Dust My Broom
Encyclopedia
"Dust My Broom" is a blues standard
originally recorded as "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom"
by Robert Johnson, the Mississippi Delta blues singer and guitarist, on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas. The song was originally released on 78 rpm format as Vocalion
03475, ARC
7-04-81 and Conqueror
8871. There is an ongoing dispute as to whether the song was originally written by Johnson or by his contemporary, Elmore James
.
". He adopted this song from traditional sources. Unlike the many versions by other musicians, Johnson's original accompaniment was finger picked, and not played as a bottleneck or slide guitar. Leroy Carr
’s original hit was "I Believe I’ll Make A Change" recorded in August 1934. The popular bottleneck guitar player and singer Kokomo Arnold
used the tune for two records: "Sagefield Woman Blues" recorded in September 1934 and "Sissy Man Blues" recorded in January 1935 It seems likely that Johnson owned and studied both of Arnold’s records. Another possibility is that Johnson heard Arnold in person performing a number of verses to this melody. However, Edward Komara suggests that Johnson may have begun developing his version of the song as early as 1933, since it had already been recorded by the Sparks Brothers as "I Believe I'll Make A Change" in 1932 and by Jack Kelly as "Believe I'll Go Back Home" in 1933
Arnold began "Sissy Man Blues" with essentially the same verse as Kelly:
This couplet
echoes traditional religious songs about The Prodigal Son. Indeed, in his 1938 re-working of the song, Big Bill Broonzy
includes the line:
Arnold also borrows a verse from "Mr Carl’s Blues" recorded by Carl Rafferty in December 1933. The melody is somewhat different, but Paul Oliver considers it to be the same song.
Another of Rafferty's verses is used in Arnold’s earlier record, "Sagefield Woman Blues".
Attempts have been made to read a hoodoo significance into the phrase 'dust my broom'. However the blues artist Big Joe Williams
, who knew Robert Johnson, and who also believed in traditional magic, explained it as "leaving for good ... I'm putting you down. I won't be back no more".
, the accompaniment was a major innovation. Fingerpicking in the key
of E, he plays high pitch triplets
against a driving bass boogie
figure
, creating an effect similar to the then popular combination of piano and guitar accompaniment. Johnson's blend is so seamless it appears to be two guitarists playing at the same time. In fact, when Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richards first heard Johnson he remarked; "He's great! But who's the other guitar player?" (In another version, Mick Jagger made this remark to Richards when Richards first played him the song). Johnson drives the beat with the shuffle rhythm and plays fills simultaneously. Johnson's innovation later became very common among blues guitarists, especially after the electric guitar became standard. That particular boogie guitar figure was apparently invented by Johnnie Temple, who used it in his 1935 recording "Lead Pencil Blues (It Just Won't Write)". (Still, no one has quite matched Johnson's technique on Dust My Broom. As crude as it is, it's also immensely sophisticated). However, Temple spoke of performing with a musician he knew as "RJ". Edward Komara suggests that "RJ" was Robert Johnson, and that he and Temple jointly invented the piano boogie guitar style.
Komara believes that Johnson played this and other songs in a 'secret tuning
', which Komara calls "Aadd9". This is an 'open A' tuning with the fifth string retuned from A to B, giving a tuning of E-B-E-A-C♯-E.
in 1961 omitted "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" and other forward looking performances, described by Pearson and McCulloch as
"traditional pieces that would have connected Johnson to the rightful inheritors of his musical ideas – big-city African American artists whose high-powered, electrically amplified blues remained solidly in touch with Johnson's musical legacy."
The second compilation issued by Columbia Records
, King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II
was issued nine years later, although a bootleg
album of recording to supplement the first volume had been issued on the Kokomo
label and was owned and circulated among blues enthusiasts. The Columbia album was marketed to a younger, wider audience than the jazz fans for whom the first album was compiled. In the liner notes, Marketing Manager Jon Waxman wrote,
"Unquestionably, a major influence on much of today's rock music is the blues – more especially rural blues ... So, if you dig contemporary music, especially the blues, give a listen to Robert Johnson, the original master."
