"Messin' with the Kid" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Single by Junior Wells | ||||
B-side | "Universal Rock" | |||
Released | 1960 | |||
Recorded | October 17, 1960 | |||
Studio | Universal, Chicago | |||
Genre | Blues | |||
Length | 2:12 | |||
Label | Chief | |||
Songwriter(s) | Mel London | |||
Producer(s) | Mel London | |||
Junior Wells singles chronology | ||||
|
"Messin' with the Kid" is a rhythm and blues-influenced blues song originally recorded by Junior Wells in 1960. Chief Records owner/songwriter/producer Mel London is credited as the songwriter. Considered a blues standard, [1] it is Junior Wells's best-known song. [2] "Messin' with the Kid" was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and has been recorded by a variety of blues and other artists.
"Messin' with the Kid" is an up-tempo twelve-bar blues which alternates between Afro-Cuban- and Little Richard-style rhythmic accompaniment. According to Junior Wells, the title was inspired by his young daughter Gina. Mel London arrived early at Wells' home to pick him up for a scheduled recording session: "'Where's you Daddy at? Get him up'. 'No, you said you were goin' to be here at nine o'clock. It's not nine o'clock ... You're not goin' to be messin' with the kid'". [2] "The Kid" was a nickname for Wells. Later in the studio, they needed another song for the session: "one thing led to another and ... it took us five minutes, maybe ten minutes and we had it". [2]
What's this you hear goin' all around town
The people are sayin' you're gonna to put The Kid down
Well oh lord, well look at what you did
You can call it what you wanna, but I call it messin' with The Kid
Wells recorded "Messin' with the Kid" in Chicago in 1960. He sings the song, but unlike most of his early singles, Wells does not play harmonica. The backup is provided by Earl Hooker on guitar, Johnny "Big Moose" Walker on piano, Jack Myers on bass, Fred Below on drums, Jarrett Gibson on tenor saxophone, and Donald Hankins on baritone saxophone. [3] Chief Records (owned by the song's writer Mel London) released the song on a single in 1961. [3]
In 1966, Wells recorded a second version of "Messin' with the Kid". It features a different rhythm arrangement and includes a harmonica solo by Wells with backup by Buddy Guy on guitar along with Myers and Below. The song was released on the 1966 blues compilation Chicago/The Blues/Today! Vol. 1. [4] Wells and Guy used a similar arrangement for "Snatch It Back and Hold It" on their influential Hoodoo Man Blues album (1965). [5] The duo later recorded several live versions of the song, including in 1977 for Live in Montreux. [6]
In 1998, the Blues Foundation inducted "Messin' with the Kid" into the Blues Hall of Fame as a "Classic of Blues Recordings – Singles or Album Tracks". [7] In a 1998 press release, the Foundation noted:
"Messin' With the Kid" also foreshadowed where Junior was about to take the Blues. On Chicago’s West Side, his contemporaries Buddy Guy, Otis Rush and Magic Sam Maghett were incorporating the emotional dynamism of Soul music into the Delta-bred sounds upon which they were raised. While in the South Side’s watering holes, Junior began fusing old-school Blues with the funky beat of modern R&B. Together these men defined the sound of electric Blues’ second generation. [7]
Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher recorded a rock adaptation of "Messin' with the Kid" for his album Live in Europe (1972). [8] The song became one of Gallagher's "signature tunes" [8] and in an album review, it is described as a "gem" and a "smoking version". [9] The Blues Brothers recorded a live performance of "Messin' with the Kid", which was included on their first album Briefcase Full of Blues (1978). [10] In a song review for AllMusic, Richard Gilliam notes that while the album "seems so little influenced by Chicago-style blues[,] the band did find room for this Junior Wells classic, adding the sort of rich instrumental backing that Wells himself would adopt for the song". [10] Wells later recorded a reworked version of the tune with a full backing band including horns for his 1993 album Better Off with the Blues. [11]
"Messin' with the Kid" inspired later songs. Soon after the Chief single, Muddy Waters recorded an answer song titled "Messin' with the Man" for Chess Records in 1961. [1] In 1977, blues singer Eddie C. Campbell recorded a Christmas novelty song, titled "Santa's Messin' With the Kid" (on King of the Jungle), in which Santa is "messing with" the wife of the Kid, until "The Kid ran him out o' town": [12]
Santa come' once a year we all know, didn't use my chimney had a key to my do'
Oh, Lord, look what Santa did, (he's messin' with me)
Call it Merry Christmas?, I say Santa's messin' with The Kid
Junior Wells was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song "Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album Hoodoo Man Blues, described by the critic Bill Dahl as "one of the truly classic blues albums of the 1960s". Wells himself categorized his music as rhythm and blues.
