There are various tunes called Cocaine Blues. It seems it's a popular subject. Here's the Reverend Gary Davis version.
According to Wikipedia, Davis first heard the song in 1905 from a traveling carnival musician named Porter Irving. Versions similar to Davis' have been recorded by many musicians. Here's a take I really like by the late great Townes van Zandt, from his CD Roadsongs.
Here's Bob Dylan playing a very nice version of it live. Check out Dylan's guitar picking on this one.
There is also a western swing tune based on the melody to Little Sadie, which was popularized by Johnny Cash.
George Thorogood plays this one too...
Then along came J.J. Cale. (I guess everyone knows the super-famous 1977 close cover version by Eric Clapton...).
Toshiko
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Toshiko Akiyoshi - Amazing Toshiko Akiyoshi, 1954 Cover art by David Stone
Martin
2 days ago
2 comments:
A friend turned me onto this version too. Never much of a fan of Keith, but a big fan of the song, and I gotta admit, this is pretty great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SutO9tW9k9g
I'd like to add variations by: Mance Lipscomb, Luke Jordan, Dick Justice as well as "Take a Whiff on Me" done by Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie which shares many of the lyrics found in other variations.
BTW: Townes' version of this song is beautiful and haunting, if you're reading this and have never heard it I recommend you give it a listen.
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