Thus, Johnson's record was known to many rock musicians before the rhythm and blues
standard
by Elmore James
.
were partly based on Johnson's, partly new. He begins in biblical language:
His next verses are based on Johnson's, but show a very different attitude to the woman he is leaving:
Crudup's record is a solo performance. He sing and accompanies himself on electric guitar.
on March 22 and for Mercury
on November 15. The unissued J.O.B. record was a band performance with Lockwood on electric guitar, Sunnyland Slim
on piano and Alfred Wallace on drums. The Mercury record also featured Sunnyland Slim, with Ernest "Big Boy" Crawford on drums. Lockwood had learned the song in person from Robert Johnson, who he regarded as his musical mentor and a sort of "step father", because Lockwood's mother was one of Johnson's regular girlfriends, the one with whom he stayed in Helena, Arkansas
. He therefore used Johnson's text with minor changes.
On both recordings, Lockwood copies Johnson's "piano boogie" guitar style, but with strong support from Sunnyland Slim's piano for the both boogie base and some of the melody. On the J.O.B. recording. Slim also plays the triplet figures in a strong right hand which dominated the ensemble.
label.
James followed Johnson's melody
quite closely. His lyrics
are based on Johnson's first four verses, but with Crudup's changes to the verses about his 'good gal'. He begins:
James is on electric slide guitar, Sonny Boy Williamson II
on harmonica, Leonard Ware on bass and Frock O'Dell on drums. Ware supplied the boogie beat, allowing James, with superior amplification, to dominate with a riff
based on Johnson's triplet figures. The repeated riff and one other phrase form a melody which the band plays as an instrumental
in places.
that Lillian McMurry
secretly taped the performance in the Trumpet Records
studio, and that James was so upset that he was unable to record a B-side. This was printed in various works, including the widely-read Deep Blues by Robert Palmer. Edward Komara has shown this story to be entirely untrue. McMurry had previously signed a recording contract with James, and the studio did not use tape recorders.
McMurry filed the song for copyright in good faith, citing Elmore James as composer. She was then unaware of Robert Johnson's earlier composition.
The record became a surprise rhythm and blues
hit in 1952, prompting James to exploit the melody and accompaniment with similar texts. Most of his subsequent records were released as by "Elmore James and His Broomdusters". His releases included: "She just won't do right (Going for good or Dust My Broom)" (1952) and "Dust My Blues" (1955). In 1959 he recorded the song again as "Dust My Broom" with his cousin Homesick James on second guitar. Homesick later recorded the song on an LP
for Vanguard Records
in 1965. Distinctive to all these records is the melody created from the riff on "Dust My Broom"
James' version of "Dust My Broom" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
by many major rock and blues artists.
Blues standard
A blues standard is a blues song that is widely known, performed, and recorded by blues artists. The following list identifies blues standards and some of the blues artists that have recorded them...
originally recorded as "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom"
by Robert Johnson, the Mississippi Delta blues singer and guitarist, on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas. The song was originally released on 78 rpm format as Vocalion
Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records is a record label active for many years in the United States and in the United Kingdom.-History:Vocalion was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano Company of New York City, which introduced a retail line of phonographs at the same time. The name was derived from one of their...
03475, ARC
American Record Corporation
ARC, the American Record Company, also referred to as American Record Corporation, or as ARC Records, was a United States based record company...
7-04-81 and Conqueror
Conqueror Records
Conqueror Records was a United States-based record label, active from about 1926 through 1942. The label was sold exclusively through Sears, Roebuck and Company.The record sleeves state that the proper playing speed for Conqueror Records is 80 rpm....
8871. There is an ongoing dispute as to whether the song was originally written by Johnson or by his contemporary, Elmore James
Elmore James
Elmore James was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as "the King of the Slide Guitar" and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.-Biography:James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in...
.
Sources
This was the second song that Johnson recorded, immediately after "Kind Hearted Woman BluesKind Hearted Woman Blues
"Kind Hearted Woman Blues" is a blues song recorded on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas by legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. The song was originally released on 78 rpm format as Vocalion 03416 and ARC 7-03-56. Johnson performed the song in the key of A, and recorded two takes, the first...
