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"Junco Partner", also known as "Junco Partner (Worthless Man)", is a blues song first recorded by James Waynes in 1951. [1] It has been recorded and revised by many other artists over several decades, including Louis Jordan, Michael Bloomfield, Dr. John, Professor Longhair, James Booker, Hugh Laurie, and The Clash. [2] It has been covered in various genres of music including blues, folk, rock, reggae, and dub.
Singer James Waynes made the first recording of "Junco Partner" in 1951, for Bob Shad's record label "Sittin' in with...". [1] The song is credited to Shad and "Robert Ellen" (a pseudonym Shad used on some recordings), [3] though it was directly inspired by the Willie Hall song "Junker's Blues". [4] According to musician Mac Rebennack ("Dr. John"), James Waynes' recording made the song popular, although it was already widely known among musicians in New Orleans and elsewhere as "the anthem of the dopers, the whores, the pimps, the cons. It was a song they sang in Angola, the state prison farm, and the rhythm was even known as the 'jailbird beat'." [5] In 1952, several artists covered the song, including Richard Hayes with the Eddie Sauter Orchestra, [6] and Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five for Decca. [7]
Fully credited to himself, Chuck Berry's 1961 "The Man and the Donkey" is based on the "Junco Partner" melody [8] with a story based on a traditional West African tale heard on other songs such as Willie Dixon's Signifying Monkey (1947) or Oscar Brown, Jr.'s Signifying Monkey (1960).
Roland Stone, an R&B singer from New Orleans, recorded two versions with rewritten lyrics, the first in 1959 as "Preacher's Daughter", [9] and the second in 1961 as "Down the Road". The Holy Modal Rounders recorded the song as "Junko Partner" in 1965. [10]
The 1970s produced several widely known covers. In 1972, Dr. John covered the song for his Dr. John's Gumbo album. [11] In 1976, Professor Longhair covered it for his Rock 'n' Roll Gumbo album, [12] and James Booker did the same for his homonymous album, "Junco Partner". [13]
Bob Dylan's 1986 album Knocked Out Loaded took its title from a "Junco Partner" lyric. [14] The Hindu Love Gods, with Warren Zevon as lead singer and three members of R.E.M., released their recording of this song on their self-titled 1990 album, under the title "Junko Pardner." [15]
Carlos del Junco covered the song for his Big Boy album, released in 1999. [16] In 2002, New Orleans' Dirty Dozen Brass Band covered the song on their album Medicated Magic. John Scofield included the song in his 2022 solo album. [17]
| "Junco Partner" | |
|---|---|
| Song by the Clash | |
| from the album Sandinista! | |
| Released | 12 December 1980 |
| Genre | Reggae |
| Length | 4:53 |
| Label | CBS, Epic |
| Songwriter(s) | Bob Shad aka Robert Ellen |
| Producer(s) | Mikey Dread, the Clash |
It was Richard Hayes' version that caught the ear of Joe Strummer, who recorded it with the London-based band The 101'ers. [18] He later recorded it again, this time in Kingston, Jamaica, with The Clash for their triple hit album Sandinista! , released in 1980, which included two versions: a reggae version, "Junco Partner", and a dub version, "Version Pardner". [19]
Henry Roeland "Roy" Byrd, 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 of early rhythm and blues and later in the resurgence of interest in traditional jazz after the founding of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1970. His piano style has been described as "instantly recognizable, combining rumba, mambo, and calypso".
Willie Hall, best known by his nickname Drive 'Em Down, was a New Orleans blues and boogie woogie piano player. He never recorded, but has had a great influence on blues and rock and roll.
The music of Louisiana can be divided into three general regions: rural south Louisiana, home to Creole Zydeco and Old French, New Orleans, and north Louisiana. The region in and around Greater New Orleans has a unique musical heritage tied to Dixieland jazz, blues, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. The music of the northern portion of the state starting at Baton Rouge and reaching Shreveport has similarities to that of the rest of the US South.
Malcolm John Rebennack Jr., better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music combined New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B.
Allen Richard Toussaint was an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, described as "one of popular music's great backroom figures." Many musicians recorded Toussaint's compositions. He was a producer for hundreds of recordings: the best known are "Right Place, Wrong Time", by longtime friend Dr. John, and "Lady Marmalade" by Labelle.
James Carroll Booker III was a New Orleans rhythm and blues keyboardist born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Booker's unique style combined rhythm and blues with jazz standards. Musician Dr. John described Booker as "the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced." Flamboyant in personality and having an extraordinary technical facility, he was known as "the Black Liberace".
Sandinista! is the fourth studio album by the English punk rock band the Clash. It was released on 12 December 1980 as a triple album containing 36 tracks, with 6 songs on each side. It crosses various genres including funk, reggae, jazz, gospel, rockabilly, folk, dub, rhythm and blues, calypso, disco, and rap. For the first time, the band's traditional songwriting credits of Strummer and Jones were replaced by a generic credit to the Clash. The band agreed to a decrease in album royalties in order to release the 3-LP at a low price.
