Mother Fuyer

Last updated
"Mother Fuyer"
Single by Dirty Red
A-side "Mother Fuyer"
B-side "Home Last Night" [1]
Released1947
Recorded1947
Genre Jump blues
Label Aladdin Records
Songwriter(s) Dirty Red

"Mother Fuyer" is a jump blues song, written and recorded by Dirty Red in 1947. The single was released by Aladdin Records on a 78 rpm, 10" shellac single record.

Contents

Background

The words "mother for you" or "mother fuyer", as minced oaths for "motherfucker", were used in blues and R&B records from the 1930s. Examples include Memphis Minnie's "Dirty Mother For You" (Decca Records, 1935) and Washboard Sam (1935), [2] plus Roosevelt Sykes in 1936, [3] with the slightly amended title of "Dirty Mother For You (Don't You Know)". [4] The singer Stick McGhee, whose recording of "Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" was a hit in 1949, claimed that he had originally heard the song as "Drinking Wine, Motherfucker". [5] [6]

Record

Red Nelson found no reason to be particularly oblique over the title of this jump blues track, which he recorded in 1947. [7] It was released using the nom de disque, Dirty Red, by Aladdin Records (catalog reference 194A). [8] The effective minced oath seemed to have confused the censors. [9] The dirty blues lyrics included the lines "I got to put this mule to jumpin' in yo' stall, I'm a lovin' muther for ya". [7] The track, which Nelson claimed to be his own on the record label, was clearly a variant of the earlier songs of a similar nature and song title.

Dirty Red's "Mother Fuyer" has been included on numerous compilation albums, including The Aladdin Records Story (1994). [10] Dirty Red's recording was played on episode two of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour , when the themed title was 'Mother'. [11]

Cover versions

The song was covered by Chick Willis on his 1972 album Stoop Down Baby... Let Your Daddy See, [12] and released as a B-side on a single on La Val Records. [7] [13] Willis claimed songwriting credits.

The song was also covered by B.B. King in 1977 and appeared on his album, King Size , with King this time claiming ownership of the songwriting. [14] It was also on his subsequent compilation albums, King of the Blues (1992) and Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. B.B. King (2012).

Magic Slim recorded a live cover version of "Mother Fuyer" for his 1987 album, Live At B.L.U.E.S. [15]

Mama's Pride recorded the song for their 2006 live album, A "Live" and Well. [16]

Other variants

Johnny "Guitar" Watson had a hit in 1977 with "A Real Mother For Ya". [17]

Billy Boy Arnold included a song with the title "Dirty Mother Fuyer", as the opening track on his 1979 album, Checkin' It Out. [18]

Related Research Articles

<i>Motherfucker</i> American vulgarism

Motherfucker, sometimes abbreviated as mofo, mf, or mf'er, is an English-language vulgarism. It is a form of the profanity fuck. While the word is usually considered highly offensive, it is rarely used in the literal sense of one who engages in sexual activity with another person's mother, or their own mother. Rather, it refers to a mean, despicable, or vicious person, or any particularly difficult or frustrating situation. Alternatively, it can be used as a term of admiration, as in the term badass motherfucker, meaning a fearless and confident person.

Memphis Minnie American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter (1897–1973)

Lizzie Douglas, better known as Memphis Minnie, was a blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted for over three decades. She recorded around 200 songs, some of the best known being "When the Levee Breaks", "Me and My Chauffeur Blues", "Bumble Bee" and "Nothing in Rambling".

Andre Williams (musician) Musical artist

Zephire Andre Williams was an American R&B musician who started his career in the 1950s at Fortune Records in Detroit. His most famous songs include the hits "Jail Bait", "Greasy Chicken", "Bacon Fat" (1957) and "Cadillac Jack" (1966). He was also the co-author of the R&B hit "Shake a Tail Feather".

Donald James Randolph, better known by the stage name Don Covay, was an American R&B, rock and roll, and soul singer-songwriter most active from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Tracy Nelson (singer) American singer

Tracy Nelson is an American country and blues singer. She has been involved in the recording of over 20 albums in her recording career, which started in 1965.

Aladdin Records

Aladdin Records was a record company and label founded in Los Angeles in 1945 by brothers Eddie and Leo Mesner. It was originally called Philo Records before changing its name in 1946.

Little Willie Littlefield Musical artist

Willie Littlefield, Jr., billed as Little Willie Littlefield, was an American R&B and boogie-woogie pianist and singer whose early recordings "formed a vital link between boogie-woogie and rock and roll". Littlefield was regarded as a teenage wonder and overnight sensation when in 1949, at the age of 18, he popularized the triplet piano style on his Modern Records debut single, "It's Midnight". He also recorded the first version of the song "Kansas City", in 1952.

Melvin Taylor Musical artist

Melvin Taylor is an American electric blues guitarist, based in Chicago.

"Slippin' and Slidin' " is a R&B/rock 'n' roll song performed by Little Richard. The song is credited to Little Richard, Edwin Bocage, Al Collins, and James Smith.

Josh T. Pearson American singer-songwriter

Josh T. Pearson is an American musician from Texas, United States. He is known for his work with the band Lift to Experience and his subsequent solo career.

Dirty blues encompasses forms of blues music that deal with socially taboo and obscene subjects, often referencing sexual acts and drug use. Due to the sometimes graphic subject matter, such music was often banned from radio and only available on a jukebox. The style was most popular in the years before World War II, although it had a revival in the early 1950s.