". He adopted this song from traditional sources. Unlike the many versions by other musicians, Johnson's original accompaniment was finger picked, and not played as a bottleneck or slide guitar. Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist, who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. He first became famous for "How Long, How Long Blues" on Vocalion Records in 1928.-Life and...
’s original hit was "I Believe I’ll Make A Change" recorded in August 1934. The popular bottleneck guitar player and singer Kokomo Arnold
Kokomo Arnold
Kokomo Arnold was an American blues musician.Born as James Arnold in Lovejoy's Station, Georgia, he got his nickname in 1934 after releasing "Old Original Kokomo Blues" for the Decca label; it was a cover of the Scrapper Blackwell blues song about the city of Kokomo, Indiana...
used the tune for two records: "Sagefield Woman Blues" recorded in September 1934 and "Sissy Man Blues" recorded in January 1935 It seems likely that Johnson owned and studied both of Arnold’s records. Another possibility is that Johnson heard Arnold in person performing a number of verses to this melody. However, Edward Komara suggests that Johnson may have begun developing his version of the song as early as 1933, since it had already been recorded by the Sparks Brothers as "I Believe I'll Make A Change" in 1932 and by Jack Kelly as "Believe I'll Go Back Home" in 1933
Arnold began "Sissy Man Blues" with essentially the same verse as Kelly:
I believe, I believe I’ll go back home x 2
Lord acknowledge to my good gal, mama, Lord, that I have done you wrong
This couplet
Couplet
A couplet is a pair of lines of meter in poetry. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic...
echoes traditional religious songs about The Prodigal Son. Indeed, in his 1938 re-working of the song, Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...
includes the line:
The Prodigal Son went home, I believe I'll do the same
Arnold also borrows a verse from "Mr Carl’s Blues" recorded by Carl Rafferty in December 1933. The melody is somewhat different, but Paul Oliver considers it to be the same song.
| Mr Carl’s Blues | Sissy Man Blue | |
|---|---|---|
| I’m goin’ to call up in China, – just to see if my baby’s over there .. x 2 I’ll always believe — my babe’s in the world somewhere |
Now, I’m gonna ring up China, yeah man, – see can I find my good gal over there …… x 2 Says the Good Book tells me, — that I got a good gal in the world somewhere |
Another of Rafferty's verses is used in Arnold’s earlier record, "Sagefield Woman Blues".
| Mr Carl’s Blues | Sagefield Woman Blues | |
|---|---|---|
| I do believe, – I believe I’ll dust my broom …… x 2 And after I dust my broom — Anyone may have my room |
And I believe, – I believe I’ll dust my broom …… x 2 So some of your lowdown rounders, — Lord, you can have my room |
Text
Johnson takes Arnold's melody and these three verses, adding two new verses of his own. As well as telephoning to find his lost girl, he will write a letter. And he changes his attitude to the woman he is leaving. Arnold acknowledges that he has done wrong, but Johnson tells his woman "The black man you been loving, girl friend, can get my room". He then adds a characteristic verse on unfaithful women and this woman in particular. The resulting text has a unity that was missing in Arnold's two records. The singer is leaving for home, disillusioned with one woman and yearning for another, who may be anywhere in the world.
I'm goin' get up in the morning, I believe I'll dust my broom x 2
Girl friend, the black man you been lovin', girl friend, can get my room
I'm gonna write a letter, telephone every town I know x 2
If I can't find her in West Helena, she must be in East Munroe I know
I don't want no woman, wants every down town man she meets x 2
She's a no good dony, they shouldn't 'low her on the streets
I believe, I believe I'll go back home x 2
You can mistreat me here, babe, but you can't when I go home
And I'm gettin' up in the morning, I believe I'll dust my broom x 2
Girl friend, the black man you been lovin', girl friend, can get my room
I'm gonna call up China, see is my good gal over there x 2
I can't find her in the Philippine Islands, she must be in Ethiopia somewhere
Attempts have been made to read a hoodoo significance into the phrase 'dust my broom'. However the blues artist Big Joe Williams
Big Joe Williams
Joseph Lee Williams , billed throughout his career as Big Joe Williams, was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar...
