling" on July 23, 1953. Backing Walter (vocal and harmonica) are Dave Myers

The Aces (blues band)

The Aces was one of the earliest and most influential of the electric Chicago blues band in the 1950s. Led by the guitarist brothers Louis and Dave Myers, natives of Byhalia, Mississippi, the brothers originally performed under the name The Little Boys; with the subsequent addition of harmonica...

 and Louis Myers or Jimmy Rogers

Jimmy Rogers

Jimmy Rogers was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters' band of the 1950s.-Career:...

 (guitars), Willie Dixon

Willie Dixon

William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...

 (bass), and Fred Below

Fred Below

Fred Below was a leading blues drummer, best known for his innovative work with Little Walter and Chess Records in the 1950s. Nobody laid more of the Chicago blues rhythmic foundations, particularly its archetypal backbeat, than Fred Below.-Career:He was born in Chicago, and started playing drums...

 (drums). Although "most of the lyrics and general arrangement com[e] from a 1947 Jack McVea release", "Walter puts his own contemporary spin on it". The song is performed as a slow blues with Walter playing a distinctive harp intro and accompaniment to his vocals.

Little Walter's "Blues with a Feeling" was issued on Checker

Checker Records

Checker Records is an inactive record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary to Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. The label was founded by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, who ran the label until they sold it to General Recorded Tape in 1969, shortly before Leonard's death.The label...

 (780), a Chess Records

Chess Records

Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....

 subsidiary. The song made its debut in the Billboard R&B chart October 10, 1953, eventually reaching #2 during an eleven week run.

Other versions

"Blues with a Feeling" "may be Walter's most covered song" and subsequent versions usually show Little Walter's influence. Some versions include those by Paul Butterfield

Paul Butterfield

Paul Butterfield was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player, who founded the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 1960s and performed at the original Woodstock Festival...

 (from the 1965 album The Paul Butterfield Blues Band

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (album)

-Side two:-Personnel:* Paul Butterfield — vocals, harmonica* Mike Bloomfield — electric guitar* Elvin Bishop — electric guitar* Mark Naftalin — organ on "Blues with A Feeling," "Thank You Mr. Poobah," "Screamin'," "Our Love Is Drifting," "Mystery Train," and "Last Night"* Jerome Arnold — bass* Sam...

); Luther Allison

Luther Allison

Luther Allison was an American blues guitarist. He was born in Widener, Arkansas and moved with his family, at age twelve, to Chicago in 1951. He taught himself guitar and began listening to blues extensively. Three years later he began hanging outside blues nightclubs with the hopes of being...

 (1977 Love Me Papa); Jimmy Witherspoon

Jimmy Witherspoon

Jimmy Witherspoon was an American jump blues singer.-Early life and career:James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during...

 and George "Harmonica" Smith (1980 Spoon's Life); Carey Bell

Carey Bell

Carey Bell was an American blues musician, who played the harmonica in the Chicago blues style. Bell played harmonica and bass for other blues musicians during the late 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s before embarking on a solo career...

 and Lurrie Bell

Lurrie Bell

Lurrie Bell is an American blues guitarist and singer. His father was renowned blues harmonica player, Carey Bell.-Career:...

 (1988 Harpslinger); Little Sonny

Little Sonny

Little Sonny is an American electric blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. His early mentor and inspiration was Sonny Boy Williamson II. Nevertheless, Little Sonny stated that his nickname originated with his mother...

 (1991 Stax Blues Masters: Blue Monday); Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal (musician)

Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...

 (1991 Like Never Before

Like Never Before

Like Never Before is an album by American blues artist Taj Mahal.-Track listing:# "Don't Call Us"# "River of Love"# "Scattered"# "Ev'ry Wind "# "Blues with a Feeling"# "Squat That Rabbit"# "Take All the Time You Need"# "Love Up"...

); Mick Jagger

Mick Jagger

Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....

 with The Red Devils

The Red Devils (blues band)

The Red Devils were a Los Angeles-based blues-rock band who were active from 1988 to 1994. With their no-frills approach and singer Lester Butler's convincing Chicago-style blues harp, they were a popular fixture on the Los Angeles club scene and toured the U.S. and Europe...

 (1992); George "Mojo" Buford

George "Mojo" Buford

George "Mojo" Buford was an American blues harmonica player, best known for his work in Muddy Waters' band.-Biography:...

 (1996 Harpslinger); Magic Slim

Magic Slim

Magic Slim is an American blues singer and guitarist.-Biography:Magic Slim was forced to give up playing the piano when he lost his little finger in a cotton gin mishap. He moved first to nearby Grenada. He first came to Chicago in 1955 with his friend and mentor Magic Sam...

 (2000 44 Blues); Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (2002 Harmonica Blues Orgy); and Little Sammy Davis

Little Sammy Davis

Little Sammy Davis is an American blues musician based in New York's Hudson Valley. Although his musical career began in the 1940s, he was not widely known until the mid-1990s when he began working in radio, singing, playing live on tour, and recording studio albums.-Early life and career:Born in...

(2006 Midnight Ramble Music Sessions).