Aladdin is a 1958 musical fantasy written especially for television, with a book by S.J. Perelman and music and lyrics by Cole Porter, telecast in color on the DuPont Show of the Month by CBS. It was Porter's last musical score. Columbia Records issued both monophonic and stereophonic recordings of the original TV cast: Cyril Ritchard, Dennis King, Basil Rathbone, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Geoffrey Holder, Sal Mineo, and Una Merkel.

Dada Life

Dada Life are a Swedish DJ duo formed in 2006, which consists of Olle Cornéer and Stefan Engblom. They have released three albums, a number of singles and remixes and one compilation. The duo had early chart success in Belgium and the Netherlands, while their second album The Rules of Dada reached the Billboard 200. They are known for their humour during their live performances, while their name is a homage to the absurdist movement of the early twentieth century. They have released two audio plugins programmed by Tailored Noise: Endless Smile, a drop editor plugin and Sausage Fattener, a saturator.

Chick Willis

Robert Lee "Chick" Willis was an American blues singer and guitarist, who performed and recorded from the 1950s to the 2000s.

"Checkin' Up on My Baby" is a song recorded by Sonny Boy Williamson II in 1960 that has become a classic of the blues. The song was not released as a single, but was included on Williamson's The Real Folk Blues album released after his death in 1965. The song has been recorded by numerous blues and other artists, making it one of Williamson's most recorded songs.

Willie Clayton is an American Chicago blues and soul-blues singer and songwriter. He has recorded over 25 albums since the 1980s. He has been performing since the late 1960s. His chart successes span the decades from the 1980s onward.

<i>Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. B.B. King</i> 2012 box set by B. B. King

Ladies and Gentlemen... Mr. B.B. King is a box set compilation album by B. B. King. It traces King's career from his first singles for Bullet Records in 1949 to material on his last recorded album in 2008. Crowdfunded by Pledge Music in 2012, it was available in a full ten-disc box exclusive through Amazon.com, and a four-disc "highlights" box available everywhere else. People who pledged money also got a digital copy of the out-of-print 1975 album Lucille Talks Back. Both versions of the box are physically out of print; the four disc edition is bundled along with Lucille Talks Back digitally, although this version removes King's first single.

Marion James Musical artist

Marion Agness James was an American blues singer and songwriter. She was considered Nashville's "Queen of the Blues." Her career spanned sixty years, where she wrote a hit song, "That's My Man".

Nelson Wilborn, better known as Red Nelson or Dirty Red, was an American blues singer and occasional guitarist. His recording career lasted well over a decade. Two of his standout songs are "Crying Mother Blues" and "Streamline Train". His accompanists on record variously included Cripple Clarence Lofton, Blind John Davis, Black Bob, Kansas Joe McCoy, Papa Charlie McCoy, Big Bill Broonzy and Lonnie Johnson.

Travis Leonard Blaylock, better known as Harmonica Slim, was an American blues harmonicist, singer and songwriter. He had some commercial success in the 1950s; recordings of two songs he wrote, "Mary Helen" and "You Better Believe It", were modest hits. He released a total of six singles and toured alongside Percy Mayfield, Harmonica Fats, B.B. King, T-Bone Walker, Pee Wee Crayton and Ray Charles. His debut album was released in 1969. By the late 1970s, he had stopped playing the blues.

References

  1. ↑ "Dirty Red (6) - Mother Fuyer / Home Last Night (Shellac)". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  2. ↑ Paul Garon; Beth Garon (10 June 2014). Woman with Guitar: Memphis Minnie's Blues. p. 199. ISBN   9780872866218 . Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  3. ↑ "Internet-Verbindungen (frames)". Wirz.de. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  4. ↑ Jim Dawson (May 2011). The Compleat Motherfucker: A History of the Mother of All Dirty Words (Feral ... p. 135. ISBN   9781459619562 . Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  5. ↑ Peter Silverton (2011). Filthy English: The How, Why, When And What Of Everyday Swearing. Portobello Books. ISBN   9781846274527.
  6. ↑ Jim Dawson (2011). The Compleat Motherfucker: A History of the Mother of All Dirty Words. ReadHowYouWant.com. p. 135. ISBN   9781459619562.
  7. 1 2 3 Peter Silverton (3 November 2011). Filthy English: The How, Why, When And What Of Everyday Swearing. p. 146. ISBN   9781846274527 . Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  8. ↑ "Dirty Red"Mother Fuyer" 1947 Aladdin 194". YouTube. 2011-01-21. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  9. ↑ "Dirty Red: Mother Fuyer (1947) | Elsewhere by Graham Reid". Elsewhere.co.nz. 2012-11-29. Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  10. ↑ Lindsay Planer. "The Aladdin Records Story - Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic . Retrieved 2016-11-02.
  11. ↑ "Sirius XM Holdings Inc. - Bob Dylan's 'Theme Time Radio Hour' to Launch Season Two on XM September 19". Investor.siriusxm.com. 2007-09-06. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  12. ↑ Bill Dahl. "Stoop Down Baby...Let Your Daddy See - Chick Willis | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic . Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  13. ↑ "Chick Willis - Mother Fuyer (Vinyl)". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  14. ↑ "Mother Fuyer - B.B. King | Song Info". AllMusic. 2012-09-24. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  15. ↑ "Magic Slim - Live At B.L.U.E.S. (Vinyl, LP)". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  16. ↑ "Mama's Pride (2) - A "Live" And Well At The Pageant (CD, Album)". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  17. ↑ Du Noyer, Paul (2003). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music (1st ed.). Fulham, London: Flame Tree Publishing. p. 164. ISBN   1-904041-96-5.
  18. ↑ "Checkin' It Out - Billy Boy Arnold | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic . Retrieved 2016-11-03.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.