Tag Archives: Baby Please Don’t Go

Bob Dylan Sings Big Joe Williams (born October 16, 1903)

Redirecting to a newer version of this post….

The way I think about the blues, comes from what I learned from Big Joe Williams. The blues is more than something to sit home and arrange. What made the real blues singers so great is that they were able to state all the problems they had; but at the same time, they were standing outside of them and could look at them. And in that way, they had them beat. What’s depressing today is that many young singers are trying to get inside the blues, forgetting that those older singers used them to get outside their troubles.
-Bob Dylan (The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan Liner Notes – 1963)

Joseph Lee “Big Joe” Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982) was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar. Performing over four decades, he recorded the songs “Baby Please Don’t Go”, “Crawlin’ King Snake” and “Peach Orchard Mama”, among many others.

Continue reading Bob Dylan Sings Big Joe Williams (born October 16, 1903)

Today: The late Big Joe Williams was born in 1903, 110 years ago

big joe williams

Baby, please don’t go
Baby, please don’t go
Baby, please don’t go
Down to New Orleans
You know I love you so
Baby, please don’t go

“The way I think about the blues, comes from what I learned from Big Joe Williams.”
~Bob Dylan (“The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” Liner Notes)

From Wikipedia

Birth name Joseph Lee Williams
Born October 16, 1903
Crawford, Mississippi, United States
Died December 17, 1982 (aged 79)
Macon, Mississippi, United States
Genres Delta blues
Occupations Musician, songwriter
Instruments Vocals, guitar
Labels Bluebird, Delmark, Okeh, Prestige, Vocalion Records

Joseph Lee Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982), 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. Performing over four decades, he recorded such songs as “Baby Please Don’t Go”, “Crawlin’ King Snake” and “Peach Orchard Mama” for a variety of record labels, including Bluebird, Delmark, Okeh, Prestige and Vocalion. Williams was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame on October 4, 1992.

Blues historian Barry Lee Pearson (Sounds Good to Me: The Bluesman’s StoryVirginia Piedmont Blues) attempted to document the gritty intensity of the Williams persona in this description:

“When I saw him playing at Mike Bloomfield’s “blues night” at the Fickle Pickle, Williams was playing an electric nine-string guitar through a small ramshackle amp with a pie plate nailed to it and a beer can dangling against that. When he played, everything rattled but Big Joe himself. The total effect of this incredible apparatus produced the most buzzing, sizzling, African-sounding music I have ever heard”.

 

Big Joe Williams may have been the most cantankerous human being who ever walked the earth with guitar in hand. At the same time, he was an incredible blues musician: a gifted songwriter, a powerhouse vocalist, and an exceptionally idiosyncratic guitarist. Despite his deserved reputation as a fighter (documented in Michael Bloomfield’s bizarre booklet Me and Big Joe), artists who knew him well treated him as a respected elder statesman. Even so, they may not have chosen to play with him, because — as with other older Delta artists — if you played with him you played by his rules.
~Barry Lee Pearson (allmusic.com)

big joe williams

Here are 2 great videos from youtube with BJW playing live:

Album of the day – The Very Best Of Big Joe Williams

the very best big joe williams

 

Other October 16

Continue reading Today: The late Big Joe Williams was born in 1903, 110 years ago

Van Morrison Summer Setlists, Statistics & videos – UPDATED

van morrison 201318-July-2013 – Hebridean Celtic Festival – Stornoway, Scotland

In order to prepare well for an upcoming Van Morrison concert @ Notodden Blues Festival in early August, I’ve collected setlists & put together some statistics from this summer’s concerts. Videos are also embedded in this post.

Summer Tour 2013

  • Castleward Bread Festival – May 26
  • Dunluce Castle 7th June, 2013
  • Dunluce Castle 8th June, 2013 —
  • Cornbury Festival, Oxford – July 7
  • Larmer Tree Festival, Salisbury – July 17
  • Heb Celt Festival, Stornoway – July 18
  • Slieve Donard Resort & Spa, Belfast – 21 July
  • Slieve Donard Resort & Spa, Belfast – 22 July
  • Notodden Blues Festival, Notodden (Norway) – 2 August

 Setlists – July:

Slieve Donard Resort & Spa, Belfast – 22 July

  1. Coney Island
  2. Celtic Excavation
  3. Into the Mystic
  4. In the Garden
  5. What Am I Living For
  6. Playhouse
  7. Sometimes We Cry
  8. Going Down to Monte Carlo
  9. Retreat and View
  10. Haunts of Ancient Peace
  11. Common One
  12. Enlightenment
  13. Thanks For The Information
  14. Baby Please Don’t Go/Rock Island Line/Boogie Chillin
  15. Help Me
  16. Gloria