, who knew Robert Johnson, and who also believed in traditional magic, explained it as "leaving for good ... I'm putting you down. I won't be back no more".
Accompaniment
Johnson did not attempt to copy the distinctive guitar styles of Arnold or Blackwell. But, according to Elijah WaldElijah Wald
Indeed, his first book was a collaboration with his biologist mother entitled Exploding the Gene Myth, in which they wrote that "The myth of the all-powerful gene is based on flawed science that discounts the environment in which we and our genes exist." "There are no definitive histories," he...
, the accompaniment was a major innovation. Fingerpicking in the key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
of E, he plays high pitch triplets
Tuplet
In music a tuplet is "any rhythm that involves dividing the beat into a different number of equal subdivisions from that usually permitted by the...
against a driving bass boogie
Boogie
Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm, "groove" or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie music. The characteristic rhythm and feel of the boogie was then adapted to guitar, double bass, and other instruments. The earliest recorded...
figure
Figure (music)
A musical figure is the shortest idea in music, a short succession of notes, often recurring. It may have melodic pitch, harmonic progression and rhythmic . The 1964 Grove's Dictionary defines the figure as "the exact counterpart of the German 'motiv' and the French 'motif'": it produces a "single...
, creating an effect similar to the then popular combination of piano and guitar accompaniment. Johnson's blend is so seamless it appears to be two guitarists playing at the same time. In fact, when Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richards first heard Johnson he remarked; "He's great! But who's the other guitar player?" (In another version, Mick Jagger made this remark to Richards when Richards first played him the song). Johnson drives the beat with the shuffle rhythm and plays fills simultaneously. Johnson's innovation later became very common among blues guitarists, especially after the electric guitar became standard. That particular boogie guitar figure was apparently invented by Johnnie Temple, who used it in his 1935 recording "Lead Pencil Blues (It Just Won't Write)". (Still, no one has quite matched Johnson's technique on Dust My Broom. As crude as it is, it's also immensely sophisticated). However, Temple spoke of performing with a musician he knew as "RJ". Edward Komara suggests that "RJ" was Robert Johnson, and that he and Temple jointly invented the piano boogie guitar style.
Komara believes that Johnson played this and other songs in a 'secret tuning
Guitar tuning
Guitar tunings almost always refers to the pitch of the open string, though some tunings may only realistically be attained by the use of a capo on an unmodified instrument....
', which Komara calls "Aadd9". This is an 'open A' tuning with the fifth string retuned from A to B, giving a tuning of E-B-E-A-C♯-E.
Reissue
The first reissue of Johnson's music King of the Delta Blues SingersKing of the Delta Blues Singers
King of the Delta Blues Singers is a compilation album by American blues musician Robert Johnson, released in 1961 on Columbia Records. It is considered one of the greatest and most influential blues releases ever...
in 1961 omitted "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" and other forward looking performances, described by Pearson and McCulloch as
"traditional pieces that would have connected Johnson to the rightful inheritors of his musical ideas – big-city African American artists whose high-powered, electrically amplified blues remained solidly in touch with Johnson's musical legacy."
The second compilation issued by Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II
King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II
King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II is a compilation album by American blues musician Robert Johnson, released in 1970 on Columbia Records. It is considered one of the greatest blues releases ever...
was issued nine years later, although a bootleg
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
album of recording to supplement the first volume had been issued on the Kokomo
Kokomo Records
Kokomo Records was a record label founded in the 1960s by Ted Griffiths and Trevor Huyton. It reissued pre-war blues recordings by blues artists such as Texas Alexander, Kokomo Arnold, Barbecue Bob, Doctor Clayton, Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Buddy Moss and Tampa Red....
label and was owned and circulated among blues enthusiasts. The Columbia album was marketed to a younger, wider audience than the jazz fans for whom the first album was compiled. In the liner notes, Marketing Manager Jon Waxman wrote,
"Unquestionably, a major influence on much of today's rock music is the blues – more especially rural blues ... So, if you dig contemporary music, especially the blues, give a listen to Robert Johnson, the original master."