Leon Russell was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and roll, country, gospel, bluegrass, rhythm and blues, southern rock, blues rock, folk, surf and the Tulsa Sound. His recordings earned six gold records and he received two Grammy Awards from seven nominations. In 2011, he was inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Maison de Soul is a Louisiana-based Zydeco and blues record label. It was founded in 1974 in Ville Platte, Louisiana by Floyd Soileau and remains under his ownership. It is one of four record labels under Soileau's Flat Town Music Company umbrella, and combined the Flat Town labels make up "the largest body of Cajun, zydeco, and swamp music in the world". Living Blues magazine has called Maison de Soul "the country's foremost zydeco label".
"I Want You" is a song written by songwriters Leon Ware and Arthur "T-Boy" Ross and performed by singer Marvin Gaye. It was released as a single in 1976 on his fourteenth studio album of the same name on the Tamla label. The song introduced a change in musical styles for Gaye, who before then had been recording songs with a funk edge. Songs such as this gave him a disco audience thanks to Ware, who produced the song alongside Gaye.
The "Mess Around" is a song written by Ahmet Ertegun, co-founder and then-vice-president of Atlantic Records, under the pseudonym of A. Nugetre, or "Nuggy". It was performed by Ray Charles, and was one of Charles's first hits.
Dr. John's Gumbo released in 1972 is the fifth album by New Orleans singer and pianist Dr. John, a tribute to the music of his native city. The album is a collection of covers of New Orleans classics, played by a major figure in the city's music. It marked the beginning of Dr. John's transition away from the eccentric stage character that earned him a cult following, and toward a more straightforward image based on New Orleans' R&B traditions.
New Orleans blues is a subgenre of blues that developed in and around the city of New Orleans, influenced by jazz and Caribbean music. It is dominated by piano and saxophone, but also produced guitar bluesmen.
"Tipitina" is a song written and made famous by Professor Longhair. The song has been widely covered, and the Professor Longhair version was recorded in 1953 for Atlantic Records. "Tipitina" was first released in 1953. A previously unreleased alternate take was released on the album New Orleans Piano in 1972. Although the nature of his contributions are unknown, recording engineer Cosimo Matassa is listed as the song's co-writer along with Roy Byrd, Professor Longhair's legal name.
"I Don't Need No Doctor" is an R&B song written by Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson, and Jo Armstead. First released by Ashford on Verve in August 1966, it went nowhere. It was then picked up and recorded by Ray Charles and released in October 1966. Over the years, it has been covered by bands such as garage rock band The Chocolate Watchband in 1969, Humble Pie in 1971, New Riders of the Purple Sage in 1972, metal band W.A.S.P. in 1986, by rock band Great White in 1987, and by the garage punk band The Nomads in 1989. Styx also covered this song. Humble Pie's version reached No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and No. 72 in Canada.
Junker Blues is a piano blues song first recorded in 1940 by Champion Jack Dupree. It formed the basis of several later songs including the 1949 "The Fat Man" by Fats Domino and the 1952 "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" by Lloyd Price. The song is about a drug user's conflict with life and the law, makes references to cocaine, "needles", "reefers", and life in the penitentiary, and contains admonishments against the use of hard drugs.
James Douglas Wayne, who recorded in the 1950s and early 1960s as James Waynes, James Wayne, and Wee Willie Wayne, was an American rhythm and blues singer, songwriter and musician. He recorded "a fine blend of Texas blues and New Orleans R&B". He had a no.2 hit on the Billboard R&B chart in 1951 with the song "Tend To Your Business", and that year also recorded one of the earliest versions of the widely performed song "Junco Partner".
"Bartender's Blues" is a song written by James Taylor and first released on his 1977 album JT. It was also released as the B-side of the lead single from JT, "Handy Man". It has since been covered by George Jones and other artists.
"I Walk on Guilded Splinters" is a song written by Mac Rebennack using his pseudonym of Dr. John Creaux. It first appeared as the closing track of his debut album Gris-Gris (1968), credited to Dr. John the Night Tripper. The song has subsequently been performed and recorded by many other musicians, including Widespread Panic, The Neville Brothers, Cher, Marsha Hunt, Johnny Jenkins, Humble Pie, King Swamp, the Allman Brothers Band, Paul Weller, the Flowerpot Men, Michael Brecker and Jello Biafra.
"Go to the Mardi Gras" or "Mardi Gras in New Orleans" is a New Orleans Mardi Gras-themed R&B song that was performed by Professor Longhair and recorded several times since 1949. He co-wrote the song with Theresa Terry. The song was covered by Fats Domino and released as a single in 1953. It is now considered an iconic festive song of the New Orleans Carnival season.
