Can't Be Satisfied: The Life And Times Of Muddy Waters (2003) - Plot & Excerpts
The Chicago suburbs where I grew up are a long way from the Mississippi Delta. The north suburbs are also in a parallel universe far from the south side of what has been called the most segregated city in America. The country blues of the Deep South played primarily on acoustic instruments came north with the musicians as northern wartime industries expanded and the great migration of African-Americans from the South was at its height during WWII and immediately afterwards. Reflecting the frenetic, mechanized, densely populated urban environment of Chicago, the instruments got plugged in and the Chicago Blues were born, complete with a big beat, wailing electric guitars, and soulful harmonica and piano playing. A Chicago kid myself, I only picked up on the blues secondhand (like many baby boomers) through English musicians like the Animals, Yardbirds, Pretty Things, and most of all the Rolling Stones. Well, turns out THOSE musicians were getting inspired by music coming out of what was after all my own back yard. In fact the latter band's name was inspired by a 1950s Muddy Waters' hit, "Rollin' Stone." Of all the Chicago bluesmen, Muddy Waters has the deepest legacy of all (although his rival, the likewise superbly talented Chester Burnett, AKA Howlin' Wolf, was always nipping at his heels). Born McKinley Morganfield, a sharecropper on the Stovall Plantation in Mississippi, the singer accompanying himself on acoustic guitar (sometimes with one finger inserted inside a metal tube used as a slide) was first recorded by the Library of Congress musicologist, Alan Lomax in the early 1940s, and that's when the legend of Muddy Waters began. Convinced he could make it big as a recording artist, he eventually made his way to Chicago, and the rest, as they say is history, and some great American music in the making. The whole story is here: Muddy's initial hits with Chicago's legendary Chess Records, his unfolding career with the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, who after the initial raw sounding hits were often clueless as to how to record, present and promote their biggest blues artist. Their various experiments sometimes diluted his sound, such as when they overdubbed horns, and they managed to inhibit his career growth just as much as they promoted it. Here also are the stories of the multitude of sidemen who played with him, most memorably the great blues pianist, Otis Spann, and Little Walter, who first discovered how soulful a harmonica could sound when played cupped in his hands with a microphone wired to an amp with a reverberating wail cutting to the heart of the blues. Muddy's wives are here, too, along with the outside women, the children born out of wedlock, the mothers strung out on drugs, musicians destroying their health with booze, the dangers of performing in crime ridden neighborhoods with everyone packing guns for protection, and the perils of touring around the country in overloaded station wagons on two lane highways culminating in a deadly head-on collision outside Champaign-Urbana returning from a concert in Tennessee that nearly killed Muddy in 1969. Ultimately though, it's a tale of triumph. Although Muddy Waters' records were eclipsed in the 1960s by the musical "babies" spawned by the blues, i.e. rock and roll, rhythm & blues, Motown, and soul, and considered passé by young African-Americans as the music of their parents' generation (reminding them too much of hard times "down home"), they still manage to reach down to that deep, soulful level that makes any good music timeless. Muddy "made it" in every sense of the word, winning new fans first in England then all over the world and inspiring some of the most famous popular musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Johnny Winter, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, and fellow Chicagoans Paul Butterfield and Mike Bloomfield, as well as a multitude of blues artists from diverse backgrounds. Along with other prominent proponents of the Chicago Blues like Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, Little Walter, Junior Wells, Sonny Boy Williamson and Otis Spann, the remarkable legacy of Muddy Waters lives on. The author tells the story well for the most part although he sometimes turns an artsy sounding phrase that doesn't quite make sense. And while it's a great portrait of an American cultural milieu it could be tough going for those not into the music. As for me I'm buying a Muddy Waters anthology CD and soon! Recommended.
After a summary of the economics of share-cropping, to include one half of the gross to the plantation owner, and the other half, minus all bills, to the share-cropper, maybe the result is positive for the share-cropper, maybe not. The company store may charge unreasonable-high prices. The local plantation script may be intentionally devalued. In other words, the share-cropper gets screwed.In summary: "Sharecropping - getting less than half of what you've got coming to you - was good training for a life in the music business." Page 9.Born in 1913, MW worked the land. In his teens, he began to follow his musical interests, traveling around the Mississippi delta to honty-tonk joints, local party houses, and the like.Nearing 30, he went to Chicago, the holy-land / heaven of musical greatness.This book spent a lot of time covering the early musical associates of MW; more then I was interested in, but probably fascinating for some.Bailed half-way through. It never really grabbed me.
What do You think about Can't Be Satisfied: The Life And Times Of Muddy Waters (2003)?
So much detail in this book. Exhaustive investigation of his early life and legendary encounters with key icons in American music. One drawback is the author spends a LOT of time detailing Muddy's sexual exploits in a way that isn't relevant to the story. Like, I just need to know that Muddy hooked with the lady across the street because she was renowned for her sexual prowess, I don't need to read several paragraphs about what it was exactly that she did.Small drawback in an otherwise excellent book. The discography is great. I am re-reading this one too because there's so much in it it's hard to get it all the first time.
—Jeff
McKinley Morganfield came up the Stovall Plantation in the Mississippi Delta playing in the dangerous water so much that his Grandmother gave him the name Muddy. He started picking cotton, playing music and finally got his first guitar after seeing Son House who would remain a big influence. He became Muddy waters after moving to Chicago and influenced many rock musicians such as the Rolling Stones who took their name from one of his songs as well as countless blues musicians.I was lucky enough to see Muddy Waters live at Chicagofest on Navy Pier in the early 80’s. I can’t say I remember much except that he was sitting down playing long, slow, searing guitar licks with a slide on a Fender Telecaster. At the time I wasn’t really aware of the range of his influence since I was just enjoying the music, but he influenced rock bands as well as blues musicians and even a well known rock magazine took its name from one of his songs, Rolling Stone.
—Jeff
I watched Cadillac Records and found the story it told too superficial and Hollywood; I wanted to know the real story of Muddy Waters and the history of the blues. This book was perfect for that. Every part of the movie gave only a glimpse - sometimes that glimpse was out of focus and sometimes it was grossly oversimplified. Can't Be Satisfied fills in all the details. You learn about Muddy's original success and his second coming. You learn real stories about what blues musicians he was the role model for and what rock musicians he influenced. It was great to see how much time he had in his later years to receive the fame and admiration of younger more famous stars that found their sound through him (Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, etc). The book is well written, and through the story of Muddy Waters (aka McKinley Morganfield) tells the history of the blues.
—Brendan Cheney