Thus, Johnson's record was known to many rock musicians before the rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
standard
Standard (music)
In music, a standard is a tune or song of established popularity.-See also:* Blues standard* Jazz standard* Pop standard* Great American Songbook-Further reading:* Greatest Rock Standards, published by Hal Leonard ISBN 0793588391...
by Elmore James
Elmore James
Elmore James was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as "the King of the Slide Guitar" and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.-Biography:James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in...
.
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup
"I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" was not covered until Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's 1949 recording entitled "Dust My Broom". Crudup's guitar accompaniment did not copy Johnson's, and his melody was somewhat altered. His lyricsLyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
were partly based on Johnson's, partly new. He begins in biblical language:
It's a sin and a shame, Lord, the way you treat po' me x 2
You know well, that I love you, and I really wouldn't mistreat, thee
His next verses are based on Johnson's, but show a very different attitude to the woman he is leaving:
So, I'm gonna get up in the mornin', an' I swear I'm gonna dust my broom x 2
I'm quittin' the best gal I'm lovin', so my friends can get my room
I believe, I believe, believe my time ain't long x 2
I got to leave my baby, break up my happy home
Crudup's record is a solo performance. He sing and accompanies himself on electric guitar.
Robert Lockwood
In 1951, Robert Lockwood recorded "Dust My Broom" for J.O.B.J.O.B. Records
J.O.B. Records was a Chicago based record label, founded by businessman Joe Brown and bluesman St. Louis Jimmy Oden in 1949. It specialized in Southern Blues and city based R&B. In 1952, the label's recording of "Five Long Years" by Eddie Boyd became a hit and reached number one in the R&B chart....
on March 22 and for Mercury
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
on November 15. The unissued J.O.B. record was a band performance with Lockwood on electric guitar, Sunnyland Slim
Sunnyland Slim
Albert "Sunnyland Slim" Luandrew was an American blues pianist, who was born in the Mississippi Delta, and later moved to Chicago, Illinois, to contribute to that city's post-war scene as a center for blues music...
on piano and Alfred Wallace on drums. The Mercury record also featured Sunnyland Slim, with Ernest "Big Boy" Crawford on drums. Lockwood had learned the song in person from Robert Johnson, who he regarded as his musical mentor and a sort of "step father", because Lockwood's mother was one of Johnson's regular girlfriends, the one with whom he stayed in Helena, Arkansas
Helena, Arkansas
Helena is the eastern portion of Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, a city in Phillips County, Arkansas. As of the 2000 census, this portion of the city population was 6,323. Helena was the county seat of Phillips County until January 1, 2006, when it merged its government and city limits with...
. He therefore used Johnson's text with minor changes.
I'm gonna get up early in the mornin', I believe I'll dust my broom X 2
And if you got another man little baby, you sure can have my room
I don't want no woman, want every down town man she meets X 2
You know that she's a dirty mistreater, they shouldn't 'low the little girl out on the streets
I believe, I believe I'll go back home X 2
I want to tell the little girl I've been lovin', that she have done done me wrong
I'm gonna call West Helena, telephone every town I know x 2
If the little girl ain't in Chicago, she's in East Munroe I know
I'm gonna call up China, see is my little girl over there x 2
If the little girl ain't on the Philippine Islands, she's in Ethiopia somewhere
On both recordings, Lockwood copies Johnson's "piano boogie" guitar style, but with strong support from Sunnyland Slim's piano for the both boogie base and some of the melody. On the J.O.B. recording. Slim also plays the triplet figures in a strong right hand which dominated the ensemble.
Elmore James
Also in 1951, Elmore James made his first recording of "Dust My Broom", for the Trumpet RecordsTrumpet Records
Trumpet Records was a recording company started by Henry and Lillian McMurry in Jackson, Mississippi in 1951.-History of Trumpet Records:The goal of Trumpet Records was to provide a means of recording some of the most popular combos in the Mississippi Delta region that were going unrecorded because...
label.
