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Friday, June 1, 2012

ANN COLE - GOT MY MOJO WORKING b/w I'VE GOT A LITTLE BOY

I didn't know until recently that Muddy Waters' version of "Got My Mojo Working" not only was a remake, but also Muddy basically lifted the song. Written by Preston Foster, Ann Cole cut the original version of "Mojo", and while they were on a joint tour, Muddy learned the song, reworked a few lyrics and claimed authorship (makes the thievery of Jimmy Page/ Led Zeppelin look a little better, perhaps)! Foster's publisher sued Muddy's publisher and while the judgement was found in favor of Foster, Muddy's records still listed him as author for many years.

Ann's reading of Mojo here is downright frightening, and the b-side is nearly an equal- Ann takes an incredibly simple lyric and turns it into a primal haiku over a flat out rocking track.

Ann Cole was WAY ahead of her time on this record; both sides sound far more like 1960 in their raw intensity. I can only imagine what it would have felt like in 1956 to hear a woman sing with such power and fury in the context of the times.

from 1956...

ANN COLE - GOT MY MOJO WORKING


b/w I'VE GOT A LITTLE BOY




3 comments:

Geronimo said...

This is a great freeze-frame of a hybrid time in funk / R&B performing and aranging. The funky lyrics were laid over fast shuffle and conservative guitar phrasing, which would soon give way to harder-driving pulse paterns and phrasing full of single-string melodies and bends. Thanks, Derek!

Rob said...

An essential record in my box - I play one of the side every gig and recently found 'I Got Nothing Workin Now' which is pretty much the same structure but still a great primal dancer.

Gerard Herzhaft said...

In fact, Muddy who several times in his career "borrowed" songs the same way he did for little Ann Cole (Champagne & reefer is in fact a P. Willie Buck song never rightly credited; Baby please don't go isby Big joe Williams)... has alway said when asked about The Rolling Stones and other rock groups that took his songs that "after all all my music was there long before I was ever born"