Junker Blues is a

piano blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrati ...

song first recorded in early 1941 by

Champion Jack Dupree William Thomas "Champion Jack" Dupree (July 23, 1909 or July 4, 1910 – January 21, 1992) was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer. His nickname was derived from his early career as a boxer. Biography Dupree was a New Orle ...

. It formed the basis of several later songs, including " The Fat Man" by

Fats Domino Antoine Caliste Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American singer-songwriter and pianist. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New Orl ...

(1949) and "

Lawdy Miss Clawdy "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" is a song by New Orleans singer-songwriter Lloyd Price that "grandly introduced '' The New Orleans Sound''". It was first recorded by Price in 1952 with Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew during his first session for Art Ru ...

" by

Lloyd Price Lloyd Price (March 9, 1933May 3, 2021) was an American R&B and rock 'n' roll singer, known as "Mr. Personality", after his 1959 million-selling hit, "Personality (Lloyd Price song), Personality". His first recording, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", was a ...

(1952). The original song is about a drug user's conflicts with life and the law, making reference to

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

, " needles", " reefers", and life in the penitentiary; and contains admonishments against the use of hard drugs.

History

The song was written sometime in the 1920s by Willie Hall, a barrelhouse

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

and

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, but already developed in African-American communities since the 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually ex ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

from

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

who was known as Willie 'Drive 'em Down' Hall. He never recorded, nor did he receive initial credit for this song. Champion Jack Dupree, who was orphaned as a child and was mentored by Hall, often referred to the elder musician as his "father". Dupree was the first to record "Junker Blues", on January 28, 1941, in Chicago for

Okeh Records OKeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name originally was spelled "OkeH" from the init ...

; its eventual A-side, “My Cabin Inn”, had been recorded five days earlier. Both tracks feature Dupree on piano and vocals, and either Wilson Swain or

Ransom Knowling Ransom Knowling (24 June 1912 – 22 October 1967) was an American rhythm and blues musician, best known for playing bass on many blues recordings made in Chicago between the 1930s and 1950s, including those of Arthur Crudup and Little Brother ...

on bass. They were released the following year on Okeh 06152, credited to Dupree as composer. In 1958, Dupree released a different version of the song, "Junker's Blues", with lyrics focusing on the allure of hard drugs, on his first album, '' Blues from the Gutter''.

Covers

Fats Domino attracted national attention to the song (Junker Blues) by varying the tune, changing the lyrics and calling it " The Fat Man". Domino recorded the song for

Imperial Records Imperial Records is an American record company and label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd. The label was reactivated in 2006 by EMI, which owned the label and back catalogue at the time. Imperial is owned by Universal Music Group. Early years to ...

Cosimo Matassa Cosimo Vincent Matassa (April 13, 1926 – September 11, 2014) was an American recording engineer and studio owner, responsible for many R&B and early rock and roll recordings. Life and career Matassa was born in New Orleans in 1926.Komorowski, ...

's J&M studio on

Rampart Street Rampart Street () is a historic avenue located in New Orleans, Louisiana. The section of Rampart Street downriver from Canal Street is designated as North Rampart Street, which forms the inland or northern border of the French Quarter (Vieux ...

in New Orleans, Louisiana on Saturday, 10 December 1949. The song, an example of early

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

, features a rolling piano with Domino doing " wah-wah" vocalizing over a fat

back beat In music and music theory, the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse (regularly repeating event), of the ''mensural level'' (or ''beat level''). The beat is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap their toes to when listening to a pi ...

. The recording sold over a million copies, and is widely regarded as the first rock and roll record to do so. According to some sources, the original version, Junker Blues, served as a template for the 1951 song, "

Junco Partner "Junco Partner", also known as "Junco Partner (Worthless Man)", is a blues song first recorded by James Wayne (R&B musician), James Wayne in 1951.Junco Partner "Junco Partner", also known as "Junco Partner (Worthless Man)", is a blues song first recorded by James Wayne (R&B musician), James Wayne in 1951.Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

; and that with each inmate being required, as a rite of passage, to contribute, there are more than 3,000 verses to "

Junco Partner "Junco Partner", also known as "Junco Partner (Worthless Man)", is a blues song first recorded by James Wayne (R&B musician), James Wayne in 1951.Lawdy Miss Clawdy "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" is a song by New Orleans singer-songwriter Lloyd Price that "grandly introduced '' The New Orleans Sound''". It was first recorded by Price in 1952 with Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew during his first session for Art Ru ...

", as did

Professor Longhair Henry Roeland Byrd (December 19, 1918 – January 30, 1980), better known as Professor Longhair or "Fess" for short, was an American singer and pianist who performed New Orleans blues. He was active in two distinct periods, first in the heyday o ...

in 1953 for "

Tipitina "Tipitina" is a song written and originally recorded by New Orleans pianist and singer Professor Longhair. His original version was recorded and released in 1953 by Atlantic Records. Although the nature of his contributions are unknown, recordi ...

", for Atlantic Records that same year. A newer recording of Professor Longhair's "

", was later released on his album, ''New Orleans Piano'', in 1972.

Smiley Lewis Overton Amos Lemons (July 5, 1913 – October 7, 1966), known as Smiley Lewis, was an American New Orleans rhythm and blues singer and guitarist. The music journalist Tony Russell wrote that "Lewis was the unluckiest man in New Orleans. He hit on ...

's "Tee-Nah-Nah" was yet another close copy. In 1990,

Willy DeVille Willy DeVille (born William Paul Borsey Jr.; August 25, 1950 – August 6, 2009) was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five-year career, first with his band Mink DeVille (1974–1986) and later on his own, DeVille created song ...

recorded Dupree's 1958 "Junker's Blues" for his ''

Victory Mixture ''Victory Mixture'' is a 1990 album by Willy DeVille. The album consists of cover versions of New Orleans R&B and soul classics by DeVille’s musical idols. Trouser Press said about the album, “A rootsy covers collection, ''Victory Mixture' ...

'' album. English actor and vocalist

Hugh Laurie James Hugh Calum Laurie (; born 11 June 1959) is an English actor, comedian, singer, musician and writer. He first gained professional recognition as a member of the English comedy double act Fry and Laurie with Stephen Fry. Fry and Laurie act ...

covered "Junker's Blues" on his 2013 album, ''

Didn't It Rain "Didn't It Rain", sometimes given as "Oh, Didn't It Rain", is a spiritual about Noah's flood. In 1919 it appeared as sheet music in an arrangement for voice and piano by Henry Thacker Burleigh (1866–1949). Modern versions * The Galilee Singe ...

''.

History

Covers

See also