James followed Johnson's melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
quite closely. His lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
are based on Johnson's first four verses, but with Crudup's changes to the verses about his 'good gal'. He begins:
I'm gonna get up in the morning, I believe I'll dust my broom x 2
I'll quit the best gal I'm loving, and my friends can get my room
I'm gonna write a letter, telephone every town I know x 2
If I don't find her in Mississippi, she's over in West Memphis, I know
And I don't want no woman, wants every down town man she meets x 2
She's a no good dony, they shouldn't 'low her on the streets
I believe, I believe my time ain't long x 2
I've got to leave my baby, and break up my happy home
James is on electric slide guitar, Sonny Boy Williamson II
Sonny Boy Williamson II
Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
on harmonica, Leonard Ware on bass and Frock O'Dell on drums. Ware supplied the boogie beat, allowing James, with superior amplification, to dominate with a riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
based on Johnson's triplet figures. The repeated riff and one other phrase form a melody which the band plays as an instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
in places.
History
A legend was spread by Sonny Boy Williamson II and Homesick JamesHomesick James
Homesick James was an American blues musician. He most notably played slide guitar, and recorded covers of "Stones In My Passway" and "Homesick"...
that Lillian McMurry
Lillian McMurry
Lillian Shedd McMurry was an American record producer, influential in the development of blues music.Lillian Shedd was born in Purvis, Mississippi, and married furniture-store owner Willard McMurry in 1945, settling in Jackson, Mississippi...
secretly taped the performance in the Trumpet Records
Trumpet Records
Trumpet Records was a recording company started by Henry and Lillian McMurry in Jackson, Mississippi in 1951.-History of Trumpet Records:The goal of Trumpet Records was to provide a means of recording some of the most popular combos in the Mississippi Delta region that were going unrecorded because...
studio, and that James was so upset that he was unable to record a B-side. This was printed in various works, including the widely-read Deep Blues by Robert Palmer. Edward Komara has shown this story to be entirely untrue. McMurry had previously signed a recording contract with James, and the studio did not use tape recorders.
McMurry filed the song for copyright in good faith, citing Elmore James as composer. She was then unaware of Robert Johnson's earlier composition.
The record became a surprise rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
hit in 1952, prompting James to exploit the melody and accompaniment with similar texts. Most of his subsequent records were released as by "Elmore James and His Broomdusters". His releases included: "She just won't do right (Going for good or Dust My Broom)" (1952) and "Dust My Blues" (1955). In 1959 he recorded the song again as "Dust My Broom" with his cousin Homesick James on second guitar. Homesick later recorded the song on an LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
for Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...
in 1965. Distinctive to all these records is the melody created from the riff on "Dust My Broom"
James' version of "Dust My Broom" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Other cover versions
Dust My Broom has been coveredCover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by many major rock and blues artists.
- 1964 : Howling Wolf on the album American Folk Blues Festival 1964
- 1964 : Robert Nighthawk on the album And This Is Maxwell Street
- 1965 : The YardbirdsThe Yardbirds- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
as "Dust My Blues" on the album Live at BBC - 1965 : Otis SpannOtis SpannOtis Spann was an American blues musician, who many consider the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist.-Career:Born in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, Spann became known for his distinct piano style....
on the album The Blues Never Die! - 1966 : J. B. Hutto on the album Master of Modern Blues
- 1966 : Spencer Davis GroupSpencer Davis GroupThe Spencer Davis Group was a mid-1960s British beat group from Birmingham, England, formed by Spencer Davis with Steve Winwood and his brother Muff Winwood...
as "Dust My Blues" on the album Autumn '66 - 1966 : Ike and Tina Turner
- 1967 : Rising SonsRising SonsRising Sons was a Los Angeles, California-based band founded in 1964. The original lineup was Ry Cooder , Taj Mahal , Gary Marker , Jesse Lee Kincaid and Ed Cassidy...
(Taj MahalTaj 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...
and Ry CooderRy CooderRyland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...