Irish Tour '74 is the sixth album by Rory Gallagher. It is a live album compiled from performances during Gallagher's Irish Tour in January 1974. The source concerts were recorded at Belfast Ulster Hall, Dublin Carlton Cinema and Cork City Hall using Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio. "Back on My Stompin' Ground " was recorded from a jam session during the tour. Irish Tour '74 has sold in excess of two million copies worldwide. An article in a Belfast daily newspaper stated: "Rory Gallagher never forgot Northern Ireland, he returned throughout the '70s when few other artists of his calibre dared come near the place."
Live! in Europe is the third album by Irish blues guitarist Rory Gallagher, released in 1972. It is a series of live recordings made during his European tour that year. Unusual for a live album, it contains only two songs previously recorded and released by Gallagher. The other songs are either new Gallagher songs or Gallagher's interpretation of traditional blues songs.
Live at Theresa's 1975 is a live album recorded by blues vocalist and harmonica player Junior Wells at Theresa's Lounge in Chicago, Illinois, for Delmark Records.
"Hoochie Coochie Man" is a blues standard written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Muddy Waters in 1954. The song makes reference to hoodoo folk magic elements and makes novel use of a stop-time musical arrangement. It became one of Waters' most popular and identifiable songs and helped secure Dixon's role as Chess Records' chief songwriter.
Fresh Evidence is Rory Gallagher's eleventh and last studio album, his fourteenth album overall. The album was unusual in that Gallagher used more additional musicians and spent more time recording than he normally did. Not as unusual, the songs show his love for blues artists such as Robert Johnson and Son House and for other genres such as Zydeco as well. The album is influenced by his deteriorating health, and explores themes of ill health, mortality, and fighting back against overwhelming odds.
Hoodoo Man Blues is the debut album of blues vocalist and harmonica player Junior Wells, performing with the Junior Wells' Chicago Blues Band, an early collaboration with guitarist Buddy Guy. Released on LP by Delmark Records in November 1965, the album has been subsequently reissued on CD and LP by Delmark and Analogue Productions.
G-Men Bootleg Series Vol.1 was Rory Gallagher's last official release before his untimely death in 1995.
"Good Morning, School Girl" is a blues standard that has been identified as an influential part of the blues canon. Pre-war Chicago blues vocalist and harmonica pioneer John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson first recorded it in 1937. Subsequently, a variety of artists have recorded versions of the song, usually calling it "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl".
"You've Got to Love Her with a Feeling", or "Love with a Feeling" as it was originally titled, is a blues song first recorded by Tampa Red in 1938. Numerous blues artists have interpreted and recorded the song, making it a blues standard. When Freddie King adapted it in 1961, it became his first single to appear in the record charts.
"Hey Lawdy Mama" is a Piedmont blues song recorded by Buddy Moss in 1934. The song became popular among jazz musicians with early recordings by Count Basie and Louis Armstrong. In 1943, a version recorded by Andy Kirk and His Twelve Clouds of Joy, with vocals by June Richmond, was a hit, reaching number four on the Billboard R&B chart.
"You Don't Love Me" is a rhythm and blues-influenced blues song recorded by American musician Willie Cobbs in 1960. Adapted from Bo Diddley's 1955 song "She's Fine She's Mine", it is Cobbs' best-known song and features a guitar figure and melody that has appealed to musicians in several genres.
"Early in the Morning" is a blues song that was recorded by Sonny Boy Williamson I in 1937. Identified as one of his most successful and influential tunes, it was inspired by earlier blues songs. "Early in the Morning" has been recorded by various musicians, including Junior Wells, who made it part of his repertoire.
Billy D and the Hoodoos are an American musical group from Portland, Oregon, United States.
Albert Castiglia is an American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. Castiglia has variously worked alongside Junior Wells, Sandra Hall, Aron Burton, Pinetop Perkins, Melvin Taylor, Sugar Blue, Phil Guy, Ronnie Earl, Billy Boy Arnold, Ronnie Baker Brooks, John Primer, Lurrie Bell, Jerry Portnoy, Larry McCray, Eddy Clearwater and Otis Clay.
Meeting with the G-Man is a posthumous live album released by Irish blues guitarist Rory Gallagher in 2003. It is a live collection recorded at the Paradiso in Amsterdam on December 20, 1993. Meeting with the G-Man is an expanded version of this 'bootleg' gig that was previously only available in the 2001 box-set Let's Go to Work & features 14 tracks.
Pleading the Blues is an album by Chicago blues harp player Junior Wells.
Recording Live at Yuhbin-Chokin Hall is a double live album by blues musicians Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, recorded live in Japan in March 1975 and released only in Japan in that same year.
Chicago/The Blues/Today! is a series of three blues albums by various artists. It was recorded in late 1965 and released in 1966. It was remastered and released as a three-disc album in 1999.
Brian Berkowitz, known professionally as Johnny Iguana, is an American Chicago blues pianist, singer and songwriter. He has recorded albums with Junior Wells, Carey Bell, Koko Taylor, Lil' Ed Williams, Eddie Shaw, Matthew Skoller, Lurrie Bell, Carey Bell, Oh My God, and the Claudettes among many others.
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)