I Got the Blues

The reinterpretation of blues songs has a long and storied history in rock n' roll. A recent point of fascination for me has been how the blues are sung, and two good people to compare are Robert Johnson and Mick Jagger. As the Rolling Stones covered many of Johnson's songs, their covers make up a solid body of blues work ripe for comparison. Now Mick Jagger has one of the most famous voices in rock n' roll, but its when he's tackling the blue that things can get really unholy, like on "Love in Vain", for example. His seems to leech upward, holding notes that flux in and out of tune, yet are undeniable powerful in their attack. Johnson, on the other hand, keeps things low, not going for the high-all-out-screech of Jagger, instead focusing on the soft and subtle eerieness of the song, and occasionally going for ghostly falsetto. The two interpretations make for drastically different rewards, and are both definitely worth your time.

A song you can compare over three artists is "Stop Breakin' Down", which has been played by Johnson, the Stones and the White Stripes. The Stripes are all reverb and hysteria, with Jack White's proto-Plant voice whooping over the jagged guitar jutting up from below. The Stones keep things shufflin' with the honky tonk piano and mercurial guitars so in line with the rest of Exile on Main Street. Johnson keeps with the quiet power of the tune, focusing the desolatory power of the blues. With the White Stripes pushing a storied American musical form into punk territory, one shouldn't fail to show a little respect for the blues. Keep it sickly and sweet!