) - 1967 : Eddie BoydEddie BoydEdward Riley Boyd known as Eddie Boyd was an American blues piano player, born on Stovall's Plantation near Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States.-Life and career:...
with Peter GreenPeter Green (musician)Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac... - 1967 : Canned HeatCanned HeatCanned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists...
on the album Canned Heat - 1967 : John Mayall & the BluesbreakersJohn Mayall & the BluesbreakersJohn Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are a pioneering English blues band, led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall, OBE. Mayall used the band name between 1963 and 1967, but then dropped it for some fifteen years. However, in 1982 a 'Return of the Bluesbreakers' was announced and...
with Peter GreenPeter Green (musician)Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac...
as "Dust My Blues" on the album A Hard RoadA Hard RoadA Hard Road is a 1967 electric blues album recorded by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers featuring Peter Green on lead guitar, John McVie on bass, Aynsley Dunbar on drums and John Almond. Tracks 5, 7 and 13 feature the horn section of Alan Skidmore and Ray Warleigh... - 1967 : Earl HookerEarl HookerEarl Hooker was an American Chicago blues guitarist, perhaps best known for his slide guitar playing. Considered a "musician's musician", Hooker performed with blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, and John Lee Hooker as well as fronting his own bands...
on the album There's a Fungus Among Us - 1967 : Juke Boy BonnerJuke Boy BonnerWeldon H. Philip Bonner, better known as Juke Boy Bonner was an American blues singer, harmonica player, and guitarist. He was influenced by Lightnin' Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, and Slim Harpo...
on the album The One Man Trio - 1968 : Fleetwood MacFleetwood MacFleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
on the album Mr Wonderful - 1969 : Luther AllisonLuther AllisonLuther 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...
on the album Love me mama - 1970 : John LittlejohnJohn LittlejohnJohn Wesley Funchess known professionally as John Littlejohn, was an American electric blues slide guitarist. He was active on the Chicago blues circuit from the 1950s to the 1980s.-Biography:...
on the album Bottleneck Blues - 1971 : Freddie KingFreddie KingFreddie King , thought to have been born as Frederick Christian, originally recording as Freddy King, and nicknamed "the Texas Cannonball", was an influential African-American blues guitarist and singer. He is often mentioned as one of "the Three Kings" of electric blues guitar, along with Albert...
on the album Getting Ready - 1976 : Hound Dog TaylorHound Dog TaylorTheodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor was an American Chicago blues guitarist and singer.-Career:Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1915 . He originally played piano, but began playing guitar when he was 20...
on the album Beware of the dog - 1979 : ZZ TopZZ TopZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...
on the album DegüelloDegüelloDegüello is the sixth studio album by American blues rock band ZZ Top, released in 1979 . "Degüello" means "beheading" or, idiomatically, "no quarter" in Spanish and was the title of a Moorish-origin bugle call used by the Mexican Army forces at the Battle of the Alamo, Texas, in 1836.Degüello... - 1981 : Henry VestineHenry VestineHenry Charles Vestine a.k.a. "The Sunflower", was an American guitar player known mainly as a member of the band Canned Heat. He was with the group from its start in 1966 to July 1969...
on the album I Used To Be Mad - 1982 : WillcoxWillcoxWillcox may refer to:*Willcox, Arizona, a city in the United States*Willcox , people with the surname Willcox...
on the "black album" - 1983 : James CottonJames CottonJames Cotton is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band.-Career:...
on the album My Foundation - 1983 : R.L. Burnside on the album Mississippi Blues
- 1985 : Dr. Feelgood (band)Dr. Feelgood (band)Dr. Feelgood are a British pub rock band formed in 1971. The band's name derives from a slang term for heroin or for a doctor who is willing to overprescribe drugs. It is also a reference to a 1962 record by the American blues pianist and singer Willie Perryman called "Dr Feel-Good", which...
on the album Mad Man Blues - 1987 : Sunnyland SlimSunnyland SlimAlbert "Sunnyland Slim" Luandrew was an American blues pianist, who was born in the Mississippi Delta, and later moved to Chicago, Illinois, to contribute to that city's post-war scene as a center for blues music...
