"Spider in My Stew" | |
---|---|
Single by Buster Benton | |
Released | 1970 |
Recorded | 1970 |
Genre | Blues |
Length | 3:25 |
Label | Supreme |
Songwriter(s) | Willie Dixon |
Producer(s) | Soul Productions |
"Spider in My Stew" is a song composed by Willie Dixon and first recorded by American blues musician Buster Benton. It is performed as a slow, minor-key blues, with Benton's impassioned vocal and B.B King-influenced electric guitar playing. [1] For the recording, Benton, on vocal and guitar, is joined by blues veterans Dixon on bass, Carey Bell on harmonica, Mighty Joe Young on guitar, and Billy Davenport on drums. [2]
In 1970, the small Supreme Records label released the song on a single, [3] with "Dangerous Woman" on the flip side (no A-side/B-side designations). When the Shreveport, Louisiana, Jewel Records released it again in 1974, it still failed to reach the Billboard charts, [4] but it "gave Benton a taste of fame," according to biographer Bill Dahl. [1]
The song was used as the title track for the well-regarded 1979 Benton album on Jewel subsidiary Ronn Records, Spider in My Stew; [5] however, as the music journalist Tony Russell commented, Benton "never found another money spider." [6] As Benton's best-known song, it is included on several anthology albums of Benton's music and various artists' compilations. [7]
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