Slieve Donard Resort & Spa, Belfast – 21 July

  1. Coney Island
  2. Higher Than The World
  3. Stranded
  4. Pay The Devil
  5. What Am I Living For
  6. Open The Door (To Your Heart)
  7. Have I Told You Lately
  8. Stormy Monday/Lonely Avenue
  9. Sometimes We Cry
  10. Playhouse
  11. Going Down to Monte Carlo
  12. Retreat and View
  13. Fame
  14. Too Many Myths
  15. Take Your Hand Outta My Pocket
  16. Whenever God Shines His Light
  17. Help Me
  18. Gloria

Heb Celt Festival, Stornoway – July 18

sorry… can’t find VM’s setlist for this concert…. yet…

Larmer Tree Festival, Salisbury – July 17

  1. Avalon Of The Heart
  2. Got To Go Back
  3. The Mystery
  4. Days Like This
  5. Baby Please Don’t Go
  6. Here Comes The Night
  7. Moondance
  8. What Am I Living For
  9. Playhouse
  10. Tupelo Honey
  11. Open The Door (To Your Heart)
  12. Sometimes We Cry
  13. Brown Eyed Girl
  14. In The Garden
  15. Haunts Of Ancient Peace
  16. Whenever God Shines His Light
  17. Help Me
  18. Gloria

Cornbury Festival, Oxford – July 7

  1. Only A Dream
  2. Precious Time
  3. Baby Please Don’t Go
  4. Days Like This
  5. Moondance
  6. Jackie Wilson Said
  7. Real Real Gone
  8. Here Comes the Night
  9. Have I Told You Lately
  10. Help Me
  11. My Pagan Heart
  12. I Can’t Stop Loving You
  13. Crazy Love
  14. Whenever God Shines His Light
  15. Brown Eyed Girl
  16. Gloria

Statistics – after 7* concerts:

*8 concerts played, but I miss one setlist..

van morrison statistikk

The clips from this tour shows he’s in excellent form… 

Today: The late Big Joe Williams was born in 1903 – 99 years ago

Baby, please don’t go
Baby, please don’t go
Baby, please don’t go
Down to New Orleans
You know I love you so
Baby, please don’t go

From Wikipedia

Birth name Joseph Lee Williams
Born October 16, 1903
Crawford, Mississippi, United States
Died December 17, 1982 (aged 79)
Macon, Mississippi, United States
Genres Delta blues
Occupations Musician, songwriter
Instruments Vocals, guitar
Labels Bluebird, Delmark, Okeh, Prestige, Vocalion Records

Joseph Lee Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982), 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. Performing over four decades, he recorded such songs as “Baby Please Don’t Go”, “Crawlin’ King Snake” and “Peach Orchard Mama” for a variety of record labels, including Bluebird, Delmark, Okeh, Prestige and Vocalion. Williams was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame on October 4, 1992.

Blues historian Barry Lee Pearson (Sounds Good to Me: The Bluesman’s StoryVirginia Piedmont Blues) attempted to document the gritty intensity of the Williams persona in this description:

“When I saw him playing at Mike Bloomfield’s “blues night” at the Fickle Pickle, Williams was playing an electric nine-string guitar through a small ramshackle amp with a pie plate nailed to it and a beer can dangling against that. When he played, everything rattled but Big Joe himself. The total effect of this incredible apparatus produced the most buzzing, sizzling, African-sounding music I have ever heard”.

From allmusic.com – Barry Lee Pearson

Big Joe Williams may have been the most cantankerous human being who ever walked the earth with guitar in hand. At the same time, he was an incredible blues musician: a gifted songwriter, a powerhouse vocalist, and an exceptionally idiosyncratic guitarist. Despite his deserved reputation as a fighter (documented in Michael Bloomfield‘s bizarre booklet Me and Big Joe), artists who knew him well treated him as a respected elder statesman. Even so, they may not have chosen to play with him, because — as with other older Delta artists — if you played with him you played by his rules.
….read more over @ allmusic.com 

Here are 2 great videos from youtube with BJW playing live:

Album of the day – The Very Best Of Big Joe Williams

 

Other October 16

Continue reading Today: The late Big Joe Williams was born in 1903 – 99 years ago