on the album Live at the D.C. Blues Society - 1989 : Flavium on the album 25 Years of Bluespower
- 1991 : Buster BentonBuster BentonBuster Benton was an American blues guitarist and singer, who played guitar in Willie Dixon's Blues All-Stars, and is best known for his solo rendition of the Dixon-penned song "Spider in My Stew." He was tenacious and in the latter part of his lengthy career, despite the amputation of parts of...
on the album I Like To Hear My Guitar Sing - 1992 : Ben HarperBen HarperBenjamin Chase "Ben" Harper is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances and activism. Harper's fan base spans several continents...
on the album Pleasure and Pain - 1993 : Guy DavisGuy DavisGuy Davis is an American comic book artist primarily known for his work on Sandman Mystery Theatre and various Hellboy-related comics...
on the album Stomp Down Rider - 1994 : Elliott SharpElliott SharpElliott Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer.A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City since the late 1970s, Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from blues, jazz, and orchestral music to noise, no wave rock,...
on the album Terraplane - 1994 : Jeff HealeyJeff HealeyNorman Jeffrey "Jeff" Healey was a blind Canadian jazz and blues-rock vocalist and guitarist who attained musical and personal popularity, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
on the album Live At Grossman's - 1994 - 1995 : Harmonica Slim on the album Back Bottom Blues
- 1995 : Gary MooreGary MooreRobert William Gary Moore , better known simply as Gary Moore, was a Northern Irish musician from Belfast, best recognised as a blues rock guitarist and singer....
on the album Blues for Greeny - 1996 : Bluebirds on the album South from Memphis
- 2004 : Etta JamesEtta JamesEtta James is an American blues, soul, rhythm and blues , rock and roll, gospel and jazz singer. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer...
- 2006 : Steven SeagalSteven SeagalSteven Frederic Seagal is an American action film star, producer, writer, martial artist, guitarist and reserve deputy sheriff. A 7th-dan black belt in Aikido, Seagal began his adult life as an Aikido instructor in Japan...
on the album Mojo PriestMojo PriestMojo Priest is the second album by action film star Steven Seagal, following Songs from the Crystal Cave. The album was released in April 2006 by Seagal's own Steamroller Productions company. In a move not seen with Songs from the Crystal Cave, Seagal embarked on an extensive U.S... - 2008 : Cassandra WilsonCassandra WilsonCassandra Wilson is an American jazz musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. Described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating country, blues and folk music into her...
on the album Loverly - 2009 : Melinda DoolittleMelinda DoolittleMelinda Marie Doolittle is an American singer who finished as the third place finalist on the sixth season of American Idol...
on the album Coming Back to YouComing Back to YouComing Back to You is the title of Melinda Doolittle's first album, released on February 3, 2009. The album consists of covers, such as "Dust My Broom" from the 1930s, "Wonderful", from Aretha Franklin's 2003 release So Damn Happy, and the title track, originally recorded by Macy Gray for the film... - 2010 : Lucky PetersonLucky PetersonLucky Peterson is an American musician who plays contemporary blues, fusing soul, R&B, gospel and rock and roll. He plays guitar and keyboards...
on the album You Can Always Turn Around - 2010 : Frankie Chavez on the album Family Tree
- 2011 : Johnny WinterJohnny WinterJohn Dawson "Johnny" Winter III is an American blues guitarist, singer, and producer. Best known for his late 1960s and 1970s high-energy blues-rock albums and live performances, Winter also produced three Grammy Award-winning albums for blues legend Muddy Waters...
on the album Roots, featuring Derek TrucksDerek TrucksDerek Trucks is a Grammy Award-winning, American guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. He founded The Derek Trucks Band and worked as a session musician when he was still in his early teens. Throughout those teenage years, he toured with The Allman Brothers Band primarily as a slide...
on slide guitar - 2011 : Carolyn WonderlandCarolyn WonderlandCarolyn Wonderland is an American blues singer, songwriter and musician. She is married to A. Whitney Brown.-Biography:Wonderland dropped out of Houston's Langham Creek High School to pursue her music ambitions...
on the album Peace Meal