Song of the Day 9/4: Aretha Franklin, “Muddy Water”

When the news broke about Burning Man 2023 turning into a soggy hellscape, did anyone feel anything but schadenfreude? Like most things that start out being the province of the cool kids, this annual gathering in the Nevada desert had long since become bogged down with rich people pretending to be cool kids, so it was only fitting that six months’ worth of rain turned what’s usually a dry lake bed into an ankle-deep mud pit.

Will our tech bros learn anything from this? Magic 8 Ball sez, “Concentrate and ask again.” Must have had too much ayahuasca.

“Muddy Water Blues” is considered a traditional song, but it’s been released many times under various titles and multiple copyrights since its first known recording in 1926 by Papa Freddie. Lou Rawls, for example, called it “I’d Rather Drink Muddy Water” all three times he recorded it. The Yardbirds changed some lyrics and called it “Drinking Muddy Water.” But no version matches Aretha’s passionate delivery for her 1965 LP “Yeah!!!”

Freddie Spruell, who also recorded as Papa Freddie and Mr. Freddie, recorded what some musicologists consider the first Delta blues record in November 1926. “Muddy Water Blues” was backed by “Milk Cow Blues,” which Okeh Records called “Way Back Down Home” when the 78 rpm single was released on shellac in 1927.